Harold Gust "Hal" Carlson
^{born: 05-17-1892, died: 05-28-1930}

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Hal Carlson began his major league career in 1917 pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 34 games as a rookie, he did not give up a home run. His record was 7 wins and 11 losses and an ERA of 2.90. In 1918, Carlson played in only 3 games before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He returned in 1919 and pitched in 22 games starting 14. He had a very respectable ERA of 2.23 but the Pirates hitters could not help him win games and his record was 8-10. In 1920, Carlson got his first winning record of 14-13, starting in 31 games. The following three seasons Hal was only 13 wins and 20 loses, starting in only 28 games. After playing in only 4 games for Pittsburgh in 1923, Carlson ended up in Philadelphia the next season.

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Pitching for the Phillies revitalized his career. In his first year at Philly, he started in 24 games and pitched in a total of 38. But his record was 8-17 and he allowed 110 earned runs in 203 2/3 innings. In 1925 he was 13-14 in 32 games started. His best season came in 1926. He went 17-12 with an ERA of 3.23. He started the next season in Philly, but in June he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Tony Kaufmann and short stop Jimmy Cooney.

In 22 starts for the Cubs, he had 12 wins and 8 losses and ERA of 3.17. However, in 1928, he only started in five games. And in 1929, Carlson only started in 14 games. His record in 1929 was 11-5 but he was plagued with stomach complains and that limited his playing time.

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In 1930, Hal started in 6 games and his record was 4-2 when tragedy struck. Hal had an apartment in a North side hotel when on May 28th, he called for team physician, Dr. John Davis, at 2:00 am complaining of stomach pains. He died 35 minutes later from a bleeding ulcer as plans were being made to move him to a hospital. Teammates Kiki Cuyler, Riggs Stephenson, and Cliff Heathcote were at Carlson's bedside. His wife and 3 year old child were at home in Rockford, Illinois, where Carlson was born .The scheduled game with Cincinnati on May 29 was postponed.

In fourteen seasons, his lifetime record was 114 wins and 120 losses with a 3.97 lifetime ERA.