RetroSimba

Many Gary Carter obituaries properly cite his first game with the Mets as an important event in his big-league career. In that game on April 9, 1985, at New York, Carter, who twice had been hit by pitches (by Joaquin Andujar and Bill Campbell), hit a 10th-inning home run off Neil Allen, lifting the Mets to a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals. Boxscore

Though dramatic, it wasn’t Carter’s best game against the Cardinals. The Hall of Fame catcher, who died Feb. 16, 2012, at 57, played especially well in St. Louis during a big-league career that stretched from 1974-92.

Carter hit .262 with 47 doubles, 30 home runs, 127 RBI and a .423 slugging percentage in 253 career games against the Cardinals. The only teams against whom he totaled more home runs and RBI were the Phillies and Cubs.

At St. Louis, Carter was even better, posting a .280 batting average and .443 slugging percentage in 119 games.

His two most outstanding games against the Cardinals were at St. Louis while he was with the Expos.

On Sept. 26, 1977, Carter went 3-for-4 with 5 RBI, scored twice, walked and stole a base in the Expos’ 9-5 victory. Batting sixth, it marked the first time Carter, 23, had driven in 5 runs in a big-league game.

The big blow was Carter’s 2-out, 3-run home run in the seventh inning off starter Eric Rasmussen, snapping a 2-2 tie. In the ninth, after St. Louis had rallied to tie the score 5-5, Carter hit a two-run single to left off Al Hrabosky and scored on a sacrifice fly, keying a four-run Expos uprising. Boxscore

Three years later, May 31, 1980, Carter delivered another 5-RBI performance at St. Louis. He was 4-for-4 with two home runs (including an inside-the-park homer) with 3 runs scored. This time, though, the Cardinals won, 8-6.

Expos manager Dick Williams had moved Carter into the cleanup spot (replacing Ellis Valentine) in this game for the first time that season.

“I’ve always wanted to hit fourth,” Carter said to The Montreal Gazette. “The last time I had the chance in the big leagues was in ’78.”

Pumped to be in the prime run-producing spot, Carter reached starter Bob Forsch for an RBI-single in the first. After Carter singled in the fourth, he scored on a Warren Cromartie double.

Andre Dawson led off the Expos’ sixth with a single off Forsch. Carter then blooped a ball into left-center field. Left fielder Dane Iorg and center fielder Tony Scott chased after it.

In his game report for The Montreal Gazette, Ian MacDonald described what happened next:

Iorg threw a cross block on Scott that would have done any football linebacker proud. Scott went down in a heap and stayed there. Iorg recovered, but it was shortstop Garry Templeton who eventually tracked the ball down on the warning track as Carter circled the bases.

It was the second and last inside-the-park home run of Carter’s big-league career.

“We were both looking at the ball,” Iorg explained. “I certainly didn’t see Tony and I’m sure he didn’t see me.”

A two-run homer off Pete Vuckovich in the seventh capped Carter’s outstanding evening. Boxscore

Previously: Cardinals were victims of historic homers by Gil Hodges