How Phillies Slugger Kyle Schwarber Shares History with Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber had an incredible 2025 season and as a result shares space with two legends.

Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game three of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

One could say the Philadelphia Phillies were paying Kyle Schwarber back for his incredible production this offseason.

The Phillies and the 32-year-old slugger came to terms on a five-year, $150 million deal in the offseason, ensuring that he’ll keep hitting “Schwarb-bombs” in Citizens Bank Park through the end of the decade. The park, the team and the player are a perfect marriage. His production has clearly provided the Phillies a boost.

Since he signed with the Phillies before the 2022 season, Schwarber has hit 187 home runs. That total puts him in some rare company.

Kyle Schwarber and History

KYLE SCHWARBER FOUR HOME RUN GAME ARE YOU KIDDING pic.twitter.com/GY7JA2x721

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 29, 2025

Sarah Langs of MLB.com is one of the game’s foremost statisticians and historians, who is able connect numbers between the past and the present. In a recent year-end piece, Langs revealed that Schwarber’s four-year total was the third-most home runs for any player in their first four years with a franchise.

Who’s ahead of him? Well, Mark McGwire, who hit 191 home runs in his first four seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1997-2000 and Babe Ruth, who hit 189 home runs in his first four seasons with the New York Yankees from 1920-23.

Schwarber had other accomplishments in 2025, per Langs. Schwarber was part of a quartet of players that hit at least 50 home runs, joining Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Schwarber also hit four home runs in a game. Along with Nick Kurtz and Eugenio Suarez, they authored the most four-home-run games in a single season in MLB history.

And, in that four-run-game, Schwarber had a chance to hit a fifth. He was only the fourth player in MLB history to get a crack at that, joining Bobby Lowe (1894), Lou Gehrig (1932) and Mike Cameron (2002). Had Schwarber homered, he would have had the first five-home-run game in MLB history.

Perhaps $30 million is a bargain given the production. His four-year slash in Philly is .226/.349/.507. Along with the 187 home runs, he’s driven in 434 RBI. He’s hit more than 40 home runs in three of those four seasons and driven in 100 or more RBI three straight years. He’s the rare slugger who can bat leadoff because he can draw walks. He has three straight 100-walk seasons, augmenting the 809 strikeouts over the past four seasons.

He’s also a winner. He’s played 11 Major League seasons and been to the postseason in 10 of them, missing the playoffs in 2019 with the Chicago Cubs. Schwarber’s production, and his connection to history, makes him worth the money.