Do you remember Steve Carlton as a Minnesota Twin?

In his final year in the majors in 1988, Carlton ended his career with the Twins after joining them the previous season. “Lefty” appeared in just four games and had a 0-1 record with a 16.67 ERA. Was this still vintage Carlton? No.

In this week’s version of my Yesterday column – reminiscing about sports and pop culture in the 1960, 70s, 80s, and sometimes beyond – I’ll look back at the twilight of Carlton’s career, as well as other prominent Philadelphia athletes who should have retired sooner than each of them did.

In addition, I’ll have the results of the recent Times News poll asking which Philadelphia athlete should have retired earlier – Carlton, Allen Iverson, Cole Hamels, Eric Lindros, or Ryan Howard.

Also, what did Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth have in common? And what was your pre-NFL season reading material?

And The Winner Is ... In the newspaper’s poll, Howard was the overwhelming winner with 58 percent of the vote. Lindros and Iverson both accumulated 16 percent, Carlton nine percent, and surprisingly Hamels had just one percent.

No Super Steve ... Carlton’s last productive year with the Phillies was in 1984 when he was 13-7 with a 3.88 ERA. At the time, nagging injuries and consistent ineffectiveness began to plague him, and rumors started to swirl that it was time to retire. If you recall, Carlton’s previous season - a 15-16 record and a 3.11 ERA - he started to show some mileage on his arm, but he still managed to lead the league in strikeouts with 275 and innings pitched with 283.2. That season was overshadowed by John Denny’s 19-win Cy Young Award campaign and Al Holland’s bullpen heroics.

During his heyday from 1972-84 Carlton was 236-145 with a 3.01 ERA. Carlton also won two World Series games in 1980.

It all ended for Carlton in Phillie pinstripes on June 24, 1986, when the club released him. At the time, the team was floundering at 32-35 and 14 games off the pace under manager John Felske. They did rebound, however, to finish second behind the future World Champion Mets with an 86-75 record.

That season, Kevin Gross and Shane Rawley were at the top of the rotation ... hard to believe, Harry.

Carlton tried to make a comeback with the Phils, but the club knew better after the 4-8 record and 6.18 ERA in the ‘86 season. He was signed by the Giants, started six games, and was 1-3 with a 5.10 ERA. The following season, Carlton was a combined 6-14 with Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox. There were some positive signs with his 3.74 ERA and 152 innings, but there really wasn’t enough to justify him moving forward.

He did, and finally signed off with Minnesota at age 43 in ’88.

Big Piece and Hollywood ... Howard or the “Big Piece” wasn’t able to come back from an Achilles injury during the 2011 postseason. From there, Howard hit just 25 combined homers in the 2012-23 seasons and played in just a combined 151 games as he dealt with the repercussions of the injury.

Howard did hit 23 homers apiece in 2014 and ’15, and he had 25 in his final season in 2016. But his batting average dipped significantly below .250 in each of his final three years and he led the league in strikeouts with 190 in 2014. It became evident that Howard’s skills gradually deteriorated after the Achilles injury.

Hamels, or “Hollywood,” was shipped to Texas after the 2015 season - one during which many spotted a noticeable difference in him. Hamels had a 114-90 record in 10 seasons with the Phillies, and had a 49-32 overall record with Texas, the Chicago Cubs, and Atlanta (do you remember that?), where he retired after the 2020 season.

His last effective season was in 2016 when he was 15-5 with a 3.32 ERA with the Rangers. Hamels’ was clearly on the downside after the Rangers dealt him to traded him to the Cubs in 2018.

The Answer and the Next One ... In the 90s, Allen “The Answer” Iverson and Eric “The Next One” Lindros were the two household names of Philadelphia sports. There weren’t any other athletes who were as synonymous with Philadelphia sports. You just have to look at their nicknames to see they were viewed as “messiahs.”

Iverson did have 12 productive seasons (there’s an asterisk here, see below) with the Sixers, averaging 27.6 points. Before he was shipped to Denver, He averaged 33 points in his last full season. In true irony, Iverson had issues with then head coach Maurice Cheeks, who was a disciplinarian. Two of the franchise’s greatest guards couldn’t get along.

He averaged 26.3 points in three seasons with the Nuggets, but his production began to drop over the last two. He was then shipped to Detroit where he played one season before he began the following season with Memphis. Iverson later made his way back to Philly during the same season, which was his last one. But over the 25 games with the Sixers, Iverson was just a shadow of himself.

Lindros spent eight years with the Flyers, tallying 369 goals. He was supposed to bring the Flyers back to hockey’s Promised Land.

But he was shipped to the Rangers and was a flop there, scoring 92 goals in three years. It became apparent that the game’s labeled next megastar wasn’t ever going to quite fulfill that expectation. He battled through injuries in his last year with the Rangers as well as solo seasons with Toronto and Dallas - the latter one where he ended his career in 2006-07 with 493 goals, including just 124 in five years after leaving Philadelphia.

Best of the Rest ... On the national scene, Emmitt Smith played his final season with Arizona - which was a mistake. Among others who shouldn’t have made a final round were Jerry Rice (ended with Seattle) and Ricky Henderson (Dodgers). You could add ex-Sixer Moses Malone (Spurs) to the list as well.

Elvis and the Babe ... During this week in 1977 (Aug. 16 to be exact), Elvis Pressley passed away suddenly at age 42, and the world went into shock. I had mentioned it last year in this column, but I can still recall how much of America reacted as they lost a true piece of Americana.

Yet, most people forget that Babe Ruth passed away on the same day at age 53 in 1948. Approximately 75,000 people attend his viewing at Yankee Stadium and thousands packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was another moment when the country lost a piece of its heritage.

In the Summertime ... For me, one of the biggest moments of the summer back in the day was to go to the Jersey Shore and lie on the beach reading my pro football preview magazines.

In the 70s, Street and Smith was considered to be the “Bible” of sport magazines, and the Sporting News was its parallel. Others in the mix were Pro Football Digest, Sport, and Pro Football Focus. Street and Smith also did a great job with its college football preview.

Memory Lane ... Every week, I’ll look back at a former player, manager, head coach, or media personality from our yesterday.

Do you remember Randy Lerch? The lefthander spent seven years with the Phillies and had an overall 36-42 record with a 4.46 ERA as a starter. His best year was in 1978 when he was 11-8 with a 3.96 ERA. Lerch also had stops in San Francisco, Montreal, and Milwaukee, posting an overall 60-64 record with a 4.53 ERA in 11 major league seasons.

Feedback ... Your comments, thoughts, and ideas are always welcomed at tnpsorts@tnonline.com