JUPITER, Fla. • Later this week, on Friday, baseball will descend on nearby Palm Beach Gardens to honor Gary Carter, the Hall of Fame catcher who died last week after spending most of last year battling brain cancer.

Carter, nicknamed "The Kid," was an effervescent personality and 11-time All-Star who hit 324 home runs. In this tribute column from The New York Times, columnist George Vecsey calls Carter ebullient and an "eternal optimist" and "vanilla for a city with stronger tastes." He also was the personality that seemed to elevate the New York Mets of the 1980s, and offer a contrast to the more-troubled talents on that charismatic but rough-edged club.

That's where the Cardinals come in.

Acquired from Montreal, the Mets paid Carter handsomely to be their backstop, and his regular-season debut in that role came on April 9, 1985 against the Cardinals. He immediately endeared himself to his new team and their fan base with a 10th-inning home run that landed in the Cardinals' bullpen for a 6-5 win. Nowadays, they would call that a walk-off. Back then it was just a win.

Post-Dispatch scribe Rick Hummel, who like Carter was working his way toward a Hall of Fame career, was there to describe it. From the P-D archives comes his gamer:

NEW YORK - In the first game the Cardinals have played in five years without Bruce Sutter being on their roster, they lost to the New York Mets, 6-5, Tuesday when Gary Carter's 10th-inning home run landed in, of all places, the Cardinals' bullpen.

Perhaps there is a message there. Perhaps not.

Neil Allen, who has endured misfortune after misfortune here at Shea Stadium since being traded to the Cardinals for Keith Hernandez, was the victim of Carter's one-out drive. But unlike last year, when he would have a clubhouse attendant bring him his clothes and then would steal away into the night, Allen was composed and amiable after his setback. He thought he had pitched well, and nearly everyone else agreed.

''That was the best curveball I'd thrown all day, '' said Allen, who had exulted when he wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth.

''It was down and away. All Gary Carter could be thinking was that I was going to throw him a hook. He had to be looking for it. ''But that's why they pay Gary Carter $2 million a year: to hit good pitches, to hit bad pitches, to hit all kinds of pitches.''

Carter is the catcher the Mets acquired from Montreal at considerable expense - four players and the salary they must pay him for the next five years. Those who were left from the start-of-the-game crowd of 46,781 - the temperature was 45 degrees at game time and then dropped - were saying, ''Worth every penny.''

Carter was summoned for a curtain call after his game-winner, which came with one out. He lived the moment to the fullest.

''I feel wonderful, enthusiastic, excited, everykind of adjective you could think of, '' Carter said. ''If I were to have a fantasy, it couldn't have been written any better than this. To have a curtain call on the first day is really exciting. I didn't have many curtain calls in Montreal. I guess it was because they expected those things.''

Carter had a hit the next day as the Mets won again in extra innings, this time it took 11. Carter would go on to hit 32 homers and drive in 100 runs that season for the Mets, and he finished sixth in the MVP voting. The Cardinals, you'll recall, lost their first four games of that season and six of their first eight.

But they righted themselves alright and went on to win 101 games and finish three games ahead of Carter, Doc Gooden and the 98-win Mets.

The Cardinals won the National League pennant in October and came a call and a blowout shy of a World Series title.

In his career, Carter played 253 games against the Cardinals and had exactly 1,000 plate appearances. He hit .262/.324/.423 overall vs. the Cardinals with 30 homers and 127 RBIs. At Busch Stadium II, Carter played 119 games (476 plate appearances) and hit .280/.327/.443 with 14 homers and 65 RBIs.

Carter was both a resident and a coach here in the Palm Beach County area, where his daughter is also a college softball coach.

His last public appearance was recently at Roger Dean Stadium.

This is the obit that ran in The Palm Beach Post, written by Joe Capozzi.

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