Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979), nicknamed "the Big Piece", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Howard spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, from to . He is known for being the fastest player in baseball history to reach 100 home runs and 200 home runs. Howard holds numerous Phillies franchise records.
Howard made his MLB debut in 2004. He won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award in 2005 and the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 2006. Howard was a three-time NL All-Star (2006, 2009, 2010), and won the Silver Slugger Award, Hank Aaron Award, and the NL Championship Series MVP Award in 2009. Known for his power, Howard is a member of the 50 home run club. He was a two-time NL home run champion (2006, 2008), and became the fastest player to reach both the 100 and 200 home run milestones in MLB history, passing the marks in 2007 and 2009, respectively. He is also tied with Sammy Sosa for the most National League 140 RBI seasons at three and the most National League 130 RBI seasons at four. From 2006 to 2009, he hit 198 home runs, hitting at least 45 in each season. By the time he reached thirty years old, he had hit 222 home runs in 732 games. Over the remaining 840 games of his career, he proceeded to hit 160 home runs before playing his last major league game at the age of 36.
Amateur career
Howard was born in Florissant, Missouri. He attended Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri, and Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State), where he played college baseball for the Bears from 1998 to 2001. Howard finished his collegiate career with 50 home runs, 183 runs batted in (RBIs), and a .335 career batting average in 172 games played. He was the 1999 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year. Missouri State retired Howard's number on December 18, 2010. He played one summer in the Central Illinois Collegiate League, a league partially funded by Major League Baseball (MLB) for future prospects to develop.
Professional career
Minor leagues
The Philadelphia Phillies selected Howard in the fifth round of the 2001 draft and assigned him to the Batavia Muckdogs of the NY-Penn League. Howard ascended the Phillies' minor league system, earning consecutive awards in the Florida State League and Eastern League in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Howard also set the single-season home run record for the Reading Phillies, with 37 in 102 games. On July 31, he was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons of the Class AAA International League. He became just the fifth minor league player since 1956 to hit at least 46 home runs. He was named by Major League Baseball one of the best first basemen in Philadelphia Phillies History. Howard won the Joe Bauman Home Run Award in the process. While doing this, he impressed scouts enough that general managers of several teams tried to lure the Phillies' Ed Wade into trading him, as Jim Thome was blocking his path to the majors. Howard's No. 29 was retired by the Lakewood Blueclaws in 2010.
Philadelphia Phillies
2004 – September call-up
On September 1, Howard made his first Major League plate appearance, striking out against Jaret Wright in a pinch-hit at-bat (for Vicente Padilla) in a 7–2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. On September 6, Howard logged his first Major League hit in a single at-bat during a 3–1 loss to the Braves; on September 8, he recorded his first multi-hit game with a double and a single in a 4–1 win over the Braves. On September 11, Howard hit his first Major League home run off Bartolomé Fortunato, driving in his first RBI and scoring his first run in an 11–9 win over the New York Mets.
Howard had 42 plate appearances in 19 games with the Phillies in 2004. He posted a .282 batting average with two home runs and five RBI; he also hit five doubles, drew two walks, and was hit by a pitch. Between playing for the Double-A Reading Phillies, Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons and, the Philadelphia Phillies, Howard hit 48 home runs, which was tied for the highest total in organized baseball in 2004, along with Adrián Beltré of the Los Angeles Dodgers.