June 20: No Stopping Ryan Howard’s Power

The Main Event

• June 20, 2006 – Ryan Howard hits a 461-foot home run to the upper deck in right field at Citizens Bank park — the first to reach that level. He added another home run and a triple but it wasn’t enough, as the Phillies fell to the Yankees.
• June 20, 2009 – Ryan Howard is out of the lineup after spending the night in the hospital with a 104 degree fever. He came into the game as a pinch-hitter, hitting a 3-run home run in the 7th inning. He went back to the hospital later that night.

Few players in Philadelphia Phillies history have delivered moments as genuinely breathtaking as Ryan Howard at his peak. Among his 382 career home runs and countless clutch at-bats, two dates stand out as emblematic of everything that made “The Big Piece” special — both of them, remarkably, falling on June 20, three years apart.

June 20, 2006: Howard Makes History Against the Yankees, Puts the Third Deck in Play

By the summer of 2006, Ryan Howard was already establishing himself as one of the most ferocious sluggers in baseball. But on the night of June 20, in front of nearly 45,000 fans at Citizens Bank Park, he announced himself to the entire sport in a way that no one — not even opponents — could ignore.

In the first inning, Howard connected off future Hall of Famer Mike Mussina on a pitch he described later as one he “hit so flush on the barrel” that he didn’t even feel it come off the bat. The ball climbed and kept climbing into the Philadelphia night sky, eventually landing somewhere no baseball had ever landed before in the three-year history of Citizens Bank Park. No player had hit a ball that far in the ballpark’s history — not even in batting practice, when pitchers routinely serve up long shots.

One day later, a white “H” was painted where Howard’s mammoth homer reached: Section 304, Row 1, Seat 8 — a monument to the blast that remains one of the most celebrated landmarks at the ballpark. Various sources have placed the distance between 461 and 481 feet, with the most commonly cited figure being 461 feet. Whatever the precise measurement, the consensus was the same: nobody had come close to that section before. Barry Bonds had reportedly come close a month earlier but had not reached the third deck. Howard got there on his first try.

A Historic Seven-RBI Night

The mammoth shot off Mussina was only the beginning. Howard went on to connect for a second home run off Mussina later in the game, and added a triple — his first of the season — for good measure. In total, Howard drove in all seven of the Phillies’ runs in one of the defining performances of his National League MVP season. He collected those seven RBI on the two home runs and the triple in the 9–7 loss, becoming the first Phillies batter to drive in seven runs since pitcher Robert Person on June 2, 2002.

He is the only player in MLB history to hit a triple, two home runs, and drive in seven runs in a game in which his team lost. That distinction perfectly captures the bittersweet nature of the evening: a one-man offensive show for the ages, undermined by the Phillies’ pitching staff. The Yankees feasted on Cory Lidle and the team’s bullpen, winning 9–7 despite Howard’s heroics.

Yankees manager Joe Torre was effusive in his praise afterward. “This kid is pretty special,” Torre said. “He moves pretty good for a big guy. I think he’s got tremendous upside. He reminded us of David Ortiz.” Coming from Torre, who had managed some of the greatest lineups in baseball history, the comparison landed with weight.

The performance took on extra significance in the context of Howard’s stunning 2006 season. He would go on to hit 58 home runs, drive in 149 runs, and win the National League MVP Award, becoming only the second player in baseball history — after Cal Ripken Jr. — to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive seasons. The June 20 game against New York was perhaps the night the baseball world truly understood what they were watching.

June 20, 2009: Straight From the Hospital to the Batter’s Box

Three years to the day after his third-deck monument, Howard delivered a performance of an entirely different but equally astonishing kind. This time, the story wasn’t about raw power alone — it was about the sheer competitive will of a man who refused to stay down, even when his body was telling him otherwise.

Howard had spent about seven hours in the hospital earlier in the day dealing with flu-like symptoms, running a 104-degree fever. He was nowhere near the starting lineup when the Phillies took the field against the Baltimore Orioles for an interleague game at Citizens Bank Park. The defending World Series champions were in a difficult stretch, and Howard’s absence was felt.

