Tommy Joseph praises effect Ryan Howard’s professionalism had on him

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

While former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard continues to search for a job, his former teammate Tommy Joseph can't say enough about the positive impact that he had on him in their one season together. 

Joseph, who played 107 games at first base last season, told Ryan Lawrence of Philly Voice that the most important lesson that he learned from playing with the greatest first baseman in Phillies history was how to be a professional:

What was it like playing behind Ryan Howard last season? Was there any one thing you were able to take from him into your own career?

Just that if I can be half the person that he was, I know that I’ve had a successful career, just as a teammate. You know, take all the accolades and home run numbers – that’s stuff that I can’t control. But I can control how I treat you guys in the media, how I treat my teammates, how I treat the fans. And I think those are things that he was so great with, I mean from Day One of being around him, watching how he handled things. That’s what I took away from him most, just having the opportunity to watch that.

That Howard was able to stay mostly positive, both publicly and privately, during the worst season of his career, is a testament to his character. It's perhaps even more noteworthy that Howard had a specifically positive effect on Joseph, who at a certain point last season became his clear successor. 

In a recent interview with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Howard admitted that even when his uncertain playing time became uncomfortable last season, he didn't believe it was appropriate to voice any displeasure publicly because it would have left younger teammates, like Joseph, to answer distracting questions: 

“They didn’t deserve to have to answer questions: ‘What do you think about Ryan not playing, this and that?’” Howard said. “It’s hard enough to play this game. And then you have to answer questions about one of your teammates, which can become a distraction.

Joseph, who split time with Howard in 2016, smacked 21 home runs, while driving in 47 RBIs and slashing .257/.308/.505. He will look to take the lessons that he learned from Howard and translate that into being the team's full-time starter in 2017. Howard, on the other hand, continues to train for the 2017 season, despite the fact that he hasn't signed with a team yet.