James Otto "Tex" Carleton
^{born: 09-19-1906, died: 01-11-1977}

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Tex Carleton played in the Texas League for the Houston Buffalos. In 1931, he posted a 20-7 record with a 1.89 ERA. The St Louis Cardinals were impressed with Tex and brought him to the Majors along with Dizzy Dean who they had sent in 1931 to Houston. In his first year at the age of 25, Tex started 22 games and pitched in a total of 44. In 196 1/3 innings his record was 10 wins and 13 losses with a 4.08 ERA. The Cardinals ended up in next to last place with a record of 60 and 94 and 18 games behind National League Pennant winner, Chicago Cubs.

In 1933, Carleton improved his record to 17 and 11 starting in 33 games. His ERA dropped to 3.38 in 277 innings with 17 complete games. The Cardinals were 22 games better than the last season and came in 5th place 9 1/2 behind the NY Giants. The next year, Tex again had solid number with a 16 and 11 record with 31 starts and 16 complete games. His ERA slipped to 4.26 but the Cardinal hitters backed him up and, in fact, won the National League Pennant that year with a 95 and 58 record.

The Cardinals faced the Detroit Tigers (101-53) in the World Series. The Cardinals had an excellent pitching staff consisting of the Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, and Bill Walker in addition to Carleton. Dizzy Dean had a 30 and 7 record with a 2.77 ERA and his brother went 19 and 11 with a 3.43 ERA. Bill Walker, at age 30, started only 19 games but had a 12 and 4 record and 3.12 ERA. Dizzy Dean started for the Cardinals in the first game in Detroit and scattered 8 hit giving up 3 runs. But the Cardinals scored 8 runs to take win the game for Dizzy.

In game two, Schoolboy Rowe pitched for Detroit against Bill Hallahan for the Cardinals. The Cardinals starting the scoring with a run in the second inning and a run in the third. The Tigers scored a run in the fourth and the remain that way until the bottom of the ninth inning when the Tigers tied the score with a run. Bill Walker came in to relieve Hallahan and in the bottom of the twelth inning, walked two batters and Goose Goslin hit a single to bring in the winning run.

Paul Dean pitched in the next game and scattered 8 hits for 1 run scored in 9 innings. The Cardinals scored 4 runs and took a 2-1 lead back to St. Louis. Tex got his chance to start in game 4 and, unfortunately, only lasted 3 inning. The Cardinals scored first with a run in the bottom of the second inning. In the top of the third, Tex took care of the first two batters before giving up a double to Mickey Cochrane. He then gave up two walks, loading the bases, before Billy Rogell hit a single scoring 2 runs. Dizzy Vance came in to relieve Tex but then game up 2 singles and another run before getting the last out. The Cardinals scored a run in the bottom of the inning but the Tigers scored a run in the top fourth. The Cardinals tied the game with 2 in the bottom of the fourth. Bill Walker came into the game in the fifth inning but gave up 6 runs to the Tigers and took the loss.

The Tigers took the next game by the score of 3 to 1 and handed Dizzy Dean the loss. The series moved back to Detroit for the last two games with the Cardinals backs up against the wall. The Cardinals won game five by a score of 4 to 3. In the final game, the Cardinals hitters exploded for 17 hits and 11 runs. Meanwhile, Dizzy Dean held the Tigers scoreless on 6 hits and the Cardinals won the World Series.

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In November 1934, the management of the Cardinals made a bad mistake. They traded Carleton to the Chicago Cubs for relief pitchers Bud Tinning and Dick Ward. In St. Louis the following season, Tinning only pitched in 7 2/3 innings and Ward did not pitch at all. Meanwhile Carleton started 22 games for the Cubs and pitched in 31. He attained a 11-8 record with an 3.89 ERA. And the Cubs won the National League Pennant allowing Tex another shot in the World Series.

The Tigers won the America League Pennant again and the World started out in Detroit. The Cubs won the first game 3-0 on fine pitching by Lon Warneke pitching a 4 hit shutout. The Tigers answered with a win in gome two, 8-3. The series moved to Chicago and the Tigers won in eleven inning after George Moriaty, a former Tiger player and manager, sent Charlie Grimm and three players to the dressing room for making remarks from the bench about some bad umpiring at the plate.

Carleton started game four facing Detroit pitcher, Alvin Crowder. The Cubs scored first with a home run by Gabby Hartnett in the second inning. In the Top of the third inning, Crowder help his own cause be hitting a single to right field. Jo-Jo White followed with a single moving Crowder to third but he was tagged out at second base trying to stretch it for extra bases. After a walk, Charlie Gehringer hit a double scoring Crowder. After an intentional walk to load the bases with one out, Pete Fox hit a grounder to Phil Cavarretta at first and he threw to home to get the force out. Tex struck out Billy Rogell to end the inning and minimize the damage to only one run. The score remained tied until the top of the sixth inning. Carleton got the first two batters out on fly balls and when Flea Clifton hit another fly ball, this one was dropped for an error. Clifton was able to reach second base. Crowder hit a grounder to third base and another error scored Clifton. After a walk, Tex got the third out of the inning. The Cubs fail to score in the bottom of the ninth inning and Carleton lost the game on an unearned run.

The Tigers went on the win the World Series after losing game five 3-1 but winning game six with a ninth inning two out single by Goose Goslin to score Micky Cochrane from second.

The Cubs slide to second place in 1936 with Carleton numbers very respectable. He started 26 games, played in 35 and pitched 197 1/3 innings. His record was 14 wins and 10 losses with a 3.65 ERA. In 1937, the Cubs were again runner-up to the NY Giants. The team had 93 wins and 61 losses and 3 games behind the Giants. Tex had his best year posting a 3.15 ERA pitching 207 1/3 innings. He started 27 games and had 18 complete games. His record was 16 wins and 8 losses which was also his personal best.

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Even though the Cubs won the National League Pennant in 1938, Carleton's preformance was the worst of his career. His ERA slid way up to 5.42 and his record was 10-9. The Cubs faced the NY Yankees in the World Series. The Yankees won the first three games and Tex did not pitch. In game four, in the bottom of the eight inning, with the Yankees ahead 4-3, Vance Page was on the mound. The first batter flied out. Joe DiMaggio singled to left field and Lou Gehrig singled to right field. Left-hand pitcher, Larry French, came in to face left-hand batter, Bill Dickey who hit a popfly to Billy Jurges. Manager, Gabby Hartnett, called on Tex to face right hand hitter, Myril Hoag. With Joe DiMaggio on third and Lou Gehrig on first, all Tex had to do is get one out to end the inning and keep the game close. Instead, Carleton throws a wild pitch scoring DiMaggio and sending Gehrig to second. Then Hoag hits a double scoring Gehrig. After an intentional walk, Tex throws another wild pitch moving the batters to second and third. The batter walked to load the bases and Tex is yanked from the game and Dizzy Dean came in. But he gave up a double and the Yankees end up scoring 4 runs with two outs. The Cubs go down to the Yankees in four games.

In 1939, Tex played for the minors and in January 1940 he is purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers from Milwaukee. He only started 17 games but pitched in 34 total. His record was 6-6 with an ERA of 3.81. Tex achieved a feat all pitches aspire to do at least once in their careet. On April 30, 1940 facing the Cincinnati Reds, Tex threw his first and only no-hitter. Tex ended his pitching career in 1940 with a lifetime record of 100 wins and 76 losses and lifetime ERA of 3.91 in 8 season.