For much of his career, Steve Carlton was a dominant strikeout pitcher, winning the Cy Young Award after an incredible 1972 season where he would win 27 of his team's 54 wins, against a stellar 1.97 ERA.  It was Carlton's first of four Cy Young awards, as Carlton would post a lifetime ERA of 3.22 across 24 seasons that may have lasted a few too long.  As a result, fans' impression of Carlton's dominance may have been diluted somewhat, as his cards are extraordinarily underrated in comparison with his Hall of Fame counterpart, Nolan Ryan, with whom he dueled for the major league career strikeout title during the 1983 season, Carlton holding the top spot for the majority of the season, and for much of 1984.  Carlton still holds the record for most strikeouts in National League history, with an even 4,000.  

Presented here is a spectacular high-grade example of Carlton's rookie card, graded NM-MT+ 8.5 by PSA.  Sharp and clean, with strong centering, an outstanding example of one of the key rookie cards of the 1960s.