Carter came up as a full-time catcher for the Montreal Expos in 1975 and finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year race to San Francisco Giants pitcher John Montefusco.
From there all he proceeded to do was string together nine 20+ home run seasons, four 100-RBI seasons, and a second place finish in 1980 and third place finish in 1986 for the NL MVP.
After 12 years North of the border, he found himself a member of the New York Mets, where he solidified his future place in Cooperstown when he guided the team to a World Championship in 1986, while leading a group of young talent to the franchise’s most successful run in team history between 1985 and 1988.
By the time he retired after the 1992 season, he finished with 324 homers, 1225 RBIs, 1025 runs scored and 2092 hits, along with three Gold Gloves and eleven All-Star nods.
Though it took six tries, Carter was finally selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 with exactly 78% of the vote, eventually being joined by former teammates Andre Dawson and Tim Raines representing a missed Montreal Expos franchise that was really killed by the 1994 baseball strike.
I still can’t believe he passed away at such a young 57 in 2012 after a long battle with cancer.
RIP “Kid”.
