And on the sad revelation that Gary Carter has inoperable brain cancer, the time to do the honoring is NOW.
Gary Carter was the final piece in the puzzle that Frank Cashen put together during his successful tenure as the team's general manager.
Carter's first regular season game as a Met came April 9, 1985 at Shea Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals. In the bottom of the 10th with the game tied at 5, Carter took a Neil Allen pitch and put it over the left field fence to give the Mets a 6-5 win.
I can remember the moment, like it was yesterday, Carter's fist in the air as he circled the bases. The Mets finished that exciting season in second place behind the Cardinals-- three games back.
Honoring Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez by retiring their numbers is long overdue, but it is a MUST that the ownership of this team give the fans and Gary a chance to thank each other and to celebrate what his addition to this ball club meant for the franchise and its fans.
The cancer Gary Carter is fighting has taken the lives of other baseball players and managers: Tug McGraw, Dick Howser, Dan Quisenberry and Johnny Oates.
It is aggressive and Carter will be undergoing chemotherapy and radiation to try and stop the growth of the tumors.
Those therapies in themselves wreak havoc on a body. So why wait for Carter to be unable to walk out to the field wearing jersey number 8 as it's retired to go up alongside 37,14, 41, 42 and Shea?
Do it now. Honor this man for the contributions he made to this franchise.
To delay or do anything less is unconscionable.
