Saying goodbye to The Kid (1954-2012)
Baseball mourns the loss of Gary Carter, who helped the Mets to the 1986 title and was inducted in the Hall of Fame after a 19-year career with the Expos, Mets, Giants and Dodgers. “The Kid” passed away peacefully on Feb. 16, 2012, at the age of 57 in his home state of Florida after a courageous battle with brain cancer.
“Driven by a remarkable enthusiasm for the game, Gary Carter became one of the elite catchers of all-time,” Commissioner Bud Selig said. “‘The Kid’ was an 11-time All-Star and a durable, consistent slugger for the Montreal Expos and the New York Mets, and he ranks among the most beloved players in the history of both of those franchises. . . . I extend my deepest condolences to Gary’s wife Sandy, their daughters Christy and Kimmy, their son D.J., their grandchildren, his friends and his many fans.”
Major League Baseball invites fans to please leave any condolences and memories of Gary in this guestbook blog’s comments.
Remembering Gary Carter 
We love you Gary and we are praying for you! Wishing a speedy recovery for one of the best players and people ever!
– Michelle
dear gary, much peace and love and well wishes to you and your family. may god bless you. i was lucky enough to meet you once and it was a pleasant memory. thank you for all the thrills as a mets fan. again get well and god bless!
Hang in there Kid. YA GOTTA BELIEVE!! God Bless You and your Family.Elmer J. Graham Jr. Keyport,New Jersey.
As a rising sophomore at SHHS, I marveled over your abilities on the football, basketball and baseball fields. In baseball, my God, you were throwing people out from your knees! Your Senior year was crazy though with all the scouts and publicity. Coach Trigstead hit a ball at practice that broke my nose so I was able to see most of your games your Senior year. Coach Barr even let me sit in the dugout (you probably don’t remember that). What especially impressed me was your faith in God and your courage professing your Christianity at such an young age. My hat’s (always been) off to you and I pray He will watch over you and heal you if that is His plan. Peace to you.
Marty N.
God bless you, Gary, and show you His favor. We’re all pulling for you!
Dear Gary,
Our thoughts are with you. All of us face the kind of crisis confronting you at some time or other. Your fans as well as your family are with you.
Kevin Lathrop
I look forward to watching you manage the new york mets in a couple of years.
You are my favorite player ever.
I met you at Mohegan Sun Casino while you were participating in a golf benefit hosted my Mike Schmidt in September 2002. You were the last person to show up at the dinner the night before the tournament started. I had my camera ready and you were so sweet to take the time to speak to me and have our picture taken. The next day while playing golf, my mother (who was the casino reporter for a local newspaper) was at the golf course. You signed your golf tag to me and asked my mother to give it to me. I cherished that, and as you said to me on the back of the tag “best wishes and God Bless You” I am now returning the sentiment. I wish you the most speedy recovery so you can get back out on the field.
I am a life long Yankees fan & but have always followed the Mets & admired ” The KId”, Gary Carter..as I cancer survivor as well I want to tell Gary to stay strong & think positively , your attitute is half the battle. Good Luck & G-d bless.
I have been a Mets fan since I was a teenager and I am now 60 years old. I have enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for all the wonderful memories and the pure enjoyment that you have brought to me and my entire family. You have always been one of my favorite Mets. Your terrific play and your beaming face and smile always lit up the field! Keep smiling Gary and hang in there. Our thoughts and prayers are with you!
From A New York Mets Fan,
God bless you and I’ll be praying for you. Thanks for that great year – 1986!
Larry Boerum
Mr. Carter-
Best to you and your family in this tough time.
GARY THANK YOIU FOR THE MEMORYS
Gary,
Followed you since your first days with the Expos, first seeing you (“Kid Carter”) at Olympic Stadium. Those late 1970’s, early 1980’s Montreal teams were good, and you were a big reason for that. Please accept my family’s best wishes for you and your family at this time, Gary.
Colin
Tewksbury, MA
Let’s Go Gary! Ya Gotta Believe!
Gary:
Keep fighting and know that our prayers are with you and your family.
Gary,
I pray for you not just because I am a lifelong Met fan, but because you are a human being with a family that loves you. Since the day that your struggle was announced, WFAN has relayed many fans’ person experiences with you and they just reflect what we saw of your personality on the field – straight up , honest, approachable and competitive. By the way, a lot of baseball and non-baseball fans are pulling for you. God Bless.
