200 Steve Carlton Cards

 

The lot of 200 Steve Carlton cards I got from eBay in December. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Back in December, I bought a lot of 200 Steve Carlton baseball cards for $40. I knew the cards were a mixture from the 1980’s, but I didn’t know the specific breakdown of what was in there. I do really enjoy the “grab bag” aspect of buying lots of baseball cards. Once I sorted through the cards, I was very happy with the mix of cards. There was one 1978 Topps card included, but everything else was from 1981-1987. The lot wasn’t heavily weighted towards 1986 and 1987, as so many lots can be. In fact, 1986 and 1987 were the years that the least numbers of cards were from. Almost all the cards came in plastic toploader sleeves, which was nice, especially since there’s apparently a global toploader shortage.

There was nothing truly rare or weird in here, the only oddities were a few Topps stickers from 1981 and 1982. What was included were just about every base card of Carlton’s from the 1980’s made by Topps, Donruss, and Fleer, plus numerous other cards that he appeared on from those manufacturers, like league leader cards.

Something that’s interesting about looking at multiple examples of the same baseball card is how different they still are—the printing isn’t exactly the same, the picture isn’t quite in focus, the cards are miscut. That’s why it’s so much fun to collect vintage baseball cards, right? Fun or frustrating, depending on your point of view.

Steve Carlton's 1986 Topps card.

Look at the two 1986 Topps cards pictured above. The coloring on the card on the left is much darker, whereas the card on the right pops out nicely, and you can see Carlton’s face.

4 1983 Steve Carlton Topps cards, all slightly different.

Or look at these 4 1983 Topps cards. From left to right, in the first card, the circular close-up of Carlton is very blurry (even on the best 1983 cards, this photo never looks perfectly focused to me) in the second card, the circular photo is better, but the card is mis-cut, with a noticeably larger border on the right of the card. On the third card, the circular photo is focused, and it’s well-centered, but there’s a streak of reddish ink on the right border of the card, presumably something that happened during the printing process. Finally, the fourth card, on the right, seems to be the best of the bunch, with none of the issues that the other three cards have. That’s just a small example of what card collectors have to deal with if they’re picky.

2 #1 Topps cards for Steve Carlton, 1982 and 1984.

Carlton got the prestigious honor of appearing on two Topps #1 cards during his career, in 1982 and 1984. During the 1980’s, the beginning of the Topps set were always “Highlights” or “Record Breakers” from the previous season. The 1982 card commemorates Carlton passing Bob Gibson to become the all-time NL strikeout leader. This was when league-wide records were still a thing. Players move so much between leagues now that I don’t think anyone cares about league records anymore. For the record, Steve Carlton is still the NL strikeout leader, with exactly 4,000 strikeouts. The 1984 card highlights Steve’s 300^th victory, achieved against his old team, the St. Louis Cardinals, as well as Carlton finishing the season as the all-time strikeout leader, with 3,709. The 1982 card is notable because it kind of looks like Steve doesn’t have a hand. Not the best photo angle to have chosen, Topps. The 1984 card is a much better photo, and you can get a sense of the power of Carlton’s delivery, as his 6’5” frame is captured in mid-windup, about to fire a pitch towards home plate.

1984 Topps NL Active Career Victory Leaders, featuring Fergie Jenkins, Steve Carlton, and Tom Seaver, 3 of the greatest pitchers in history.

Another awesome card from 1984 in this lot was Topps #706, “NL Active Career Victory Leaders.” The card features Carlton, with exactly 300 victories, Fergie Jenkins with 284, and Tom Seaver with 273. Simply put, on one card you have three of the best pitchers ever. Jenkins, Carlton, and Seaver won the 1971, 1972, and 1973 NL Cy Young Awards, in that order. They combined for 18 20-game winning seasons. Jenkins had 7, including 6 in a row from 1967-1972, Carlton had 6, and Seaver had 5. All 3 pitchers are members of the 3,000-strikeout club, with Jenkins becoming the first member of the club to finish his career with 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks. In 1971, Jenkins only walked 37 batters over 325 innings pitched. Oh, and he had 263 strikeouts that year.

I’ve met Steve Carlton and Fergie Jenkins. Unfortunately, I never had the good fortune to meet Tom Seaver. I’ve met Steve Carlton twice, once at a card show in Cooperstown during his induction to the Hall of Fame in 1994, and once at a card show in the Twin Cities in 2010. Steve was very nice to me both times I met him, very friendly. I met Fergie Jenkins at the festivities around the 2014 All-Star Game. Jenkins was signing autographs as a benefit for his charity. Jenkins was really nice as well. I can’t remember exactly what I said to him. Fergie was standing up when I met him, and man, the 6’5” he’s listed at is no joke. I’m 6 feet tall, but Fergie made me feel short. I follow Fergie Jenkins on Instagram, and his account is a lot of fun—he’s pretty active on the Gram.

Steve Carlton's 1981 Donruss and Topps cards, both featuring his awesome perm.

Looking at these cards again, I notice things I haven’t before. Like how Carlton’s 1981 Donruss and Topps cards are really similar. He’s got a perm in both pics–hey, it was the early 80’s, perms were a thing—and in both pics his face is half in shadow. But the Donruss card actually looks decent, whereas the Topps card it’s just like, this is the best picture you had of him, really? You can hardly see his face. It’s probably a good thing that Fleer and Donruss entered the baseball card market in 1981 to give Topps some competition.