Remembering the Steve Carlton Trade

It’s a trade that most likely would not have happened in the era of free agency. There were two pitchers, both in the mid-twenties, both of whom had relatively good success with their respective teams. And both thought they deserved a substantial raise. 

But these were the days of the dreaded reserve clause; that contractual device slipped into every players’ contract that bound the player to the last team he played for in perpetuity. 

The reserve clause, interestingly, was not always met with derision by the players. In the very early days of professional baseball, it was only inserted in the contracts of the very best players. If your contract had a reserve clause, that meant your team valued your play, which was a compliment. 

But as the reserve clause was extended to cover all professional baseball players’ contracts, the real world effects became obvious. The owners had all the leverage when it came to salary. Whether a player would get a raise depended more on the generosity of the owner, than on that player’s skill or performance. And baseball owners were not known for their generosity. 

The only leverage a player had was to hold out; to refuse to play until the owner caved in and gave the player at least part of what he wanted. But this was a dangerous strategy, as salary disputes often created bitter feelings on each side. 

Such was the case in February of 1972.  Two seasons earlier, Cardinals pitcher Steve Carlton sought to increase his salary from $26,000 to $50,000. The Cardinals offered $31,000, and Carlton sat out the 1970 Spring Training.  Relations with Cardinals owner Gussie Busch had fallen to such a low, that Busch ordered Carlton traded after the 1971 season, despite Carlton’s 20 wins that year. 

Meanwhile, Phillies pitcher Rick Wise also sought to double his salary after seven years in the major leagues. Despite 17 wins, including a no-hitter, and an ERA of 2.88 in 1971, the Phils were not budging on salary. 

The solution?  A straight-up trade of Rick Wise for Steve Carlton. Initially, the trade was not popular with Phillies fans, with Wise being a fan favorite. And Carlton was not happy over his lack of say in where he would play. 

Ironically, both Carlton and Wise signed for around $65,000 with their respective new teams.  The trade, therefore, was not so much about money as it was about management flexing its muscle over contract negotiations, a fact that prompted Wise to conclude that the trade was “ridiculous.”

The results of the trade are well-known to Phillies fans. In 1972, Carlton won 27 games, and accounted for about 46% of the team’s victories that year. He became a fan favorite, winning four Cy Young awards in Philadelphia.  His devastating slider was one big reason the Phillies were able to end their World Championship drought in 1980. 

Wise, meanwhile, pitched another 11 years and had a respectable baseball career.

But it was the ill will generated by a salary dispute, in an age when players had no bargaining power, that put into motion the trade that many Phillies fans consider to be the best in the team’s long history. 

William J. Kovatch, Jr.








 

References

 

Joseph Durso,"Cardinals Trade Carlton to the Phillies and Get Wise," New York Times (February 26, 1972).
 

Doug Miller, “#TBT: Wise-Carlton a Vintage Challenge Trade,” MLB.com (February 25, 2016) http://m.mlb.com/news/article/165334492/steve-carlton-rick-wise-trade-memories/.

Craig Muder, "Cardinals Trade Steve Carlton to Phillies," National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/cardinals-trade-steve-carlton-to-Phillies.

Larry Shenk, "Carlton Tade 'Phantastic' for Phils in '72," MLB.com (February 22, 2017) http://m.mlb.com/news/article/216714232/phillies-remember-1972-steve-carlton-trade/.