Mazeroski, Carter Linked in Baseball Lore Forever : World Series: The two are the only players to end major league seasons with home runs.

The 90th World Series was all about image, but in the end it was not how the Philadelphia Phillies looked that mattered. We didn’t care anymore, because we found out that they could play some serious baseball. What mattered was how Joe Carter could leave Toronto quietly for the offseason and be just another guy.

Ask Bill Mazeroski what it’s like to be just another retired baseball player. Until last weekend, Maz was the only player to end a major league season with a home run. He did it for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, a few weeks before John F. Kennedy was elected to the White House and a few months after Carter was born in Oklahoma City. Maz connected off the New York Yankees’ Ralph Terry, breaking a tie in the bottom of the ninth.

Carter became the second to accomplish that feat and the first to bring his team from behind with a season-ending blast. It came last Saturday at SkyDome off Mitch “Ralph” Williams, his partner for life on future replays. Carter hit a slider so high that it took forever to land, and when it did there was what Toronto Blue Jays President Paul Beeston calls a “pregnant pause.” We aren’t used to giving up baseball so suddenly, and when the reality hit the audience, baseball had its first back-to-back champion since the 1977-78 Yankees. And a new hero.

“I have an image to uphold, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to,” Carter says. “This is kind of good and bad. I probably won’t have any privacy when I get back to Kansas City. I’m a down-to-earth guy who likes his privacy. I’ll suffer the consequences for doing something this good, though. This is a dream.”

We’ll try not to exaggerate this point: Carter has been a perennial 100-RBI man since 1986, he is a two-time All-Star and his autographed baseballs aren’t exactly free. He came into this one with a higher profile than the steady Mazeroski had before hitting his. But Carter’s consistency has tended to lull people to sleep. And with Toronto’s lineup, it’s easy to blend right in.

Carter’s low-key image changed gradually during this Series. On the morning of Game 5 in Philadelphia, a gossip columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News wrote that Carter, Paul Molitor and Pat Borders were seen at a local strip joint. Carter surprisingly brought this matter to everyone’s attention during that day’s pregame news conference--baseball writers don’t typically read the local gossip columns--claiming that he was with family at the time of the supposed spotting. Carter was enraged and asked the writer to identify himself--”if you’re man enough.”

Two nights later, Carter was seen doing his own dance, merrily circling the bases. He single-handedly turned the Series MVP trophy over to Molitor instead of Lenny Dykstra, single-handedly sent us all home for the winter. Even if Carter isn’t one of the biggest names in baseball now, his name will outlast that of many others. He had brought a dramatic end to a slugfest series that may not have been the best you ever saw--and ratings indicate that not a whole bunch did--but certainly one of the wildest.

The Blue Jays, who prided themselves on their businesslike image, celebrated as ebulliently as they had after breaking the ice of the Great White North in 1992. And Carter, so often asked about teammates, was the man in the middle of it all.

When the victory parade was over last year and General Manager Pat Gillick began overhauling the Blue Jays, he knew there was one thing that had to be done. Carter was eligible for free agency, and he had to be re-signed. The Kansas City Royals needed a right fielder with pop, and Carter is a K.C. resident in the offseason. Gillick wasn’t going to let him get away.

“Joe’s a great guy and a good player who drives in 100 runs a year,” Gillick says. “Those guys are hard to find. He was the one we wanted to keep. After the last World Series, Joe’s agent said, ‘We have a very serious offer from the Royals, and you’re going to have to come up.’ We made a decision to keep Joe. We’re glad we did.”

While Carter stayed, the world changed around him. Outgoing Blue Jays included Jimmy Key, David Cone, Tom Henke, Dave Winfield, Kelly Gruber, Candy Maldonado and Manny Lee. Incoming Blue Jays included Molitor, Dave Stewart and later Tony Fernandez and Rickey Henderson. Players such as John Olerud, Duane Ward, Ed Sprague and Pat Hentgen were given opportunities to come forward. Somehow, the Blue Jays managed to repeat.

There are two things you can count on in 1994: Carter will sign more autographs, and the Blue Jays will be back in the hunt. For one thing, there unofficially will be a wild-card berth, and the Blue Jays should be at least good enough for that. The Yankees and Baltimore Orioles still need parts. The Blue Jays will return most of a devastating lineup that allowed them to come from behind for a pivotal, 15-14 Game 4 victory that set the World Series record for most runs scored. And there’s the retirement factor. It not only will be Dave Stewart’s farewell season, but it also will be the last go-round for Gillick. Probable slogan: One more time.

