Joe Carter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Joe Carter | ||
|---|---|---|
| Right fielder | ||
| Born: March 7 1960 | Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | ||
| July 30, 1983 for the Chicago Cubs | ||
| Final game | ||
| September 28, 1998 for the San Francisco Giants | ||
| Career statistics | ||
| Batting average | .259 | |
| Home runs | 396 | |
| RBI | 1445 | |
| Teams | ||
| Career highlights and awards | ||
| ||
Joseph Christopher Carter (born March 7 1960 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1983 to 1998, most famous for hitting a walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series, with the Toronto Blue Jays trailing 6-5 to the Philadelphia Phillies, just two outs away from a seventh game.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] College
Joe Carter attended Wichita State University, but left after his junior year.
[edit] Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians
Carter first reached the majors in 1983 with the Chicago Cubs, but was then traded to the Cleveland Indians, where he blossomed into a star. Carter emerged as a prolific power hitter, hitting as many as 35 home runs in a season and regularly driving in 100 or more runs. He usually hit a similar amount of doubles as he did homers, and would get respectable numbers of triples in many years, as well. He was also a very good baserunner, stealing 20-30 bases a year with a high rate of success. However, he was not considered a good defensive outfielder, and actually spent an entire season dividing his time between first base and DH, without a single inning in the outfield.
[edit] San Diego Padres
After the 1989 season, Carter was traded to the San Diego Padres for prospects Sandy Alomar, Jr., Carlos Baerga, and Chris James. Although he continued to drive in runs, he struggled in other aspects of his game and did not play well. The Padres subsequently dealt him to the Toronto Blue Jays along with Roberto Alomar in exchange for star players Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez.
[edit] Toronto Blue Jays
Carter improved dramatically in 1991, helping the Toronto Blue Jays win the division title, hitting the game-winning single that clinched the AL East Championship. In 1992, he helped the Jays win their first World Series championship, the first ever won by a Canadian-based team. Carter himself hit two home runs and recorded the final out of the Series, taking a throw to first base from reliever Mike Timlin to nab Otis Nixon of the Atlanta Braves.
In 1993, the Blue Jays again reached the World Series, facing the Philadelphia Phillies.
[edit] 1993 World Series
In Game 6, with the Blue Jays leading three games to two, Carter came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Blue Jays losing 6-5 and Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor on base. On a 2-2 count, Carter hit a three-run home run off Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams (a hurler against whom he was 0-4 career) to win the World Series, only the second time a Series has ended with a home run (the other being in 1960, when Bill Mazeroski did it), and the only time the home run has been hit by a player whose team was losing. Upon hitting the home run, Carter went into a hysteria, jumping up and down many times most notably rounding first base, where his helmet came off from the dancing. Tom Cheek, broadcaster for the Blue Jays at the time, then went on to say "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!"
[edit] 1994-1997
Carter continued to play for the Blue Jays until 1997, but his play and the Jays' fortunes declined rapidly.
[edit] Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants
He was released and in 1998 played briefly for the Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants before retiring.
[edit] Career statistics
Carter was named to five All-Star teams. In his career he hit 396 home runs and drove in 1,445 RBI. He drove in 100 runs in a season ten times, including the 1994 year, which was cut short due to the strike that happened about 110 games into the year.
One of Carter's most interesting records is that he was the first (only?) player to record 100 RBIs for three different teams in three consecutive seasons. However, in recent years Carter has become perhaps the ultimate poster child for the fallacy of using RBI to rate players. Carter may have tallied almost 1,500 career RBI, but he did it while batting 3rd or cleanup behind players who got on base often -- in fact, since Carter's career batting average was merely .259 and his on-base percentage was a paltry .306, the argument has been made that just about any player would have posted as many (or more) RBI as Carter if given the same opportunities he had. Carter never drew 50 walks in a season, struck out almost three times as often as he accepted a base on balls, and was constantly among the American League leaders in outs made. In Baseball Between The Numbers, Baseball Prospectus used VORP to determine the least valuable 100-RBI seasons in baseball since 1972; Carter's 1997 (102 RBI but a horrid .683 OPS and -2.4 VORP) ranked dead last, and four other Carter seasons also ranked among the worst 100.
