On This Day in Sports: April 17, 1976
On April 17, 1976, Mike Schmidt hit four consecutive home runs at Wrigley Field as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs, 18-16, in ten innings. The feat was extraordinary on its own, but the game surrounding it was even wilder. Chicago led 13-2 after four innings before Philadelphia began one of baseball’s largest and loudest comebacks.
Schmidt homered in the fifth, seventh, eighth and tenth innings. The first three helped erase the huge deficit; the fourth, a two-run drive in extra innings, supplied the winning margin. He finished 5-for-6 with eight runs batted in and 17 total bases, punishing four different pitchers while the wind carried offense through the afternoon.
The teams combined for 34 runs and 43 hits. Philadelphia scored seven in the eighth to take the lead, Chicago answered to force extra innings and the Phillies finally escaped after Schmidt’s last homer. Each swing increased the improbability: a star third baseman producing a record performance inside a game that seemed to reset itself every inning.
Schmidt went on to win three National League Most Valuable Player awards and lead the league in home runs eight times. His Wrigley performance remains a concentrated display of the power that defined his career. It is also inseparable from the comeback, because each home run changed not only his personal line but a game Philadelphia appeared to have lost hours earlier.
Philadelphia won 18-16 in ten innings.
The Phillies trailed 13-2 after four innings.
Schmidt hit four consecutive home runs.
He went 5-for-6 with eight RBI.
Schmidt totaled 17 bases.
His fourth homer provided the winning runs.
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