Steve Carlton: 160 baseball cards

Some of the cool stickers I got in my lot of 160 Steve Carlton baseball cards. Check out the awesome picture of Steve and Dave Parker! In the lower left you can see Steve and Jim Kaat-they pitched together with the Phillies from 1976-1979.

An assortment of Steve Carlton cards from the 1980's. Dig those fancy Glossy Fleers! Also, a rare card of Carlton with the Giants.

Earlier this week, I wrote about my recent purchase of 440 Steve Carlton cards for $50. In this post I’ll examine another recent purchase I made, this time of 160 Steve Carlton cards for $40. Not as good a bargain, I know. It’s still only 25 cents a card, so I don’t feel too bad about it. What convinced me to buy this lot of cards were the more obscure oddities it contained. 

This lot had quite a few of the stickers from the early 1980’s, which you don’t come across that often. Just check out the picture of Carlton and Dave Parker, probably taken at an All-Star Game. It’s a very cool sticker. I’m also a sucker for oddball cards like the 1986 mini Fleers, one of which was included here. The lot also included Steve’s 1986 and 1987 Sportflics cards, a short-lived brand that used lenticular printing—if you moved the card, you saw a different image. Pretty cool, huh? This was cutting edge technology back in the mid-1980’s, folks! 

There were a good amount of Carlton’s 1980’s base cards from Topps, Fleer, and Donruss, but not too much duplication. What I was really excited about in this lot were some of the lesser-known Fleer cards from the 1980’s. Included were 8 of Carlton’s 1985 Fleer Limited Edition card, one of those cards that I never knew about when I was a kid, and only learned about when I started trying to complete my Steve Carlton collection as an adult. Apparently, the Limited Edition sets of 44 cards were only distributed at McCrory’s variety stores. The lot also had 7 of Steve’s 1987 Fleer Exciting Stars card, which shows him in a Chicago White Sox uniform. The 44 card Exciting Stars set was an exclusive to Cumberland Farms convenience stores. I’ve never even heard of McCrory’s or Cumberland Farms, so I guess that explains why these cards are pretty obscure to me. I would assume that the sets eventually found their way into the hands of sports card dealers. The Exciting Stars set mainly consisted of younger players, although there were a handful of veterans like Carlton, Gene Garber, and Steve Garvey included. (I think Steve Garvey was probably included in EVERY card set from the 1980’s!) And leading off the Exciting Stars set was…Orioles relief pitcher Don Aase? Really? Well, he was coming off his only All-Star selection in 1986, so there’s that. I’m not sure how exciting kids would have found Steve Carlton in 1987—sure, he had gotten his 4,000^th strikeout in 1986, but that was about the only highlight of a season that saw him pitch for three teams, and finish with a won-loss record of 9-14 with an ERA of 5.10. 

Speaking of 1986, there were 9 copies of Carlton’s 1986 Donruss Highlights card, which is one of the few cards showing him as a member of the San Francisco Giants. The copywriter for Donruss had a rather dismal view of Carlton’s 1986 season: “There seemed no reason or need for Steve Carlton to sign on with the San Francisco Giants July 3.” Wow, that seems pretty judgmental for the back of a baseball card. The card then notes that Carlton struck out Eric Davis on August 5^th for his 4,000^th strikeout, “in the third inning of a game he would last only one-third of an inning more.” Ouch. “Carlton struck out only three batters in that August 5^th game and the Reds went on to win 11-6.” So harsh! Just two days after getting his 4,000^th strikeout, Carlton announced his retirement, which was really a way for the Giants to gracefully release him. 

Contrast the pessimistic text on the back of the Donruss Highlights card with the optimistic spin that Fleer put on Carlton’s 1986 season on his 1987 SuperStar Specials card, which has a picture of him in a White Sox uniform: “For Carlton, the {strikeout} mark was a great measure of satisfaction, after he had to sit out a good part of the 1985 season with arm problems. But he came back and brought a different assortment of pitches…Carlton mixes everything to great advantage.” The Fleer card says nothing about Steve retiring/being released by the Giants, instead closing with: “A week later, he joined the White Sox where he had a 4-3 record and a chance in 1987 to build on his strikeout mark.” To sum up—the Donruss card essentially says, “He’s a washed-up veteran, he’s done!” while the Fleer card says, “He’s got a great future in the American League!” 

Part of the difference between the tone might simply be the fact that Carlton is pictured with different teams on the two cards. Carlton’s stint with the Giants was not very successful: 6 starts, a 1-3 record, and a 5.10 ERA. For whatever reason, he was better with the White Sox: 10 starts, a 4-3 record, and a 3.69 ERA. Carlton obviously wanted to keep pitching, and his success with the White Sox likely gave him hope for the 1987 season. Carlton was a non-roster invitee to 1987 spring training with the Phillies, who had released him in June of 1986. After a few spring training starts, the Phillies let Carlton know they wouldn’t add him to their roster. But he caught on with Cleveland Indians and was traded to the Minnesota Twins at the trading deadline. 

Back to the cards: there were several “glossy” copies of Carlton’s 1987 Fleer cards. Fleer Glossy was basically a way for Fleer to try and compete with Topps’ “Tiffany” sets, which were produced on higher-quality paper with a glossy finish on the cards. I don’t have many of the Fleer Glossy cards, so this was a cool find. There were also 24 cards from the 1990’s and 2000’s. I have a lot of Carlton’s post-playing cards, but honestly, there are so many produced that I’m not trying to collect ALL of them. Basically, only the ones that look cool. There were some interesting ones, including a 2005 Donruss Champions card that shows Carlton as a San Francisco Giant, walking off the mound after his 4,000^th strikeout. 

All in all, I was satisfied with this lot of cards. As I wrote in the above paragraphs, I was happy with the odd 1980’s cards and stickers that were included in this lot.