The 1974 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 92nd season in franchise history. The Phillies finished in third place in the National League East with a record of 80 wins and 82 losses. They would not finish below .500 again until going 75–87 in 1985. Offseason December 6, 1973: Denny Doyle was sent by the Phillies to the California Angels, and Aurelio Monteagudo and Chris Coletta were sent by the Angels to the Phillies to complete an earlier deal (the Phillies sent a player to be named later to the Angels for players to be named later and Billy Grabarkewitz) made on August 14. December 19, 1973: Tony Taylor was signed as a free agent by the Phillies. Regular season Third baseman Mike Schmidt had a breakout season in 1974, leading the National League in home runs and demonstrating his prowess in the field. On June 10, Schmidt hit what many felt should have been a home run when the ball hit the public address speaker that hung 117 feet above and 329 feet away from home plate at the Astrodome in Houston. The ball hit the speaker, fell to the field, and, by the Astrodome's ground rules, remained in play. Since Schmidt had already started his slow home run trot, he was held to a single. (There were runners on first and second when the ball was hit, and they each advanced only one base.) Many experts agree the ball would have traveled in excess of 500 feet. The Phillies became the first team to lead the division at the All-Star break after finishing last in the division one year ago. Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions June 5, 1974: 1974 Major League Baseball draft Derek Botelho was drafted by the Phillies in the 26th round, but did not sign. Ken Phelps was drafted by the Phillies in the 1st round (19th pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign. June 15, 1974: Jeff Schneider was signed as an amateur free agent by the Phillies. July 2, 1974: John Poff was signed as an amateur free agent by the Phillies. Game log |- style="background:#bfb" | 1 || April 6 || Mets || 5–4 || Mac Scarce (1–0) || Tug McGraw (0–1) || None || 40,222 || 1–0 |- style="background:#fbb" | 2 || April 7 || Mets || 2–9 || Jon Matlack (1–0) || Jim Lonborg (0–1) || Tug