Art
dear gary i wish you all the best you are in our prayers always majorana family
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Stay strong and keep fighting.
Good Luck God Bless
Stay strong
Keep that ’86 fighting spirit 🙂
Hi Gary: My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. May our Lord comfort and heal you. God Bless you. Your Brother in Christ and Lancer, Kevin Carlson
I remember the day the Mets traded for you. That was a great day for Mets fans, You are in our prayers. We pray for strength for you and your family. God is a God of miracles and healing. Be strong.
You gotta believe Gary! We believed in you in 1986 and we believe in you today! God bless you and look over you during your battle! We are praying for you!
Hang in their Gary. I am, as well as many others are pulling for you.
Best of luck in your treatment. You are a fighter and I know you will defeat this. You and your family are in my prayers.
I celebrated my 18th birthday at Shea on Opening Day 1985. Thanks for an Amazin’ finish to a special day.
Be strong and keep the faith.
Gary!You filled our hearts with your energy and will to win! You filled our souls with a championship! You embedded yourself into the millions of fans who you played in front of! May You Receive the Love and Prayers that we all send to
you!
The Met with the most heart: Gary Carter
The Met with the most grit: Gary Carter
The Met with the most excitement: Gary Carter
The Met adored by generations of fans: Gary Carter
Gary, we are all with you now and always.
The Mets have always been my team–I was four when you played in the ’86 world series and you were my favorite player. You were in an Ivory soap commercial with your daughters, and I just thought it was the greatest thing because you were the same age as my Dad! I learned to do math by calculating batting averages (I now teach math and science!), I learned the game by re-enacting plays with my brother (now 25, and I cal; him “Kid”) in our living room, I was the only girl on the boys’ t-ball team since there wasn’t a girls team–and every team I’ve ever played on, I’ve been #8. When you played for the Expos in Montreal, I made my parents drive me up to see you…and I jumped out of my seat when you hit a double, feeling like you’d done it just for me! Later on, I found out that my parents had tried to get me to meet you, but it didn’t work out–and a few weeks later, you sent me a signed post card, which I still have today, posted right next to the newspaper article my paper ran when you retired. I visited Shea in its last season and walked around for nearly a half hour trying to find the image of you jumping on the pile during the 86 series–because I will forever have that picture of you–a hero. Know that you are a role model and a team player–and this is one game I know you won’t lose. Prayers are with you…thank you for being you.
Gary,
I am Matt Hykin,( Richard’s Dad ) and I want you to Know that you are in my prayers.
In a coincedence the night before reading about you, I did see Tom Yaru and we did talk about the old days at Sunny Hills with Gary Carter being the main topic.
Again you are in our prayers.
Sincerly,
Matt Hykin
Gary, you have exemplified everything that a champion is made of. I rooted for you and the rest of the guys in 1986 and am rooting for you now! What an honor it was for me to see you play in last year’s Father’s Day game in Cooperstown. I was in the grandstand and could not take my eyes off you. You are one of my few heroes of the game and of life in general! Prayers and well wishes from me to you!
GARY,YOU LOVED BASEBALL AND THE FANS LOVED YOU,THE BEST BASEBALL I HAVE YOU SIGN FOR ME MY GRANDSON GOT IT NOW AND HE WILL NEVER LET GO. THANK YOU GARY GET WELL SOON
When my sisters daughter was born I bought her a little Mets outfit. I chose the # 8 because I always thought of you as a man of integrity, strength and faith. 17 years later she has turned out to be all of the things that you exemplify. A picture of her in that outfit hangs on my wall to this day. My thoughts and prayers will be with you when ever I look up at that photo. Your strength and fath will carry you through your battles that lie ahaed – God speed in your recovery.
Gary, my prayers are with and I am confident you will come through this difficult battle. I was a catcher too in my baseball days and I always admired your skill, intellegence and desire when you played. You always played the game the right way and you raised the art of catching to a higher level. You were a marvel to watch and a inspiration for any young ballplayer. Peace be with you in your journey.
