Gary Carter: Better Than You Remember
Recently, from some of the comments I’ve been reading following the death of Gary Carter, it has become obvious to me that many people seriously underrate the actual baseball career of Gary Carter.
While virtually everyone praises his enthusiasm for the game, and for his calm, stoic demeanor in the face of life-threatening tragedy, also implicit in these generally positive comments has been a miss-perception of what Carter’s true value was as a baseball player.
So please allow me to indulge in a second consecutive post about Gary Carter. Let me also add that Carter was not my favorite player on the Mets. He ranked about third, behind Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden.
But let’s set the record straight. Gary Carter was a great catcher who, without question, belongs in the Hall of Fame. And it’s not just because he played for the Mets on a World Championship team. That was simply the icing on the cake of a remarkable career.
It will be instructive to compare Carter’s career to the ten or so players generally considered to be among the finest catchers in baseball history.
Defensively, from all the stats I’ve seen, there are only about three catchers in history, (Bench, Pudge Rodriguez and Jim Sundberg) who rate better than Carter. Carter’s career Def. WAR was 10.0. Only Pudge Rodriguez (16.9) and Sundberg (10.4) actually rank higher in that regard.
Carter was a great defensive catcher (eight time leader in putouts, five time leader in assists) who could also hit.
As a hitter, only three catchers hit more homers, and one of them (Berra) played in a much better era for hitters. Bench, whom many consider the greatest catcher of all-time, produced the following batting line: .267 / .342 / .476. Carter, playing in a similar era but normally with worse teams than Bench, posted the following: .262 / .335 / .439. Not terribly different.
I like Hartnett, but playing in an extreme hitter’s era, when anyone’s grandma could hit .275, Hartnett (despite a 20-year career) never reached 2,000 hits or even 900 runs scored. Defensively, he was a good catcher, but there have been several better.
Bill Dickey, like Hartnett, was a good hitter in a great hitter’s era. Some power, good defense. Interestingly, Dickey reached 130 games played just five times, and 120 games just seven times. Carter played at least 130 games a total 12 times. Personally, I’ll take the more durable catcher, who also happens to hit with more power.
Mickey Cochrane, like Dickey and Hartnett, was a fine hitter in a great hitter’s era. Cochrane won two MVP awards (1928, 1934) but with just two homers, 74 runs scored, 35 extra base hits, and 180 total bases, it’s hard to see how he deserved the second one.
Cochrane’s career OPS+ 128 is impressive for a catcher, but his career Def. WAR of -0.3 indicates he would never have beaten out Carter for a Gold Glove award.
Munson hit for a higher average than Carter, but had much less power (113 homers) and seldom drew any walks to help his on-base percentage. At the time of his death, his career was already in decline, so I don’t think he would have piled up a lot more stats if he’d gotten to play another four or five years.
Campanella had three great years, but so has Joe Mauer. Campanella is much beloved because he played for the second most written about franchise in sports history (other than the Yanks), and because of the tragedy of his career-ending injury. (And I mean no disrespect to Campanella or his fans.) Gary Carter, by contrast, had about six great years, and several other very good ones.
Ted Simmons was an excellent hitter who happened to do some catching. After age 32, he was moved out from behind home-plate, and piled up some additional numbers as a DH / First Baseman. Simmons and Carter played contemporaneously. But no manager of their era would have chosen Simmons as his starting catcher over Carter.
Playing for the Mets didn’t help Carter’s rep as much as playing his first ten years (his best years) up in Montreal hurt his rep. If he’d played his Entire career in New York, he’d be rated among the top half dozen who ever played.
The only catchers I’d probably rate ahead of Carter are Bench, Berra, Pudge Rodriguez, and Piazza (for his offense only; defensively he was closer to Ted Simmons than to Johnny Bench.)
Here are the total number of seasons that each of the following catchers reached at least 6.0 WAR (combined offense and defense) in their careers:
It would be sadly ironic, therefore, if the outpouring of grief, support and condolences for Carter and his family resulted in his true legacy as a baseball player being relegated to, as they say, the dustbin of history.
Clearly, Gary Carter wasn’t simply a competitive guy with a jovial personality who happened to be a pretty good Major League catcher.
Gary Carter was, without question, one of the finest catchers who ever played the game.
Related articles
- Montrealers remember Gary Carter (cbc.ca)
Baseball 2010: An Old-Timer’s Game
It has often been said that baseball is a young man’s game.
And truth be told, major league baseball is in a transition period now, with many of the game’s stars of the ’90’s and the early part of this century giving way to a whole new crop of young and talented players.
Over the past couple of years or so, we have witnessed the retirements (or the virtual retirements) of Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Randy Johnson, NOMAR!, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield, and Pedro Martinez, to name a few.
Meanwhile, other former stars, such as Ken Griffey, Jr., David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez are clearly close to the end of the line.
In their place we have seen an enormous influx of exciting new players who are still just 27-years old or younger. This group represents the vanguard of a new, (hopefully) post-steroids generation. This list includes several young players who will some day end up in the Hall of Fame.