Charlie Manuel Calls on His Ailing Star

With the Phillies trailing in the seventh inning and the heart of the lineup in need of a jolt, manager Charlie Manuel made the call down to the clubhouse. Howard, who would not have told his manager no under any circumstances, made his way to the dugout and picked up his bat.

Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen had been working on a two-hit shutout when the seventh inning began, but he gave up hits to four of the five batters he faced in the frame. Orioles manager Dave Trembley turned to reliever Danys Baez with two outs and the Phillies’ deficit down to one run. The plan was simple: Baez was not to give Howard any good pitches to hit.

Howard made them pay anyway. He crushed a three-run, pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning off Baez, briefly giving the Phillies a lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy. It was the kind of moment that defines a franchise player — sick, weakened, and still capable of changing a game with one swing.

A Tough Loss — and a Return to the Hospital

The Phillies were unable to hold the lead, and the Orioles rallied to win the game. Howard sat out the following day after spending another night in the hospital with flu symptoms, ending his streak of 343 straight games played since May 25, 2007 — the longest active streak in the majors at the time. He had a CT scan, needed antibiotics, and the team’s trainer indicated he may have had a sinus infection.

It was a difficult stretch for the defending champions, who were struggling at home during a tough interleague slate. But Howard’s willingness to drag himself out of a hospital bed, step into the batter’s box, and deliver a three-run home run remains one of the most talked-about examples of his competitiveness. It echoed a similar moment from 2006 when he had left the hospital after food poisoning to hit a pinch-hit home run and later win a game in extra innings — a pattern that seemed to define his toughness as much as his power.

The 2009 season ultimately had a happier ending, as Howard and the Phillies returned to the World Series, with Howard earning NLCS MVP honors. The June 20 moment — feverish, improbable, and quintessentially Howard — was one more thread in the fabric of a player who seemed built for moments when the stakes were highest.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for June 20

• June 20, 1967 – Larry Jackson throws a one-hitter to beat the Mets. The only hit he gave up was a double by Tommy Davis in the second. It’s his 18th straight win over New York, a streak that dates to the first game the Mets ever played.
• June 20, 1986 – Facing Charles Hudson at the Vet, Cardinal Curt Ford leads off the game with a home run. In the bottom of the inning, Phillie Jeff Stone went deep in the home team’s first at-bat. It was the first game involving the Phillies where both teams hit round-trippers in their initial at-bats.
• June 20, 1997 – Bill Giles announces his resignation as team president and elevates his protege David Montgomery to the post. Giles becomes the team’s chairman.
• June 20, 2004 – Jimmy Rollins hits the first inside-the-park home run at Citizens Bank Park as the Phils beat Kansas City 8-2.

ICYMI

• Philly Baseball News – Seth Johnson, Bryse Wilson Perform Well for Phillies

Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for June 20

• Wayland Dean (born 1902) – Pitched in 33 games – 26 starts – for the 1926 Phillies with a 4.91 ERA and 8-16 record. Pitched in two games the next season with a 12.00 ERA and was sold to the Chicago Cubs.
• Dickie Thon (born 1958) – An infielder who spent most of his career with Houston, but played three seasons in Philadelphia beginning in 1989 as a starting shortstop. He played 15 seasons with six different teams and hit .264 in his career.
• Gary Varsho (born 1961) – His final 72 games in the majors were in 1995 with the Phillies. Also played for Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and the Chicago Cubs. Went on to manage in the Phillies minor league system and was the interim manager of the Phillies for their final two games of the season in 2004 following the firing of Larry Bowa.
• Mike Grace (born 1970) – All five seasons of his MLB career were with the Phillies (1995-1999). He went 16-16, 4.96 in 40 starts and 28 relief appearances.
• Paul Bako (born 1972) – Played 12 seasons in the majors ending in 2009 when he played 44 games with the Phillies and hit .224. In his 12 seasons, Bako played with 11 teams.
• Juan Castro (born 1972) – An infielder who played for five different teams over a 17 year MLB career. Hit .198 in 54 games with the 2010 Phillies.

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