[edit] Post retirement
From 2000-2001 Carter served as announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays on CTV Sportsnet, leaving to work for the Cubs.
From 2001-2002 Carter served as the color commentator (alongside play-by-play man Chip Caray) for the Chicago Cubs on WGN-TV. Carter was replaced by the man whom Carter himself replaced, Steve Stone.
Carter was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
In September 2006, Carter was awarded the Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes Award as the former or current player who best represents the legacy of his franchise's history, as voted by fans.
[edit] Trivia
Canadian born Rapper, Choclair refers to Joe Carter's 1993 Game 6 walk-off home run in his 1999 song Let's Ride
Well it's the ninth inning / With two outs I hit a home run to left field like Carter did to Philly / Do you understand me?
During his tenure as a Blue Jay, Carter was involved in the final play of each of the games in which the Jays clinched their highest championship from 1991-1993: In 1991, he got the game winning RBI single to clinch the American League East Division Championship; In 1992, he caught the final out of the World Series after Mike Timlin fielded Otis Nixon's bunt attempt; and in 1993, recording the final out in right field of the American League Championship Series in Chicago and of course the World Series-winning Home Run in Game Six of the World Series.
[edit] See also
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- 30-30 club
- List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
- Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- The Sporting News' Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: Carter's Swing Beats the Wild Thing
- Radio play-by-play by Tom Cheek of Joe Carter's 1993 World Series winning home run
| Preceded by Don Mattingly | American League RBI Champion 1986 | Succeeded by George Bell |
| Preceded by Rubén Sierra Chris Hoiles | American League Player of the Month June 1991 April 1994 | Succeeded by Robin Ventura Frank Thomas |
| Preceded by Steve Stone | Chicago Cubs Television Color Commentator 2001–2002 | Succeeded by Steve Stone |
Toronto Blue Jays 1992 World Series roster |
|---|
| 2 Manuel Lee | 4 Alfredo Griffin | 9 John Olerud | 10 Pat Borders | 11 David Cone | 12 Roberto Alomar | 14 Derek Bell | 15 Pat Tabler | 17 Kelly Gruber | 22 Jimmy Key | 23 Candy Maldonado | 25 Devon White | 29 Joe Carter | 30 Todd Stottlemyre | 31 Duane Ward | 32 Dave Winfield | 33 Ed Sprague | 36 David Wells | 40 Mike Timlin | 47 Jack Morris | 48 Mark Eichhorn | 50 Tom Henke | 66 Juan Guzmán Manager 43 Cito Gaston |
Toronto Blue Jays 1993 World Series roster |
|---|
| 1 Tony Fernández | 2 Rob Butler | 4 Alfredo Griffin | 9 John Olerud | 10 Pat Borders | 12 Roberto Alomar | 19 Paul Molitor | 21 Willie Cañate | 24 Rickey Henderson | 25 Devon White | 27 Randy Knorr | 28 Al Leiter | 29 Joe Carter | 30 Todd Stottlemyre | 31 Duane Ward | 33 Ed Sprague | 34 Dave Stewart | 40 Mike Timlin | 41 Pat Hentgen | 48 Mark Eichhorn | 49 Tony Castillo | 50 Danny Cox | 66 Juan Guzmán Manager 43 Cito Gaston |
Categories: 1960 births | Living people | Major league right fielders | Toronto Blue Jays players | Baltimore Orioles players | Chicago Cubs players | Cleveland Indians players | San Diego Padres players | San Francisco Giants players | American League All-Stars | Major league players from Oklahoma | African American baseball players | American League RBI champions | 30-30 club | Major League Baseball announcers | People from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
