Gary Carter, Mets All-Time Great Catcher, Has Died

Which pretty much makes him my favorite player of all time. A sad day, RIP Gary.

Never will forget you Gary, you were instrumental in my becoming a Met fan!

My condolences and best wishes to his family, friends, and fans. Baseball lost such a fantastic person and player today.

should probably like this

Thanks for the memories.

Hit a game winning grand slam against the Braves my first time at Shea in 1985. Still one of the best days of my life. Thanks for the memories Mr Carter.

Retire #8

Hit a game winning grand slam against the Braves my first time at Shea in 1985. Still one of the best days of my life. Thanks for the memories Mr Carter.

You made me very happy as a little kid.

My heartfelt condolences go out to his family. What a terrible day. It was very hard to hear Keith crying his eyes out on the phone.

but if you grow up as a Mets fan, you’ll hear all kinds of wonderful stories about the type of player and person he truly was. This is a terrible tragedy, but even the last photos of Kid showed the same smile he had throughout his life, and you know that, just like in 1986, he fought until the very end. This is a huge loss to the Mets family and I’m anxious to see how the team honors him this season.

RIP Carter. Say hi to Gil and Tommie for us.

that was really beautiful. I’m feeling emotional right now.

No, but seriously, RIP Kid. I started following the Mets right after he left, which means I missed an awesome era of baseball, but I’ve watched enough video of the ’86 team to consider myself a fan (I was elated when he finally got into the hall), and I kinda wish he had been given a shot to manage the team after Willie got fired.

looks like he hasn’t showered in 56 days.

I was thrilled when he then became a Met. He was truly one of my favorites. Now he’s been killed by cancer at 57. My father was killed by cancer when he was 58. That’s just too young. Way too young.

He was my brother’s hero and a big part of our childhood baseball fandom. Too soon for him to go. Damn.

RIP Gary.

Less than a year ago, Gary Carter’s name found itself plastered on the back pages of newspapers across the country. On May 21st, 2011, Carter issued a statement to the press where he revealed that his doctors had discovered four small tumors in his brain. Biopsies done at Duke University concluded that the small tumors were malignant, and that the Hall of Fame catcher had brain cancer, likely inoperable. Glioblastoma multiforme, the form of cancer he was diagnosed with, had a poor prognosis, with the median survival time being a paltry 14 months. He took the news in stride, and kept in good spirits. Over the course of the year, he underwent assorted types of treatments. At times, the news looked good, and it seemed as if Carter would do the impossible- nothing new for the guy who stared defeat in the eyes multiple times in 1986 and not only survived unscathed, but ultimately triumphed- and somehow beat inoperable, deadly cancer. As 2011 turned into 2012, word out of the Carter camp wasn’t nearly as good. Though he was still fighting, his immune system and body were weakened by ordinary afflictions multiplied in severity by the cancer in his system, and the aggressive treatment he was receiving to keep it in check. Worse yet was the news that, despite all of the medical attention he was receiving, new tumors had been discovered by doctors. Carter himself kept in his spirits, as was seemingly his modus operandi in life, but the new news cemented the reality that, despite the aggressiveness of the treatment, despite the money to pay for the best doctors and facilities, despite the patient’s zest for life, he was a man living on extremely borrowed time. That reality came into clear focus on February 16th, 2012, when Gary Carter finally succumbed to the cancer that ravaged his body. In less than a year, he went from being a generally healthy 57-year-old physical specimen to yet another casualty of cancer, a testament to the fragility of life.

I hate facebook generally, but I appreciate that this news has prompted a communal mourning, reminiscing and sharing between the baseball fans among my friends. Including the Yankee fans (“I hated those 86 punks but I always loved Gary Carter”). We will miss him.

I know it’s been said before, but it bears repeating: fuck cancer.

But Ted Berg and Greg Prince just did me in.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

i was 7 years old when Gary Carter was traded to the Mets. i’d seen him play a couple of games at Shea with the Expos before that. the first game i can remember was in 1983. i would turn 6 after that baseball season was over. i still have the program from that ‘83 game (somewhere). and though i didn’t know it then, that Expos team was stacked. Carter, Dawson, Raines, and Wallach were all on that team. i was skeptical of the trade in the Winter of ’84 because one of my favorites, Met third baseman Hubie Brooks, went to the Expos. obviously, the Mets got the better end of the deal, but it was my first lesson in the transient nature of labor (my next lesson was DLR leaving Van Halen, which was explained to me in the context of the Gary Carter trade).

Carter was never my favorite Met. maybe it was because he was too “adult” and i was all of 9 years old when i arrived in the upper deck of Shea Stadium for Game 1 of the 1986 World Series, and watched most of the game through my dad’s binoculars. my favorite players were the younger, scrappier guys, like Lenny Dykstra and Wally Backman. it’s really only in adulthood that i appreciate what Carter brought to the Mets. not just leadership, but perspective on the game. how to pitch in different situations, how to really work a count, and how to get out unscathed while Doug Sisk threw cantaloupes with ducks on the pond.

there’s not much success to latch onto as a Met fan. a few brief winning patches among a sea of bad decisions during the past 30 years. but you’d read interviews or see his HOF speech and look at the current crop of talent to see who could be that kind of leader with that perspective. and maybe that’s why Gary Carter’s death means so much to me, and why when i went out tonight, i wore my Expos hat in honor of the man.

now when Ralph Kiner dies, and he’s going to be 90 this year, i’m going to weep like a little girl.

But memory’s forever

One of the great people in the world. A gentleman, a great ballplayer. Modeled my catching style and batting stance like his in my little league and high school baseball days.

Rest In Peace, Kid.

It’s a shame that he had to go so soon; sadly, as Keith had said, those close to Gary pretty much knew that he did not have much time left. That brings to mind the suffering that he must’ve endured, which I would say was unimaginable for him, and especially his family and friends. As per his legacy, though, his impact is immortal beyond his being.

I’m quite sure that Gary would want us to appreciate that which he has, in part, given us, and live just as he did, with a profound and jubilant outlook on life. The best way we can honor him, aside from celebrating his legacy, is to derive some life lessons from his philosophy, and to learn from him.

Just feeling a sense of sadness and a little bit more of lost youth.

Godspeed, Kid.

Was a Sunday matinee in 1985, and Carter had the day off. I must have been in 1st grade or so, but just barely baseball-coherent enough to know what was going on. We were late – got there in the fourth inning. The Mets were behind in the bottom of the 9th, when Carter came to the on deck circle to pinch hit. A sellout crowd went crazy “GARY! GARY! GARY!”, and he came up and promptly won the game with a home run. I cant say Carter was my favorite, but that was one hell of a moment.

Post script – I spent some time this morning going through b-ref game logs for that game, and it never happened. My memory of it is crystal clear – I am as sure of the sequence of events as I am of where I am right now, but I could not find a Sunday game where Carter had a pinch hit home run in any of his Met years – or any game, for that matter, where he came off the bench with a game winning homer. Funny things, our memories.