Let's be serious. Despite this being a blog about the franchise that Gary Carter was once a part of, I'm not going to have much to add to the conversation. As a Yankees fan growing up in NY in the 80s - Carter was a Met. As a guy that started casually following then blogging about the Expos in the early/mid 2000s, Carter was already long gone. As a guy that blogs about the Nationals after the team moved to DC, Carter is less of a hero to the people reading this than Frank Howard or Walter Johnson (really? Baseball was that bad in DC we have to go back to Walter Johnson for Hero #2?) You're going to get better reads about Carter from someone else. That being said here are your better reads:
From the Montreal Gazette
Column #1
Cowan
Johnson
McDonald
Lupica
Kurkijan (for ESPN where Carter's death is almost as important as the Bulls winning a regular season game over the now 15-14 Celtics)
Verducci
and last but not least Bill Ladson
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8 comments:
Hey, they name schools after Walter Johnson in this area, dude! If he's not the best pitcher ever, he's in the top five argument.
Carter was a great player and I thought so during he Expos time, but I hated the Mets enough that his smile and camera-hogging behavior rubbed me the wrong way. I guess everyone says it's genuine, but he was kind of like Garvey to me. I'm happy to be wrong about it, and feel very badly for his friends and family. It's too bad he didn't get a shot at managing.
You know, I am kind of with blovy8. I lived in NY during the 80's, and while I was a Yankee fan, it was impossible not to get exposure to the Mets, especially once Davey took over. Carter always struck me as a self promoter, and did not seem genuine (to me). Reading these obits makes me reconsider that view, but it was certainly how he came off to me.
Secondarily, I just don't see an Expos connection for the Nats. Just seems like an entirely different organization, and even era.
I've been an Expos fan since I was a child (the reason why I'm a Nationals fan now), and Carter (along with Andre Dawson, and a little later Tim Raines) was the face of the franchise (and my favorite player) back when my age was in the single digits. I still remember him hitting a three-run homer to give the Expos the lead in the first MLB game I ever saw at the ballpark, and always regretted the trade that sent him to the Mets, though I was glad he was able to get that WS ring.
Walter Johnson would be a top player in almost any teams history.
Also, Harmon Killibrew, Bobby Allison and Camilio Pasqual were more heros to me, growing up in the Washington area, then Gary Carter playing on cable TV.
You don't have to knock a HOF pitcher to say you liked Carter.
blovy8 / Wally - I guess I was just too young and or oblivious to see it that way. Ah the innocence of youth.
Dezo - I wonder how many old Expos fans actually follow the Nats? And is it contigent on where you are? Like did American Expos fans just switch over to the Nats while Montreal Epxos fans just gave up on the franchise?
Barney - at what point was I knocking Walter Johnson? I was questioning if Washington baseball was so bad that you'd have to go back to a guy who last threw a pitch during the depression to find a great player. Killebrew obviously was one but only got two years in before the teaqm moved. Allison and Pasqual are right there but I don't know if they jump the hump over into stardom. Roy Seivers? Stan Spence if the war hadn't gotten in the way?
Yes, you're right Harper, I shouldn't have said that you were knocking Walter Johnson. And thanks for adding Roy Seivers, who I had forgotten. Definitely a better choice than Allison.
Killebrew played with the Major League team during parts of 7 seasons before being hijacked to Minnesota, though only the last 2 were HOF-worthy.
Well Harper, it was'nt all that good. Beside's Big Train was a big deal. I liked Carter as a performer on the field, liked him better with the Expos (a soft sport for the that team and the French fans who though they gave it the ol' college try could not make room in their hearts for the Expos and Le Habs)than the Mets.
Screw the Nationals. They are a classless organization. At their heart, they are the Montreal Expos. Yes, the Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals, but the franchise roots are still in Montreal. Yet they unretire 8, 10 & 30. They are even allowing some scrub to wear 8 mere weeks after the death of franchise hero, Gary Carter. I was an Expos fan living in the States since 1980. And an even bigger Gary Carter fan. I hated to see them leave Montreal. But the crime is what current ownership has done. They aren't even honoring Gary as far as I know. Hey, he only holds a bunch franchise records, but they don't acknowledge any of it. Classless. I really don't follow baseball any longer. Gary is in the Hall where he belongs. But info hope the Nationals fail each and every season for turning their backs on their past!
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