Intro

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.

Unform Number

#33 (1983), #30 (1984-1989), #17 (1990 Padres), #29 (1991-1998), #43 (1997)

Replaced By

Jose Canseco replaced Carter as the Jays' DH in 1998. Carter never had a full-time job after that.

Best Season

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.

Factoid 1

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.

Transition

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.

Strengths

Durability

Weaknesses

Plate discipline

Milestones

Carter fell just four home runs shy of 400 for his career.

Feats

Carter hit three homers in a game five times, an American League record when he retired.

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

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.