Joe Carter
Possibly the most popular player in Blue Jays' history, Joe Carter helped Toronto to the post-season in his first three seasons with the team. In Game Six of the 1993 World Series at the Skydome, Carter blasted a three-run home run to deliver Toronto's second straight World Series championship. A consistent run-producer, he drove in 100 or more runs ten times, reached 30 homers six times, and became baseball's highest paid player.
Played For
Chicago Cubs (1983)
Cleveland Indians (1984-1989)
San Diego Padres (1990)
Toronto Blue Jays (1991-1997)
Baltimore Orioles (1998)
San Francisco Giants (1998)
All-Time Rankings
Joe Carter ranks #36 among the Top 50 all-time at LF. Rankings ⇒
Best Season: 1986
Toiling for a mediocre Indian team, 26-year old Carter collected 200 hits, 26 more than he would garner in any other campaign. He batted .302 with 29 homers, 121 RBI, 29 steals, 36 doubles, nine triples, 108 runs scored, and a .514 SLG mark. He split time between the outfield and first base.
Factoids
Triples were in vogue on August 8, 1988 (8-8-88), as Joe Carter of the Indians hit into a triple play against the Minnesota Twins.
Iron Man II
From 1986 to 1997, Cal Ripken Jr. played in every game for the Orioles, a total of 1,875 straight, as he went on to break Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played. During that same stretch, Joe Carter was the second-most durable man in the game. Carter missed an average of four games in each of those 12 seasons, playing in 1,831 of his teams' 1,879 games (97.4%). This durability helped him amass the most RBI in baseball over that stretch, and reach the 100-RBI level ten times, just missing (98 in 1988) on one other occasion.
RBI Leaders, MLB (1986-1997)
Joe Carter... 1,281
Barry Bonds... 1,094
Jose Canseco... 1,094
Cal Ripken Jr.... 1,062
Bobby Bonilla... 1,061
Where He Played
He came up as a left fielder, but played center from 1988-1990. Later he played right and then DHed for several years. He played 1,497 games in the outfield, 176 at DH, and more than 300 at first base, though he never was a first baseman regularly in one particular season.
Born
Joseph Chris Carter was born on March 7, 1960, in Oklahoma City, OK.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Primary Position: OF
Primary Team: TOR
College: Wichita State
Major League Debut
July 30, 1983
Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1983
Joe Carter
Tony Fernandez
Greg Gagne
Juan Samuel
Darryl Strawberry
Orel Hershiser
Ron Darling
Danny Jackson
Harold Reynolds
"Century Man" would have been good, since he drove in 100 or more runs 10 times in 12 years.
Uniform Numbers
#33 (1983), #30 (1984-1989), #17 (1990 Padres), #29 (1991-1998), #43 (1997)
Similar Players
Steve Garvey
Related Players
Roberto Alomar, Fred McGriff, and Tony Fernandez. Those three were involved with Carter in one of the biggest trades in baseball history. On December 5, 1990, the Blue Jays dealt McGriff and Fernandez to the Padres for Carter and Alomar. The latter two players would form the cornerstone for Toronto's 1992 and 1993 World Series championship teams. On December 6, 1989, almost exactly one year before that swap, Carter was sent packing by Cleveland. The Indians dealt him to San Diego with Fred Lynn, for Sandy Alomar Jr., Chris James and Carlos Baerga. That deal helped the Indians become a dominant team in the AL Central in the 1990s.
Post-Season Appearances
1991 American League Championship Series
1992 American League Championship Series
1992 World Series
1993 American League Championship Series
1993 World Series
Feats
Carter hit three homers in a game five times, an American League record when he retired.
Milestones
Carter fell just four home runs shy of 400 for his career.
Batting Feats
- August 29, 1986: 3 HR...
- May 28, 1987: 3 HR...
- June 24, 1989: 3 HR...
- July 19, 1989: 3 HR...
- August 23, 1993: 3 HR...
Notes
Carter set a major league record in April of 1994 with 31 RBI... In 1994, Carter became just the 10th player to reach 300 homers and 200 steals in his career.
Hitting Streaks
21 games (1986)
Transactions
June 8, 1981: Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1981 amateur draft; June 13, 1984: Traded by the Chicago Cubs with Darryl Banks (minors), Mel Hall, and Don Schulze to the Cleveland Indians for Rick Sutcliffe, George Frazier, and Ron Hassey; December 6, 1989: Traded by the Cleveland Indians to the San Diego Padres for Sandy Alomar Jr., Chris James, and Carlos Baerga; December 5, 1990: Traded by the San Diego Padres with Roberto Alomar to the Toronto Blue Jays for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez; October 30, 1992: Granted Free Agency; December 7, 1992: Signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays; October 28, 1997: Granted Free Agency; December 12, 1997: Signed as a Free Agent with the Baltimore Orioles; July 23, 1998: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the San Francisco Giants for Darin Blood (minors); November 5, 1998: Granted Free Agency.
Trivia Question
When the Blue Jays fired manager Cito Gaston late in the 1997 season, what did Joe Carter do to honor his former skipper?
Trivia Answer
Carter, in part to honor Gaston, and in part to show his displeasure at the firing, wore Gaston's uniform number (#43) the remainder of the season.
All-Star Selections
1991 AL
1992 AL
1993 AL
1994 AL
1996 AL
Replaced
Carter essentially beat Carmen Castillo out for the Indians' left field job, in 1985.
Replaced By
Jose Canseco replaced Carter as the Jays' DH in 1998. Carter never had a full-time job after that.
Best Strength as a Player
Durability
Largest Weakness as a Player
Plate discipline
Learn More about Joe Carter
Search Amazon.com for Books about Joe Carter ⇒
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View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒
