steve carlton is in my hall of famer collection

fairly early on in my collecting days, i found myself owning a 1971 topps steve carlton card.  it was a strange sight to see, given that i was more familiar with the then-present day version of carlton on the phillies.  i made sure to find a card that showed the carlton i remember for my hall of famer collection:

that's a 2018 topps five star career year autograph card, featuring the perm-era carlton.  here's the back:

the card focuses on 1972, carlton's first season with the phillies and the best of his career (hence, the name of the autograph subset), but that is definitely a photo from the late '70s/early '80s.

i was well aware of carlton as a young fan, thanks to the fact that the dodgers and phillies faced off in the nlcs in 1977, 1978, and 1983. carlton also was the starting pitcher in the 1979 all-star game, which was a seminal event in my early fandom.

in 1980, while i was hoping that jerry reuss would get some cy young votes, i knew that it was carlton's award based on his 24-9 record and 286 strikeouts (by the way, would someone please explain to me how steve stone won the american league cy young award in 1980 over mike norris? it baffled me as a youth, and it baffles me today). carlton would go on to lead the phillies to their first world series title that fall, going 3-0 in four postseason starts. i sort of felt badly for the royals, but had been rooting for the phillies (i was a staunch national league supporter back then), and can still remember tug mcgraw coming in to relieve carlton in the 8th inning of the deciding game 6 and then slapping his chest and pounding his glove on his leg as he went back to the dugout at the end of the frame.  for some reason, that image has stuck with me more than tug's jump after closing out the game and series.

anyway, carlton was one of the best pitchers of my youth. he won three cy young awards and was in the top 5 two other times. he also had three top-5 mvp finishes to go along with his two world series rings (he was with the cardinals when they beat the red sox in 1967).  carlton retired with 329 wins and 4,136 strikeouts. he was the first lefty to reach 3,000 strikeouts.  in 1983, nolan ryan beat carlton to walter johnson's record of 3,508 (baseball reference now notes that the big train had 3,509 career strikeouts), but carlton caught and passed ryan for a time on the all-time leader list that same season.  he is still number four all-time in strikeouts today, having been passed by ryan, randy johnson, and roger clemens.

i never saw carlton pitch in person, but i sure did follow the last 11 years of his career.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame