Gary Carter 1954-2012

Hall of Fame Expos: Gary Carter, flanked by Andre Dawson and future Hall-of-Famer Tim Raines / Icon SMI

The inevitable has happened, with Gary Carter’s passing today from cancer.

Carter had a very large personality and had a million-dollar smile. Just this past Saturday I posted a recent picture of him, and it’s hard not to smile when looking at him.

I know that some criticized Carter, saying that his happy-go-lucky persona was engineered to curry favor with the public and increase his endorsement revenue. If so, he was damned good at faking it, because he always had that same enthusiasm and charm, and he did it all while earning himself a spot in the Hall of Fame as one of the game’s best catchers.

Click through for some stats on Carter’s career.

Carter enjoyed a fantastic offensive peak from 1982 to 1985. Here are the highest OPS+ values among players with at least 2000 plate appearances over that 4-year period:

Rk	Player	OPS+	PA	Pos	Tm
1	Mike Schmidt	155	2577	*53/6	PHI
2	Pedro Guerrero	154	2491	*59/873	LAD
3	Eddie Murray	154	2689	*3/D	BAL
4	George Brett	152	2241	*5/739D	KCR
5	Dale Murphy	148	2788	*8/79	ATL
6	Jack Clark	142	2014	*93	SFG-STL
7	Rickey Henderson	141	2529	*78/D	OAK-NYY
8	Wade Boggs	140	2550	*5/3D7	BOS
9	Robin Yount	140	2595	*6/7D83	MIL
10	Dave Winfield	137	2576	97/8D	NYY
11	Gary Carter	136	2564	*2/39	MON-NYM
12	Leon Durham	135	2173	*38/97	CHC
13	Dwight Evans	133	2753	*9/D	BOS
14	Keith Hernandez	132	2666	*3/79	STL-TOT-NYM
15	Cal Ripken	132	2815	*6/5	BAL

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/16/2012.

Not only was Carter right there among the greatest in the game, he was the only catcher up there. Only 7 catchers even had 2000 plate appearances during that period and the only others with an OPS+ over 104 were Lance Parrish (117) and Carlton Fisk (114). Carter was head-and-shoulders above the rest as the best catcher in the game.

Among players all-time with at least 50% of their games at catcher, here’s how Carter stacks up in terms of Wins Above Replacement:

Rk	Player	WAR/pos	Rbat	Rfield	From	To	Age	Pos	Tm
1	Johnny Bench	71.3	245	75	1967	1983	19-35	*253/798	CIN
2	Ivan Rodriguez	67.3	65	166	1991	2011	19-39	*2/D34	TEX-FLA-DET-TOT-WSN
3	Carlton Fisk	67.3	190	27	1969	1993	21-45	*2D/735	BOS-CHW
4	Gary Carter	66.3	146	112	1974	1992	20-38	*29/375	MON-NYM-SFG-LAD
5	Yogi Berra	61.9	269	29	1946	1965	21-40	*279/35	NYY-NYM
6	Mike Piazza	59.1	403	-70	1992	2007	23-38	*2D/3	LAD-TOT-NYM-SDP-OAK
7	Bill Dickey	54.4	283	20	1928	1946	21-39	*2	NYY
8	Mickey Cochrane	51.2	280	-2	1925	1937	22-34	*2/7	PHA-DET
9	Ted Simmons	50.4	208	-33	1968	1988	18-38	*2D3/759	STL-MIL-ATL
10	Gabby Hartnett	50.3	238	12	1922	1941	21-40	*2/3	CHC-NYG

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/16/2012.

Carter’s within spitting distance of #1 Johnny Bench, and he’s also the only catcher in major-league history with 100+ runs above replacement from both batting and fielding.

