Posted on 18th Feb 2012 @ 5:11 PM

Gary Carter one of the most celebrated stars in Montreal Expos baseball history passed away earlier this week  as a result of brain tumors. The likable, raw raw, gamer, would have fought his cancer till the very end.  That was his nature.

For those of us who were Expos fans in the early years, Carter was our hope as one of a handful of bona fide Expos Stars (Staub, Singleton, and Dawson come to mind), who could take us to a World Series.  And it almost happened in 1981.

Carter's constant enthusiasm was contagious.  He played catcher as if the plate belonged to him.  In an era when player agents of catchers were discouraging their players who played the backstop position from blocking the plate, Carter played with no fear and little or no regard for his health.  He gave it his all.

He gave everything he had to the fans in other ways too.  There must be hundreds of thousands of Carter autographs around since he never turned anybody down. The media loved him too, since he spoke well and always found time for all interviews.Carter was also a great role model off and on the field.

In his first year the late Gene Mauch played him in right field quite a bit, and as you might expect he went crashing into the right field fence at old Jarry Park on several occasions trying to snag balls up against or over the wall.  When he returned to catch, that was a less dangerous position for Carter to play, but he still managed to have a career filled with knee operations.

Carter played in 2296 MLB games, with the Expos (at two different points in his career), hit a lifetime .262,while hitting 324 home runs,and knocking in 1,225 runs. He was also a three time Gold Glove Award winner, and an 11 time All-Star, over his 19 year Major League career.  He played for the Expos, the Mets,the Giants, and the Dodgers.

He ended his career with the Expos where he started, and was inducted into The Baseball hall of Fame in 1993 wearing a Montreal Expos cap.

Gary Carter was 57 when he succumbed to cancer.