Steve Carlton was one of my favorite players growing up... and I'm pretty sure I rooted for him before Rickey Henderson... which would make him my first favorite baseball player.
It just so happened that he was one of the best pitchers in the league right about the same time I started analyzing baseball statistics back in the late 70's/early 80's. I was that kid who'd sit down with my American League Red Book and National League Green Book and memorize league leaders. And that's right around the time Carlton was leading the NL in wins and strikeouts, while winning his 3rd and 4th Cy Young Awards.
You might be wondering why East Bay guys like Mike Norris or Steve McCatty weren't my favorite players since they were both great pitchers who came close to bringing home Cy Young Awards during that time period. Well it's pretty simple. They were right-handed... while Carlton was a lefty like myself.
A few weeks ago I put together a Sports Card Trifecta for Freddie Freeman... and realized that I hadn't built one for Lefty. I had the recipe and all of the ingredients... I just dropped the ball.
Well in honor of his 76th birthday, it's time to finally cross this one off the list. Here ya go...
Rookie Card: 1965 Topps #477
I landed this card in a trade with Starting Nine back in 2012... while working on my Steve Carlton project where I collected all of his Topps flagship cards from his playing years.
Autographed Card: 1999 UD Century Legends Epic Signatures #SC
If I'm building a Sports Card Trifecta of a baseball player and I own an autograph of him from this set, chances are I'm going to use it. Carlton has sort of a weird grin on his face... but I love the blue Sharpie on the B&W background.
Memorabilia Card: 2009 Goodwin Champions Memorabilia #GCM-SC
As much as I enjoy collecting memorabilia cards... I've gotta admit there aren't any sitting in my Steve Carlton PC that really stand out. Ultimately... I went with this Goodwin Champions card. The orange sky is kinda cool. I guess.
Bonus Vintage: 1975 Topps #185
What happens when you combine a hall of fame pitcher, a classic card design, and a well cropped action shot? You get a completely different type of Sports Card Trifecta.
Well that wraps up today's post. Here's your question of the day...
When it comes to athletes... who were some of your childhood favorites?
I'll respond to my own question with two more Cy Young Award winning southpaws...
1978 Topps #135
1981 Topps Traded #850
Happy birthday Lefty! Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
21 comments:
Man, I had that Lefty RC as a kid. It was stolen in the great card heist of 91. Bummer since I doubt I will ever get another one.
My early childhood faves were Carew, Boggs, Gooden and Mattingly. I did like Carlton a lot though as well.
Count me on the left-handed list. Billy Williams was my favorite even though he was the exact opposite of me - throwing and batting. Like Rickey H, I batted right. Most of my other favorite Cubs didn't stay long - Rick Monday, Jerry Morales, Bill Madlock, Steve Swisher.
Baseball: Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose
Basketball: Dr. J, Magic Johnson
Football: Ron Jaworski
Uh, I think of this day as Steve Garvey's birthday. I have a trifecta of him, too.
Fun fact- in 1969 my favorite ballplayer, Bill Freehan, hit his only All-Star Game HR off a young lefty named Steve Carlton, at old RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
Besides Freehan, I liked Cubs Shortstop Don Kessinger, Orioles 3rd Baseman Brooks Robinson, Dodgers 1st Baseman Steve Garvey ( Happy Birthday), and Red Sox Centerfielder Fred Lynn.
It's no secret that Pete Rose was my favorite player, but I had great admiration for Lefty, especially when he won 27 games for the last place Phils. I'm just glad Johnny Bench had Carlton's number (3-HR game!). Nice collection!
My childhood favorites...Tom Seaver, George Brett, Steve Vickers, Walt Frazier, Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert.
I do have a nice Carlton relic...a Tier One /99 with a sweet swatch of the Phillies' powder blues. Hopefully I'll get an auto someday, but I can't imagine I'll ever own his rookie. I don't really pay that kind of money for a card, and if I did there are certainly higher priorities.
Love that Carlton rookie card, I've always wanted one of those.
Don Mattingly was my favorite as a kid by far.
One of my favorite 1975 cards!
