Doylestown Daily Intelligencer - November 5, 1980

Carlton Wins Cy Young Award

 

By the Associated Press

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Carlton, to the surprise of no one, is the National League Cy Young award winner for a record-tying third time.

 

And, just about here, there should be comments from the Philadelphia Phillies left-hander about how it feels to be honored again as the league's best pitcher.

 

But. Carlton, who played a key role in leading the Phillies to their first World Championship, was, as he has been to the media, unavailable.

 

He was voted the honor Tuesday by a Baseball Writers Association of America panel, and joined Tom Seaver and Sandy Koufax as the only three-time winners of the coveted award.

 

The fiercely private Carlton has refused to talk to the media for the past several seasons. That policy continued through the playoffs and the World Series and he was not even available to be notified that he had won the award.

 

He had been expected to go to Japan this week to conduct some baseball clinics with teammates Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose, but the trip was cancelled and the pitcher went hunting instead. Carlton's wife said she did not know where he was when the award was announced and added he was expected to be away for about a week.

 

But other people, as usual, spoke in his stead. "It (the Cy Young Award) was a very clear cut choice." said Bob Boone. his catcher. "He was just outstanding, especially considering the number of innings he worked and his strikeout total. His slider is an awesome pitch with great control.

 

"I liken it to (the Cubs) Bruce's split-fingered fastball because it turns into an unhittable pitch. But 'Lefty' is just not a slider pitcher. He's got two other great pitches. A remarkable feat was his consistency all year long."

 

The Phillie southpaw was 24-9 with a 2.34 earned run average during the regular season, leading the majors with 286 strikeouts. He was the winning pitcher in the opening game of the National League Championship Series against Houston and also won the second and sixth games of the World Series against Kansas City.

 

Carlton, who previously won the award in 1972 and 1977, was the Phillies' stopper and Manager Dallas Green marvelled at Carlton's performance.

 

"His ability to stay within himself adds to the mystique of his pitching and enabled him to maintain concentration on the field as well as off," said Green. "I can't say enough about what Carlton did. His dedication and hard work enabled him to maintain his quality of pitching, especially at his age (35)."

 

In the voting. Carlton drew 118 points, with 23 of 24 first place votes and one second-place ballot.  Jerry Reuss of the Los Angeles Dodgers got the other first-place vote and wound up a distant second with 55 points. Jim Bibby of the Pittsburgh Pirates was third with 28. followed by Joe Niekro of the Houston Astros with 11 and Tug McGraw of Philadelphia, Steve Rogers of the Montreal Expos, Joe Sambito of Houston and Mario Soto of the Cincinnati Reds with one point apiece.

 

As Kansas City's Clint Hurdle remarked during the Series, "When you call a pitcher 'Lefty' and everybody in both leagues knows who you mean, he must be pretty good."  

November 23, 1980

State Charges Doctor In Phony Drug Deal

 

By the Associated Press

 

HARRISBURG (AP) - State drug agents charged a Reading doctor on Friday with using the. names of five players on the Philadelphia Phillies to illegally prescribe drugs.

 

Dr. Patrick Mazza, 56, was accused of prescribing amphetamines by using the names of Steve Carlton, Greg Luzinski and his wife Jean, Pete Rose, Randy Lerch, Larry Christenson, former player Tim McCarver and Sheena Bowa, wife of Larry Bowa. None of the players and wives was charged, said Attorney General Harvey Bartie III.

 

"There is no evidence indicating any participation by the players -in the illegal conduct." said state Justice Department spokesman Stepnan Rosenfeld.

 

The players and the wives told state investigators that they never were treated by Mazza and never received the prescriptions that he allegedly wrote, Bartle said in a statement.

 

The drug story first emerged last summer, when the Phillies were battling for the National League baseball pennant. The Trenton, N.J., Times said in a copyright story that state narcotics officials wanted to question some Phillies and members of their Reading farm club concerning alleged illegal prescriptions.

 

Several Phillies players hotly denied that they were tied to any criminal activity. Third baseman Mike Schmidt, mentioned in the newspaper account, called the report "totally ridiculous." and first baseman Rose said the only doctors he knew in Pennsylvania were the team physicians for the Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

In a statement Friday afternoon, Phillies executive vice-president William Giles said the team has "not received any information from the authorities on the matter, and until we do, we have no comment, except that a thorough investigation into the matter was held last summer and all Philadelphia Phillies players were found to have no involvement in the matter whatsoever."

 

Besides Mazza, Robert L. Masley, 54, of Reading, and his son. Robert M. Masley, 24, also of Reading, were charged in the case. They were accused of taking the prescriptions to four Reading pharmacies, having them filled and receiving the drugs, Bartle said.

 

In all, Mazza is charged with illegally writing 23 prescriptions that totaled 2,630 dosage units of various amphetamine compounds, Bartle said.

 

A routine check of pharmacy files in Reading was the key to the charges, said Richard Weatherbee, director of Pennsylvania's Drug Law Enforcement office

 

That check found that the drugs Dexamyl. Dexednne, Eskatrol and Preludui had been written in the names of Philadelphia Phillies players.

 

Mazza could not be reached for comment.