Thursday, April 5, 2012

Mets unveil Citi Field tribute to "The Kid"

The New York Mets may not have had Brazilian feather dancers or Muhammad Ali in the luxury boxes at their 2012 opening day festivities at  Citi Field, but a simple dedication to former-catcher Gary Carter may help brace Mets fans for what could be a trying season and put things into perspective.

Carter, who was more familiarly know as "The Kid" died of brain cancer on Feb. 16 at the age of 57.

Before Thursday afternoon's opening game against the Atlanta Braves, Carter's widow Sandy, daughters Kimmy and Kristy and son Douglas unveiled a commemorative logo on the leftfield wall with the name "Kid" and No. 8 in white letters over a black home plate honoring the Hall of Fame catcher.


The same logo will be worn by Mets players on the right sleeve of their uniforms all season.

Sandy and the kids also threw out the first pitches after a moment of silence.

While it looks like the Mets will be staring at a long and difficult season, now they can look at Carter's wall and remember how his hard work and enthusiasm were keys to the Mets 1986 World Series championship.

Next week will be the 50th anniversary of when the Mets were brought into this world and went on to lose a record 120 games in 1962.  Some Mets fans think this team could break that record.

If the optimistic Carter was still around, he'd probably grin and tell those naysayers, 'Hey, it's been worse around here."

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