That's a beauty of an autograph for carlton! Aside from the dodger infield and their other players, my faves as a kid in the late 70s were pete rose, rod carew, don baylor, and paul molitor.
This one is SUPER easy. Dale Murphy, Gary Matthews (Sr), Bob Horner, Jeff Burroughs, and Knucksie. All Braves of course.
Hands down, Nolan Ryan for sure!!
Louisiana Lightnin' is an all time favorite in this house. Loved the Cajun lefty. I was lucky enough to see a game of Fernando in San Antonio with the Missions in 1980.
Favorite athletes as a kid were Rickey Henderson, John Riggins, Walter Payton and George Gervin...loved those guys.
Fuji is a southpaw? Cool! I didn't know that. I'm right-handed, but bat left-handed and play golf and hockey left-handed.
Some childhood favorite athletes: Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Howard Johnson, Boris Becker, Steffi Graf.
I liked John Tudor because he was left-handed too. As a person who plays sports left handed, I totally get the idea of liking a player because of it. I had other favorite lefties in other sports too, like Chris Mullin and David Robinson. I list some hockey players, but half the league is left-handed.
Wonderful cards. He's an all-time great. Agree that grin is goody and creepy and as such I'm not sure I'd even want that card in my house! You probably don't need me to answer who my favorite players were back in the day.
Man, you have some of the most impressive trifectas (or whatever you want to call them) when it comes to players you collect! That Carlton RC always gets me because the hats make it look like a White Sox card to me.
I was an 80s kid so I loved those Tigers teams and players like Trammell, Whitaker, Gibby, and Matt Nokes.
Oh man, the Fritz Ackley rookie card! As a fellow lefty, I didn't necessarily identify with left handers, because I batted righty. Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg was who I rooted for, and there was that fella Michael Jordan too.
the diamond king - oh man... sorry to hear about that. i remember having my collection stolen back in the late 80's. it was devastating. almost made me quit collecting.
runforekelloggs - i'm one of those throws left, bats right guys too.
elliptical man - sweet. now i have a list of players i can fill a pwe with
night owl - i was going to mention garvey, but this post was dragging on and on. maybe i'll build a trifecta of him in the future, since he's another guy i rooted for as a kid
john sharp - that freehan home run took place before i was born. but i did like lynn... and the other two guys in the red sox outfield
cincicuse bill - that 27 win season was awesome. coming up on the 50th anniversary
bret alan - i liked connors and evert too as a kid. i understand how you feel about the carlton rookie. it's the same reason i don't even look for a carew.
sean - i was more of a boggs guy... but a lot of that had to do with mattingly playing for the yankees
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - i'd love to see your top 10 1975 baseball cards
gcrl - rose and carew were awesome. i mainly remember watching baseball in the 80's. sure wish i remembered more of the 70's
johnnys trading spot - i remember those early 80's braves. what about glenn hubbard and gene garber?
sumomenkoman - i didn't like ryan when i was younger, but learned to appreciate him towards the end of his career. i mean... that dude was one tough guy.
cardboardhogs - oh man... i loved riggins. and that's so cool that you saw fernando before fernandomania
gregory - we're exact opposite. i hit righty... and golf righty. not sure about hockey, but i imagine i'd be righty on the ice too.
the snorting bull - nice call on tudor. i liked him when he was in st. louis. have both mullin and robinson's signatures in my lefty pc. as for hockey... i haven't dove into that sport, bc i don't know who is truly left-handed and who isn't
peter k steinberg - yeah... that grin kinda freaks me out.
dennis - that combination of whitaker and trammell was something else. gibson is an icon... but he hurt both of my teams, so i'm not the biggest fan ;D
jafronius - the ackley is one of my favorite vintage rookie cards in the collection. never thought i'd own a copy. i batted righty too. i think that's one of the reasons i love rickey so much. it was hard to be a basketball fan as a kid and not love jordan. that guy just dominated.
Carlton was so dominant and a easy guy to root for. Bob Horner, Yaz and Dale Murphy were my first real favorites growing up. That auto is a nice lean looking card. Good post.
bulldog - bob horner sure had a lot of fans (well based on these comments). i remember wanting to own his rookie card as a kid.
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