Kyle Schwarber became the second player in Philadelphia Phillies history to hit 50 home runs in a single season, joining Ryan Howard in this achievement. Schwarber reached the milestone during the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park, helping lead the Phillies to a 9-3 victory.
The team celebrated Schwarber’s accomplishment in the clubhouse after the game, with manager Rob Thomson addressing him and saying, “Fifty homers in a season. You’re the 34th person to hit 50 in the history of the [expletive] game.” After Schwarber quietly responded, “That’s pretty sweet,” Thomson continued, “Congratulations. You’ve had a hell of a year.”
Schwarber currently leads the National League with 50 home runs and 123 RBIs, both career highs for him. He has also matched his personal best with 10 stolen bases this season. With these numbers, Schwarber is only the tenth player in Major League Baseball history to record at least 50 home runs, 120 RBIs, and double-digit steals in one season. The other players who have accomplished this are Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.
Reflecting on reaching 50 home runs, Schwarber said: “It’s cool, right? Get to a nice round even number. It’s cool to hear the stats of how many people have done things before in the game. It’s something that you don’t take lightly.”
Schwarber ended a ten-game homerless streak by hitting his fiftieth home run—a three-run shot off Mets pitcher Justin Hagenman—which gave Philadelphia a significant lead. The ball left his bat at over 110 mph and traveled an estimated 437 feet.
Phillies pitcher Ranger Suárez commented on Schwarber’s performance: “Just super excited for him and happy for him. He’s a tremendous player, but even more so, he’s a tremendous teammate.” Rookie third baseman Otto Kemp added: “It’s unbelievable. It really just looks like a video game for the guy.”
Prior to Schwarber’s milestone season, only Howard had reached or surpassed fifty home runs as a Phillie—setting the franchise record with fifty-eight homers in 2006. Other notable seasons include Mike Schmidt’s forty-eight homers in 1980 and Jim Thome’s forty-seven in 2003.
When asked if he ever imagined hitting fifty home runs himself, Schwarber replied: “That’s a great question. I don’t think so.” He acknowledged that Howard had expected him to reach this mark earlier this year.
Schwarber also spoke about what it means to join Howard: “Just to join him, it’s an honor, it’s a privilege,” he said of Howard. “That guy has done so many great things for Philadelphia. You can only hope to follow the way he went about his business and the way that he played the game and the way he brought excitement to the fans here.”
In addition to his regular-season achievements this year—including tying his own record with four home runs in one game—Schwarber was named All-Star Game MVP after an historic swing-off performance and received several curtain calls from fans following key moments.
Despite individual milestones such as reaching fifty home runs or earning awards during All-Star events (https://www.mlb.com/news/kyle-schwarber-hits-50-hr-mark-phillies), Schwarber emphasized that team success remains his focus as Philadelphia holds a nine-game lead over New York atop their division with seventeen games remaining.
“I’ve always said the personal accolades will probably mean more when it’s all said and done,” Schwarber said. “I feel like we’ve got so much more baseball here and we’ve got a group of guys that feel like we can make a deep run — and that’s what we want to do… So it’s a cool moment, and obviously you want to enjoy it. But there’s still a lot more baseball to be played.”
Thomson concluded his remarks by stating: “You’ve had an unbelievable year… We’re not done yet.”
