Tim McCarver: A Unique Baseball Legacy By Hank Indictor

Growing up there were a variety of announcers that I considered to be constant when it came to baseball, and one of them was Tim McCarver. McCarver had broadcasted many of the greatest moments in baseball history and had such a long career in the booth that many forget that he had a pretty good career as a player, too! And the fact that he was a catcher probably factored into why we always knew about his great attention to even the smallest of details. That was one of the things I always admired about Tim McCarver because he had such a great knowledge of the game and would always explain things well to paint a picture for even the most casual fan. Plus he also had that Southern Charm I mean how could you not love that drawl?

Given all the great moments in the history of baseball that he witnessed, as well as the teams that he played with, I think it might be safe to consider him to be the Forrest Gump of Major League Baseball! He passed away yesterday at the age of 81, and to say that Major League Baseball lost a one-of-a-kind personality and is worse off without him would be the understatement of the year. So let’s talk about the unique and wonderful legacy that this man left behind.

America’s introduction to Tim McCarver came during the 1964 World Series as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. After five years of going back and forth between the big leagues and the minors, McCarver had finally earned the starting catching job by this point on a team that featured stars such as Ken Boyer (that season’s MVP), Bill White, Mike Shannon, Curt Flood, Lou Brock (whom they traded for from the Chicago Cubs that season in one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history) and, of course, Bob Gibson.

This was the Cardinals team that would take advantage of the infamous “Philly Phold” by making up a first-place deficit of 6½ games with only 12 to play to complete one of the biggest September comebacks in baseball history! In the World Series, they played a Yankees team that was reaching the end of a long run at greatness and had just won their fifth consecutive A.L. Pennant. The teams went back and forth as the series was tied at 2 going into the fifth game at Yankee Stadium. Tied at 2 in the 10th inning with two men on and one out, McCarver would hit a clutch three-run home run that not only would win the game for the Cardinals, but it turned out to be key as they would go on to win the series in seven games!

The best, however, was still yet to come for both McCarver and the Cardinals. He would make his only trips to the All-Star Game in 1966 and 1967, with the latter marking the best season of his career (the .295 batting average, with 14 home runs and 69 RBIs all were career highs), as he finished second in MVP voting behind only teammate and future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda on the way to winning another World Series.

It should also be noted that during this time he became the favorite catcher of two Hall of Famers: Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. The former had arguably the greatest statistical season by a pitcher in 1968 and the latter would reunite with him after he established himself as a star with the Phillies. However, after winning another pennant for the 1968 Cardinals this would be the high water mark of McCarver’s baseball career, as he was one of four players sent to the Phillies in the historic Curt Flood trade a year and a half later. (This trade is too big to gloss over so here are the cliff notes: Curt Flood refused to report to the Phillies before suing MLB and by doing so he challenged the reserved clause and despite losing he paved the way for the introduction of Free Agency, and in doing so he pretty much sacrificed his entire career but that’s a story for another day.)

From there, McCarver would bounce around to the Expos, a return to the Cardinals and the Red Sox before ending his career back in Philadelphia, where he had some oddly notable claims to fame. On July 4, 1976, with the bases loaded, McCarver hit a ball over the fence. But because he passed Garry Maddox, he was the only runner called out and thus he had a “Grand-Slam single” 23 years before Robin Ventura hit the one made famously! It was also at this time that McCarver’s playing time had dwindled, and by that point, the Phillies already had a young catcher in Bob Boone (you may have heard he has a son named Aaron who currently manages the Yankees). It was also in Philadelphia where he was reunited with Carlton, who preferred to throw to the veteran McCarver to the point where the latter became his personal catcher. “Steve and I will be buried 60 feet and 6 inches apart when we die!” McCarver once famously said.

It was also in Philadelphia where McCarver transitioned into his role as a broadcaster calling games for their 1980 World Series team, where he was activated for a few games as a player to earn the rare distinction of playing in four different decades. For the next few years, McCarver remained in Philadelphia before becoming one of the Mets' primary announcers in 1983 and remaining there for the next 15 seasons.

During the 80s, the Mets became popular not only because this was the decade where they would win their second World Series, but a lot of their games were played on superstation WWOR, where many people were able to watch Mets games. And thus, the entire country got to experience first-hand McCarver’s wealth of knowledge for the game, which would lead to him becoming a national staple for baseball games in much the same way John Madden was for football. He would also Wally Pipp his way into broadcasting the 1985 World Series when Howard Cosell’s controversial book got him in hot water with ABC, leading to what would become a record 24 World Series (a record total that has since been surpassed by his longtime partner Joe Buck), in addition to calling at least one League Championship Series during a 30-year span for three different networks!

What separates McCarver from most analysts is that during his tenure he was paired with the likes of Al Michaels, Ralph Kiner, Bobby Murcer, Matt Vasgersian, Thom Brennaman, Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Chris Wheeler, and most notably, both Jack and Joe Buck, and he did well with all of them (although in the case of the Bucks, he seemed to have stronger chemistry with the son as opposed to the father). McCarver later called games for the Yankees on the regional FOX networks, and briefly the San Francisco Giants, in addition to returning to the Cardinals after leaving FOX, where he would call games part-time before he left for good before the pandemic.

Not long before his final year of calling playoff games, McCarver would earn the ultimate honor of being inducted into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame!

With the death of McCarver goes a warm personality, one that helped paint a picture of the game for so many and a teacher of situational baseball for many a live audience, as well as so many stories from a man that has been involved in baseball for well over a half a century!