Steve Carlton

Steve Carlton was a dominant left-hander whose slider made him one of the most feared strikeout pitchers of the 1970s and 80s.

Steven Norman Carlton was born on December 22, 1944, in Miami, Florida, and debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1965, developing into a dominant left-handed pitcher renowned for a devastating slider that became one of the most feared pitches in baseball history. He won a World Series with the Cardinals in 1967 before a contract dispute led to his trade to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972. Carlton's first season in Philadelphia remains one of the most dominant individual pitching performances ever recorded: he won 27 games for a Phillies team that finished with just 59 wins overall, capturing the pitching Triple Crown (wins, ERA, strikeouts) and his first Cy Young Award, accounting for nearly 46 percent of his team's total victories that season. Nicknamed "Lefty," Carlton went on to win four Cy Young Awards in total (1972, 1977, 1980, 1982), a record at the time, and helped the Phillies win their first World Series championship in 1980. He famously stopped speaking to the media for much of the 1970s and 80s, communicating his competitive intensity purely through his performance on the mound. Carlton finished his 24-year career with 329 wins and 4,136 strikeouts, the second-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement in 1988, having pitched for six different teams. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 in his first year of eligibility, with 95.6% of the vote, and the Phillies retired his No. 32.

Power pitcher with devastating slider, excellent control and durability

One of greatest left-handed pitchers in MLB history, known for slider and work ethic

• 4x Cy Young Award
• World Series champion (1980)
• 10x All-Star
• Gold Glove (1981)
• Hall of Fame 1994