Verducci: Gary Carter Was A Man Of ‘Extreme Conviction’

Over at SI.Com, Tom Verducci has a nice tribute to Gary Carter, who will be remembered as one of the best catchers ever, but who was also an unusually devout family man.

Carter sometimes was ridiculed for such fidelity, especially on the back of planes and buses by Darryl Strawberry. Mets trainer Steve Garland told me in 1995, “There was a lack of respect for Gary Carter. He was clearly an overwhelming minority -- or I should say an underwhelming minority.“He was too religious, too good, too square -- Tim Tebow with more talent and without social media.

The 1986 Mets were famously rambunctious and wild, and while Carter’s time on that team might be remembered most for the two-out, bases-empty single that kept Game 6 alive against the Boston Red Sox, it was Carter’s different lifestyle that stuck out.

Those Mets once scorned a teammate (not Carter) for having the audacity to bring his wife into a hotel bar on the road. Carter was the kind of guy who argued for the Mets to let wives fly with the team during the 1986 postseason, and wrote, “If I could, I’d take Sandy, my beautiful and beloved wife of twelve years, on every road trip.“You’ll get the stats and highlights of his career the next few days, but this article does a pretty good job of giving insight on Carter’s personality.