Carter deserves chance to coach in majors

Maybe, just maybe, there's some truth to Gary Carter's suspicions that he has been blackballed in baseball.How else do you explain his conspicuous absence from a game in which he has enjoyed so much success? How is it possible all 30 major league teams have decided separately that the Hall of Fame catcher, who has won championships as both a big-league player and a minor league manager, can't help them? How can someone with Carter's knowledge, experience, track record and drive not be able to find a job anywhere in baseball, except as a manager in the independent leagues?"It's kind of hard for me to believe, too," Carter said last week from New York, where he was hired to be the manager of the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks. "I've been in baseball a long time, and I don't think I've burned any bridges along the way."True, he did foolishly reject a promotion to Class AA Binghamton after managing the St. Lucie Mets to the Florida State League championship in 2006 -- because he wasn't eager to make the long bus trips between Eastern League cities.And, yes, he did go on a radio show and, in a breach of baseball etiquette, publicly coveted the New York Mets manager's job while it still belonged to an embattled Willie Randolph.And then there were those unwise remarks to the Los Angeles Times in June, when Carter allowed his frustration over his inability to get a big-league job cloud his better judgment.Nobody is saying the man is perfect. In many ways, his nickname is still a perfect fit: "Kid."But should those lapses, all fueled by his still-youthful zest and burning desire to become a major league manager, cost him his shot? Do those very human mistakes override everything else he brings to the ballpark? Carter sometimes comes across as too much of a self-promoter, too much of a rah-rah guy, too much of a loose cannon with an even looser tongue. Too often, he admits, he wears his heart on his sleeve.But that heart has always been in the right place.His greatest success as a player came as one of the veteran leaders of a great team -- the 1986 New York Mets. So it's silly to think, if given the opportunity to coach or manage in the major leagues, he would place himself above the team."I'm all about winning," Carter said, pointing to his record.Clearly, for all his faults, real or imagined, Carter has a tremendous upside. "I've proven I can manage and win," he said.After four years as a roving instructor who worked with catchers in the Mets organization, Carter finally was given an opportunity to manage. And he made the most of it.In 2005, Carter guided the Mets' Port St. Lucie-based rookie league team to the best record in the Gulf Coast League before losing in the playoffs. He followed up with St. Lucie's league title in 2006.Then last summer, after being out of baseball in 2007, he took the manager's job in the independent Golden League and led the Orange County (Calif.) Flyers to a championship.Still, no major league team has called.Just this past March, in fact, Carter sent letters to 29 teams to inquire about big-league coaching and minor league managing jobs. He received only 10 responses, no offers."I think I bring the package they'd be looking for -- good with players, good with the press and fans, a good organization guy," said Carter. "Frankly, I don't know what they're thinking at the major league level.But that remains his goal.To be a big-league manager.That's why Carter, 54, went to Orange County and the bottom rung of professional baseball last summer. That's why he accepted the offer to manage on Long Island and work with former Mets player, coach and manager Bud Harrelson, the Ducks' co-owner."I'm taking the next step," Carter said. "I'll give it another year and see where it leads. Whether it will lead to a big-league job, I don't know."Probably, it won't.But it should."Catchers tend to make good managers," Carter said, citing Joe Maddon, Joe Torre, Mike Sciocia and Joe Girardi.That aside, Carter has shown how much he wants to manage by paying his dues in the minors. He has enthusiastically done more than should be required of a former player of his stature.Yet, he can't get the big-league opportunity he surely deserves -- even from struggling teams that would benefit from his name alone.Carter still loves baseball.But for some cruel, inexplicable reason, baseball refuses to love him back.(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com or on the Web at www.tcpalm.com.)