I dropped a tear when Mike Schmidt retired in 1988 although he was hurt before that. He was a great player but did have a love/hate relationship with the Philly fans.

the face of the phillies as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad he's still involved with the team.

Best third baseman in baseball history.

Excellent fielder, decent speed when he was young, ferocious power hitter.

I don't buy any nonsense about his life time .267 batting average diminishing his value. Its a grossly over-rated statistic, and besides, if he'd hit .300 career, he would arguably be the best PLAYER in baseball history, not just the best third sacker.

The best all- around third baseman I've ever seen. There have been a few guys at third who were better with the glove, but not a whole lot of them. His batting average wasn't nearly as high as say  Brett or  Boggs, and no better than Brooks Robinson's, but- and this is no knock on them, they're all easy HOF'ers... those guys weren't accumulating  monster home run totals either...Struck out a lot, but he drew walks, he even stole bases when younger. Great player.

He'd make my team as the all-time third baseman. Robinson was the better fielder, but he couldn't carry Schmidt's bat.

Because of Brooksie, Greatest "All-Around" Third Baseman in Baseball History is the appropiate classification for Schmidt. And Just imagine if he hadn't required a bunch of knee operations prior to even making the majors! I was there at the Vet for a large percentage of his games and always said Mike shouldda been a Cub Card, Oriole ... somewhere with classier fans. Memo to fellow Philly fans: Fans can still be "knowledgeable", even if they happen to not be quite AS loud and boisterous about it. And, with respect to a previous poster, Mike talked to the press plenty. (Carlton was the one who didn't speak to anybody -- unless you brought up Fine Wine LOL). Scmidt was always extremely honest with the Media, to boot. And here's a cool fact: Schmidt never considered himself "good enough" -- very humble and frequently down and hard on himself. Therefore, Philly misconstrued his self-conscious nature (just as Eagles fans took that Snowballed Santa as being "drunk"). Philly fans just like to hear themselves yell -- and have to be louder than the next one. Believe that's why they still relish the 1993 fluke-sterioded - drunk tree hitting -gambling on 1993 games- "Macho Row" jailbirds like gods.

Might be a Five. A few points of BA, and I consider BA relatively minor, and he would be.

But NOT the best third bagger of all time--that distinction belongs to Brooks Robinson.

Considered the greatest third baseman of all-time, Mike won 11 Gold Gloves, eight home run titles and three MVP awards while finishing his career ranked seventh on baseball's career homer list. He was a 12-time All-Star who led the National League in RBI's four times.

Amazing player.

Schmidt is one of those people who will suffer historically because of the recent hitting explosion.. He was an outstanding fielder.. Robinson was better, but not by a whole lot.. Schmidt stole as may as 29 bases in ayear and over 200 in his career, he drew more walks than anyone else at the time, and won 8 homerun titles. His average wasn't great, but for the time it was ok.. If he played today he would hit .280-.290 with 50-60 home runs every year, playing gold glove quality defense. He was simply the best baseball player between 1970 and 1990 and I think that deserves 5 stars.

Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies (1972 - 1989) had unprecedented combination of power and defense with unusual mixture of strength, coordination and speed made him one of the games greatest third basemen. 7th on the All-Time list with 548 homeruns at the time. His 8 homerun titles (1tie) Bettered only by Babe Ruth. Belted 40 or more on 3 occasions and topped 30 ten other times. 48 homeruns in 1980 most ever by a third baseman. Hit 4 in one game in 1976. 3-Time MVP with 10 Gold Gloves for fielding excellence.

Robinson went after balls that Schmidt just watch go by. Yes Schmidt was a better hitter but is glove was second to Brooks Robinson

Not top 30

Greatest 3rd baseman ever. . .yes, Brooks Robinson had the better glove but Schmidt wins because of his bat. 500+ Home Runs and he drove in more RBI's than anyone in the entire decade of the 1980's. Too many gold gloves to count. . .and he did this on the concrete floor of the Vet being booed by the toughest fans in America. I love the Phils, but Philadelphia should come to the realization that we never really deserved Schmidt but we got him. . .it was a privilidge to watch his entire career.

This poor guy. One of the greatest third basemen to ever play the game - he hit for tremendous power, fielded the position better than anyone in his era, led the team to a World Series in 1980, and was not a bad guy off the field - yet he was booed unmercifully, pitilessly, hatefully, by the Philly fans. Why? Because he was emotional. He popped out and struck out a lot. He didn't talk to the press very much. He was soft spoken, almost feminine. In any other city, there would be statues built to this guy - in Philly they would rather cheer for less talented, more "blue collar" players. How strange.

Mike Schmidt is the greatest 3rd baseman of all time. People remember him for his homeruns (and, I guess, over 500 of them will do that), but Schmidt also was a tremendous fielder and won multiple gold gloves in the National League. He was also a winner leading the Phillies to the World Series title in 1980 and the playoffs many other times in the 70s. Unfortunately, like every other athlete in Philly (other than Doctor J), he was booed at different times of his career. Schmidt deserved better.

Simply put, the best third baseman ever. Most people don't even realize that aside from hitting well over 500 HR's, he is viewed by many as the second best defensive third baseman (behinf Brooks Robinson obviously) of all time-- and has 11 Gold Gloves (I think) to support that!

Great hitter (#7 on the HR list) .... great fielder (all those Gold Gloves) ... great team player (fvormer teammates have nothing but adulation for him -- got his ring) . What more could you ask for? He deserves a 5 at his position.