Howard fondly recalls time in Reading
Ryan Howard hit 37 home runs and drove in 102 runs in 102 games for the Reading Phillies in 2004 on his way to his big league debut that September
When Ryan Howard thinks about his 2004 season with the Reading Phillies, a flood of memories rush over him.
It’s playing with guys like Carlos Ruiz, seeing Reading front-office types around FirstEnergy Stadium, hearing support from the fans and hitting the home runs, of course.
Howard belted 37 of them and drove in 102 runs in as many games that summer before he was promoted to Triple-A Scranton in late July. He put together one of the greatest offensive seasons in the franchise’s history.
“I don’t really know why everything clicked that year,” Howard said. “There’s just some stuff you really can’t explain. It was amazing. We were having a blast putting up stupid Nintendo numbers.”
About 2 miles south of the Fightin Phils’ home, Howard made a promotional appearance Thursday for Scotts at Gordon Hoodak Stadium in Reading, behind Lauer’s Park Elementary School.
The Olivet Boys & Girls Club won this year’s field refurbishment grant from Scotts and Major League Baseball, receiving up to $50,000 for field renovations. Howard participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony and a baseball clinic for children.
Now 41, Howard went on to play 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and helped them win the 2008 World Series championship. He was named National League Rookie of the Year in 2005 and NL MVP the following season and was a three-time All-Star.
He’s arguably the greatest first baseman in Phillies history.
His path to the big leagues started in Batavia, N.Y., in 2001 after he was a fifth-round pick and accelerated during his four months in Reading.
Howard gave much credit for his 2004 success to then-Reading hitting coach John Morris, who played in the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals and Phillies.
“Working with Johnny Mo, I think I grew as a hitter in the sense of him having us figure things out on our own,” he recalled. “He could have given us answers. (But) he’d say, ‘I may not be here or be with you at the next level or in the big leagues.’
“He and (then-manager) Greg Legg helped take things to a different level.”
As a rookie in 2005, Howard hit 22 home runs with 63 RBIs and batted .288 in 88 games as the Phillies came within one game of making their first playoff appearance since 1993.
“Unfortunately we fell a game short of Houston (for the wild card berth),” he said. “We were in the thick of it. We learned what it felt like to be in a playoff race. Being able to show up every single day and play for something was so exciting and what we needed to do.”
Howard had a monstrous season in 2006 with a club-record 58 homers and 149 RBIs, but the Phillies finished three games behind Los Angeles for the wild card. They finally broke through the next year by winning the NL East title on the final day of the season, but the Colorado Rockies quickly ousted them from the playoffs.
“Jimmy (Rollins) made the statement (in 2007) that we were the team to beat,” he said. “We got swept (by Colorado) because we didn’t know what it was like being in the postseason.
“I think it was all that stuff leading up to 2008 that gave us more of that confidence. We just knew what we were capable of and went out and did it.”
Howard ripped 48 home runs and knocked in 146 runs that memorable year. The Phillies handled Milwaukee and Los Angeles in the NL playoffs before defeating Tampa Bay in five games to win the second World Series title in their history.
“When I think of 2008, I think of all the different personalities we had,” he said, “from Brett Myers
to Jamie Moyer to Pat Burrell to Jayson Werth to Shane Victorino. We had so many personalities, but we had the one commonality that we wanted to win.”
Howard played with the Phillies through 2016, but he was never the same player after he tore his Achilles’ in the fifth game of the 2011 NL Divisional Series against St. Louis. He had 33 home runs and 116 RBIs that year and never came close to those numbers again.
He played in 27 minor league games for teams in the Atlanta and Colorado systems in 2017. Those were his final professional games. He finished his major league career with 382 home runs and 1,194 RBIs.
These days, Howard lives in Georgia with his wife, Krystle, and is content raising their three daughters, ages 7, 5 and 2. His son, Darien, is preparing for his junior year of college. He’s 20, almost the age his father was when the Phillies drafted him.
Howard and his wife have collaborated on a series of six children’s books, titled “Little Rhino” and geared for ages 7-10.
“My wife was a second-grade teacher,” he said. “We just always thought it’d be a good idea. Education was always big for both of us growing up. We had fun doing it.”
Like Phillies fans had watching Ryan Howard star in Reading and Philadelphia.