But is it possible? Can a team in this age win three consecutive championships, a trick last pulled by the Oakland A’s from 1972 to ‘74? “You’d like to go out as a winner,” says Gillick, 56, who has been with the club since expansion in 1977. “Why not? You put just as much effort into losing, probably. So why not win?”

Gillick says of this winter: “We’ll shuffle a little bit.” But he says it won’t be as radical: “Four or five” changes can be expected. Henderson, whose ninth-inning walk in Game 6 was about the only highlight of his brief time with the team, is unlikely to be retained (the Yankees are a likely prospect for him again). They can plug a kid such as Rob Butler in left or pick up a lesser-priced free agent and use the position as a platoon spot. Catcher Pat Borders says he does not expect to return. There is the usual speculation that he will be replaced by highly touted prospect Carlos Delgado. The Blue Jays Monday declined to exercise their 1994 option on pitcher Jack Morris. Sprague played well at third but was one of the weak spots in the lineup.

Where Toronto might look for an expensive addition is in their starting rotation. The Blue Jays, who want to cut their payroll from $50 million to $45 million, will likely be quick to get in the trading hunt for Andy Benes, Randy Johnson, Jack McDowell and Erik Hanson--all of whom may be available for Todd Stottlemyre, Borders and the usual farm-system excess. Another option is the free-agent market.

And what of Fernandez? He may not be back, what with prospect Alex Gonzalez widely believed to be ready. But it could be hard to part with the veteran. The Phillies went from worst to first this year, and yet it was nothing compared to Fernandez’s ascension from the New York Mets to the Blue Jays, who traded for him in mid-season.

Image was everything for the Phillies when the World Series began. Writers battled to come up with the best nickname. “Broad Street Bellies” was the general favorite. It became unbearable after a while, especially when the Phillies began blaming the media for dwelling on a subject that those players worked so hard to peddle.

But we came to appreciate the Phillies for more than grooming habits. We discovered a rising star in Curt Schilling, author of a Game 5 shutout, and we concentrated on Dykstra’s game rather than his mouth. Nails can play. If you were going to build a team around one guy, all of a sudden he is someone you have to consider.

Dykstra seemed to get better and better as this year went along, and when it was over, even the most weary baseball watchers had to be almost saddened to see him head home. In Game 2, Dykstra slammed into the center-field wall to catch a Roberto Alomar rocket. He batted .348 with a team-high eight RBI, tied a World Series record with four runs in Game 4, and his four home runs left him one shy of Reggie Jackson’s 1977 Series record.

“What can you say about Dykstra?” Carter asked. “I thought we had the best leadoff hitter in the game. After not having seen Lenny play over the past three years, I may have to change my mind. Rickey is a great athlete. (But) that little guy can just flat-out play.”

Dykstra’s most important home run came in the top of the seventh in Game 6. Stewart was cruising with a two-hitter through six, but Kevin Stocker opened the seventh with a walk, and Mickey Morandini singled. Dykstra stepped up and yanked a 3-1 fastball to the second deck in right, cutting Toronto’s lead to 5-4. That chased Stewart, and the Phillies ended that inning with a 6-5 lead. Dykstra had done it, it seemed.

But even then, Dykstra and everyone associated with the Phillies had to be thinking two words: Mitch Williams. “Every time (he) pitches,” Phillies owner Bill Giles had said earlier, “it takes me an extra hour and a vodka martini to get to sleep.” Williams had been on the mound to clinch against the Atlanta Braves’ sluggers, and he had survived in Game 2. But this was another thing. This was serious business.

It came down to that in the ninth, of course. The Jays sent the top of the order to greet the hazardous closer, and Henderson started with a walk. Devon White flied to center, and Molitor singled up the middle to wind up with your basic .500 Series average. The right-handed-hitting Carter came up to face the left-handed reliever. It was the first time they had met since Williams was pitching for the Texas Rangers and Carter was with the Cleveland Indians.

“All we needed was a base hit,” Carter said. “But with the nation watching, it would be nice to cut through it. . . . You remember Dave Henderson hitting the big home run (for the Boston Red Sox) against California (in 1986). Kirby Puckett in Game 6 (of the 1991 World Series).”