Carter Still Looking for a New Address

He treated all of New York to a mile of smiles during the previous five seasons. Three months after removing his Mets’ uniform for the last time, Gary Carter presented another face to a select audience. For a few moments, he was the catcher caught in a cry.

Although the tools of his trade included a mask, Carter never hid behind it. For better or worse, he laid bare his feelings. Mostly, they were happy. Even the passing was no worse than bittersweet as he thought of what had been accomplished.

It was played back for him on Friday as he and his wife, Sandy, were honored by the Leukemia Society of America during a luncheon at the Garden City Hotel. The program included a filmed tribute that touched on the highlights of his career with the Mets, right down to the double in his final at-bat in Shea Stadium in the last home game of the 1989 season.

“I was fighting back the tears then,” Carter recalled. “To see it on film, it was tough not to let it go. I didn’t think I was going to break down.” But he did. Not that anyone seemed to mind. There were a few tears in the audience, too. A memorable era in Mets’ history ended two days after the conclusion of the season when Keith Hernandez and Carter, Mex and the Kid, were told by management they would not be invited back.

They were the senior citizens, the co-captains, the acknowledged leaders of the ’86 championship team. The parting was not a shock. After all, both had spent the major portion of the year on the disabled list and their lucrative, long-term contracts had expired. Nevertheless, the news hit hard.

“It was so final,” Carter recalled. “It was very emotional. I thought back to all the things that had happened. It was like a marriage, really. I flew home to Florida on the day after the announcement. It took me a couple of weeks to get over it.”

The man returned to be saluted by the society for which he and his wife have donated considerable time. He has yet to find gainful employment with another major-league baseball club, his stated goal, but from his smile it appeared he had just celebrated a .300 season by signing a five-year contract. It’s rarely been necessary for anyone to tell Gary Carter to keep his chin up.

“I have some leads,” he said. “There’s nothing definite. I’ve been working all winter with a physical therapist and I feel fine. Unless my body tells me I’m finished, I expect to be back. I think there’s a team out there that will be interested.”

Hernandez has signed with the Cleveland Indians, but he doesn’t have to squat on damaged knees. There was a time last season, Carter said, where he couldn’t even bend. But the surgery from which he rushed back late last season has had time to heal.

Carter did get back into uniform once in Florida and the reaction told him his skills still are in demand, if only by the people running the Senior Association. He asked the owner of the West Palm Beach Tropics if he could work out with the club before a game one night and the man agreed. When he taped an interview for a local television station in his borrowed Tropics’ finery, word spread around Florida.

He got offers from other clubs seeking his services. Among the callers was Earl Weaver, who said, “Our owner wants to sign you. And you won’t have to play weekends.” It was an offer Carter can and did refuse.

The only affiliation he wants with senior baseball at the moment is the broadcasting duties he shares with his neighbor, Tommy Hutton. “If I’m healthy enough,” he figured, “I should be able to play major-league baseball.”

If the man does make a comeback, it won’t be in New York where he began the second phase of his career with a game-winning home run on Opening Day, 1985, before a crowd that included Vice President Bush. The VP has moved up and now Carter has moved on.

He ran down the salaries the Mets are paying to the starting rotation and to a few other regulars. “And then they have to pay Darryl (Strawberry),” he said. “Keith and I were the odd guys out.”

They also were the old guys who were unable to provide leadership the club was so sorely lacking last season because they were able to play so little. As their roles diminished, the attitude of the Mets suffered.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who steps forward,” Carter said. “Maybe HoJo. Or Darryl. Kevin (McReynolds) is (too) quiet. And Darryl, if he doesn’t get his new contract, you know how he’ll be.”

But that’s someone else’s problem now.