It is his scholastic background and an earnestness and work ethic that border on the obsessive, though, that have set Mr. Carter apart not merely from the other 24 players in the Mets’ clubhouse, but from most in Major League Baseball. He played for three years at Stanford University, batting .277 with 23 home runs during his career there, and the reason he played three years, not four, is that it took him just that long to graduate with a degree in human biology.

“He was one of those remarkable students who balanced excelling in sports and academics,” said Dr. Ellen Porzig, a professor in the Stanford School of Medicine, who taught and mentored Mr. Carter. “I remember him as a very bright, balanced, straightforward guy who, I thought, would be a great doctor someday.”

As of June 2009, fewer than 30 major-league players had earned four-year college degrees, according to a Wall Street Journal report, so Mr. Carter’s academic accomplishments make him something of an oddity by contemporary baseball standards. He had been an honorable-mention All-America selection at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., and anticipated embarking on a pro baseball career after college. But he performed so well in his high school science classes that he came to regard medicine as his fallback.

– Mike Sielksi, Wall Street Journal.

“Balanced and straightforward.” The legend of Chris Carter grows. Hopefully his on-base percentage will follow.