Happy 68th Birthday To The Late Great Mets Catcher, Gary "The Kid" Carter
The Mets great would have been 68 today.
Today would have been Gary Carters 68th birthday. Carter was my dads all time favorite MLB player when he was growing up and still is to this day. The former All Star passed away in 2012 due to brain tumors.
Carter, a Culver City native originally signed to play college football at UCLA, but didn’t play for the Bruins because he was drafted in the third round of the 1972 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos. During his first spring training game of the 1974 season, Carter was given the nickname “The Kid”.
Carter was with the Expos from 1974 to 1984 where he made 7 All Star teams. In that span in an Expos uniform, Carter batted .280 and recorded 106 RBIs in 1984 and 31 home runs in 1977. In addition to his multiple All Star teams, Carter won 3 Gold Glove Awards from 1980 to 1982.
Following his 1984 season, one of the best of his career, he was dealt to the New York Mets in exchange for infielder Hubie Brooks, catcher Mike Fitzgerald, outfielder Herm Winningham and pitcher Floyd Youmans.
With the Mets, Carter played 5 seasons where he made 4 All Star teams from 1985-1988. He also won his lone World Series in 1986 when the Mets beat the Red Sox 4-3. As a Met, Carter batted .239 and in 1985 hit the most home runs of his career with 32.
The legendary catcher concluded his career with short stints with the Giants, Dodgers, and Expos where he played a combined 288 games. Other accolades that Carter picked up over his career was 5 time Silver Slugger, the 1989 Roberto Clemente Award, and had his number 8 retired by Montreal.
Carter was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 on his sixth ballot with 78.02%. In 2012, Carter sadly passed away at 57 due to four malignant tumors in his brain.
Happy 65th to The Kid.