My First Cards

Gary Carter entered spring training camp in ’82 as one of the elite catchers in the majors. He’d already played in 4 All-Star games and went 2 for 3 as the starter in ’81, had a reputation for being a top notch defensive catcher, and hit .429 in the ’81 playoffs, and got on base at a .550 clip during the NLCS.

But you probably knew all that already plus more, ’cause he’s a Hall of Fame catcher who won a ring with the ’86 Mets.

What you might not have known, is that in 1982 was easily his best offensive season and it could’ve been much better (I’ll explain this at the end).

That year, his batting average was about 30 points higher than his career average up to that point, and his OBP was almost 50 points higher than his career up to this point. He produced 107 runs created, which was 17 more than any other major league catcher & 21 more than any AL catcher. His slugging almost matched his previous career high. All this gave him his best single season OPS (.890). All while continuing to backup his reputation as a great defensive catcher…winning his 3rd consecutive gold glove.

It’s tough to pick one game that stands out in his season. I’m stuck between three games—

• 4/18, Expos @ Mets. Goes 3 for 3 (HR & 2B), drew 2 walks, while driving in 3 runs
• 5/28, Reds @ Expos. Goes 1 for 1, drawing 3 walks. Oh, and that one hit was a 3 run HR.
• 8/26, Astros @ Expos. Smacked a pair of 2 run homers, giving his team a 5-3 win.

But I have to share the most surprising fact I found about his ’82. Check this out—

Unfortunately he played his home games on artificial turf in Montreal. He probably would’ve been the 1982 NL MVP if he played his home games on a grass field, like Atlanta.

I find it cool that Topps chose pitching trivia for the back of a catchers card. Topps used the exact same back info for the 1982 Squirt set Carter card, though they used a different photo of Carter for the front.