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'The Kid' was greatest Expo ever

Carter loses battle with brain cancer

By: Don McGowan

Posted: 02/17/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Always exuberant, Expos catcher Gary Carter ranks fifth all-time with 324 homers as a backstop. (BILL GRIMSHAW / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

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- Canadians pay tribute to the late Gary Carter, who rose to fame in Montreal

Baseball Hall of Famer Gary Carter, whose exuberance earned him the nickname The Kid and whose talent made him one of the best catchers of his generation, died on Thursday of brain cancer.

Carter, 57, was the first player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo and is widely considered the best player in franchise history.

"I am deeply saddened to tell you all that my precious dad went to be with Jesus today at 4:10 p.m. This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write in my entire life but I wanted you all to know," Carter's daughter Kimmy Bloemers said in a statement posted to a family website. "He is in heaven and has reunited with his mom and dad. I believe with all my heart that dad had a STANDING OVATION as he walked through the gates of heaven to be with Jesus."

Carter spent 19 years in the majors, the first 11 with the Expos. His arrival in the mid-1970s kick-started the Expos' climb from expansion patsies to National League contenders.

He won three Gold Glove Awards for defensive excellence and five Silver Slugger awards as the best offensive player at his position. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, the same year the Expos retired his No. 8.

He won the 1986 World Series with the New York Mets, and played for the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers before returning to the Expos for the 1992 season.

Carter's 324 home runs are fifth most by a catcher in Major League Baseball history and his 1,225 RBIs rank seventh best by a backstop. He was named to the NL all-star team 11 times. He was twice named MVP of the midsummer classic, burnishing his reputation for thriving in the spotlight.

Rusty Staub might have been the Montreal Expos' first marquee player, joining the club in a trade with the Houston Astros prior to the Expos' expansion season of 1969, but Carter was the team's first homegrown star.

While critics bemoaned his gee-whiz attitude and devout Christian beliefs, Carter's good looks, ebullient personality and hard-charging approach to the game quickly made him a fan favourite.

Carter embraced the role as the team's star -- some called Carter "Kid Kodak," joking that he never saw a camera he didn't like -- and became the face of the franchise.

He joined the team in 1974, becoming the first in a line of heralded prospects developed by the organization -- Andre Dawson, Larry Parrish, Warren Cromartie would soon follow -- to reach the majors.

He was the Expos' representative at the 1975 all-star game, at which time he met Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench, considered by many the best catcher ever.

"We had a picture taken together and later I asked him if he would sign it for me," Carter recalled in his Hall of Fame induction speech. "He wrote on it... 'Kid, in a few years it's all yours.' That inspired me to carry the torch for catchers, because it made me want to work hard as possible and to try to make every all-star game and be the best at my position."

The Expos reached the post-season in the strike-shortened 1981 campaign -- the first and only time Montreal reached the playoffs.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 17, 2012 C6

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