Most of these names are already very familiar to you: Joe Mauer, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Justin Verlander, Tim Lincecum, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Prince Fielder, Dustin Pedroia, Evan Longoria, Felix Hernandez, Ryan Zimmerman, and David Wright.
Even younger players such as Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heyward, Brian Matusz, Matt Wieters, and Ike Davis are also on the way, or have arrived within the past year.
Yet there is a group of graying players for whom Father Time seems to have given a free pass, at least as of this writing. These players, all at least 36-years old (which is like 65, in baseball years), show no signs of slowing down.
Actually, in some cases, they did show signs of slowing down, but appear to have caught a second wind. Several of them are either obvious future Hall of Famers, or should, at the very least, merit some consideration regarding their Hall worthiness.
So here they are:
1) Jorge Posada: Through tonight’s game against Baltimore, Jorge has produced some impressive numbers. He is hitting .316 with five homers and 12 RBI, while slugging over .600. At age 38, he keeps himself in excellent shape, and the Yankees are committed to giving him extra rest throughout the season. For these reasons, I believe Posada will continue to produce at a high level throughout this season.
Posada has played in parts of 15 seasons, and, aside from a few World Series rings, he has put up some nice numbers in his career. He has hit 248 career homers, driven in 976 runs, hit 346 doubles, has a career batting average of just under .280, with a .380 on base average.
He is 7th all-time on the Yankees career doubles list, ahead of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey. He is also 8th on the Yankees career home run list, just three behind Graig Nettles for 7th place.
Posada also has five Silver Sluggers to his credit, has played in five All-Star games (with a sixth all but assured this year), and he has finished in the top ten in MVP voting twice.
A serious argument could be made that Posada just might belong in the Hall of Fame.
For now, he will have to remain content hitting the stitching off of baseballs.
2) Mariano Rivera: “Mo” has not allowed an earned run so far this season. He is a perfect 6 for 6 in save opportunities. His WHIP is 0.57. He is now 40 years old, pitching just like he did back when he was 30. An obvious Hall-of-Famer, there really isn’t any reason to spend time rehashing his career numbers. The only question is, will his greatness ever end?
3) Andy Pettitte: (No, I didn’t intend this to be Yankee night, but here we are.)
Believe it or not, he is off to the best start of his 16-year career. Through his first four starts, he is 3-0, with 22 strikeouts in 28 innings. His ERA is 1.29, and his WHIP is 1.07. Clearly, the soon-to-be 38 year old Pettitte isn’t just hanging around waiting for the playoffs to begin.
That’s when he really excels.
Pettitte now has a career record of 232-135, a .632 win-loss percentage. He has finished in the top 10 in Cy Young award voting five times. And he has 18 career post-season victories. At this point, his resume probably isn’t quite that of a Hall-of-Famer. But if he continues to pitch this well for another 2-3 years, we’ll have to take another look.
4) Jim Edmonds: Now playing for the Brewers, Edmonds was actually out of major league baseball last season. But he earned his way onto the team this spring, and I’m sure the Brewers are happy he did.
So far this season, Edmonds (now approaching 40 years old), has hit better than .300, including a .340 batting average against right-handed pitching. He has slugged almost .500, and he has scored 10 runs. As part of a platoon, he gets most of the playing time, and he has made the most of it.
Edmonds would get my vote for the Hall of Fame as well. His defense in center field alone would merit some consideration (eight Gold Gloves and several circus catches.) But he also has 383 career home runs, 421 doubles, over 1200 runs scored, and nearly 1200 RBI’s. Only a few center-fielders in history have combined his defensive prowess with his offensive statistics.
5) Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez: Although recently side-lined with a back problem, when Pudge has played this season, he has been excellent. In 56 at bats for the Washington Nationals, he is hitting a mere .410 with 23 hits, including 7 doubles and 10 runs scored.
Not bad for a 38-year old catcher who happens to be a life-time .300 hitter with over 300 home runs, 13 Gold Gloves, and 14 All-Star game appearances. A first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, to be sure.
6) Jamie Moyer: Pitching for the Phillies, the 47-year old (!) Moyer is off to a 2-1 start, with a respectable 1.278 WHIP. He has fanned 11 in 18 innings.
Although Moyer now has 260 career wins, he is in the Tommy John-Jim Kaat class of pitchers. That is to say, he has put together a fine career, but falls just short of belonging in The Hall.
7) Ichiro Suzuki: Perhaps because of his physique and his unique style of play, it’s easy to forget that Ichiro, now at age 36, is not that young anymore. But he is off to his usual start this season, hitting around .310 with six stolen bases and 13 runs scored. Ichiro is in such great physical condition that, although he is slowing down a bit, he should remain a productive, above-average player for another couple of years.
Although I listed Ichiro as an overrated player in a prior blog-post, I still believe he will, and should be, elected to the Hall of Fame someday.
Each of these seven players not only continues to be highly productive, but they provide an invaluable link between the younger players, and all those who came before. It’s how baseball’s greatness is continually perpetuated from one generation to the next.
If there are other worthy performers who you believe should be included on my list, please let me know.
And, as always, thanks for reading.