The P-DQ: Chris Carpenter
JUPITER, Fla. — Turns out, for a guy who could have played hockey in college and has turned into a fine major-league pitcher, what Chris Carpenter would really like to be able to do is lace up his Chucks and … Well, don’t want to give away the ending.
In this morning’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, colleague Joe Strauss explored the pitch-by-pitch uncertainty that is the health of Carpenter’s joints. Every time he wheels back to fire a pitch, surgically repaired tendons and ligaments and once-strangled nerves bend and pull and fire — a precise ballet of biomechanics that at anytime could come apart under the strain like a balsa-wood bridge. As he says in the article, he doesn’t know if it will be 10,000 pitches before his body fails him again … or if it will be 10.
That, however, is not his greatest fear. At least not according to the answer he gave when presented — as requested by a few people on the Twitter feed – with the P-DQ. Like he does when he’s on the mound, Carpenter worked quickly through the questions …
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Advice you received from a parent that stays with you is …
Respect
A memorable Christmas or holiday gift you received is …
A bike. It was blue and shiny.
Word or phrase you use too often?
(cannot be printed on a family blog)
Favorite superhero?
Superman, I guess. But I don’t really have one. I don’t have one.
Best baseball movie?
Toss up between “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural”.
Your greatest achievement?
Winning the World Series.
Current state of mind?
Happy.
Your greatest extravagance or indulgence?
I’d have to say … cars. Just cars.
Favorite ballplayer growing up?
Roger Clemens.
First car?
Dodge Omni.
Current car?
Range Rover.
The place you’ve got to visit before you die is …
Alaska.
Who would be in your Fave Five?
My wife. My son. My daughter and then, Superman and Batman, just in case someone’s in trouble. And it answers the other question, too.
Most embarrassing song on your iPod?
I don’t have one. I have an iPod, but I don’t have an embarrassing song.
Movie you’ll stop to watch whenever it comes on is …
“Shawshank Redemption”.
Sing in the shower or in the car?
Both.
You know you’re in the minors when …
On the bus for long, long bus rides.
I tune out when people talk about …
I do it too often. I do it too much. There’s no particular reason, I just tune people out - probably too much.
Greatest fear?
Snakes. I don’t like snakes very much.
Your treasured possession?
My World Series ring.
What do you value in a teammate?
Professionalism and respect.
I wish I knew how to …
Dunk.
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Previous P-DQ: Adam Wainwright … CC Sabathia … Skip Schumaker … David Wright … Brian Barton … Ryan Ludwick. … Ryan Franklin. … Brad Lidge.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Yep, sounds like a typical (early period) 21st century man.
Gotta love a guy who would list Field of Dreams or the Natural as their top baseball flick. Also gotta love a guy that would pick Superman for a fave five.
first of all, i enjoy these little Q&As (even when they aren’t with cardinals players. brad lidge, for instance). lighthearted, quick reads. second, the natural, yeah it was good. but i’m borderline insulted at how few people respond with “major league” as their favorite baseball movie! oh man, that has to be one of my top 10 movies on any subject matter! the characters, the quotes… 24’s president david palmer in a banana hammock practicing voodoo… priceless!!!
Forget Richard Dawson. If they ever revive the Match Game, and I make it to the final round, I hope Chris Carpenter is on the celeberty panel. Would’ve matched 17 out of 22 (if I had ever won the World Series that is).
In Carp We Trust….
Bring us home another Championship big guy!
You are a true competitor & a heck of a pitcher!
I predict Carp will finish in the top 3 vote getters for the CY Young Award for 2009.
I also predict Carp will be named comeback player of the year this year.
GO CARDS!!!
You gotta be kidding me. Carp can’t cram a basketball? Very weak. What is he, 6′5″???? Any pro athlete over 6′0″ should be able to jam.
lisn2me - You have his wife and daughter as your Fave Five?
Creepy… :)….
Is it just me, or was this a rather lame Q and A (the A part, that is)? I didn’t really get a feeling that I got to know Carp that well here — his answers were short, and kinda cliche (In response to the minor’s question, “Long bus rides . . . “)
Maybe I am being critical, but I really feel I got a sense of the others who have done this.