Former Expo Carter to get ballpark, street named after him in Montreal
MONTREAL — The late baseball great Gary Carter will have a ballpark and street named after him in Montreal, where he defined the golden era of a oncebeloved franchise.
The City of M o n t r e a l a n n o u n c e d Wednesday the details of its tribute to a catcher who starred with the now- defunct Expos for more than half of his Hall of Fame career.
The street is one that borders Jarry Park, where the Expos played for most of their first decade and where Carter got his big- league debut. The site now hosts the annual Canadian Open tennis tournament and the street to its south and west, Faillon Street, will have a stretch renamed for Carter.
Sports commentator Rodger Brulotte, who chaired the selection committee, says Jarry Park is where the love affair between Carter and his wife Sandy first blossomed.
He says they discussed the city’s plans this past summer when Sandy and her son were in Montreal.
“I said we want to do Faillon Street where Gary started his career, and that’s when we started crying,” Brulotte recalled. “She said, ‘ That’s where we started, that’s where our life started.”’
Close to 2,000 proposals were submitted to the city after it requested ideas to honour Carter last Feb. 27, shortly after his death.
There will also be a baseball field in the north- end Ahuntsic district named after him, and one other park in a Montreal suburb has already been named after Carter.
The changes will be enacted by city council in February 2013, a year after Carter’s death from cancer at age 57.