In fact, Carter is one of just 29 players in history with both 100 runs batting and 100 runs fielding:

Rk	Player	WAR/pos	Rbat	Rfield	From	To	Age	Pos	Tm
1	Barry Bonds	171.8	1213	191	1986	2007	21-42	*78/D9	PIT-SFG
2	Willie Mays	154.7	815	183	1951	1973	20-42	*8/39675	NYG-SFG-TOT-NYM
3	Mike Schmidt	108.3	549	128	1972	1989	22-39	*53/64	PHI
4	Al Kaline	91.0	461	157	1953	1974	18-39	*98D3/75	DET
5	George Davis	90.7	380	146	1890	1909	19-38	*6584/9371	CLV-NYG-CHW
6	Cal Ripken	89.9	181	179	1981	2001	20-40	*65/D	BAL
7	Albert Pujols	89.1	660	115	2001	2011	21-31	*375/9D64	STL
8	Wade Boggs	89.0	454	104	1982	1999	24-41	*5D/317	BOS-NYY-TBD
9	Carl Yastrzemski	88.7	460	183	1961	1983	21-43	*73D8/59	BOS
10	Roberto Clemente	83.8	326	204	1955	1972	20-37	*9/8745	PIT
11	Bill Dahlen	75.9	188	139	1891	1911	21-41	*65/7489	CHC-BRO-NYG-BSN
12	Frankie Frisch	74.8	195	140	1919	1937	20-38	*45/6	NYG-STL
13	Scott Rolen	66.3	247	147	1996	2011	21-36	*5	PHI-TOT-STL-TOR-CIN
14	Gary Carter	66.3	146	112	1974	1992	20-38	*29/375	MON-NYM-SFG-LAD
15	Kenny Lofton	65.3	125	108	1991	2007	24-40	*8/7D9	HOU-CLE-ATL-TOT-NYY-PHI-LAD
16	Graig Nettles	61.6	102	141	1967	1988	22-43	*5/739D68	MIN-CLE-NYY-SDP-ATL-MON
17	Keith Hernandez	61.0	330	117	1974	1990	20-36	*3/79	STL-TOT-NYM-CLE
18	Buddy Bell	60.8	111	174	1972	1989	20-37	*5/986D374	CLE-TEX-TOT-CIN
19	Willie Randolph	60.5	122	114	1975	1992	20-37	*4/D5	PIT-NYY-LAD-TOT-MIL-NYM
20	Andruw Jones	60.4	103	243	1996	2011	19-34	*89/D73	ATL-LAD-TEX-CHW-NYY
21	Sammy Sosa	59.7	325	104	1989	2007	20-38	*98D/7	TOT-CHW-CHC-BAL-TEX
22	Jack Glasscock	58.7	116	149	1879	1895	21-37	*6/45319	CLV-TOT-SLM-IND-NYG-STL-PIT
23	Bid McPhee	57.9	150	154	1882	1899	22-39	*4/985	CIN
24	Lou Boudreau	56.0	167	118	1938	1952	20-34	*6/5324	CLE-BOS
25	Robin Ventura	55.5	146	163	1989	2004	21-36	*53/D641	CHW-NYM-NYY-TOT-LAD
26	Joe Gordon	54.9	159	150	1938	1950	23-35	*4/36	NYY-CLE
27	Ichiro Suzuki	54.6	145	122	2001	2011	27-37	*98/D	SEA
28	Jimmy Collins	53.0	139	121	1895	1908	25-38	*5/9864	TOT-BSN-BOS-PHA
29	Johnny Evers	48.4	115	127	1902	1929	20-47	*4/569	CHC-BSN-TOT-CHW

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/16/2012.

Carter is clearly among the greatest players of all time.

My thoughts go out to his family. I hope at least with the length of his illness, everyone had a chance to prepare for this sad day.

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vivaeljason

12 years ago

I wrote this on my facebook, and I think it sums up my feelings on Gary Carter (I’m 28, by the way): I feel like when you’re a little kid and you first get into a sport and a team there is that one guy that you watch and consider THE embodiment of the game. For example, Yankees fans our age had Don Mattingly; Phillies fans had Mike Schmidt. Mets fans our age — we had options: Hernandez, Strawberry, Gooden, and so on. That said, mine was Gary Carter. In a lot of ways, Gary Carter is a representative image… Read more »

Steven Page

12 years ago

From 1974-79 I tried to never miss an Expos game at Atlanta Stadium, and Gary Carter was the primary reason. He was talented, tough and a credit to the game on and off the field. My prayers go out to his family at this sad time. Gary gave the fans a lifetime of great memories and i feel blessed to have been able to watch him play.

Dave V.

12 years ago

While I’m not a Mets fan, Gary Carter was one of the good guys. He’ll be missed by all true baseball fans. RIP.

SocraticGadfly

12 years ago

Reply to Dave V.

I’ll be honest. Per a later post, when he was with the Mets, especially, and as a Cards fan, I thought he was smarmy, maybe even a bit fake. That said, my perception has modified in more recent years.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Great, great player. I wish I would have had a chance to really watch him. Subjectively, I’d put him at the #3 catcher of all-time, behind Berra and Bench – pretty good company. He will be missed.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Subjectively, I’d put him just outside the Top-5 all-time catchers, behind (in order): Berra, Bench, Piazza, Cochrane, and Campanella, maybe I-Rod, and in the same grouping as Fisk, Dickey, Hartnett. I always thought of him as roughly the equivalent of Fisk, and their WAR is scarily close. He was a bit underrated, since by 1979-80, Johnny Bench was clearly established as the best catcher, not just at that time but perhaps of all-time. Of course, the biggest subjective variance in value is defensive value, which can vary enourmously. Both defensive WAR and Gold Gloves do confirm that he was one… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Campanella is the tough one, of course, because of lack of data. But I use an objective system that ranks him #2 (also where Adam Darowski’s wWAR puts him). I would definitely have him ahead of Fisk, Dickey, Hartnett, and Cochrane, Rodriguez, and probably Campanella as well. Also ahead of Piazza, but by a lesser margin. It’s very close between him and Yogi. My gut reaction is to put Yogi above him, but I think a purely statistical ranking would indicate otherwise (if one uses WAR as the basis of such a system). Bench, as I see it, is the… Read more »

birtelcom

12 years ago

Highest Win Probability Added game by a catcher in the history of major league baseball post-season play. Game 1, NLCS, 1988. Mets are down 2-1 in the top of the 9th, men on first and second, two outs, count is 0-2, Carter bloops a double to put the Mets ahead to stay. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/05/sports/mets-bring-hershiser-s-streak-to-a-crashing-halt.html?scp=5&sq=Carter&st=nyt

Thanks for everything, Kid!

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Sad day for the Carter family and baseball fans.

For the 10 years 1977-86, Carter trailed only Mike Schmidt in combined WAR. The top 10:

Rk,Player,WAR/pos
1,Mike Schmidt,73.6
2,Gary Carter,58.0
3,George Brett,57.5
4,Keith Hernandez,53.4
5,Rickey Henderson,51.1
6,Robin Yount,50.9
7,Eddie Murray,49.1
8,Buddy Bell,45.2
9,Andre Dawson,44.0
10,Chet Lemon,43.0

John Q

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

That’s a great list! In retrospect Gary Carter was an extremely underrated player from ’77-86 which probably had a lot to do with playing in Canada all those years. It also hurt that the Expos only made the post season once (1981) from 1977-1984. Most media members would rate him as a great player from that era but I doubt any media members realize that he was among the top 3 players in baseball for a ten year period from ’77-86. Carter’s career is also a good example of the limitations of just rating players by “zero ending decades” like… Read more »

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to John Q

To be fair, the Nationals consider themselves a different team. To put it in perspective, the Orioles don’t honor any players from St. Louis Browns history (It isn’t hard to put the browns logo and george sisler’s name amongst retired players). They’ve chosen to eschew history.

Same topic but even weirder is that the Miami Marlins have unretired “5.” Admittedly, it was unwise of them to retire 5 in the first place, but the fact that the number was retired and has now been issued is even stranger.

John Q

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

Well the difference with Sisler is that his number was never retired because I don’t think he wore a number. Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson never played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and they Dodgers still honor those players. Pee Wee Reese only played one year in L.A. and his number is retired by the Dodgers. Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbel, and Monte Irvin never played in San Francisco yet their numbers are retired by the Giants. The Giants honor John McGraw and Christy Mathewson who never played in San Francisco. Warren Spahn never played in Atlanta yet his… Read more »

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to John Q

Sisler didn’t wear a number — but that didn’t stop the Tigers from putting up Ty Cobb’s name, nor the Giants with Christy Mathewson or the Phillies with Grover Alexander.

John Q

12 years ago

Reply to John Q

Well I was specifically talking about retiring a number and then un-retiring the number when the team leaves town. That seems kind of classless to me.

The Orioles should put up something to honor George Sisler considering he’s in the HOF. And really they should put up something honoring Bobby Wallace as well. It just seems kind of short-sighted not honoring your own history.

The Orioles aren’t an expansion team that just started playing in 1953. The Browns were around for about 50 years and the Orioles should honor that history like the Dodgers, Giants, Braves honor their history.

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Keith Hernandez was the best first baseman in baseball for a decade…he’s not in the hall of fame…why?

Legitimate question, mind you. I always assumed that because of my Mets fandom that I just had clouded judgment but given that he’s fourth on the WAR list for a ten year period — and by definition the best at his position due to the other three ahead of him NOT being 1Bs — it boggles the mind.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

Counter argument: If you took the entire history of MLB and broke it up into separate 10-year periods (not counting just the years that end in “0”), you’d have well over 100 ten-year periods. So, if you say someone is “the best player in baseball at a position over a decade”, well SOMEONE has to fit the description, and there’s well over 100 of those descriptions to fill. Some of those players will be HOFers, but many will not be. So while it’s interesting that Keith Hernandez was probably the best first baseman in baseball from 1977-1986 (I still might… Read more »

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Regarding Chet Lemon: Gary Carter and Dennis Eckersley, both Hall of Famers, were drafted in the third round of the 1972 June draft (the 53rd and 50th overall picks in that draft, respetively). Highest career WAR accumulated by anybody picked higher in that draft than Eck and Carter was Chet Lemon, the 22nd overall pick that year.

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

Most WAR over the full ten-year periood from 1954 through 1963, by a guy who played at least half his games at first base, was 28.3 by Roy Sievers. Just an illustration of what L.Az. is saying: being the best at your position over a particular 10-year period is not really a HOF qualification in itself.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

Hey birtelcom,

Thanks for backing me up, and being more conversant with the B-R PI than I am.

Vivaeljason, despite my counterargument, I do consider Hernandez a legitimate HOF candidate, along with Will Clark (and Dick Allen if you call him a 1bman). His offense is a bit underrated because he was more an OBP-type than a big slugger, plus offensive levels were a bit below-average the historical norms most of his career.

However, he is not the most deserving HOF candidate, but rather one of a pool of 25/30 candidates deserving of serious consideration.

Dr. Remulak

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Agree, Hernandez is HOF worthy, but he must wait for Mattingly first. Similar career stats, right down to the gold gloves, but Mattingly had a multi-year stretch of dominance that is a big part of what the HOF should be about: Greatness!

bluejaysstatsgeek

12 years ago

“I know that some criticized Carter, saying that his happy-go-lucky persona was engineered to curry favor with the public and increase his endorsement revenue. If so, he was damned good at faking it, because he always had that same enthusiasm and charm, and he did it all while earning himself a spot in the Hall of Fame as one of the game’s best catchers.” Today, on Prime Time Sports, Bob McCown talked quite a bit about Carter and told about the first time they spent any significant time together, paired in the same cart at a celebrity golf tournament. McCown… Read more »

12 years ago

Reply to bluejaysstatsgeek

For anyone who doubts Carter’s sincerity, here’s a great story from today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer: This email came from Chuck Nicklow in San Francisco: “When I was an 11-year-old kid, I sat in the bleachers and watched Gary Carter hit two home runs to win the All Star Game MVP honors in Cleveland. The Kid, as he was known by his teammates, was one of my favorite players. Even though I was a die-hard Cleveland Indians fan, I had an Expos hat to prove it. “After the game, I found him in the players lot, and he spent what felt… Read more »

DaveR

12 years ago

He sure was a joy to watch. Why do I still think he was underrated, even though he’s in the Hall?

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to DaveR

I agree, DaveR. It took him a ridiculously long time to get into the Hall, when one considers his quality as a player. He definitely should have gone in ahead of Carlton Fisk. If you compare the two players at their peaks, there’s no question Carter was the better player. Fisk was just an adequate player for a lot longer time, and so wound up with flashier career numbers (and all of the catcher-as-hitter-career-records, which look really good to voters). But I think Carter was the better player.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Dr.Doom – I agree that Carter was (similar to Mathews and Snider in that he was… ) an obvious HOF, and it was just absurd that it took _six_ years for him to get in. But remember, Bench is the ONLY catcher to be a first-ballot HOFer. Yogi took two years, Mickey 6, Campy 7, Dickey 9, and Gabby 11 years. I think the problem with the BBWAA is the same as with third basemen, in that they they expect catchers to not only be good defensively, but also hit as well as the best corner OFers or 1bmen. I… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Good call on correcting me. I guess what I mean by “adequate” is that Fisk only has 5 seasons of 4+ WAR. Compare that to Carter (8), Bench (10), Berra (6), Piazza (9), or whomever, and you see that it just isn’t that many. And 4 WAR is not some incredible number. He was an above-average player for a really long time, and had a really nice career. He’s the Nolan Ryan of catchers. That doesn’t make him a bad player, I just think that his overall value is less than someone with a superior peak.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

