What a card: Steve Carlton pitched in 229 innings in his 20th major league season in 1984. His ERA (3.58) was his highest since 1979, but he would start in more than 30 games for one team for the last time in his career.
My observation on the front: Carlton spent most of the season as the all-time career strikeout leader (until Nolan Ryan surpassed him at the end of the season). This photo could have been a lot more impressive.
More opinion from me: I'm sure Carlton was the favorite player for many fans, but I wonder if he didn't have as many of them as other stars. He was awfully difficult to get close to because he didn't speak to the media for much of his career and even when he was pitching he didn't seem like he was enjoying himself that much.
Something you might know: A Hall of Famer and one of the most prolific strikeout pitchers of all-time (he's fourth on the list), Carlton won four Cy Young Awards when winning that many was considered an absolutely unbelievable feat that would never be broken.
Something you might not know: Information on successful pickoffs goes back only to the late '50s, but since then, Carlton has far-and-away the most with 144 career pickoffs. Jerry Koosman is second with 82 and there's only four guys in the 70s (Mark Langston, Andy Pettitte, Kenny Rogers and Charlie Hough).
My observation on the back: In five days, Carlton will turn 70 years old.
The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.
If Carlton had just retired after this season, I think we would have have a slightly better opinion of him and his career. Willie Mays gets all the shit for not retiring when he should have, but jeez, the last few years of Carlton's career are an absolute dumpster fire.
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