At 37, Carter Is Still the Kid

When the Dodgers signed Gary Carter, the former Expo, former Met, former Giant catcher, they (and he) thought he would probably be useful as backup to Mike Scioscia, available for occasional pinch-hitting, and he could catch the second games of doubleheaders.

Gary caught the second game of a doubleheader in Atlanta the other night, all right. Trouble is, he caught the first game, too.

They say old soldiers never die, they just fade away. Well, old catchers don’t do either. You might have noticed, if you’ve been paying attention. Carlton Fisk is still going strong for the White Sox. Carlton will be 44 this year and has been in organized ball since Lyndon Johnson was President.

Bob Boone has just retired. He was 43. But Rick Dempsey is still catching (for Milwaukee). Rick is only 41.

Gary Carter, 37, is a baby in that company.

Gary Carter’s nickname those years with Montreal and the Mets was “the Kid,” as in Billy, I guess. But it might as well have been Rodney--as in Dangerfield.

Gary Carter has been a front-line major league catcher for two decades, a recognized All-Star (11 times), a World Series hero (nine RBIs in the 1986 Series), but he has somehow made an art form of being underrated or taken for granted.

At Montreal, he racked up some of the numbers only the great ones do. He hit 17 home runs in his rookie year, batted .270 and drove in 68 runs.

And they gave the catching job to Barry Foote.

By 1977, they saw the error of their ways. They traded Foote to Philadelphia and gave the job to Carter, who promptly hit 31 homers and 29 doubles. And nobody ran on him.

But Carter must have felt like the guy who saved the kid from drowning and, when he brought him in, his mother snapped, “Where’s his hat?”

For eight years, Carter gave respectability to Montreal and drove in 106 runs one season, 101 another and 97 in a third. He hit .294 in 1984 with 27 homers, 33 other extra-base hits and 106 runs driven in.

Montreal shrugged. And traded him to the Mets. “I didn’t want to go. I was satisfied in Montreal,” Carter recalled. “I went in to (General Manager) John McHale and said, ‘I hear Mr. Bronfman (the owner) is dissatisfied and wants to trade me,’ and McHale said, ‘That’s true.’ ”

In New York, he was instrumental in putting the Mets in the ’86 World Series. He hit 32 and 24 home runs in his first two years, drove in 100 and 105 runs. In the World Series, he hit two home runs in one game, one in which the Mets drew even with the Red Sox. But more important, he started the famous rally in Game 6 when the Mets, behind, 2-3, in games and down, 3-5, in the bottom of the 10th inning, got off the floor to win.

Carter picked them up. There were two out and none on when he came to bat in the 10th inning. Boston all but had the victory champagne uncorked when Carter poked a single to center field and ignited the series of events that saw the Mets win the championship.

And the Mets cut him loose 2 1/2 years later when his shoulder started to hurt.

You picture Carter wondering what a fellow has to do to rate a pat on the head in this game. The story of his life has been: Very nice--but why wasn’t it nicer? His motto should have been: You were expecting, maybe, Babe Ruth?

Consider that he has caught more games than anybody in the history of the National League and is third on the all-time major league list. Consider that he holds the league record for putouts and chances accepted by a catcher. Consider that he has hit 317 home runs and needs six hits to reach 2,000, and you would think 26 teams would be sending a stretch limo for him. You might have thought his mailbox would be full and his phone ringing off the hook. Instead, the word was, “Carter is through.”

Carter didn’t believe it. Catching is one position where experience is more important than youth. A major league catcher, like a Super Bowl quarterback, is beginning to learn his position when others are getting bored with theirs.

But when Carter signed with the Giants, they didn’t have to fight off many counteroffers. The Giants used him in 92 games and he got 62 hits, nine of them home runs.

This might not get you a ticker-tape parade, but it ought to get you invited back. The Dodgers were able to get him this year for carfare from his home in Palm Beach to Vero Beach. It’s one of the best moves the club made over the winter. When Scioscia came down with a hand injury, Carter was surprised to find himself catching more games in a row--including his first doubleheader in 12 years--than he did when he came up.

Carter came to bat in the first inning of a game Tuesday night with a man on second base and two out. San Diego pitcher Dennis Rasmussen figured he could smuggle a fastball past this old guy. The next sound he heard was the ball ricochetting off the left-field fence. It was Gary Carter’s 344th double and his 1,183rd RBI. It was also the winning run.

Does he find himself hobbling home at night to a hot-water bottle and a cup of cocoa and box of cookies? Carter laughs and says: “I get in a cold whirlpool. We old catchers are a strange breed, a dying breed. This is a position where you get used to aches and pains. You kind of miss them.”

So, he isn’t ready to scream “bench me or trade me” at management? Carter shakes his head. “I find it invigorating,” he says. “I think I’m as good as ever throwing. I knew what my role would be here, and I was ready to play it. I’m glad to get the opportunity.”

The only problem is, if he helps the Dodgers win the pennant, he will probably be put back on the street again.