Player: Gary Carter
Set: 1975 Topps
Card Number: 620
Why is This Card a Must Have?: Before Ken Griffey Junior was the Kid, there was Gary Carter. He was considered the best catcher of the late 70s and early 80s in the National League. For some reason, people feel that he was not worth of the Hall of Fame. The truth is though, most people feel that Johnny Bench was one of the greatest catchers to play the game. Here is a comparison of their stats:
Hits: Carter – 2092 / Bench- 2048
Home Runs: Carter – 324 / Bench – 389
RBIs: Carter – 1225/ Bench – 1376
Career Average: Carter – 0.262 / Bench – 0.267
As you can see, they have very comparable stats. Carter never had the MVPs that Bench had, but did go to 11 All Star games. He was a leader on that 1986 Mets team along with Kieth Hernandez and has every right to be in the Hall. For whatever reason his card is not as popular as Bench’s, maybe it’s the year, but I’m thinking it’s the player popularity. Whatever the reason it’s cheap to get.
On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Must Have Is This Card?: An 8, people forget just how good Carter was. He was on bad teams (with exception to the 1986 Mets) and never got his due. It shows on eBay as well where his card can be had for anywhere between 1 – 2 dollars.
Sigh… I remember buying my copy of this card for about $25 in the early 90s. I spent about $50 for the mini version.
I agree that is Carter good, even very good – but that’s all. Johnny Bench was great!! If you take a look at Carter’s best years and compare them to Bench’s best years it is clear who the better player was. In Carter’s best year he hit .264/29/101. In Bench’s it was .293/45/148. Bench has also won 10 Gold Gloves to Carter’s 3.
I like the Carter rookie card a lot. I wish they still offered rookies this way in today’s issues.