Terrible news. Lots of luck to The Kid. http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/29469655
I'm not a Mets fan, but I always liked Gary Carter. My thoughts and prayers are with him for a full recovery.
got the 2 out hit to keep the dream alive against the Red Sox in game six in 86. He's okay in my book.
Doctors believe that the tumors are malignant. http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/29616874
Indeed. I've been reflecting on it quite a bit recently, even before he was a Met I loved GC. He played with so much energy and excitement. There are so many great moments to remember with Gary, but my favorite will always be his first HR at Shea to beat the Cards in extra innings. For me it symbolized the change we had all been waiting for moreso then the arrival of Mex and Straw (although those arrivals got bigger fan fare then a single early season GW HR). It made me start to forget the pain of trading Hubie Brooks (Youmans, Mike Fitz and Herm Winningham) also. It was morning in Flushing.
I was at that game, and vividly remember that home run. The fact that it came off Neil Allen was a bonus. It was a cold day, but nobody felt it after that ending. The Mets haven't assigned #8 to anyone since Carter made the Hall of Fame in 2003. They are notoriously stingy in retiring numbers, but I wonder if this will prompt them to retire #8 (although this is likely to be too late for him, of course). They also didn't assign #17 to anyone in 2011 for the first time since 1990 (the year after Hernandez left the team). Those are the only two numbers that I would say could be considered for retirement, so I wonder if they have something planned regarding that.
Obviously a lot of speculation around Carter's number being retired recently. Given the Mets criteria I would think he doesn't get it despite the flood of emotion around his recent health status. As you point out the bar is kind of high for the Mets and personally I'd rather see them keep it that way. He had a big impact on the team and some great years, but it wasn't for long enough in my eyes. Interesting you make no mention of Strawberry or Piazza when considering retired numbers. Even though Piazza never won a WS I would rate him right up there and definitely ahead of Carter in terms retiring his number. I think both Mex and Piazza will be retired some day... if you retire Carter then I think Strawberry and even Beltran need to come into the conversation also... which would be a considerable lowering of the present standard. You and I are on the same page in that we both think Gary's time left with us is short... stories like the one that came out yesterday usually get published very close the the end. It would be great to see him trot back onto the field one more time for a showing of Love from the NY fans, but it seems unlikely.
Piazza was great for the Mets, but they never won the Series with him (or even a division championship), so I don't see his number being retired. IMO Beltran is not close to being at that kind of level. Also IMO Strawberry will never get his number retired - he wasn't good enough, and he and Gooden will always be viewed as the guys who helped throw away possible World Series wins through drug abuse, and who then chose to sign with the Yankees and won the Series with them. In fact, I would say Gooden is more deserving than Strawberry, and it's not happening for either of them. I personally think Carter is far more deserving of the honor than either Beltran or Strawberry, is more deserving than Piazza, and is just as deserving as Hernandez. The fact that he is in the Hall of Fame, even though it was also for his achievements with Montreal, could put him over the top.
Fair points, at a time like this it seems a bit silly to debate Carter's retirement any further, I certainly won't lose any sleep if he gets it, he was a great Met and plays a big part in team history. Retiring a number is such a gray area, and your points about Strawberry and Doc are well understood. But if public image and hall of fame consideration put Carter over the top and Doc/Straw out of contention then I think you have to consider those things in Piazza's case also. There's a good chance Piazza goes to Cooperstown as a Met and if he does then it's a done deal. In terms of public image... for many, the lasting of image of Piazza in NY will always be the home run after 9/11 and all of the work he did in NY during his time as a Met... the opposite image of Strawberry/Doc. His individual on-field contributions to team over 1000+ games with the Mets can't be questioned, he had some phenominal years and gawdy numbers as a Met. It's true he missed the division championship by a game but the 2000 Mets were one of the best teams in Mets history and his performance that season was the reason why.Which makes me think... I only saw Seaver towards the end of his career as I was born in 74... but Damn that guy was great! He has set the bar so high...
I don't plan on losing any sleep over it either, and I do agree with the bolded statement above. I guess it's more likely that if/when he goes in it will be as a Met on the basis of an extra season in New York, but Piazza's numbers were actually better in LA than they were in NY, and so was the team's overall record. The Mets were very good the first 2 1/2 years he was on the team (.576 winning percentage), but were pretty bad for the 5 years after that (.467). The 1999 team might have been better than the 2000 team - the starting pitching was better in 2000, and Piazza and Alfonso had better years, but the rest of the team (including relief pitching) was much better in 1999. I was 11 years old when I first saw #41 get that famous dirt on his right knee, just about the perfect age for hero worship. It was immediately obvious how good he was. He changed the entire culture of the team by his consistent excellence.
Metsblog having the exact same conversation a day after us... http://www.metsblog.com/2012/01/21/retired-numbers-does-beltran-have-a-case/
This really sucks. I remember going to training camp in 1987 as a kid because it was close to my grandparents. All of the others were dicks about signing,but Gary signed for us. Even as a Yankee fan,1986 mets were a lot of fun to watch
