The first of many in South Philly

Playing in only his third game with the Philadelphia Phillies and wearing No. 22 rather than the No. 20 that will be associated with him during his Hall of Fame career, Mike Schmidt launches his first homer in the majors 52 years ago today.

Schmidt – seen here in his major league debut four days earlier against the New York Mets – hits another 547 homers during his 18-year career.

The first homer in 1972 comes off Montreal left-hander Balor Moore, a three-run drive in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 3-1 victory over the Expos before a Saturday night crowd of only 6,471 at Veterans Stadium.

The RBIs are the first of Schmidt’s 1,595 in the majors.

The homer also snaps Moore’s scoreless streak at 25 and 1/3 innings.

“I consider myself a power hitter, in the sense that a power hitter is someone who doesn’t have to get all of the ball to hit it out.,” Schmidt tells the Philadelphia Inquirer after the game 52 years tonight.

“I didn’t get all of that one tonight. I got it down off the end of the bat. I really didn’t have any idea it was going out.”