Steve Carlton

Steven Norman Carlton (born December 22, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher for six different teams from 1965 to 1988, most notably as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies with whom he won four Cy Young Awards as well as the 1980 World Series. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. Nicknamed "Lefty", Carlton has the second-most lifetime strikeouts of any left-handed pitcher (4th overall), and the second-most lifetime wins of any left-handed pitcher (11th overall). He was the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards in a career. He held the lifetime strikeout record several times between and , before his contemporary Nolan Ryan passed him. One of his most remarkable records was accounting for nearly half (46%) of his team's wins, when he won 27 games for the last-place (59–97) Phillies. He is the last National League pitcher to win 25 or more games in one season, as well as the last pitcher from any team to throw more than 300 innings in a season. He also holds the record with the most career balks of any pitcher, with 90 (double the second on the all-time list, Bob Welch). Early years Carlton was born and raised in Miami, Florida, where he played Little League and American Legion Baseball during his youth. Steve was the only son of Joe and Anne Carlton and was raised with his sisters Joanne and Christina on 144th Street in Miami. Joe Carlton was an airline maintenance worker. As a teenager, Carlton began reading and following the teachings of Eastern philosophy and Paramahansa Yogananda, who promoted greatness through meditation.