How about the Lou Whitaker of catchers?

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Those are all rWAR (or bWAR, if you prefer) numbers, by the way.

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

I have been chastised elsewhere for using the term bWAR because I didn’t know about the term rWAR. It should be rWAR.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

… and the “r” in rWAR means what, exactly?

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

“r” stands for “Rally,” which was Sean Smith’s “name” on the internets (named after the Rally Monkey, I believe).

Most people consider it to be “correct” to go with rWAR, as I do, as it gives credit to the creator of the formula, rather than just the host website.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Weighing in on Carter vs. Fisk…. I think each of you made a good point: — If your HOF test gives any significant weight to peak value, Carter easily trumps Fisk. Seasons of 6+ WAR — Carter 5, Fisk 3. Seasons of 5+ WAR — Carter 8, Fisk 4. Best 3 seasons — Carter 21.2, Fisk 20. — On the other hand, Fisk was certainly not “just adequate” for any significant number of seasons. Fisk had 21 seasons of 200+ PAs. In 16 of those 21 years, he had at least 2.6 WAR, and in 18 of 21 he had… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Like I said, “just adequate” was not a fair thing to say. It’s just that a lot of Fisk’s value is tied up in 2.0-3.9 WAR season, unlike Carter, who gets comparatively little of his value from years such as those. I said adequate, and I shouldn’t have. But my point was that while Fisk was above average almost every year of his career (a remarkable feat for a career that long, especially at that position), he wasn’t transcendent as often as Carter. If I were building a team, and I got to choose only one of the two as… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Okay, so I wrote something I actually want to back up with numbers.

10.8 out of Carter’s 66.3 rWAR is in seasons of 2.0-3.9 WAR (16.3%).

Overall, 15.9 WAR is in seasons <= 3.9 WAR (24%).

35.6 of Fisk's 67.3 WAR is in seasons of 2.0-3.9 WAR (52.9%).

Overall, 37.7 WAR is in seasons <= 3.9 WAR (56%).

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Carter was probably somewhat underrated because, perhpas (1) he played most of his prime in Montreal, a bit out of the spotlight, (2) he played in the shadow of Johnny Bench’s career, which was winding down as Carter’s was getting going — not clear that fans were ready for another “greatest NL catcher ever” candidate so soon after Bench had been widely and properly acclaimed as the holder of that title, (3) his enormous value was the product of a balance of offensive and defensive value rather than wildly eye-catching numbers on the hitting side where they would tend to… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Look at Scott Rolen, one spot ahead of Carter on the second list, far ahead of the Kid on rBat and comfortably ahead on rField.

Big surprise for me. Not something I would have guessed. By a long shot.

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Catcher defensive value is hard to measure with certainty, but for what it’s worth, b-ref ranks Carter’s 1983 season as the best season in terms of fielding value (WAR defensive runs)by any catcher in MB history (just ahead of a couple of I-Rod seasons, which suggests the system is on the right track).

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Tangent. But, Scott Rolen has played every game of his career (1936 and counting) at 3B.

Of course, Rolen hasn’t retired yet, but only others over 1500 games to do this: Willie Kamm (1693), Home Run Baker (1575).

