Ryan James Howard...Single; one son, Darian Alexander (1/26/01)...1998 graduate of Lafayette High School (MO)...Attended Southwest Missouri State University...Played American Legion ball...Won the following awards for his 2006 season accomplishments: Mike Schmidt MVP Award from the Philadelphia chapter of the BBWAA; The Sporting News Player of the Year, as voted by MLB players, receiving 294 of the 516 votes cast (David Ortiz was 2nd with 75; Albert Pujols was 3rd with 32), also named to TSN's postseason NL All-Star team; Hank Aaron Award by the fans, given to the best offensive player in the NL; Players Choice Player of the Year Award and the NL Outstanding Player Award, as voted by MLB players; Josh Gibson Legacy Award and Oscar Charleston MVP Award, as voted by the Negro League Hall of Fame and Museum...Named MVP of the 2006 Japan All-Star Series after hitting .558, 3 2B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 8 R in 4 games...2007 recipient of the John Wanamaker Athletic Award...Is a member of the Philadelphia Action Team, a national youth volunteer initiative administered by the Major League Baseball Players Trust and Volunteers of America...Hobbies:Working out, baseball, going out.

Finished 2nd in NL MVP voting by the BBWAA (12 first-place votes/308 points)...Led all ML players in HR (48) and RBI (146); also led all ML players in opposite-field HR (22)...Led the NL in go-ahead RBI (35), HR ratio (12.7) and RBI ratio (4.2), T-1st in games (162), 4th in total bases (331), T-5th in extra-base hits (78), 6th in SLG % (.543) and IBB (17), 7th in RISP AVG (.320), T-8th in game-winning RBI (15) and 9th in runs (105)...Hit 14 HR vs LHP, 3rd-most among all ML players and 49 RBI, 2nd-most...Set career highs in games, at-bats (610), triples (4) and runs and tied his career high in doubles (26)...1st ML player in 60 years to lead his league in HR & RBI at the All-Star break and not make the All-Star team (Hank Sauer - 1948 Reds)...1st NL player to have 3 straight 130-RBI seasons since Sammy Sosa had 4 straight, 1998-2001 (last ML player was David Ortiz, 2004-06)...Set the Phillies' all-time record of most RBI before the All-Star break (84); Greg Luzinski had the previous record with 79 in 1975...Became only the 2nd player in Phillies history with 3 consecutive 30 HR/100 RBI seasons (Chuck Klein, 4 straight, 1929-32)...Hit his 150th career HR, 7/2 at ATL, becoming the fastest player in MLB history to 150 HR (495 games), breaking the mark previously held by Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews (569 games)...Batted .320 (56-175) with RISP, including 10 hits in his final 20 at-bats (.500)...Hit .395 (17-43), 2 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 17 RBI vs LHP, 8/27 through the remainder of the season; .186 (36-194), 8 HR, 32 RBI prior to that...Tied his career best with a 14-game hitting streak (.357, 20-56, 9 HR, 19 RBI), 6/27-7/11...Had 5 multi-HR games, bringing his career total to 17; is tied with Luzinski for 5th place in Phillies history...Had 24 RBI in 18 games vs ATL, the highest RBI total against ATL in one season since 1977, when Ron Cey, Dan Driessen and George Foster each had 25 RBI; had 21 RBI in 18 games vs ATL in 2007, making him the 1st player with 20 or more RBI vs ATL in 2 consecutive seasons since Ernie Banks did it over the 1958 (20) and 1959 (24) seasons...Named NL Player of the Month for September for the 2nd consecutive season (.352, 7 2B, 2 3B, 11 HR, 32 RBI, .852 SLG %)...Set a Phillies record for most RBI in September (32)...25 of his final 40 hits were for extra bases (9 doubles, 2 triples, 14 HR)...Had 32 SO in his final 129 at-bats (24.8%) after having 167 SO in his first 481 at-bats (34.7%) ...Ended the season with 277 consecutive games played, the longest streak among active players ...Slugged 2 HR and had 5 RBI in Game 4 of the World Series, 10/26 vs TB; the 5 RBI tied a Phillies record for most in a WS game (Milt Thompson, Game 4, 10/20/93 vs TOR).