One of the key figures in baseball in the 1980s lost in his battle with brain cancer on Thursday.
Gary Carter was the first player to wear a Montreal Expos hat on his Hall of Fame plaque and a key member of the memorable 1986 New York Mets championship team. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2003.
On a Mets team full of guys who loved a party and the excesses that went with it, Carter was the straight-laced family man who signed every autograph. Those talented Mets of Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and Keith Hernandez wouldn't have won the title without Carter, the only member of the Hall of Fame from that team. He had the game-winning hit in the 12th inning of a memorable NLCS game against Houston and started the two-out rally against the Red Sox in Game 6 of the World Series with a single to center field. That game ended with the infamous Bill Buckner error at first base.
Former Mets teammate Wally Backman (one of the aforementioned party guys), in a story by Bob Klapisch of The Record in New Jersey, called Carter one of the best teammates he ever had.
"Gary figured it out way before we did how to treat people," Backman said. "We used to make fun of him, the way he'd sign every damn autograph. We had to hold the bus for him sometimes, because he didn't know how to say no. He didn't want to say no. But you know what? He was right. He really loved the game."
Carter is survived by his wife, two daughters, a son and three grandchildren. His daughter Kimmy is the head softball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. She kept a poignant online journal keeping fans up to date on her father's condition over the past year.
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