My prayers are with you as you face this difficult battle. When I was young my Uncle would take us to Montreal (my uncle and Grandparents lived in Chateaugay New York an hour south of Montreal. We spent the summer there helping out on the family farm. We lived in the Hudson Valley so we are Mets fans but enjoyed the Expos in the summer) to see the Expos play at the big O. It was a thrill to see you, Andre, Steve, Warren, Larry,Tim, and Ellis plus the spaceman Bill Lee. I will always remember when Andre Dawson caught a ball at the fence in Right field and threw a strike to you at home plate for the put out, It was Amazing and you were still playing for the Expos. Then you came to the Mets and brought us a championship. Thank You for bringing joy to young man life in 2 cities. I will pray for you each and ever day. God Bless You always Ken
Im just a little kid but, but i know all about you… I’ve been praying for you at church and anywhere I go… I love you Gary. Please get better
Kid, I wore your number all thru little league. I would beg my parents to stay up a little later at night, so I could watch you hit. My grandfather once had dinner w/ you and Don Demola and I would go to game yelling out “Don Demola” close to the field, hoping to get your attention. You were an inspiration to the game and to a child getting on the ball field. I thank you for making a difference in my life and I know you will get thru this. I wish you and your family all the best and you will be in my prayers. Brian C.
Gary
Godspeed on your recovery plans! Give em hell and come up a winner, as ALWAYS!!
Gary – I’ve been a fan of the Mets and a fan of yours since I was a kid – the years you were with the team, largely because of you, were my fondest memories as a fan and I will NEVER forget who started the still UNBELIEVABLE comeback that I, to this day, cannot believe we were able to pull off – no team and no one will ever in history even come close to that – you were the leader then and you are the leader now – more importantly, just a terrific person and you deserve every bit of God’s blessing at this moment in your life – that is my wish for you and thank you for helping me understand at a time in my life when I needed it most that anything is possible – my prayer is that you wil give us all that very lesson once again – God bless you my friend – you’re the best.
You were and always will be my favorite Mets player. When you played for the Mets I was a teenager going through a rough time, while the games were on all my troubles were gone. For those few hours I was happy. One might say that you saved my life.
I recently move to Jupiter Fl and I am trying to convince my kids to go to Palm Beach Atlantic University.
I wish you all the best and my prayers are with you and your family. God Bless.
We’re with you Kid & you’ll always be with us.
Words are not enough to say how you gave your heart and soul to the game. It’s just a game but what a game. May God comfort you and your family . joe g
Gary, just put yourself in the hands of the Lord, He is the only one that could cure you. You only have to have Faith. And with faith you will live a long life with Jesus our Lord. We are praying for you and we know that you will be cured in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Gary, i remember your first game as a met and that game winning home run like it was yesterday. The years go by but the joy and feelings that you brought us met fans never fades!! good luck my family is praying for you and thanks for your time with the mets, My son is only 4 but he will know who you were and what you ment to the mets..Thanks.
Gary,
God bless you as battle, but we all know you are a battler.
I got to see you at the first play-off game in Houston in ’86, Gooden vs. Scott. As a Mets fan, of course! That was the best baseball post-season ever!
Bruce
Rooting for you Gary! Mets fans are with you all the way, here’s to a full, quick recovery!
You are a gamer! You are a champion! You are a loving caring man! You are in my prayers! Please know how many people are in your corner. I wish you the best doctors and nurses to give you the best medical expertise know to them and I hope you and your family have the ability to accept whatever they throw at you ( baseball metaphor intentional!!!!)
At the first and to date only Opening Day of my life, I was 11 years old and sat in a brutally cold and windy Shea Stadium and watched brand-new All-Star catcher Gary Carter win the game with a home run in the 10th off of Neil Allen of the Cardinals.
You bet I had a new favorite player.
I watched that summer of 1985 as he lived up to every expectation, and did so with torn cartillage in his knee, cracked ribs, neck spasm, and a sprained ankle.
You bet I had a new hero.
I was lucky enough to be at Shea again in October of 1986 when my favorite Met, Gary Carter, broked out of a dreadful post-season slump with a game-winning single in the bottom of the 12th in Game 5 of the NLCS agaisnt the Astros.
I was lucky enough to be at Shea couple of weeks later when all looked lost with the Mets two runs down the count 2-and-2, and two men out. But it was my man Gary Carter who by God was not going to make the last out of the World Series and who started a rally for the ages.
You bet I had somone who was part of just about every one of my fondest baseball memories.
Kid, even though we have never met and I’m just some random fan, you have in your way meant the world to me. You are a part of the Mets family and therefore a part of mine.
You and Sandy and your children and your family are very much in my prayers and those of my wife and my children
I know, once again, you will fight like a lion because by God, you are not going to make the last out.
God bless.
You hit a game-winning home run at my first ballgame 23 years ago. It’s a memory I’ll treasure for a lifetime. Thanks for giving us all great memories – and know that your fans wish you well.