R.I.P., Chuck Carr: ‘Chuckie hacks on 2-0.’ Remembering the Marlins’ speedy first star | Opinion

In sports as in life, you do not always need a long time to make an impact. To become memorable. Sometimes the right personality will do it. Something that sets you apart, like being incredibly fast, doesn’t hurt.

Chuck Carr — Chuckie, he would call himself, often speaking in the third person — left us on Sunday, surrounded by family in California.

His life went by fast as he played, alas. He was only 55. A niece put photos on Facebook showing family surrounding Carr as he lay on a hospital bed. It has been reported he succumbed to cancer.

You could call him the first star of the then-Florida Marlins, and the most exciting first star as South Florida tried to fall in love with Major League Baseball for the first time in expansion-year 1993. As a rookie he led the National League with 58 stolen bases that inaugural season, the first Marlin to lead the league in anything.

His ‘93 teammate Orestes Destrade had not heard the news until we phoned Monday and left a message.

“Chuckie, man. His personality, the physical attributes, all of it,” said Destrade. “A strong kid, a genetic freak. He was fearless. Chuckie was just electric. The climbing [an outfield wall and the diving. He had an arm too, which people don’t realize.”

I asked Destrade about that personality of Carr’s. He lit up over the phone line.

“Brash. I loved the kid. He’d say, ‘Chuckie gonna go off today! They can’t handle Chuckie!’” said Destrade. “By the end of that first season, we were getting a little irked by him. But in a tongue-in-cheek, clubhouse way. Like, ‘Seriously, dude. Really!?’ He could fluff his feathers. Fun to play with.”

Destrade called him Eddie Murphy. “Kind of looked like him, with that high-pitched voice.’

Carr would play only three years with the Marlins yet be worth remembering. We had him in the midst of a journeyman eight-season MLB career that saw him drafted by the Reds, sign as a free agent with the Mariners, then play stints with the Mets, Cardinals, Marlins, Brewers and Astros.

But we had him first, and most: He would play 70 percent of his career (353 of 507 games) with Florida.

A niece, Meka Queenstewart Carr, was among family with her uncle at the end.

“This was a very special visit. We talked about a dream that he had. We laughed and we cried in that order,” she wrote on Facebook. “That very moment I knew that’s how I wanted to remember him. I just thank God that my children were able to enjoy Uncle like we all got to. Going into the unknown is very scary but we have to remember everything happens for a reason.”

Hard to believe it has been almost 30 years since that first Marlins season. The club looked forward to having him back for its anniversary celebration next season.

The first team erred in not starting Carr in center field from the beginning. A player named Scott Pose would start, and bat .195 in 15 games before Carr was anointed. There was no turning back. He was a switchhitter with speed that made him meant for the leadoff spot.

Carr was a pretty good hitter (batted .267 as a rookie), but not what you would call disciplined at the plate. Mostly, he was just fast.

I recall only one quote of Carr’s from that first season, a couple of months in. I think he stole two bases that day. His mustache was wide as his smile.

“Oh, Chuckie will run,” he said the postgame clubhouse at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Except he said it like an imperative, as if he had no choice in the matter.

“Oh, Chuckie will run.”

That mind-set within his personality led to Milwaukee releasing him in 1997.

He had a 2-0 count, swung and popped out to the infield, blatantly ignoring a take sign from third-base coach Chris Bando. It led to a shouting match as manager Phil Garner demanded to know why Carr hadn’t taken the pitch as signaled to do.

“That ain’t Chuckie’s game,” said Carr. “Chuckie hacks on 2-0.”

The Brewers released Carr soon after. Later that season Garner said, “II swear to God, that’s what he said. The guy is always talking about himself in the third person.”

Carr’s MLB career would end later that 1997 season with the Astros, and it would end right, in the playoffs.

In Game 3 of the NL Division Series, he would hit a home run off future Hall of Famer John Smoltz, one of only 14 homers in his career.

The career that started with a blur of stolen bases for the Marlins would end with a rare home run in what would be his final big-league at bat.

He took the trot slow, as of knowing that would be his last.