Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Carter Cap Kerfuffle

By request from a concerned Canadian baseball fan named Jurgen Maas, here's an online petition from the Montreal Gazette concerning Gary Carter's wardrobe at his upcoming Hall of Fame induction.

While I was adamant that The Kid belongs in Cooperstown, his behaviour since his election has done nothing to endear him to Montreal and its beleaguered fans. He's been rude, and (no surprise) selfish, caring only about his future marketing opportunities. He doesn't seem to realize there's a certain cachet to being the first, maybe the only, member of his team to be so honoured. The Expos probably won't exist next year, so if you believe he should wear their cap, add your name and optional comments to the list, which will be forwarded to officials at the HoF and to Carter.

I think he should have a special logo made, featuring a big dollar sign superimposed over a grinning picture of himself. That's where Gary's loyalty really is.

Posted by Coach on Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 04:00 AM EST.

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Dave Till - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 04:56 PM EST (#99319) #

Coach: I agree that Carter's every action is calculated to make himself look good - that's why a lot of his teammates didn't like him. But, to be fair to him, he did win his only World Series title as a member of the '86 Mets. In his crabapple-sized heart, he might actually think of himself as a Met.

I was an Expos fan as a kid (before the Jays existed), and it is saddening to realize that Expos fans care about Gary more than Gary cares about the Expos.

I hope somebody, somewhere, sets up something to memorialize the great Expos teams of the 1970's - and the Expos in general. I assume that the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, if this actually exists as a physical building somewhere these days, would be up to the task.

_Chuck Van Den C - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 04:56 PM EST (#99320) #

I was an Expos fan living in Montreal during a good chunk of Carter's career. He was certainly a difficult player to like. He was a terrific talent, no question, but he had the same snake oil salesman charm of a Steve Garvey or Brian Mulroney. You know, the kind of guy whose act mothers love but whose me-first agenda is so transparent to the rest of us.

His rationale for wanting to be represented in a NY hat is disengenuous at best and disgusting at worst. He's admitted as much as wanting to work for the Mets.

Montreal Expo fans in the late 70's and early 80's were almost assuredly baseball's most vocal and most passionate. The "Kid" was loved in Montreal and not simply appreciated, as he was in NY.

If he had an ounce of class, he would choose to honour the city that gave him so much. Even if there was no money in it for him.

Coach - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 05:18 PM EST (#99321) #

As far as I'm concerned, it's a tempest in a teapot, but Expos fans have a right to be miffed. Jurgen sent me the link by e-mail, and I passed it on. I agree with Rob Neyer's take:

We spend all this time worrying about which cap a player's going to wear on his Hall of Fame plaque ... and then as soon as the plaque's on the wall, we forget which hat he's wearing.

With that caveat -- we shouldn't care -- let me say that the notion of Carter wearing anything but an Expos hat is patently ridiculous. As Montreal Gazette columnist Jack Todd wrote about Carter last week, "He spent 11 seasons in Montreal, five in New York. He hit 215 home runs [as an Expo], 89 as a Met. He drove in 794 runs for the Expos, 349 for the Mets. He had 1,365 hits as an Expo, 542 as a Met."

And of course, he both started and ended his career with the Expos.

Carter recently said, "What if the Expos are no longer in existence after this year? What good does that do me? I hope the Hall of Fame will understand where I'm coming from."

With all due respect to the man who richly deserves his spot in Cooperstown, I hope the Hall of Fame doesn't care where Gary Carter is coming from. All that matters is where Gary Carter came from, and he came from the Expos.

The Kid sums himself up in six words: "What good does that do me?" What a guy.

_rodent - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 05:20 PM EST (#99322) #

"I assume that the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, if this actually exists as a physical building somewhere these days..."

Indeed. Virtually: www.baseballhalloffame.ca. Bricks & Mortar: in beautiful (truly,) St. Mary's Ontario.

_Mick - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 06:05 PM EST (#99323) #

I think he should have a special logo made, featuring a big dollar sign superimposed over a grinning picture of himself.

I think that would constitute copyright infringement over the similar dollar sign logos developed by Dave Winfield and Wade Boggs.

Brought to you by the law firm of Mr. May, Chicken Man and The Kid.

_Chuck Van Den C - Tuesday, January 14 2003 @ 08:18 PM EST (#99324) #

Didn't Dave Winfield go into the Hall as a Padre, to celebrate his origins? Is it fair to lump him in with Boggs and Carter?

_Mick - Wednesday, January 15 2003 @ 01:26 AM EST (#99325) #

No, Winfield held a very public auctioning of his allegiance when choosing his hat. If Toronto had stepped up with a vice presidency like the Padres did, the Hall would now be home to Winnie the Jay.

I'm not sure what the Hall would have said if, for instance, Milwaukee(for whom Winfield never played, of course) had offered him an executive vice presidency in exchange for going into Cooperstown as a Brewer.

I'm kidding on that last part ... but only a little.

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