Tim McCarver was a standout linebacker in high school so skilled and fierce that Notre Dame recruited him. After his senior year he instead signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning a professional baseball playing career that lasted more than 20 years.
McCarver’s first pro game featured future announcer Brent Musberger as the umpire calling balls and strikes. No one could have predicted that both men would later earn Sports Emmy Awards and the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, McCarver played his first big league game in 1959 at the tender age of 17. He became the Cardinals starting catcher in 1963, and hit .289.
The following season McCarver helped St. Louis win the pennant. The Cardinals capitalized on an epic collapse by Gene Mauch’s Phillies and held off the Reds to earn the World Series berth.
In the Fall Classic McCarver went 11-for-23 with a double, triple, home run, five walks, five runs batted in and four runs scored. The St. Louis catcher recorded a hit in all 7 games. The 23-year old’s gaudy .478 batting average and .552 on-base percentage complimented the pitching performance of Series MVP Bob Gibson to push the Cardinals over the top.
McCarver was named to his first All Star team in 1966. In that contest he scored the winning run in the National League’s victory. That season he became the first catcher to lead the NL in triples.
In 1967 McCarver had his finest season. In the second of consecutive All Star campaigns, he posted career highs in homers and RBI. The backstop finished the year with an OPS+ of 136. His performance earned him a second-place finish to Orlando Cepeda in MVP balloting.
McCarver and the Cardinals reached the Fall Classic again in 1967 and ’68. The ’67 tilt was a 7-game thriller won by St. Louis over the Impossible Dream Boston Red Sox. In ’68, the Tigers vanquished the Cardinals.
McCarver reached the postseason three more times with the Phillies back-to-back-to-back trips to the NLCS starting in 1976.
When McCarver retired as a player in 1980 he had 21 big league seasons to his credit. The two-time All Star finished with 1,501 hits, and a pair each of All Star and World Series rings. He caught 121 shutouts and is the first 20th-century catcher to appear in four different decades.
After the 1979 season McCarver moved to the Phillies broadcast booth. His work was briefly interrupted with a 6-game comeback as a player in 1980. After four years in Philadelphia, McCarver was hired by the Mets. When ABC fired Howard Cosell just before the 1985 World Series, McCarver announced his first Fall Classic.
McCarver remained with the Mets until 1998 before moving on to the Yankees for three seasons starting in 1999. He also spent one year calling Giants games in San Francisco. Later his weekly syndicated interview show drew more than 90 million viewers. Though his playing career lasted 21 seasons, his broadcast career was even more prolific.
During his career behind the mic, McCarver earned six Emmys. He was given the profession’s highest honor when he received the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award in 2012.
Through his love of baseball, Tim McCarver reached the pinnacle of two professions.
Shown here is this 1969 Topps offering highlighting McCarver’s three-run shot in the ’68 World Series. The St. Louis catcher has signed the card across the front.
Had the pleasure/privilege of being Tim and his family’s neighbor when we lived in St. Louis County. Great family.