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Most seasons of 4+ WAR by a third baseman:
13, Schmidt & Mathews
10, Rolen & Boggs
9, Brett, Santo, Brooksie, Chipper, Nettles

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Scott Rolen is perhaps the most vastly underrated player of the current era. He’s eighth on the all time WAR list for third basemen. Only Schmidt, Mathews, Boggs, Brett, Chipper Jones, Brooks Robinson, and Ron Santo are ahead of him. I wouldn’t suggest Rolen is a hall of famer, but he is worth discussing when his time comes up.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to vivaeljason

I suspect that Rolen will get far less consideration for the HOF than he deserves for several reasons: 1) he was originally compared to Mike Schmidt and when he didn’t quite live up to that standard he was considered something of a disappointment 2) his best season was overshadowed by 2 of his own teammates (Pujols & Edmonds) 3) he was an exact contemporary of Chipper Jones who was not only slightly better but only played for one team while Rolen: 4) played for 4 different teams and was traded twice during the season (which ignores the fact that the… Read more »

vivaeljason

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Yeah…I wouldn’t be shocked if Rolen didn’t even get 5% on his first time because of all those factors. I put him in that same class as Kenny Lofton. Looking at WAR, Lofton is I think 10th all time at CF but I can’t see him getting any real consideration.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Doug: Rolen hurt his back sliding into third base in the early part of his Phila years, got plain ran over in the baseline fielding a batted ball in the playoffs while playing for St Louis, and then ran into Heep Sop Choi (?) running out an infield grounder. Without injuries like busted clavicles and separated shoulders, Rolen would have been a first-ballot HoF’er – 1) infield arm like Caminiti 2) as good a glove and range as Nettles, Schmidt, and Beltre 3) hit with power 4) hit for average and took a walk 5) ran the bases with anger… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Well said, Paul.

Yet, somehow Rolen slips under the radar. Unfortunate, as I don’t envy his HOF chances, particularly being a third baseman.

birtelcom

12 years ago

Players who played in a World Series from 1986 through 2011 and have since passed away: Gary Carter played on the winning team in 1986, Kirby Puckett and Joe Niekro played on the winning team in 1987, and Kirby again played on the winning team in 1991. Bob Forsch played on the losing team in 1987, Jose Uribe played on the losing team in 1989, and Ken Caminiti played on the losing team in 1998. If you go back in time one more year to include 1985, three players in that World Series have since passed away: Dan Quisenberry played… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

And Eric Show, going back to 1984.

DaveR

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Alan Wiggins has also passed away, from that ’84 Padres team.

Doug

12 years ago

150 Rbat and 150 Rfield.

Only Bonds, Mays, Kaline, Ripken, Yaz, Clemente, McPhee, and Gordon. (Davis, Frisch, Rolen and Ventura are close).

200 Rbat and 200 Rfield.

Only Clemente. (Bonds and Yaz are close).

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

OK, here’s some meaningless Gary Carter trivia: — He’s one of 8 players with a 3-HR game in Mets franchise history, and one of 8 to do the same in Expos/Nationals history. In each case, one of Carter’s teammates had a 3-HR game the same season — and in no other season did either franchise have two 3-HR games. He was the first ever to do it for Montreal, connecting 3 times off Jim Rooker on April 20, 1977. (Later that year, he hit 2 HRs in a game off Rooker.) — Bench and Carter rank 1-2 in career HRs… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

More meaningless Carter trivia.

Carter ranks 8th in career WAR among players who died within 20 years of their final season. The top 10.

Ruth, 172
Gehrig, 118.4
Ott, 109.3
Clemente, 83.8
Arky Vaughan, 75.6
Paul Waner, 73.8
Harry Heilmann, 69.4
Gary Carter, 66.3
Al Simmons, 63.6
Jackie Robinson, 63.2

apbadogs

12 years ago

I would be many people compare Carter’s “fakeness” to Steve Garvey’s…problem is, Carter wasn’t fake and Garvey turned out to be a fraud. Looking at Carter’s stats I didn’t realize how good he was offensively. Wow. A couple of things, isn’t Carter’s swing, with his back foot flying out, the weirdest power stroke ever? And, how cool is it that is last hit was over the head of his former Expo teammate?

