Steve Carlton aka Lefty turns 68 today. Carlton is one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers in baseball history [one of the greatest pitchers period actually] He pitched in the major leagues from 1065-1988. He is best remembered for his time with the St.Louis Cardinals [1965-71} and the Philadelphia Phillies 1972-86} he finished his career in very forgettable fashion with the San Francisco Giants[1986} Chicago White Sox [1986} Cleveland Indians [1987} and Minnesota Twins [1987-88} I can’t even remember him with those last four teams. He was just hanging on for a paycheck those last few seasons.

Lefty had one of the most remarkable seasons a pitcher has ever had in 1972 with the Phillies. He won 27 games. The Phillies that year had a record of 59-97.

Lefty won 4 Cy Young Awards with the Phillies. He won during his career 329 games, lost 244 with a 3.22 ERA. He is 4th on the all-time strikeout list. He is also first in all time balks committed with 90, Bob Welch who is in second place has half of Carlton’s total. He also has the record for picking off the most baserunners. They started keeping that statistic in 1957. Carlton picked off 144 runners. Second place is Jerry Kooseman with 82.

Steve Carlton is the last pitcher to pitch 300 innings in a season. He is the last National League pitcher to win at least 25 games in a season. I always admired Carlton’s pitching but since I am a Pirate fan dreaded to see him pitch against my Pirates. The outcome was usually in the Phillies favor when he pitched. Carlton was one of the pitchers who if you were going to get to him you had to get to him early or forget about it.

The Cardinals traded Carlton to the Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise after the 1971 season. At that point the pitchers were very similar. Carlton had 77 career wins to Wise’s 75 but the trade would turn out to be one of the worst trades in Cardinals history. Carlton went from being a very very good pitcher to a great one.

Carlton was known for not talking to reporters. In the year after his remarkable 27 win season, he lost 20 games and was heavily criticized by reporters. So he just stopped talking to them. In the early 1980’s when Fernando Valenzuela was pitching so great with the Dodgers a reporter once wrote “the two best pitchers in the National League don’t speak English-Steve Carlton and Fernando Valenzuela.”

Carlton was famous for being one of the most physically fit players of his era. He attributed his success to his training regimen 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.

Steve Carlton is one of the greatest pitchers who never authored a no-hitter. He did have six one-hitters.

Carlton made 10 All-Star teams and was part of two World Series Champions, the 1967 St.Louis Cardinals and the 1980 Phillies. He won 20 or more games six times, leading the league in victories four times, in strikeouts five times and in ERA once. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. In 1998 The Sporting News listed Carlton as #30 on their 100 Greatest Baseball Players Ever list.