Gary Carter Was in 'Select' Company to the End

How Score and the Expos conspired to set the the baseball world right

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1993 Select Gary Carter (#55) - Card of the Day

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When you think of Gary Carter, which team comes to mind first?

Probably depends on when you first “found” him, or maybe on your team allegiances.

If you’re a National League New York fan, or maybe started following baseball for the first time in the mid-1980s, then the Mets might be the club you most associate with Carter.

If you started watching the game in 1990 or 1991 and then immediately tuned out all things baseball, on the other hand, or if you’re an extreme San Francisco or Los Angeles homer, then maybe The Kid conjures images in Dodger Blue or Giants Black & Orange.

But if you’re a long-time baseball fan who followed the game in the 1970s and 1980s, or maybe just have an appreciation for baseball history, there can really be only one answer: the Montreal Expos were Gary Carter’s team, and Gary Carter was the Montreal Expos’ catcher, forever and always (the cap on his Hall of Fame plaque agrees).

With all due apologies to Mike Fitzgerald, Nelson Santovenia, Chris Widger, et al., you understand.

For most of us, then, it was a pretty jarring blow when the Expos traded Carter to the Mets in December of 1984 in exchange for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans.

But Carter’s presence did tinge the Mets’ World Series victory in 1986 with a bit of sweetness, even for those of us who were rooting for the Red Sox in that one. Or who were rooting against the Mets as a matter of principle.

Who deserved the limelight and a ring more than Carter, one of the best catchers the game had ever seen, especially after so many years of frustration in Montreal?

Even more jarring than seeing Carter star for the Mets, though, was hearing about his release in November of 1989 and then watching him suit up for the Giants and Dodgers the next two summers.

Thankfully, with his body wearing down and the end of the road looming on the horizon, Carter and the Expos conspired to put the baseball world right again. To wit, Montreal claimed him off waivers from L.A. in November 1991. Carter ended up starting 81 games — exactly half the schedule — behind the plate for the Expos in 1992.

Carter announced his retirement that September, then played his last game ever on the 27th of that month. The next year, collectors were treated to one last round of Carter baseball cards showing him with the team that made him (and vice versa).

All of those career cappers are worthy of a spot in veteran collections, but the 1993 Score Select number you see above is special in at least a few ways.

First, it was part of Pinnacle Brands’ debut in the premium-card market — slotted between their base Score set and their super-premium Pinnacle set, and offering 405 cards issued in a single series. The Select line ran through 1997 and was slated for a 1998 version before the company declared bankruptcy.

Second, Carter is at his gritty, stand-your-ground best in blocking the plate from a charging Dodgers runner. The barreling-in face looks like Mike Scioscia to me, and as it happens, Marquis Grissom threw out the Dodgers’ catcher at the plate (to Carter) in the fifth inning of a game at Dodger Stadium on July 6, 1992.

Two great catchers battling for real estate in the last season for both of them is about as good as an action shot gets.

And then you have the apparent follow-up shot on the card back, where Carter’s 1992 and lifetime stats are also on full display:

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Collecting purists might bemoan the lack of full year-by-year digits on this one, and normally I’d agree. But there’s something satisfying — and right — about seeing nothing but “Expos” on the back of Carter’s last card.

Gary Carter, who passed away in 2012, was born on April 8, 1954.

A Dream Season

It may have been tough for Expos fans and non-New York fans in general to see Carter change clothes for the 1985 season, but the man sure did seem to enjoy his time in the Big Apple. And winning, especially.

The first book he co-wrote about his baseball experiences, A Dream Season, came out in 1987 and chronicled the Mets’ magical 1986 ride.

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