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to apbadogs

Actually, I got to thinking about the Dawson thing. Of the three “young” Expos who came up from 1974-79 (Carter, Dawson, Raines), how is it that worst player of the three wound up with the lone MVP award? In 1984, Carter led the NL in RBI. As a catcher. He finished 14th in the voting. I think everyone is familiar with Raines in 1987 – led the league in runs (123), went 50/55 in SB attempts, a .330/.429/.526 slash line (3rd, 3rd, and 9th in the NL, respectively), and all as a guy who missed a month due to collusion.… Read more »

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Okay, that last paragraph is unclear – what I meant was:

Knowing what we know now about statistics, but if we had no knowledge of how MVP voting actually went…

Smithyy

12 years ago

When Gary Carter drove in 106 of Montreal’s 593 runs scored in 1984,I wonder how that percentage(17.88%) ranks in comparison to other players who have done it with a better percentage in the last 50 years. Or the last 100 years. I’m sure Babe Ruth had a dominant percentage of driving in his teams runs.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Smithyy

I made a quick check. In 1930 Hack Wilson drove in 191 of the Cubs’ 998 runs for 19.14%. In 1957 Roy Sievers drove in 114 of the Senators’ 603 runs for 18.91%.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Smithyy

Here’s a few guys who drove in over 20% of their team’s runs.

Sammy Sosa, CHC, 2001, 20.8%
Jim Gentile, BAL, 1961, 20.4%
Frank Howard, WSA, 1969, 20.1%

There’s probably others – I don’t have a systematic way to look these up.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Ernie Banks: 21.25% in 1959.

Smithyy

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks for the research guys,I guess Carter’s percentage wasn’t impressive as I first thought. Being an Expo fan from 1978-84,it just seemed Gary did something positive everday in the ’84 lineup that wasn’t very good offensively.

Smithyy

12 years ago

I started doing a bit of checking the other night and saw Sievers’ higher rate also for the 1958 season(108 rbi of the Sens 553 runs)19.52% and then I thought maybe Gary’s rate wasn’t as high as I first thought.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Smithyy

I did some more random searching, there are quite a few players who beat Carter’s mark. The highest I found was Babe Ruth with the 1919 Red Sox, 114 RBIs of the Sox’s 565 runs for 20.18%.

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

You know, I even refreshed the page right before I posted, and you STILL somehow beat me to it. Good ideas on some of the guys you checked.

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

Wally Berger, 1930 Bees: 130 RBI of 575 team runs = 22.6%

Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Reply to Smithyy

My gut instinct is to say “I doubt it” on Ruth, simply because, while he drove in a lot of runs, there were a lot of runs scored at that time – plus Gehrig usually had about as many as Ruth. Here are the #s for the Babe, 1920-33: 1920 – 16.4 1921 – 18.0 1922 – 13.1 1923 – 15.9 1924 – 15.1 1925 – 9.3 1926 – 17.2 1927 – 16.8 1928 – 15.9 1929 – 17.1 1930 – 14.4 1931 – 15.3 1932 – 13.7 1933 – 11.1 Yes, huge, dominant numbers. But only once did it… Read more »

Frank Clingenpeel, Junior

12 years ago

I am using this blog to present some other news — at least, for the folks here. Forgive me if this is inappropriate for this, but if you remember Frank Clingenpeel, Senior, I am his son. Dad also died last week from heart failure at the age of 84.

Again, forgive me if this is inappropriate, but I thought you would like to know.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Frank Clingenpeel, Junior

Frank, Jr. — We sure do remember your dad, very fondly, and it makes me very sad to hear of his passing. Please accept my condolences for your whole family, and thanks for taking the time to let us know.

I will sorely miss his recollections of the Cincinnati Reds and baseball in general over the last 75 years. We’ve lost a treasured member of our community.

If you would care to share any obituary or memorial text that you may have, I would like to post it here. You can e-mail me at jautin@cravath.com.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Of course we remember him, he was one of the best and most prolific of bloggers. His wit and wisdom will truly be missed. Please accept my deepest condolences.

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

Reply to Frank Clingenpeel, Junior

Your father had lots of friends on this site, Frank, Jr., and on its forerunner. I began to spend time here by reading the exchanges between your father and much younger contributors: he had a lot to offer in both knowledge and personality, and I very much enjoyed seeing the genuine respect he was shown. I’ve missed him these past months. I hope you’ll follow up on John Autin’s request – I often thought I’d like to know more about your father. Please let me add my condolences.

High Heat Stats » Rest in peace, Frank

12 years ago

[…] Readers of his blog and its predecessor, the Baseball-Reference.com blog, will be very saddened to read the following note posted recently on another thread: Frank Clingenpeel, Junior says: February 20, 2012 at 8:15 pm […]