(Updated Sept. 22, 2022)
The strained relationship between Cardinals owner Gussie Busch and pitcher Steve Carlton had its roots in a dispute which occurred two years before the ill-fated trade of the future Hall of Famer.
On March 12, 1970, after Carlton refused to accept the club’s salary terms, Busch said, “I don’t care if he ever pitches a ball for us again.”
Carlton and the Cardinals eventually agreed on a contract, but Busch held a grudge.
Two years later, when Carlton again balked at the Cardinals’ contract offer, Busch ordered general manager Bing Devine to trade the pitcher.
Dealt to the Phillies on Feb. 25, 1972, for pitcher Rick Wise, Carlton was one of the game’s all-time best left-handers, winning four Cy Young awards, compiling 329 career wins and earning election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bitter Busch
After helping the Cardinals win consecutive National League pennants in 1967 and 1968, plus a World Series title, Carlton developed a devastating slider and posted a 17-11 record and 2.17 ERA in 1969. He also became the first major-league pitcher to strike out 19 batters in nine innings.
Entering spring training in 1970, Carlton, 25, told the Cardinals he wanted a salary of $50,000. The Cardinals, who paid Carlton $24,000 in 1969, gasped and responded with an offer of $30,000 for 1970. Carlton countered with an ask of $40,000, but the Cardinals “refused to budge” from the $30,000 figure, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Busch asked Carlton to accept the club’s terms and assured him the Cardinals “would make it up to him” if he produced a good season in 1970. After Carlton rejected the proposal, Busch told the Sporting News, “I don’t like his attitude, not a damn bit.”
In a rant reminiscent of his public scolding of the players in a 1969 spring training clubhouse meeting, Busch said, “The fans are going to resent this situation. I can’t understand it. The player contracts are at their best, the pension plan is the finest, the fringe benefits are better, yet the players think we are a bunch of stupid asses.
“I’m disillusioned,” Busch said. “I don’t know what’s happening among our young people, to our campuses and to our great country.”
Busch got support from the editor and publisher of The Sporting News, C.C. Johnson Spink, who wrote, “We believe fans in general will agree with Busch in his challenge to the other owners to join him in resisting some of the players’ demands.”
Surprise settlement
Carlton said he wouldn’t ask for a trade and Devine said he had no plans to deal the pitcher.
A day after Busch said he didn’t care if Carlton pitched again for the Cardinals, Carlton told the Post-Dispatch, “I intend to pitch, but I want to meet Bing again and try to solve this.”
Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg noted, “Carlton has kept his composure in the face of Busch’s unfortunate comment that he didn’t care if Steve ever pitched again for the Cardinals.”
Broeg concluded, “The Redbirds need the big left-hander, one of baseball’s best young pitchers.”
On March 17, 1970, Carlton signed a two-year $80,000 contract with the Cardinals. According to multiple published reports, the deal paid Carlton $30,000 in 1970 and $50,000 in 1971.
Carlton became the first Cardinals player to receive a two-year contract since third baseman Ken Boyer (1960-61).
“I never thought I’d sign a two-year contract, but this is a fair way to handle the situation and I’m very happy,” Carlton said.
Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer, who brokered the compromise, said, “This enabled both sides to maintain a posture and was fair to both of us _ to Steve and to the club.”
Get rid of him
In 1970, the first year of the contract, Carlton was 10-19. In the second year, 1971, he was 20-9.
The Cardinals reportedly offered Carlton a 1972 salary of $57,500. As spring training got under way, he remained unsigned. Carlton said he and the club were less than $10,000 apart, The Sporting News reported, but Busch was angry when the pitcher didn’t sign.
In an appearance at a January 2015 charity event at the Doubletree Hilton in St. Louis, Carlton recalled the negotiations with Busch. “I didn’t have an agent. I have one semester of junior college and I’m going up against a beer baron. He was a maniac and I didn’t know much about anything.”
In his book, “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said, “Mr. Busch wanted him gone.”
“This thing was generated by our difference with Carlton two years ago,” Devine told the Sporting News after dealing Carlton to the Phillies. “Having gone through that experience, we could sense a similar situation developing.”
The Phillies signed Carlton for $65,000 in 1972. Though the 1972 Phillies finished in last place in the East Division with 59 wins, Carlton was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA. He was 4-0 against the Cardinals.
Carlton, who was 77-62 as a Cardinal, pitched 24 years in the majors and was 329-244. He ranks second all-time in career wins by a left-hander. Warren Spahn has 363.
RetroSimba 
Alas, StL may have had at least two more pennants in the 70s if Carlton was in the rotation. Although Rick Wise was a good pitcher, he did not match up to Carlton. Another “what if” in Cardinal history.
Well said. Thanks.
Has the loss of one player ever changed the course of a decade the way the loss of Steve Carlton changed the decade of the ’70’s for St. Louis? The sad truth is we did worse than the Cubs when they gave us Lou Brock. With the way the Cubs ran their team, and the type of player Lou was, they were polar opposites. If not to us, sooner or later, they would have traded Brock. But with Steve, we had someone who wanted to remain Cardinal. In 1973 we gave Rick Wise 70k. Go figure
Good take on how Carlton trade may have been a worse deal than the Brock trade. Thanks.
Don’t forget that right after the Cardinals traded Carlton, they also traded Jerry Reuss. Word was that Reuss had facial hair and the old man didn’t like that. Reuss won 220 games in his career. Imagine how different the ’70s would have been with those two.
Good point. Thanks. Here is a link to an interview I did with Jerry Reuss in which he addresses that topic: https://retrosimba.com/2014/11/15/jerry-reuss-on-joe-torre-he-managed-cardinals-on-field/
[…] reported late to spring training in 1970 because of a contract dispute and struggled throughout most of the regular season. He was 1-2 in April and 1-4 May. Carlton […]
The Cardinals made a series of player personnel blunders after the two consecutive pennants. First they dealt Bobby Tolan and Wayne Granger to Cincinnati for a fading Vada Pinson. Then they acquired Dave Guisti, lost him, acquired him again, and eventually traded him to Pittsburgh where he, along with Granger in Cincy, became a top closer. Then you had deals sending out Mudcat Grant, the aforementioned Jerry Reuss, ’72 AL MVP Richie “Dick” Allen, Mike Torrez, Jose Cruz, and later Bake McBride that were all for much less in return. Imagine a ’70s rotation lead by Carlton, Reuss and Torrez! It would have been the decade of the two Big Red Machines.
Yep, thanks.
Don’t forget Mike Cuellar was traded in 1965 by the Cards and won a Cy Young in the 70’s. Gibson, Carlton, Reuss, Cuellar and Torres would have been a rotation to watch.
You’re right. Fred Norman can be added to the list, too.
[…] in February 1972 for pitcher Rick Wise. Cardinals owner Gussie Busch, angry because Carlton didn’t give in to contract terms, ordered general manager Bing Devine to trade […]