Gary Carter, 1954–2012

last updated 8 January 2015

Gary “The Kid” Carter’s exuberance was infectious. During his opening game with the New York Mets, against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985, he smacked a game-winning home run in the 10th inning and then rounded the bases, pumping his right fist as the crowd roared. When the fans chanted for a curtain call, he came out of the dugout waving both arms. “Nobody loved the game of baseball more than Gary Carter,” said Mets Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver. “He wore his heart on his sleeve every inning.”

Carter grew up in Fullerton, Calif., playing quarterback for his high school football team, said The Wall Street Journal. He was heavily recruited to play college football, but ended up signing with the Montreal Expos in 1972. With Carter as catcher, the Expos posted five winning seasons starting in 1979, and he became so popular among fans that Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said, “I am certainly happy that I don’t have to run for election against Gary Carter.”

In 1984, the Expos traded Carter to the Mets, which two years later made him baseball’s highest-paid player, with a $2.07 million salary, said the Los Angeles Times. The investment paid off: He hit 24 homers in the 1986 season, and led the team to victory in that year’s World Series. But Carter, an 11-time All-Star, left the Mets in 1989, and eventually finished his career with the Expos. He never lost his child-like enthusiasm for the sport. “Going to a baseball game and sitting in the stands,” Carter said in 2003, “is like going to that happy place where you leave your worries behind.”