Clay Palmer Carroll (born May 2, 1941) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

from through , most notably as a member of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

dynasty that won three division titles, one

National League pennant The National League pennant winner of a given Major League Baseball season is the team that wins the championship—the pennant—of MLB's National League (NL). This team receives the Warren C. Giles Trophy and the right to play in the World Se ...

and the

1975 World Series The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the Natio ...

title. He also played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. A two-time All-Star, Carroll was one of the top

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

s in Major League Baseball during the mid-1970s when, the Cincinnati Reds became known as the

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division ti ...

for their dominance of the National League. In 1972, Carroll led the National League in saves and was named The Sporting News Fireman of the Year. He ranks third all-time among Red pitchers in game appearances. Carroll was inducted into the

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize th ...

in 1980.

Early life

Carroll was one of nine children of a

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

worker, who died in 1966. Growing up in

Clanton, Alabama Clanton is a city in Chilton County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the population was . The city is the county seat of Chilton County. Clanton is near the ...

, Carroll went to Chilton County High School and also worked many jobs, including as a curb-service boy at a restaurant, at the cotton mill where his father worked, and loading watermelons onto trucks.

Professional career

Carroll was signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1961, and made his major league debut at age 23 on September 2, 1964, hurling two shutout innings against the Cardinals. Carroll was acquired along with

Tony Cloninger Tony Lee Cloninger (August 13, 1940 – July 24, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and ...

and

Woody Woodward William Frederick "Woody" Woodward (born September 23, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player, college baseball coach, and general manager. He played in Major League Baseball, primarily as a shortstop from 1963 to 1971 for the ...

by the Reds from the Atlanta Braves for

Milt Pappas Milton Steven Pappas (May 11, 1939 – April 19, 2016) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through . Nicknamed "Gimpy", the 17-year veteran pitched for the Baltimore Ori ...

, Bob Johnson and

Ted Davidson Thomas Eugene Davidson (October 4, 1939 – September 1, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He was a left-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher from 1965 to 1968 for the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves. He was called "T ...

on June 11, 1968. Nicknamed "Hawk" due to his profile likeness of the bird, he was selected to the National League All-Star team in and . He led the National League in saves in 1972 with 37, and finished tied for fifth in the

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

voting. The 37 saves stood as a National League record until Bruce Sutter broke it in 1984 with 45 saves for the

. Carroll's best seasons were with the Reds from 1968 to 1975, which earned him a place in the

. Carroll pitched in three

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

for the Reds, including the

which the Reds won in seven games over the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. Carroll starred in the

1970 World Series The 1970 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1970 season. The 67th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (108–54 in the regula ...

. He appeared in five of the six games, hurling nine shutout innings with 11 strikeouts. Carroll, along with rookie

Don Gullett Donald Edward Gullett (born January 6, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that wo ...

, paced an injury-riddled staff that was otherwise ineffective against Baltimore. Carroll was the winning pitcher in the Reds' only victory against the Orioles. Overall in the postseason, Carroll boasted a 4-2 record with two saves, a blown save, and a 1.39

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 22 appearances, allowing just five

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

in innings. He was traded by the Reds to the

for

Rich Hinton Richard Michael Hinton is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched parts of six seasons between 1971 and 1979, including three separate stints with the Chicago White Sox. Draft history Hinton was originally drafted in the 23rd round in ...

and minor league catcher Jeff Sovern on December 12, 1975. After going 4–4 with six saves and a 2.56 ERA in 29 appearances with the White Sox, he was dealt to the

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

for

Lerrin LaGrow Lerrin Harris LaGrow (born July 8, 1948) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers (), (–), St. Louis Cardinals (), Chicago White Sox (–), Los Angeles Do ...

during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

on March 23, 1977.

Personal life

Carroll and his wife Judy were the parents of two daughters, Connie and Lori, along with a son, Bret. The Carrolls divorced in 1981. In 1983 Carroll married Frances Nowitzke, who also had three children. During a November 1985 shooting in their home in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

, Carroll was wounded, and his wife Frances, 53, and son Bret, 11, were shot and killed by Frances' son, Frederick. Carroll's stepson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Florida’s electric chair. Several years later a new trial was ordered, at which Frederick was given a life sentence he continues to serve. Carroll frequently returns to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

for the team's annual RedsFest event, including in December 2012. He is also a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Clay 1941 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American shooting survivors Atlanta Braves players Atlanta Crackers players Austin Senators players Baseball players from Alabama Boise Braves players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Clippers players Davenport Braves players Denver Bears players Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Braves players National League All-Stars National League saves champions People from Clanton, Alabama Pittsburgh Pirates players Richmond Braves players St. Louis Cardinals players Vancouver Canadians players

Early life

Professional career

Personal life

See also

References

External links