Gary Carter

Infobox MLB retired
name=Gary Carter


caption=Carter welcomes his team to the field prior to game 1 of the 2008 Golden Baseball League Championship Series.
position=Catcher
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|mf=yes|1954|4|8
Culver City, California
debutdate=September 16
debutyear=by|1974
debutteam=Montreal Expos
finaldate=September 27
finalyear=by|1992
finalteam=Montreal Expos
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.262
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=324
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,225
teams=
* Montreal Expos (by|1974-by|1984, by|1992)
* New York Mets (by|1985-by|1989)
* San Francisco Giants (by|1990)
* Los Angeles Dodgers (by|1991)
highlights=
* 11x All-Star selection (1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988)
* World Series champion (1986)
* 3x Gold Glove Award winner (1980, 1981, 1982)
* 5x Silver Slugger Award winner (1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986)
* 2x MLB All-Star Game MVP (1981, 1984)
* 1989 Roberto Clemente Award
* Montreal Expos #8 retired
hofdate=2003
hofvote=78.02%

Gary Edmund Carter (born April 8, 1954), nicknamed "Kid", or "Kid Carter" was a Major League Baseball catcher from 1974-1992. Carter played with the Montreal Expos, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

During his career, Carter established himself as one of the premier catchers in the National League. He won three Gold Glove awards (1980, 1981, 1982), and five Silver Slugger awards (1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986). He also played first base and outfield, being chosen for his first All-Star Game roster (in 1975) as an outfielder rather than as a catcher. Carter was a career .262 hitter with 324 home runs and 1225 RBI. Over his 19-year career, he ranks sixth all-time in career home runs by a catcher with 298, and was selected as an All-Star eleven times, winning the Most Valuable Player award in the 1981 and 1984 games. He is so far the only player from the Expos to have inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Early life

Gary Carter was born in Culver City, California.

In 1961, Carter was the 7-year-old national champion of the "Punt, Pass and Kick" contest, the first year the youth football event was staged. When Carter was 8-years-old his mother died of Leukemia. Throughout his entire baseball career, he was a major contributor to the Leukemia Society Of America as their baseball spokesman. Every year he had the Gary Carter Golf Tournament in Florida, all proceeds were donated to the Leukemia Society. [ [http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=702479] ]

He attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California, where he was a three sport star in baseball, basketball and football.

He signed a letter of intent to play football at UCLA before signing with the Montreal Expos.cite web|url=http://www.garycarter.org/ |title=Gary Carter - Gary Carter.org|accessdate=2007-07-05|date=2007-04-15] .

Major League Career

Expos

Carter made his major league debut with the Expos on September 16, 1974, going 0 for 4 against the New York Mets. He hit .270 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI in 1975, his first full season, making the All-Star team and receiving The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award. Gary Carter became the 5th (and latest to date) player to hit 2 home runs in an All-Star Game in 1981 (joining Arky Vaughan-1941, Ted Williams-1946, Al Rosen-1954, and Willie McCovey-1969.

While solidifying his spot as one of baseball's premier catchers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he set personal-highs in RBI (106, leading the league), batting average (.294), hits (175), total bases (290), and games played (159) in 1984. At the end of the 1984 season, Carter was traded to the New York Mets for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans.

Carter recalled how he got his nickname, saying "I got that nickname my first spring training camp with the Expos in 1974. Tim Foli, Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen started calling me Kid because I was trying to win every sprint. I was trying to hit every pitch out of the park." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DE173AF933A1575AC0A964958260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss] ]

Mets

In his first game as a Met on April 9, 1985, he hit a 10th inning walk-off home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Neil Allen to give the Mets a 6-5 Opening Day victory.

With the Mets, Carter enjoyed consistent production with 32 home runs and 100 RBI in 1985; and 24 home runs and 105 RBI in 1986, winning his only World Series championship in that season. Carter will be forever remembered by Mets fans as the man who started the Mets 10th inning two out Game 6 rally in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. Carter would come around to score the first of three Mets runs that inning on a single by Ray Knight, as the Mets would defeat the Red Sox in one of the most famous games in baseball history. It also widely forgotten that Carter's 8th inning run scoring sacrifice fly was the hit that forced the game to go into extra innings. Carter also crushed two home runs over the Green Monster in Game 4 of the Series at Fenway Park. Carter thus became the only player to date to have hit 2 home runs in All-Star Game (1981) and 2 home runs in a World Series Game (1986).

Carter batted only .235 in 1987, and was released at the end of the 1989 season after hitting just .183.

Giants, Dodgers, Expos

After leaving the Mets, he played for the Giants in 1990, then the Dodgers in 1991.

He returned to Montreal in 1992, where the Expos were pennant race behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East. He was still nicknamed "Kid" by teammates despite his age of 38. The Expos 23-year-old second baseman Delino DeShields said to Carter: "I grew up on you, man...You were like Wheaties to me. Eat my Wheaties and watch Gary Carter play baseball." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DE173AF933A1575AC0A964958260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss] ]

Post-playing Career

After his retirement, Carter served as an analyst for Florida Marlins television broadcasts from 1993-1996.

In 2003, his sixth year on the ballot, Gary Carter was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, with the cap on his plaque an Expos cap. Carter had originally requested if he could have the plaque as half an Expo and half a Met (Dave Winfield chose San Diego over the New York Yankees), and though the media took it as one of his jokes, it was a legitimate debate as to which team he would be associated with. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E7DC133EF93BA35752C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1] ] Carter himself had expressed a preference to be inducted as a Met, winning his only World Series title with the Mets, having worked for the Mets organization since retiring as a player, and because it was his stint in New York that made Carter a media celebrity. As well, some columnists from the New York area had pointed out that the Expos franchise would likely move or be folded. However, Carter played 12 seasons in Montreal, as opposed to only five in New York. The final decision rested with the Hall of Fame, and Hall president Dale Petroskey declared that Carter's achievements with the Expos had earned his induction, whereas his play with the Mets by itself would not have. [ [http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030116&content_id=191990&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null] ] At the induction ceremony, Carter spoke a few words of French, thanking fans in Montreal for the great honour and pleasure of playing in that city. Carter is so far the only Expo to be inducted into Cooperstown. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/07/27/carter030727.html] ]

Carter was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2001. Also in 2003, Carter was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame along with Kirk McCaskill. His number 8 was retired by the Montreal Expos.

After Expos moved to Washington, D.C. following the 2004 season, Carter's number along with Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub, and Tim Raines were moved to the Bell Centre, home of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. The Nationals have since reissued the number 8 to Marlon Anderson. While the Mets have not retired number 8, it has remained unused since Carter's election to the Hall of Fame.

Carter was the manager of the Gulf Coast Mets minor league team in 2005 before being promoted to the A-level St. Lucie Mets for 2006. He is currently the manager of the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League, a team he guided to the GBL Championship in 2008.

ee also

* Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
* List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
* Top 500 home run hitters of all time
* List of major league players with 2,000 hits
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
* List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
* Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
* DHL Hometown Heroes

References

External links

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