About an hour ago, the baseball world and the Mets family was saddened to learn that at the age of 57, one of our heroes, Gary “The Kid” Carter, had lost his battle with brain cancer.
When you read the back of his baseball card, or nowadays, his baseballrefrence.com page, you can see all the impressive stats. In 19 seasons he was an 11 time all-star (2 time All-Star game MVP) who was a 3-time gold glove catcher who hit .262 324 HR and 1225 RBI. In the 1986 World Series, he hit 2 home runs and drove in 9 RBI’s to help guide the Mets to one of the greatest championship runs in history.
Before the 1985 the Mets made a blockbuster trade with the Montreal Expos sending Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans. But to so many Mets fans, he wasn’t about the stats.
On opening day in 1985, Carter, one always for the flare of the dramatic, hit a 10th inning walkoff home run to give the Mets the victory over the hated St. Louis Cardinals..
Carter started the two-out rally in the tenth inning of game 6 of the 1986 World Series, scoring the first of three Mets runs that inning, on Ray Knight’s single. Yes, Mookie Wilson had the famous at bat that lead to the win, but when Carter reached first base after his two out single, he started clapping his hands and looking into the dugout. Telling the guys “Let’s go, we can do this!”. And they did.
Former teammate Darryl Strawberry was just on WFAN and to paraphrase what he said “Gary was a big time leader in the clubhouse. When he came over, our pitching staff got better because of him. He was behind the plate every day and led those pitchers. He was a great man, and was true to his faith. He was a TRUE man. Never strayed from his beliefs. Carter never participated in the clubhouse nonsense. Always respected the game and his
family and wife. He led by example.”
Darryl couldn’t have summed it up any better. He was the emotional leader of that team and never sulked. His energy helped fuel the Mets of the mid to late 80’s that we’ve loved.
Gary, we will always have a place in our hearts for you. I think that I speak for all Mets fans when I say that when we get there, we will see you in our field of dreams.
RIP Kid
