Chris Carpenter: From nearly quitting to Cy Young Award

By Eric Gold
MLB Editor

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - When Chris Carpenter was about to have a second surgical procedure on his pitching shoulder in 2003, he thought this may be the end of his career.

A torn labrum cut short his 2002 season in Toronto and he was signed that winter by the St. Louis Cardinals, who took a chance on the righty and paid him $300,000. However, scar tissue near his shoulder prevented Carpenter from pitching in 2003 and there was one night he thought his pitching days were over.

"It sticks into my head and it will be a memory for the rest of my life," Carpenter said. "I threw a Double-A game in Knoxville, Tennessee right before the All-Star game and I couldn't play catch. I just wanted to go home. My arm hurt really bad and I knew there was something wrong."

Carpenter said he came home to his native New Hampshire and sat down with his wife and saw his son, who was born the previous November.

Chris Carpenter said, "It's a great feeling. A few years ago I never thought I was going to play again."

"I told my wife I didn't want to do it anymore," Carpenter said. "I wanted to come home and I didn't think I could go through the surgery. I knew there was something wrong in there again. I'll never forget the night we sat here until about three o'clock in the morning, crying and talking about my career. My wife told me she didn't think I was done. I was ready to be done."

Not only wasn't Carpenter's career finished, but it was about to start flourishing again. The St. Louis righty rallied around that second surgery and was honored as the Comeback Player of the Year honor in the NL after compiling a 15-5 record in 2004.

On Thursday, he received the ultimate pitching honor of being named the National League's Cy Young Award winner.

"It's unbelievable to get into the situation where I'm at right now," Carpenter. "It's a great feeling. A few years ago I never thought I was going to play again. I go from coming back and winning Comeback Player to coming back and winning the Cy Young the year after that. It's a crazy feeling."

Carpenter became the first Cardinals hurler in 35 years to claim the honor, given to the league's best pitcher. He received 19 first-place votes and 132 points to beat Florida's Dontrelle Willis by 20 points in the balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Houston's Roger Clemens, who was trying for an unprecedented eighth Cy Young Award, finished a distant third with 40 points.

The 2005 season was a banner year for Carpenter, who went 21-5 and ranked second in the NL in both strikeouts (213) and shutouts (four). The ace righthander's 2.83 ERA over 241 2/3 innings was fourth-best in the league.

Carpenter dominated during a two-month stretch in the season, winning 13 consecutive decisions over 16 starts, and went 13-1 with a 2.45 ERA over his last 20 regular-season appearances. The streak was the longest by a Cardinals pitcher since Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson reeled off 15 in a row during his MVP season of 1968.

Carpenter is the first St. Louis pitcher to claim the Cy Young since Gibson won it in 1970 and only the second in franchise history. Gibson was also the Cy Young winner in 1968.

"When I get to however many wins Bob Gibson has and however many strikeouts and win a couple of Cy Youngs, we'll start talking about if I'm anything like Bob Gibson," Carpenter said. "I'm not like Bob Gibson right now."

The award for Carpenter is amazing, considering the injuries the righty has endured since breaking into the majors in 1997 with Toronto, the year Clemens won the AL Cy Young honor with the Blue Jays. A first-round pick of the Blue Jays in 1993, Carpenter led Toronto in starts (34), innings (215.2) and tied in wins (11) in 2001. However, in spring training the following year, he felt pain in his pitching shoulder. He would only pitch in four games that season and had surgery.

It would be a return to Toronto that actually set Carpenter apart from the competition. His unbeaten streak in 2005 began with a game against the Blue Jays on June 14, when he threw a one-hitter in a 7-0 final.

Carpenter piggy-backed that victory to an eight-inning gem at Cincinnati six days later and another shutout versus Pittsburgh on June 25.

"I didn't surround myself or concern myself with anything that was going on," Carpenter said of the winning streak. "It's a tough thing to do, but I did it for a long period of time. When you just go out and focus on one point of the game, and that's making it a game and executing a pitch, you can be successful no matter who you're facing."

In the case of Carpenter, he understands many players have early pitfalls in their careers, but it's a matter of remaining positive, or finding someone to help you boost your confidence. That was the case with his discussion with his wife that one long night.

"Everything goes back to when I missed time," Carpenter said. "When I came back last year I wasn't going to take anything for granted. I knew where I was at in 2001 and all of a sudden it was taken away from me. It's your dream. You've been playing in the big leagues and that's all you ever wanted to do."