Topps's 1989 set reached the stores as Mike Schmidt began his eighteenth season with the Phillies. His card is #100, and it is the last Topps card made while he was still playing.
He is breaking out of the batter's box in the home pinstripes, number 20 on the front and a maroon helmet with the P, his eyes still on the ball. A pink border frames the picture, and PHILLIES runs in purple script across a blue banner at the foot, with his name in white beneath it.
Shoulder trouble had cost him much of 1988, and he started 1989 slowly. On May 29, in San Diego, the day after a game against the Giants, he announced his retirement. The speech brought him to tears.
He left in May. The fans voted him to the All-Star Game anyway.
He had played 42 games that year. That summer the fans voted him onto the National League All-Star team as a tribute; he declined to play, but he was announced with the team.
He finished with 548 home runs and ten Gold Gloves, and went into the Hall of Fame in 1995, on his first ballot.
