Steve Carlton 1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit, & Run

 

Steve Carlton 1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit, & Run (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

The backs of the Pitch, Hit, & Run cards were on red card stock, different from the blue that regular 1980 Topps were printed on. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

The 1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit, & Run was a 34-card set issued by Topps. With every order of large fries at Burger King, you’d get 3 cards plus a checklist. Burger King also issued a 1980 Phillies team set.

Steve’s Pitch, Hit, & Run card uses the same photo as his 1980 Topps card, and both cards have the All-Star banner. The back of the Pitch, Hit, & Run cards used a red stock, instead of the blue that Topps used for 1980.

1980 would prove to be an amazing season for Carlton. He led the NL in wins, going 24-9. Carlton led all of MLB with 286 strikeouts-his closest competitor in either league was Nolan Ryan, with 200 k’s. Steve threw 304 innings, becoming the last pitcher to date to throw 300 innings in a season, a distinction that won’t be broken anytime soon. Carlton won his 3rd Cy Young Award in 1980.

The 1980 Phillies won the NL East, and then beat the Houston Astros in a thrilling NLCS. Carlton was 1-0 in the NLCS, and 2-0 in the World Series. Lefty was on the mound for the decisive Game 6, as the Phillies captured their first World Series title, beating the Kansas City Royals.

Vote for Steve Carlton for the St. Louis Cardinals 2022 Hall of Fame!

Steve Carlton with the St. Louis Cardinals

 Just like last year, Steve Carlton is a candidate for the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. It's Steve's 5th time on the Cardinals Hall of Fame ballot. You can vote online for the Cardinals Hall of Fame here. Steve is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame, and it would be great for his career with the Cardinals to be recognized as well. Obviously, Carlton's career with the Phillies overshadows his years with the Cardinals, but he was still an excellent pitcher when he was with St. Louis. Carlton was a 3-time All-Star with the Cardinals, in 1968, 1969, and 1971. Carlton was the starting pitcher for the 1969 All-Star Game, and had his first 20-win season with the Cardinals in 1971. Carlton's famous 19-strikeout performance came with the Cardinals in 1969, against the Mets. Now that it's been more than 50 years since the Cardinals traded Lefty away, it's time him to join the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Steve Carlton 1985 Drake's Big Hitters and Super Pitchers

 

1985 Steve Carlton Drake's Big Hitters and Super Pitchers (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

The back of the 1985 Drake's used a red card stock-much easier to read than the green on the 1985 Topps cards. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Drake’s Snack Cakes are a product that I was not familiar with growing up in the Midwest. According to Wikipedia, Drake’s are mainly distributed on the East Coast. Why do I bring this up? Well, for several years in the 1980’s, Drake’s made a series of baseball cards. The cards started in 1981 as “Drake’s Big Hitters,” featuring powerful sluggers of the day. Drake’s had some kind of licensing deal with Topps, as they used a unique design on the front of their cards, and different photos from Topps, but the backs were identical to the Topps cards of that year. In 1985, Drake’s set “Big Hitters and Super Pitchers” was the first to include star hurlers. It’s only fitting that Steve Carlton was featured in that set.

For 1985, Drake’s used a red stock rather than the green that Topps used. It was a wise choice, because you can actually read the backs of the Drake’s cards. It’s especially noticeable when you have 20 years of stats on the back of your card, like Lefty had.

I really like this photo of Carlton in mid-delivery, as it looks like the ball is coming right at you. It’s very similar to the photo used on Carlton’s 1985 Topps Record Holders card. You’d better be ready to hit, as it looks like Lefty’s bringing the heat. Just try to lay off the slider in the dirt—easier said than done!

Steve Carlton 1986 Leaf

 

1986 Leaf Steve Carlton (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Here's the back of Steve's 1986 Leaf card, complete with French! (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Donruss made Leaf cards for sale in Canada, to compete with Topps’ O-Pee-Chee cards. The Canadian cards are the perfect way to improve your baseball-related French vocabulary.

The 1986 Leaf and Donruss card features a nice action shot of Carlton in mid-delivery, wearing the awesome powder blue road uniforms the Phillies sported throughout much of Carlton’s time with the team.

Looking at the stats on the back of the card, you can see Lefty’s impressive stats going into the 1986 season. A 3.04 ERA over 4,878 innings pitched, 3,920 strikeouts, 55 shutouts, and 314 wins. A Hall of Fame career, to be certain.

But if you look at Carlton’s 1985 season, you can tell something happened: just 92 innings pitched and a won-loss record of 1-8. What happened was that Carlton went on the disabled list for the only time in his 24-year MLB career. Carlton had a strained rotator cuff, and he missed 2.5 months of the 1985 season.

Carlton actually pitched well in 1985, as his stellar 3.33 ERA indicates, but he was a victim of poor run support, as the Phillies could only scratch across an average of 2.39 runs in Lefty’s 16 starts. That’s less than half of the 5.23 runs the Phillies scored for Carlton in 1984! The Phillies also lost 4 of Carlton’s 1985 starts by 1 run.

When Carlton went on the disabled list on June 21, his ERA was a sparkling 2.43. Carlton came back from the DL on September 2, and he started 3 games in September. But he didn’t make a start after September 14. There were still more than 20 games left in the season, and the Phillies were way out of the pennant race, so I don’t know why Carlton didn’t start again. Maybe his rotator cuff was still bothering him.