Baseball player, born in Miami, Florida, USA. During his 23-year career as a left-handed pitcher (196587), mostly with the Philadelphia Phillies, he won 329 games and received the Cy Young Award four times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
Steve Carlton| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | December 22, 1944, Miami, FL |
| Professional Career | |
| Debut | April 12, 1965, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field |
| Team(s) | St. Louis Cardinals (1965-1971) Philadelphia Phillies (1972-1986) San Francisco Giants (1986) Chicago Whitesox (1986) Cleveland Indians (1987) Minnesota Twins (1988) |
| HOF induction: | 1994 |
| Career Highlights | |
| All Star Games: 10 Cy Young Award: 1972, 1977, 1980, & Career strikouts: 4136 Career record: 329-244 | |
Steven Norman Carlton (born December 22, 1944 in Miami, Florida) is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, from 1965 to 1988, who retired as one of the most successful pitchers to ever play the game.
Carlton debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals as a 20-year old in 1965 and by 1967 was a regular in the Cardinals rotation. Carlton enjoyed immediate success in St. Louis, posting winning records and reaching the World Series in 1967 and 1968. On September 15, 1969, Carlton, struck out 19 New York Mets, setting the all-time record at that time for strikeouts in a nine inning game.
Philadelphia Phillies
Following a salary dispute, Carlton was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies before the 1972 season for pitcher Rick Wise. Carlton's first season with the Phillies was among the greatest seasons a pitcher has ever had.
Carlton's relationship with the media
Carlton slumped in 1973, losing 20 games. The media's open questioning of his unusual training techniques led to an acrimonious relationship between them and Carlton, and he severed all ties with the media, refusing to answer press questions for the rest of his career with the Phillies. This reached a point where, in 1981, while the Mexican rookie Fernando Valenzuela was achieving stardom with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a reporter remarked, "The two best pitchers in the National League don't speak English: Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Carlton."
More success
Carlton continued to enjoy many years of success with the Phillies, winning the Cy Young Award in 1972, 1977, 1980, and 1982, and pitching the Phillies to the best string of postseason appearances in club history. Carlton was the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards, a mark later matched by Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. In 1980, Carlton helped the Phillies win their only World Series, personally winning the final game.
Nolan Ryan
Over a three year period between 1982-1984, Carlton was involved in an interesting pitching duel with Nolan Ryan, then of the Houston Astros, in which they often traded places at the top of the all-time strikeout list. After 61 years, there were suddenly 3 pitchers who would start the season within 100 strikeouts of Johnson, Nolan Ryan 3,494, Gaylord Perry, 3,452, and Carlton 3,434. However a stint on the disabled list shortly after setting the record combined with a spectacular season by Carlton allowed him to make up ground rather quickly and on June 7, 1983, Carlton passed Ryan as the all time strikeout king with 3,526 to Ryan's 3,524. There would be a total of 14 lead changes and one tie that season, often after each of their respective starts before the season ended with Carlton leading 3,709-3,677. Although the season ended with a mere two strikeout lead for Nolan (3,874-3,872), Carlton had a terrible season in 1985 and an even worse season in 1986 before being released by the Phillies in 1986 just 18 strikeouts short of 4,000.
Post-Phillies career
He caught on with the San Francisco Giants, but pitched ineffectively save for seven shutout innings in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in which he also hit a 3-run homer for his only win as a Giant.
After the "first retirement"
His retirement was brief, as he almost immediately signed on with the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the 1986 season, where he would be surprisingly effective, going 4-3 with a respectable 3.69 ERA, but not be offered a contract for 1987. However the Twins would go on to win in a very weak Western Division, and with Carlton off the postseason roster, the Twins upset both the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals in one of the most improbable World Series victories ever to earn himself a World Series ring and a trip to the White House to meet President Reagan along with his teammates. Interestingly, when Carlton was photographed wtih his teammates at the White House, newspapers listed each member of the team with the notable exception of Carlton.
Legacy
A ten-time All-Star, Carlton led the league in many pitching categories.
Carlton was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 with 96% of the vote, one of the highest percentages ever for approval.
Carlton appeared in an episode of Married...
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