Athletes - Steve Carlton

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Steve Carlton

	Athletes - Steve Carlton

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. Affectionately known to Philadelphia fans as "Lefty".

Carlton debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals as a 20-year old in 1965 and by 1967 was a regular in the Cardinals rotation. An imposing (6'4"/1.93 m) man with a hard fastball and slider, Carlton was soon known as an intimidating and dominant pitcher. 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. He led the league in wins (27), complete games (30), strikeouts (310) and ERA (1.97) despite playing for a team whose final record was 59-97. His 1972 performance earned him the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. His having won 46% of his team's victories is a record in modern major league history. Carlton attributed his success to his grueling training regime, which included Eastern martial arts techniques, the most famous of which was twisting his fist to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket of rice. He was perhaps the most physically fit baseball player of his time.

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 several pitchers. In 1980, Carlton helped the Phillies win their only World Series, personally winning the final game. Carlton also won a Gold Glove Award for his fielding in 1981.

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. At the start of the 1982 season, pitching great Walter Johnson was the all time strikeout with 3,508, a record he has held since passing Cy Young in 1921. 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. Ryan would be the first to surpass Johnson on April 22, 1983 against the Montreal Expos. However a stint on the DL shortly after setting the record combined with a spectacular season by Carlton allowed him to make up ground rather quickly and on June 7, 1982, 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. Gaylord Perry, aging and in his final season was never a factor, although he did eventually pass Johnson to finish his career with 3,534 strikeouts. There would be five more lead changes and a tie in 1984 before Carlton ran out of gas. His last ever lead in the all time strikeout race was after his start on September 4, 1984 when he struck out four Cubs to lead Ryan by three (3,857-3,854). 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Steve Carlton ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Steve Carlton; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Steve Carlton

Philadelphia Phillies

Carlton's relationship with the media

More success

Nolan Ryan

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay