Carter was known throughout his career for his hitting, excellent defense, ability to handle pitchers and on-field leadership. He made clutch contributions to the Mets' World Series championship in 1986, including a 12th-inning single against the Houston Astros to win Game 5 of the NLCS and a 10th-inning single against the Boston Red Sox to start the comeback rally in Game 6 of the World Series. He is one of only four players to be named captain of the Mets, and the Expos retired his number 8.[1]
After leaving the major leagues, Carter coached baseball at the college and minor-league levels.
Carter was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City in 1954 to Jim Carter, an aircraft worker, and his wife, Inge. One month after Carter turned 12 in 1966, his 37-year-old mother died of leukemia.[2]
Athletic at a young age, Carter, along with four other boys, won the seven-year-old category of the first national Punt, Pass, and Kick skills competition in 1961.[3] Carter attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, where he played football as a quarterback and baseball as an infielder, graduating in 1972. He also played American Legion Baseball and was named the 1971 American Legion Graduate of the Year.[4]
Carter earned his nickname of "the Kid"[6] during his first spring training camp with the Expos in 1974.
Rookie season
The Expos converted Carter to a catcher in the minor leagues.[7] In 1974, he hit 23 home runs and drove in 83 runs for the Expos' Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Blues. Following a September callup, Carter made his major league debut at Jarry Park in Montreal in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets on September 16.[8] Despite batting 0–4 in his debut game, he finished the season batting .407 (11–27). His first major-league hits came in both games of an Expos sweep of another doubleheader with the Mets on September 18, as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of the opener and as the catcher in the second game.[9] His first MLB home run occurred on September 28 against Steve Carlton in a 3–1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.[10][11]
Carter again split time in the outfield and behind the plate in 1976. Limited to 91 games by a broken finger, he batted just .219 with six home runs and 38 RBIs. In 1977, young stars Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson became full-time outfielders. In mid-June, former starting catcher Barry Foote was traded to the Phillies,[13] allowing for more starts for Carter behind the plate. With little time at other positions, he responded with 31 home runs and 84 RBIs. In 1980, Carter hit 29 home runs, drove in 101 runs and earned the first of three consecutive Gold Glove Awards. In the NL MVP balloting, he finished second to third basemanMike Schmidt of the Phillies, who won the National League East by one game over the Expos.
Carter with the Expos
Carter caught Charlie Lea's no-hitter on May 10, 1981, the nightcap of a doubleheader split,[14][15][16] during the first half of the strike-shortened season. The season resumed on August 9, with Carter playing in the 1981 All-Star Game, hitting two home runs and winning the game's MVP award.[17] He became the fifth and most recent player to hit two home runs in the All-Star Game.
MLB split the fractured 1981 season into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division meeting in a best-of-five divisional playoff series. The four survivors moved on to two best-of-five League Championship Series. The Expos won the NL East's second half with a 30–23 record. In his first postseason, Carter batted .421, hit two home runs and drove in six in the Expos' victory over the Phillies in the division series. Carter's average improved to .438 in the NLCS, with no home runs or RBIs, and his Expos lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau once remarked: "I am certainly happy that I don't have to run for election against Gary Carter." However, some Expos were unhappy with Carter's unabashed enthusiasm, feeling that he was too absorbed in his image and that he basked in his press coverage too eagerly, derisively naming him "Camera Carter." Andre Dawson felt that Carter was "more a glory hound than a team player."[18]
Carter's jersey at Citi Field Hall of Fame & Museum in New York
In his first game with New York on April 9, 1985, Carter hit a tenth-inning walk-off home run to give the Mets a 6–5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets and Cardinals rivaled for the National League East championship, with Carter and former Cardinals first basemanKeith Hernandez leading the Mets. The Mets won 98 games but lost a tight race for the division crown by three games to the Cardinals. Carter hit a career-high 32 home runs and drove in 100 runs. The Mets had three players finish in the top ten in NL MVP balloting that season (Dwight Gooden fourth, Carter sixth and Hernandez eighth).
In 1986, the Mets won 108 games and took the National League East by 21+1⁄2 games over the Phillies. Carter suffered a postseason slump in the NLCS, batting .148. However, he hit a walk-off RBI single to win Game 5. Carter also had two hits in Game 6, which the Mets won in 16 innings.[23]
The Mets won the World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Carter batted .276 with nine RBIs in his first World Series and hit two home runs over Fenway Park's Green Monster in Game Four. He is the only player to hit two home runs in both an All-Star Game (1981) and a World Series game.[citation needed] Carter started a two-out rally in the tenth inning of Game 6, scoring the first of three Mets runs in the inning on a single by Ray Knight. He also hit an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that tied the game.[24] Carter finished third on the NL MVP ballot in 1986.[23]
1987–1988
Carter batted .235 in 1987 and ended the season with 291 career home runs. He had 299 home runs by May 16, 1988 after a fast start, then slumped until August 11 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field when he hit his 300th. During his home-run drought, Carter was named co-captain of the team with Hernandez, who had been named captain the previous season.
Carter ended 1988 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs, his lowest totals since 1976. He ended the season with 10,360 career putouts as a catcher, breaking the career mark of Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan (9,941).
The Mets won 100 games that season, taking the NL East by 15 games. Heavily favored, they were upset by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Carter batted .183 in 50 games for the Mets in 1989. In November, the Mets released Carter after five seasons, during which he had hit 89 home runs and drove in 349 runs.
At the end of the season, Carter returned to Montreal for his final season, claimed off waivers from the Dodgers. Carter was still nicknamed "the Kid" by teammates despite his age. In his last career at-bat on September 27, 1992, he hit a game-winning RBI double over the head of Chicago Cubs right-fielder and former Expos teammate Andre Dawson. Carter was given a standing ovation.[26][27] The Expos finished 87–75 and in second place behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East.
Career statistics
Over a 19-year major league career, Carter was an 11-time All-Star, won three Gold Glove Awards and won five Silver Slugger Awards. He played in 2,296 games, accumulating 2,092 hits in 7,971 at bats for a .262 career batting average, along with 324 home runs, 1,225 runs batted in and a .335 on-base percentage.[28] He hit 307 home runs as a catcher, ranking him seventh all-time at the position.[29] His 1,225 career runs batted in also ranks seventh all-time among major-league catchers.[30]
Carter's 2,056 games played as a catcher rank him fourth on the all-time list.[31] He caught 127 shutouts during his career, ranking him sixth all-time.[32] He led National League catchers eight times in putouts, five times in assists and three times in baserunners caught stealing.[28] His 810 baserunners caught stealing are the most for any major-league catcher since the end of the dead-ball era, when stolen bases were more prevalent.[33] His 11,785 putouts and 149 double plays during his playing career both rank tenth all-time among major league catchers.[34][35]
Carter's .991 career fielding percentage was five points above the league average during his playing career.[28] When he broke the 100-assist barrier in 1977, he joined Johnny Bench and Jim Sundberg as the only major-league catchers to have more than 100 assists in a season since the end of World War II.[36]
Carter amassed the second-highest career WAR for a catcher during his career.[37]
Post-playing career
After his retirement as a player, Carter served as an analyst for Florida Marlins television broadcasts from 1993 to 1996. He also appeared in the film The Last Home Run (1998), which was filmed in 1996.[38]
Carter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his sixth year on the ballot on January 7, 2003. He became the first Hall of Famer whose plaque depicts a player with the Montreal Expos logo.[39] Carter had originally expressed a preference during his final playing season to be inducted wearing an Expos cap. Given the uncertainty of the Expos franchise at the time, Carter's employment by the Mets organization since retiring as a player, his World Series title with the Mets and his media celebrity during his stint in New York, Carter shifted his preference to be enshrined with a Mets cap after his election to the Hall of Fame. The New York media strongly supported Carter's preference. Carter joked that "he wanted his Cooperstown cap to be a half-and-halfer, split between the Expos and Mets".[40] The final decision rested with the Hall of Fame, whose president Dale Petroskey declared that Carter's achievements with the Expos over 12 season had earned his induction, whereas his five seasons with the Mets by themselves would not have, saying "we want to have represented on the plaque the team that best represents where a player made the biggest impact in his career. When you look at it, it's very clear. Gary Carter is an important part of the history of the Expos."[39] Carter accepted the Hall's decision with grace, stating: "The fact I played 11 years in Montreal and the fact that the majority of my statistics and accomplishments were achieved there, it would be wrong, probably, to do it any other way."[41] At the induction ceremony, Carter spoke some words in French, thanking fans in Montreal, while noting that the Mets' 1986 championship was the highlight of his career.[40]
Carter was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2001.[42] While the Mets have not retired number 8, it has remained unissued by the team since his election to the Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2001, he was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame along with Dave McKay, and his number 8 was retired by the Expos. After the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals following the 2004 season, a banner displaying Carter's number along with those of other Expos stars Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Rusty Staub was hung from the rafters at the Bell Centre, home of the NHL'sMontreal Canadiens. In Washington, Carter is recognized in the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park.[43]
Carter was named Gulf Coast League Manager of the Year after his first season managing the Gulf Coast Mets in 2005. One year later, he was promoted to the A-level St. Lucie Mets, whom he guided to the 2006 Florida State League championship, again earning Manager of the Year honors. Carter was criticized, most notably by former teammate Keith Hernandez, for twice openly campaigning for the Mets' managerial position while it was still occupied by incumbents Art Howe in 2004 and Willie Randolph in 2008.
