Phillies: Players who looked weird wearing another team’s uniform

Steve Carlton – Giants, White Sox, Indians, Twins (1986-88)

Only three pitchers in the Baseball Hall of Fame have the Phillies designated as their “primary team”: Pete Alexander, Robin Roberts, and Steve Carlton.

Carlton began his career in St. Louis, but after one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history (where the Cardinals swapped Carlton for Rick Wise) Lefty came to Philadelphia to begin one of the greatest careers in baseball history.

In his first season with the Phillies Carlton became just the second pitcher since 1950 (Sandy Koufax did it three times before then) to win the Triple Crown with 27 wins, a 1.97 ERA, and 310 strikeouts. That Triple Crown season led him to his first of four Cy Young awards.

For the next 15 years Carlton was the best left-handed pitcher and arguably the best overall pitcher in baseball. He won 241 games with 185 complete games, 39 shutouts, a 3.09 ERA, and 3,031 strikeouts.

To this day, Carlton remains the franchise leader in wins, strikeouts, and games started with 499. Only Robin Roberts faced more batters (15294 to Carlton’s 15229) and has a higher WAR, just 5.1 points higher.

Sixteen games into the 1986 season, the Phillies released Carlton after he posted a 6.18 ERA with 15 home runs allowed. The dominant lefty would go on to sign with the Giants, where he made just six starts with a 5.10 ERA and retired after tossing his 4,000th strikeout.

Retirement didn’t last long in 1986 and Carlton signed with the Chicago White Sox for 10 starts. In those 10 appearances, Carlton went 4–3 with a 3.69 ERA.

In 1987 Carlton’s journey across baseball continued to Cleveland, where he appeared in 23 games, only 14 being starts. At the July 31 trade deadline, Carlton was traded for just the second time in his career, 15 years after the one that sent him to Philadelphia.

Now, Carlton found himself in Minnesota and appeared in nine games with a 6.70 ERA. Lefty was left off the postseason roster and the Twins went on to win the World Series against his original team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Carlton would make one more start and three relief appearances for Minnesota in 1987 before officially retiring at the age of 44.

Lefty earned enshrinement into Cooperstown in 1994, the first Phillie in 14 years to be inducted into Cooperstown after Chuck Klein’s posthumous induction in 1980.

Carlton was added to the Phillies Wall of Fame and saw his number retired in 1989 as the greatest pitcher in team history.