Friday, February 17, 2012
Gary Carter was responsible for some of the most memorable moments I've ever spent watching baseball. A. and I were in the stands (field level box, actually, just beyond 3rd base) when he hit the 10th inning walk-off home run on the Opening Day he debuted as a Metropolitan. We knew then-- who didn't?-- that he was the missing piece we'd needed. He finished his career where he started, in Montreal, and for his last at-bat he hit a double that was the game winning RBI in a 1-0 nailbiter. When he was drafted by the Expos he took a Berlitz class in French, which, when you think about it, is exactly what Gary Carter would do. He came to the Mets in a trade that was a pretty fair deal-- Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Floyd Youmans and Herm Winningham
He was the real deal-- as good as you expected him to be. Alan Barra puts it nicely:
I never saw an at-bat where he wasn't focused, and he made that Mets pitching staff what it was, which was pretty great. I hope it went easy for him.
He was the real deal-- as good as you expected him to be. Alan Barra puts it nicely:
And here's something else: the 1985-1988 Mets had as much talent, at their peak, as any team baseball has ever seen. They were loaded with young players who seemed destined for the Hall of Fame. Who could have watched Dwight Gooden or Darryl Strawberry at that time and not thought they would eventually rank with the game's immortals?
Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Jesse Orosco, Howard Johnson, Kevin Mitchell, and Lenny Dykstra all had the talent to be in Cooperstown. To doubt this is to remember them as they were when they hung around too long, just trying to make the roster and collect a paycheck. But at their best, they played like Hall of Famers. But only one of them made it.
I never saw an at-bat where he wasn't focused, and he made that Mets pitching staff what it was, which was pretty great. I hope it went easy for him.
// posted by Bill @ 10:26 AM 
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