Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Merriam-Webster dictionary website, is repine, a verb meaning “to feel or express dejection or discontent” or “to long for something” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day). According to www.etymonline.com, the word first appears in the language in the “mid-15c., probably from re-, here likely an intensive prefix, + pine (v.) ‘yearn.’” Of course, that begs the question of where pine came from. So, again according to the online etymological dictionary, pine refers to a conical evergreen tree, but that is the noun form, and we’re interested in the verb form.

The verb pine is from “Middle English pinen ‘cause to starve’ (c. 1300), from Old English pinian ‘to torture, torment, afflict, cause to suffer,’ from *pīn (n.) ‘pain, torture, punishment,’ from a general Germanic word (compare Middle Dutch pinen, Old High German pinon, German Pein, Old Norse pina), all possibly ultimately from Latin poena ‘punishment, penalty’ (see penal). If so, the Latin word probably came into Germanic with Christianity. The intransitive sense of ‘to languish, waste away, be consumed with grief or longing,’ the main modern meaning, is recorded from early 14c., via the Middle English intransitive senses of ‘endure penance, torment oneself; endure pain, suffer.’”

On this date in 1982, Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies won the Cy Young Award in the National League of Major League Baseball. Of course, someone wins the Cy Young Award in each of the leagues every year, but what makes this particular award remarkable is that it was Carlton’s fourth, making him the first pitcher in MLB history to win the award four times.

Steve Carlton, known as “Lefty,” was born in Miami, FL, where he played ball growing up. In 1963, he pitched briefly for Miami Dade College, as a relief pitcher, but he then signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. With the Cardinals, he quickly rose up through their minor league system, and he debuted in the major leagues with the Cards in 1965. As a starter in 1967, Lefty posted an earned run average (ERA) under 3 while winning 14 games. In ’68, his ERA was even lower although he won only 13 games. Now, if you’re familiar with baseball statistics, that sounds pretty impressive, but 1968 was The Year of the Pitcher, when 22 pitchers had an ERA below 2, and Bob Gibson led the big leagues with a 1.12 ERA. That year Gibson, for the Cardinals, started 34 games and pitched 9 innings in 28 of them.

Between the ’68 and ’69 seasons, MLB decided to lower the pitcher’s mound, and that change made a big difference. Gibson’s ERA jumped to 2.18 in 1969 and 3.12 in 1970. But Steve Carlton’s ERA actually improved to 2.17, and he won 17 games. In 1970, he had a salary dispute with the Cardinals and sat out Spring Training. He lost 19 games. But the next year he was back on track, winning 20 games for the Cardinals, though his ERA was 3.56. After the ’71 season, he found himself in another salary dispute with Cardinals management, and the owner of the team ordered him traded. So before the 1972 season, Carlton was sent to Philadelphia in return for pitcher Rick Wise. At the time, it seemed like a fair trade for both teams, but in retrospect, it is considered one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history.

In 1972, Lefty had one of the most remarkable seasons in MLB history. He had 27 wins to just 10 losses and an ERA of 1.97. He finished 30 of the 41 games he started. In the middle of the season he won 15 games in a row. Remarkable numbers in and of themselves, but the context makes the numbers even more impressive. In 1972, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 97 games and won only 59. They had the second worst record in the major leagues, trailed by only the Texas Rangers, who went 54 and 100 (if you’re wondering about the total numbers, a players’ strike wiped out the first week and a half of the season). Carlton won nearly 46% of the team’s total wins. Carlton won his first Cy Young Award that year, the only player in the history of the award to win it while pitching for a losing team.

I was in high school during that 1972 season, and one thing that is memorable is the attendance at Phillies home games. The year before, the club had opened Veterans Stadium, a cookie-cutter stadium with artificial turf that was used for both football and baseball, seating almost 57,000 for baseball. In 1972, the club averaged a little over 17,000 per game, making them 6^th of the 12 National League teams despite the horrible record. And what happened to make that attendance figure so high was that every fourth game was mostly sold out. Carlton would pitch, and the stands would flock to the stadium. On the other three or four days, attendance was low, very low. The enthusiasm for a Carlton start was amazing while the rest of the team was practically ignored. Of course, at the end of that 1972 season, a young player named Mike Schmidt was brought up for 13 games in September and hit his first of 548 home runs, but that was when the season was long over.

Carlton won the Cy Young again in 1977, 1980, and 1982, though he never won 27 games again the rest of his career. In fact, no pitcher has won as many as 27 games in a season since. Carlton won World Series rings in 1967 and 1980, but no other season was as remarkable as that 1972 season. As a baseball fan, I repine for pitchers the like of Steve Carlton. Last year in the National League, three pitchers tied for most complete games, with a high of 2. Yes, I repine for the likes of Lefty.

Today’s image is from The Sentinel Record of Hot Springs, AR, from January 18, 2019 (https://www.hotsr.com/news/2019/jan/18/gibson-carlton-to-lead-off-baseball-wee/).