getty image photo: Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Steve Carlton circa 1986

By Tony “The Tiger” Hayes

SAN FRANCISCO–He was a Giant?

As a Phillie, the ego-centric Carlton ranked as one of the all -time accomplished ace pitchers AND ace tools. The prickly pitcher piled up wins and Cy Young Awards with ease but hardly any friends.

But upon joining San Francisco in a surprise mid-1986 transaction, the taciturn Carlton flipped the script on that story.

At least temporarily .

Suddenly “Lefty” was downright chatty, he gave his first press conference in more than a decade, stating he would pitch to age 50 and that he looked forward to a bright future with the Giants. He even proclaimed he’d stick around NorCal after his pitching days with an eye towards operating a vineyard in Napa.

But on the mound Carlton – slowed by age and a balky shoulder – proved he had all but withered on the vine. He appeared in just six games before he was gone, the one high-light being career strikeout No. 4,000.

Why was he a Giant?

Surprise contenders in ’86, the Giants, while leery of Carlton’s difficult rep – they insisted he talk to the media before bringing him into their young, unjaded clubhouse – saw the obvious benefits of adding a HOF bound hurler after he and the Phillies decided to part ways.

Carlton joined an SF rotation that featured Mike Krukow, Mike LaCoss, Vida Blue and Scott Garrelts. In a half dozen starts, Carlton was 1-3, with a 5.10 ERA.

His first Giants shining moment actually came as a batter when he clubbed a three-run round-tripper off the Cardinals Greg Mathews in a 8-3 road loss (7/21/86). After being cuffed around in his first three starts, Carlton earned his only Giants victory at Pittsburgh, throwing seven shutout frames in a 9-0 victory (7/26/86).

Before & After

Before joining the Giants, Carlton, armed with the most devastating swing and miss slider in history, had amassed a staggering 309 MLB victories with the Cardinals and Phillies. Included in his bevy of accomplishments were four Cy Young Award seasons, six 20 campaigns, 55 shutouts and a pair of World Series titles.

After leaving the Giants, just five weeks after signing, he immediately hooked on with the White Sox and later pitched for the Twins, retiring in 1988. Carlton made the Hall of Fame in 1994.

He wasn’t Mike Krukow. But…

In his final game with the Giants on a foggy Tuesday night at Candlestick Park, Carlton became just the second big league pitcher to reach the 4,000 career strikeout mark, fanning the Reds Eric Davis at Candlestick Park (8/5/86) with a swing and miss fastball in the third inning with no outs and two runners on base. The celebration was short lived as Carlton not would last through the fourth inning, leaving after surrendering allowing seven runs on seven hits as Cincinnati romped to a 11-6 victory. He was released just two days later.

Giant Footprint

Carlton never made it to Napa. These days “Lefty” is a right-wing nut who literally resides in a concrete and earth encased bunker in Colorado. He occasionally surfaces to spout bizarre conspiracy theories about gamma rays, secret societies that run the world and hypnotized suicidal political hit men.