#6 - Steve Carlton (1944- )

"Lefty"

Teams:
St. Louis Cardinals (1965-1971)
Philadelphia Phillies (1972-1986)
San Francisco Giants (1986)
Chicago White Sox (1986)
Cleveland Indians (1987)
Minnesota Twins (1987-1988)

Career Statistics:
W-L:  329-244
W-L % - .574
ERA:  3.22
Strikeouts:  4,136
BB:  1,833
CG:  254
SHO:  55
IP:  5,217.2
WHIP:  1.247

Steven Norman Carlton was born in Miami, Florida and participated in Little League and American Legion baseball as a child.  He attended North Miami High School and then Miami-Dade Community College.  In 1963, while still in college, he signed a contract with St. Louis Cardinals.

In 1965, at the age of 20, he debuted with the Cardinals and became a regular member of the rotation by 1967.  He had great success in St. Louis, and led his team to the World Series in 1967 and '68 (winning in '67, but losing in '68).  On September 15, 1969, he struck out 19 Mets batters in one game, which was a record (later broken by Roger Clemens).  In '69, he finished with a 17-11 record, a 2.17 ERA, and 210 strikeouts.  Carlton did not show up at spring training in 1970 due to a contract dispute, and ended up going 10-19 with a 3.73 ERA.  He rebounded the next season with a 20-9 record and a 3.56 ERA.

Shortly before the 1972 season, Carlton was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies because of a salary dispute.  In his first season in Philly he led the league in wins (27), complete games (30), strikeouts (310), and ERA (1.97).  He accomplished all of this while playing for a team whose record ended up being 59-97.  Ultimately, he won 46% of his team's games.  He was chosen as the winner of the Cy Young Award that year.

Carlton struggled in 1973, posting a terrible 13-20 record.  He rebounded somewhat the following two years, with a 16-13 record and a 15-14 record, respectively.  He came back into his own in 1976 with a 20-7 record, a 3.13 ERA, and 195 strikeouts.  He had another great year in '77 with a 23-10 record, and again won the Cy Young.  He also earned the award in 1980 and 1982.

He continued to perform well with the Phillies and helped them climb back up to the top of the standings.  From 1976-1978, they won the NL East, and in 1980, won the World Series, with Carlton personally winning the decisive Game 7.  They returned to the World Series in '81, but ultimately lost to the Orioles 4-1.  On September 23, 1983, Carlton won his 300th career game against his former team, the Cardinals.

Between 1982 and 1984, Carlton, Nolan Ryan, and Gaylord Perry engaged in a pitching duel to set the all-time record for strikeouts, which was held by Walter Johnson (3,508).  Ryan was the first to surpass the record on April 22, 1983.  But Ryan soon had a stint on the disabled list, allowing Carlton to catch up with and ultimately surpass Ryan on June 7.  The lead would fluctuate back and forth for a couple of years before Calrton finally ran out of steam, allowing Ryan to take the lead for good.  Gaylord Perry never played much of a role in the duel, but did end up surpassing Johnson's record by the end of his career, with 3,534 strikeouts. 

Carlton signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1986, but ended up being very ineffective, posting a 1-3 record and a 5.10 ERA.  He then announced his retirement.  His retirement was extremely brief, though, and he ended up signing with the Chicago White Sox almost immediately.  He performed well, ending the season with a 4-3 record and a 3.69 ERA.  However, the White Sox did not offer him a contract for the next year.

In 1987, he signed with the Indians, but was very ineffective once again, posting a 5-9 record, with a 5.17 ERA.  He was then traded to the Minnesota Twins, but still could not find success.  For both the Indians and the Twins, he had a combined 6-14 record with a 5.74 ERA.  The Twins actually won the World Series that season, but Carlton was not on the postseason roster.  His 1988 season was incredibly brief (0-1 record and 16.76 ERA in four games) and the Twins quickly released him.  He tried to generate interest in 1989, but found no takers, which prompted him to retire for good.

Some notable accomplishments in Carlton's career:  he was a ten-time All-Star, he struck 4,136 batters setting a record for a left-handed pitcher (later surpassed by Randy Johnson), and 329 career wins (eleventh place on the career wins list).  He was also very adept at picking off runners, with 144 pick-offs, which is 62 more than Jerry Koosman, who holds second place.  While he never threw a no-hitter, he threw six one-hitters.  In 1994, his first year of eligibility, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.