So long Kid.

If you have been reading my blog for any time at all you know that I hardly ever post without a scan of a card from my collection. You also know that I almost never post about anything not Rangers related. Today's the exception to both.

Yesterday I was in town with the family running some errands. We stopped by a store and I saw a bunch of books on the end of an aisle. Most were sports books and were marked way down to get them gone. I took a quick look and picked up Gary Carter's biography. For a few minutes I pondered buying it but then put it down for some inexplicable reason. I should have pulled the trigger.

On the way home I called my Dad. He asked if I had heard the news, Gary Carter had lost his battle with brain cancer. I knew it was coming but that didn't make it any easier. There's a new hole in the baseball universe.

Gary Carter never played for or against Texas. A national league man he was a star that it was safe to like and respect while still being loyal to the Rangers. For me he was always the face of the 1986 Mets, not anyone else. A good man, a role model. At one point I kept every card of his that I came across. They're gone now, just like The Kid, but the respect and admiration aren't.