the dream-catchers

Gary Carter and his smile. But is a smile? Is it a mask? Before we began Madame Pickwick, we had a little shop occupying a small part of our present building and it was called The Workshop of Hansel and Gretel. The name was little sexier in French, but it was set up to kill time until something more interesting developed. One of the first customers was an Indian named Seven Wolves but his official name was Michel. He wasn’t an old guy, maybe 45 but he had a ton of health issues and suffered quite a bit, particularly a hip condition that was chronic and painful. But you wouldn’t know it.

Michel had an incredible smile that displayed something indestructible inside of him as if the world was in his hands and was in the pink of health. He said, when he smiled nothing could defeat him.Nothing could beat him.  Michel was a builder of dream catchers, complex designs serving as conduits for cosmic energy and like the erstwhile Expo/Met was a dream catcher of sorts.He wasn’t a Christian, in fact he drank and smoked ; but he reminded me of Gary Carter, somehow connected in the great scheme of things, meaning there was something about Carter that transcended religious context. In the great baseball game in the far reaches of the universe, they are both on the same team.

from the web ( see links): Sad that this guy has left us. I once spoke in a baseball chapel when Gary was a Met. What they told me about him, infectious smile and exuberant spirit, was all true. He was not only an all-star leader on the field but a genuine spiritual leader off the field as well. I recall that he came to chapel carrying a huge Bible. It was massive. It touched me that, as I shared, he smiled encouragingly throughout my talk and jotted some things I said in that Bible.Read More:http://pasturescott.org/category/gary-carter/

ADDENDUM:

Andrew Klavan:

I can’t really say how serious I was when I began to contemplate suici

But I remember one night, sitting alone in my room in darkness, smoking cigarette after cigarette as I considered the ways in which I might put an end to myself.

The radio was on, playing a Mets game. I’d been trying to listen before the dark thoughts took over. By the time the ninth inning came around, I wasn’t paying attention at all.

One sentence ran through my mind again and again: “I don’t know how I can live.”

Before I knew it, the game had ended and Carter—who apparently had beaten out a grounder to reach first base—was giving a postgame interview. The interviewer asked him how he managed to outrun the throw when his knees were so bad from years of playing catcher, squatting behind home plate.

Carter was a devout Christian with just the bright, inspiring Tim Tebow sort of personality our media can’t stand. He was forever thanking Jesus Christ in postgame interviews. He once remarked that he could see the smiles curdle on the faces of unbelieving journalists when he did it, but he felt he had to tell the truth.

I was not a Christian then—not yet—and if Carter had preached religion at that moment, it would have gone right past me. But he didn’t. He said something else, something much simpler but also true. I don’t remember the words exactly but a fair translation would be this: “Sometimes you just have to play in pain.”

Carter’s words somehow broke through my self-pitying despair. “Play in pain?” I thought. “Hell, I can do that. That’s one thing I actually know how to do.”Read More:http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Gary-Carter-Showed-Drew-Klavan-How-to-Play-the-Game
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Interesting that Norm Sherry was responsible for Carter’s development. He also responsible for harnessing the enormous talent of Sandy Koufax; for getting Koufax, like Carter, to relax and not try to dominate by pure physical force. How an anonymous journeyman player like Sherry could have such an impact on two hall of famers….