Some times.........Good things happen to good people....
Such is the case of one Ryan Howard.
Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979, in St. Louis, Missouri) is a baseball player who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. Howard was the 2006 National League MVP and the fastest player to reach 100 home runs in Major League Baseball history. He graduated from Lafayette High School in 1998 and attended Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). Howard is six feet, four inches tall and 250 pounds. He bats and throws left-handed.
Howard is a bona fide super star now.......but that has not always been the case. In the 2001 Major League baseball draft, Howard was not selected until the 5th round. He honed his skills in the minor leagues for 3 years until finally being called up to the bigs in September of 2004.
Patience and hard work finally paid off. Howard, who led all major league rookies with 22 home runs, also posted a .288 average and 63 RBI in just 312 at-bats and 88 games. He hit eleven home runs and 27 RBI in September and October. Howard finished his rookie season with 17 doubles, two triples, 52 runs-scored, and 100 strikeouts and 63 Runs Batted In as the Phillies battled the Houston Astros for the National League wild card until getting eliminated on the last day of the season. Howard was rewarded for his effort by being named NL Rookie of the Year, the fourth Phillie to win the award.
2006 - Most Valuable Player
Howard was named
The Sporting News 2006
Player of the Year. On
October 25, Howard was awarded the 2006
National League Hank Aaron Award.
On November 8, Howard was named by his fellow Major Leaguers as the Player of the Year and the National League Outstanding Position Player in the 2006 Players Choice Awards balloting. He succeeded Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones, the 2005 winner of both awards. On the same day, following a 5-3 win over Nippon Professional Baseball that capped a five-game international sweep by the MLB in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series, Howard was named the Series MVP; he hit .558 with eight runs, three doubles, four homers and eight RBI. On November 10, Howard was awarded the National League Silver Slugger Award at first-base.
On November 20, he won the National League MVP award, and became only the second player in baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in successive seasons, joining Cal Ripken Jr. (Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki are the only players to win both awards during the same season).
Still........the Phillies remained the ultimate cheap-skate ........They renewed his 2006 contract to a one year extension.......$900,000. Seems like a lot to you and me........but......you have .220 hitters making millions. You have pitcher with losing records making 4 million a year, with guaranteed contracts. Still, Mr. Howard remained humble........didn't
cry out to the media........didn't demand to be traded.......didn't criticize the Philly management staff.....just maintained a low profile and the let the arbitration rulings take place.
The Phillies offered $7 million a year.............Howard put his future into the hands of the arbitrator .........
On February 21, 2008, Howard won an arbitration case against the Phillies, and was awarded $10 million, the most ever for a victorious player.
That is over 10 times his current salary............To put it in a sense that we normal people can understand........consider this....... Say last year you earned $50,000............If you got the same percentage raise Howard got.......This year your salary would be around $600,000! Now that's a raise.......
Some times good things do happen to good people...........
