Montreal Honours Gary Carter

It was great to see Montreal honour Gary Carter before their Sunday night game against New Jersey. It somehow just happened to work out that Martin Brodeur was in town. Here's more from Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette:

New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur remembers the days when Expos catcher Gary Carter would stop by the Brodeurs’ St. Léonard home, dropping in on the man who many times froze the Kid’s megawatt smile.

Denis Brodeur, Martin’s dad, was for years the Expos’ photographer, snapping the ballplayers’ Florida mug shots and their exploits on the diamond in Montreal.

Carter, needless to say, was in many of those photos.

And young Marty often tagged along when his dad headed down to West Palm Beach for the spring-training assignment.

On Sunday night, Martin Brodeur stood in his goal crease before his team’s 3-1 victory over the Canadiens and watched the emotional scoreboard tribute to Carter, who died last Thursday of brain cancer at age 57.

You can read more of Stubbs' excellent article, including Larry Robinson's close relationship with Gary Carter.

Obviously we do not talk a lot of baseball here, but Carter was something special in Montreal. He was one of the rare non-Canadiens to be so warmly embraced by Montrealers. Soviet goaltending great Vladislav Tretiak, fellow Expos great Rusty Staub and, at least during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Romanian gymnasty Nadia Comaneci might be others in the same boat. Home grown talent like George St. Pierre (MMA) and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve (auto racing) also hold special places in Montrealers hearts.