Remembering Carlton's 3,000th strikeout
Through his first full 14 big league seasons, Steve Carlton averaged 209 strikeouts per year. Barring injury entering the 1981 season, he would become the first left-hander ever to reach 3,000 strikeouts.
Lefty picked up 28 strikeouts in his first four starts (3-0, 2.45 ERA), setting the stage for some baseball history at Veterans Stadium. The date was April 29, a Wednesday night against the first-place Montreal Expos.
Carlton needed three strikeouts to reach 3,000 and become the sixth pitcher (first lefty) to reach that lofty height. He handed the Expos a 6-2 loss.
His first pitch came at 7:40 p.m. Always a fast worker, Carlton left little doubt as he struck out the side in four minutes: Tim Raines went down swinging, Jerry Manuel was called out and Tim Wallach took a 3-2 pitch for strike three. The crowd rose to its feet, the scoreboard flashed a message about 3,000 strikeouts and Lefty tipped his cap to the 30,142 appreciative fans.
Longtime umpire Frank Pulli was behind the plate.
“For some reason, I knew he needed three going into the game,” Pulli said. “I believe I was more pumped than Lefty. After I called Wallach out on the 3-2 pitch, he complained a little. He thought it was high. I didn’t. I told him, 'Tim, you’ll be the answer to a trivia question some day.'"
The game was televised on PRISM that night. Chris Wheeler and Tim McCarver were the broadcasters. Lefty didn’t speak with reporters during this period of his career. He did a brief postgame interview with McCarver on PRISM.
McCarver: “Since your first year here in 1972, I don’t think I’ve ever seen since then a crowd respond to you like they did tonight when you got your 3,000th strikeout.”
Carlton: “They like to see people achieve different goals. They are right there plugging with you, and you’re always happy to have a nice crowd like this.”
Later that same season (Sept. 21), Lefty fanned Montreal’s Andre Dawson in Montreal for No. 3,118, the most for any National League pitcher. When Carlton’s career ended after the 1988 season, he ranked second (4,136) to Nolan Ryan on the all-time strikeout list.