Joe Carter, 1998 Upper Deck SPX Finite Spectrum #252

Was Joe Carter really an Oriole? Yes, for 85 lackluster games in 1998, his farewell major league season. The 38-year-old slugger joined the O's on a $3 million free agent deal, departing the Blue Jays after seven seasons as the team's all-time home run leader with a total of 203. He's now fourth behind Carlos Delgado (336 HR), Jose Bautista (243 and counting), and Vernon Wells (223). As one of many players to underperform for the defending AL East Champion Orioles, Carter batted just .247/.297/.424 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 303 trips to the plate. In late July, with Baltimore treading water near the .500 mark, Joe was dealt to the Giants for the excellently-named minor league pitcher Darrin Blood. He finished strong in San Francisco, batting .295/.322/.562 with seven homers and 29 RBI in 41 games. He hung up his spikes at the end of the season, ending up with 396 career four-baggers and 1,445 RBI. So Joe Carter might not have made an impact in Baltimore, but at least he looked good in the uniform.

Joe Carter, 1998 Fleer Tradition #511

It's been 20 years to the day since Joe Carter hit his famed walkoff three-run homer off of Mitch Williams to clinch the Blue Jays' second straight World Series win. This is pretty damned impossible, since I have distinct memories of watching most of that year's Fall Classic at age 11. It hasn't really been 20 years. Yet, here we are. Stupid passage of time.

Joe Carter, 1998 Pacific Revolution #19

Do you know what I like most about 1990s Pacific? The subtlety.

Joe Carter, 1998 Fleer Flair Showcase Flair #62

This week is taking entirely too long. A continually worsening head cold and a five-day training course in Washington, D.C. are the major culprits. Thankfully, I responded to a quick interview by Stacey at Camden Chat while I was still of a clearer mind. She's started profiling other noteworthy Orioles blogs during the offseason, which strikes me as an idea that's smart enough (and simple enough) that it should have been done sooner. Give it a read!

As for this card...ten years in the rear view, it's harmless enough to laugh at. Joe Carter as an Oriole? An iridescent oversized background portrait of Joe with a full-color action shot overlay? The insanely redundant set name? Fleer, what are we supposed to do without you?

Joe Carter, 1998 Pacific Aurora #11

So it's come to this; the World Series is on hiatus. Who would have guessed that baseball in the final week of October might not be ideal, weather-wise? Most Phillies fans are walking on eggshells. Even though they still have a three-to-one lead in the Series, and a tie game with three-and-a-half innings to go, a lot of folks are taking the bizarre circumstances of Monday night as some sort of ill omen. Undoubtedly, they've had twenty-eight years to think about failures and close calls, and they're not looking forward to another forty-eight hours to be left alone with their thoughts.

If Joe Carter isn't foremost in the minds of Phillies fans, then they've done an exceptional job of tuning out the numerous references to and clips of the ex-Blue Jays outfielder leaping joyously around the bases after hitting the three-run home run that turned a 6-5 Phillies lead into World Series Championship for Toronto. He became just the second player ever to end the Fall Classic with a walk-off homer, and annoyed the hell out of me.

It was my first postseason as a fan, and it had brought nothing but disappointment. In the NLCS, the Phillies beat the Braves, who I'd taken a liking to while watching their seemingly endless parade of games on TBS. In the ALCS, the hated division rival Blue Jays, with their arrogant manager Cito Gaston, toppled the White Sox (I was 11 years old; nothing was cooler than those black caps and Frank Thomas). I settled when it came time to crown a World Champion. I didn't have any personal feelings of animosity toward Philadelphia, and the filthy scrounginess of John Kruk and company was a decent consolation prize. I was so disappointed when the Jays broke open Game One and took the Series lead that I actually cried (not one of my prouder moments).

By the time Game Six rolled around, with Toronto on the verge of winning it all, I had thankfully found something else to do. I was at a classmate's Halloween party, and I have only a vague memory of the game being on television in the girl's kitchen. I think I saw that historic home run, but I honestly can't be sure. I've seen the footage so many times in the last fifteen years, it's probably colored my memories of that night.