Steve Carlton wins 27th game for the Philadephia Phillies October 3, 1972

On this day in Baseball History October 3, 1972: Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies wins his 27th game of the season against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field by the score of 11-1 en route to a 27-10 record with a 1.97 ERA. What's astounding of Carlton's National League Cy Young Award performance of 1972 is that his 27 wins were almost half of the entire 59 wins that the Phillies put up in 1972. Here is the boxscore for the October 3, 1972 game between the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field from the October 4, 1972 edition of the New York Times:

Carlton would lead the league with 310 strikeouts with 87 walks, a league leading 257 hits allowed in 346.1 innings pitched for a WHIP of 0.993. Carlton made 41 starts with 30 complete games, both league bests. He would finish the season with eight straight complete games and 17 complete games in his last 19 starts.

Carlton would be the unanimous NL Cy Young Award winner, garnering every first place vote. This would be the first of four NL Cy Young Awards for Carlton.

He would be the last pitcher to win 27-games until Bob Welch would went 27-6 for the Oakland Athletics in 1990. Will we ever see a pitcher win 27-games? Its hard to tell with pitchers being on strict pitch counts and a five and sometimes six man rotation. Pitchers just don't make 40+ starts in a season anymore. I wouldn't bet on it happening anytime soon.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here to access Steve Carlton's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the article Carlton Captures No. 27 As Phils Rout Cubs, 11-1 from the New York Times dated October 4, 1972
- Click here to access the official Steve Carlton website

Pete Rose Played With 11 Hall of Famers

In an interview yesterday with Dan Patrick, Pete Rose spoke on a number of subjects. Once subject that piqued my interest was based in a comment that he made. Here is the quote:

“I know nobody that played with me took steroids,” he said. “I played with 11 Hall of Famers and played against 52 Hall of Famers, and I don’t know any of them linked to steroids.”

Now that got my wheels a-turning. Who are these 11 Hall of Famers that Rose played with. Consider this, Rose played from 1963-1986 (ironically the same number of years that he has been suspended).  In thinking about which teams he played with I came up with 7 definite answers. Here are the ones I got off the bat (in that order):

Johnny Bench
Joe Morgan
Tony Perez
Mike Schmidt
Steve Carlton
Tom Seaver
Frank Robinson

When I asked Pete for his input, aside from my first five answers, he gave me this one:

Barry Larkin

Now that makes 8. So I decided to think about who he played with on Montreal while with the Expos that became Hall of Famers. Andre Dawson came immediately to mind but I was unsure if Dawson signed with the Chicago Cubs before or after 1984. After checking the trusty Baseball Reference.com Dawson did in face play with Rose in Montreal as well as Gary Carter. That put us at 10.

Here is where it gets tricky. We were absolutely stumped. I went and checked every year that Rose played and looked to see who his teammates were and found a player who had a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia Phillies in the form of 6-at bats during the 1981 season. Any guesses? It was an 18-year old Ryne Sandberg. Bringing the list to 11.

Now I'm going to sound like an infomerical: Wait!!!! There's more. I'm going to add a 12th Hall of Famer. Now Pete didn't play with him but played for him: Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Big Red Machine.

So there you have the list. Maybe if I'm feeling up to it I'll try to deduce who were the 52 Hall of Famers that Pete Rose played against....Maybe ;)

Until Then, enjoy the clip of the interview Pete Rose did with Dan Patrick on July 25, 2013:

Sisco Kid