Carter was an active philanthropist and championed causes that fought leukemia and illiteracy.[50] The Gary Carter Foundation (of which Carter was the president) supports eight Title I schools in Palm Beach County with students live in poverty. The foundation seeks to "better the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of children." To accomplish this, it advocates "school literacy by encouraging use of the Reading Counts Program, a program that exists in the Palm Beach County School District". Since its inception, the Gary Carter Foundation has placed more than $622,000 toward charitable purposes, including $366,000 to elementary schools for reading programs.[51]
In May 2011, Carter was diagnosed with four malignant tumors in his brain after experiencing headaches and forgetfulness. Doctors confirmed that he had a grade IV primary brain tumor known as glioblastoma multiforme. Doctors said that the extremely aggressive cancer was inoperable and that Carter would undergo other treatment methods to shrink his tumor.[53][54][55] On January 20, 2012, Carter's daughter Kimmy posted on her blog that an MRI had revealed additional tumors on her father's brain. Even as he battled an aggressive form of brain cancer, Carter did not miss opening day for the college baseball team he coached.[56]
Carter died on February 16, 2012 at the age of 57.[40] Nine days later, the Mets announced that they were adding a memorial patch to their uniforms in Carter's honor for the entire 2012 season. The patch features a black home plate with the number 8 and "KID" inscribed on it.[57] On the Mets' 2012 opening day, the Carter family unveiled a banner with a similar design on the centerfield wall of Citi Field.
The NHL's Montreal Canadiens, who had purchased the Expos' mascot Youppi! and hung retired numbers in its arena after the Expos' relocation to Washington, paid tribute to Carter by presenting a video montage and observing a moment of silence before a game against the New Jersey Devils on February 20, 2012. All Canadiens players took to the ice during pregame warmups wearing number 8 Carter jerseys, and Youppi! appeared wearing an Expos uniform. In addition, Youppi! wore a patch on his Canadiens jersey featuring a white circle with a blue number 8 inside it for the remainder of the season.
[58]
Tom Verducci, longtime Sports Illustrated baseball writer, reminisced about Carter following his death, "I cannot conjure a single image of Gary Carter with anything but a smile on his face. I have no recollection of a gloomy Carter, not even as his knees began to announce a slow surrender ... Carter played every day with the joy as if it were the opening day of Little League."[2] "Gary actually took a lot of grief from his teammates for being a straight arrow. It wasn't the cool thing to do but on the same token, I think he actually served as a role model for a lot of these guys as they aged. He was the ballast of that team. They did have a lot of fun, there's no question about that, but they were also one of the fiercest, most competitive teams I've ever seen and obviously their comebacks from the '86 postseason defines that team. Carter was a huge part of that."[59]
At Carter's memorial service, on February 24, 2012, Expo teammate Tommy Hutton made note of Carter's deep faith. The three loves in Carter's life, Hutton said, were his family, baseball and God.[60]
Faillon Street West in Montreal, located near IGA Stadium, the tennis stadium built on the site of the former Parc Jarry, was renamed Gary Carter Street in his honor.[61]
On March 28, 2014, during an exhibition game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, a banner was unveiled in honor of Carter in a special ceremony before the first pitch. Carter's widow Sandy and daughter Kimmy were present on the field for an emotional video tribute and the unveiling of the banner on the outfield wall, which reads "Merci! Thank You!" and contains an image of a baseball overlaid with Carter's retired number 8.[62]
^Griffin, Richard (March 28, 2014). "Tears flow at Big O as former Expo Gary Carter fondly remembered". Toronto Star (published March 29, 2014). p. S4. Archived from the original on February 17, 2024. Retrieved February 17, 2024 – via Printed paper title: "Jays have front row seat for Carter love-in".
