Gary Carter, having just birdied No. 8, sensed this was the day. "I shot an even 80, so again the number eight was in there," he said. Carter, who wore No. 8 for nearly his entire major-league career, rode around Ibis Golf and Country Club in cart No. 48 – matching his age.

"So again, the number eight was in there. Everything was eights," he said. "It was just meant to be." He had just parred the ninth hole Tuesday, finishing his round at the course in West Palm Beach, Fla., when his cell phone rang. His wife, Sandy, handed it to him and Carter learned he had been elected to the Hall of Fame on the sixth try. Carter punched his right fist through the air, like he had so many times on the field. "The dream became a reality today, and I must say this is a very proud day today," Carter said after his election by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "I don't think there was ever a point where I didn't think I was going to make it."

After getting named on 52 percent of the ballots in 1998, Carter went down to 34 percent the following year. His percentage went up to 50 in 2000 and 65 percent in 2001 and 73 last year, when he fell 11 votes short.

This time, the 11-time All-Star was picked on 387 of 496 ballots (78 percent), 15 more votes than needed. "When I lost some votes, that was probably the most discouraging," he said, thinking back to 1999. "But I didn't really lose faith, because I felt I was deserving."

Carter, the 13th catcher elected to the Hall, batted .262 with 324 homers and 1,225 RBIs, setting the major-league record for putouts by a catcher and the NL record for games played at catcher (2,056). While his batting average is the seventh-lowest for a Hall of Famer, he was the dominant catcher in the National League in the years following Johnny Bench.

"He was a human backstop back there," former teammate Keith Hernandez said Tuesday. "Early, before his knees went bad, you couldn't steal on him in Montreal. When he wasn't able to throw because of his knees, that never affected his performance. He was running on and off the field after three outs. This guy played in some pain and it was hustle, hustle, hustle." Carter was converted to a catcher by the Montreal Expos, his initial team. He wore No. 57 in his rookie season, 1974, and split time behind the plate with Barry Foote.

Carter's body was pounded by tens of thousands of baseballs from pitchers such as Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling and Steve Rogers, the sting of seams hitting skin imbedded in his memory. "It is a grueling position. My knees will tell you that," Carter said. "I've had nine knee surgeries. I've had a couple of broken thumbs, one on each hand. I can look back at it and say it's worth it to be enshrined in Cooperstown. I don't have any pain in my knees right now." He spent his first 11 seasons with the Expos, making the playoffs only in 1981, when Montreal lost the decisive fifth game to the Los Angeles. He was traded to the New York Mets after the 1984 season and made an immediate impact. In his first game, he was hit twice by pitches as a batter and once by a foul tip behind the plate. He allowed a run on a passed ball, let pitcher Joaquin Andujar steal a base and took a called third strike.

Then he homered off Neil Allen in the 10th inning for a 6-5 victory over St. Louis. The fans at Shea Stadium adopted him that instant. Carter still remembers "how the fans chanted on the way out of the exits: 'Ga-ry! Ga-ry!' " "Even though we didn't win that year, that just kind of electrified us," said Hernandez, who had joined the Mets during the 1983 season. "How perfect. It couldn't have been written better." Carter spent five seasons with the Mets, then finished with a season each in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Montreal. His allegiance is torn between the Expos and Mets, and he isn't sure what cap should be on his Hall of Fame plaque.

But there's no question about his greatest moment -- Game 7 of the 1986 World Series. In Game 6, Carter started Mets' rally from a 5-3, 10th-inning deficit with a two-out single off Calvin Schiraldi. In Game 7, New York trailed 3-0 in the sixth inning before Hernandez hit a two-run single and came home on Carter's bloop fielder's choice to right. New York went on to win 8-5 for its second World Series title, and the videotape of Carter jubilantly running to the mound after the final out remains a nearly nightly feature on the Shea Stadium scoreboard.

"Nothing will ever replace the feeling I got when Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett to end the game and I got the opportunity to run out into his arms," Carter said. "To me, that was the greatest accomplishment. Without a doubt, that was my biggest thrill."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press - THE SPORTING NEWS