Post by KotO on Feb 16, 2023 21:04:11 GMT
www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/sports/baseball/tim-mccarver-dead.html
Tim McCarver, a durable big-league catcher who played in four decades, made two All-Star teams and won two World Series championships, but whose greater renown derived from his career as a Hall of Fame broadcaster, died on Thursday in Memphis. He was 81.
His death was announced by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Known for his shrewd analysis of strategy, his literate use of metaphor and his penchant for predicting what was about to unfold on the field, often correctly, McCarver was sometimes a play-by-play announcer but most often a color man, a role that better suited his gift of gab.
His career spanned more than 30 years, from his start in Philadelphia in 1980, to his famous pairing with the former slugger Ralph Kiner in the Mets’ booth, to his national appearances on four different networks, to stints with the Yankees and the San Francisco Giants.
Throughout, his informed, perceptive and articulate observations of the game were widely admired, and his gravelly tenor with a hint of his Tennessee upbringing in it became one of the game’s most familiar voices.
Like all long-serving talking heads, he had his detractors. Some said he talked too much, belabored the obvious, too often tangled his grammar and was overly thrilled by his own cleverness; examples abounded on a now-defunct web page, shutuptimmccarver.com, and he was mocked on “The Simpsons.” The Atlanta Braves outfielder Deion Sanders once took exception to a McCarver criticism and dumped a bucket of ice water over his head in the locker room after a game.
But more numerous were those who appreciated his independence of mind and his alertness to situational nuances in the game.
McCarver ran well; for the Cards in 1966, he led the league in triples with 13, the only time in baseball history a catcher did such a thing. That was his first year as an All-Star; the next year was his second.
In 1967, he hit .295, had career highs with 14 home runs and 69 runs batted in and finished second (behind his teammate Orlando Cepeda) in voting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. With McCarver in the lineup, the Cardinals won the pennant in 1964, 1967 and 1968. He was a leading figure in the Cards’ victory over the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, hitting safely in all seven games, batting .478 and blasting a 10th-inning three-run homer to win Game 5. McCarver hit poorly and was less of a factor in the Cards’ 1967 Series win over Boston, but he hit .333 in the ’68 Series against Detroit, though the Cardinals lost in seven games.
Tim McCarver, a durable big-league catcher who played in four decades, made two All-Star teams and won two World Series championships, but whose greater renown derived from his career as a Hall of Fame broadcaster, died on Thursday in Memphis. He was 81.
His death was announced by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Known for his shrewd analysis of strategy, his literate use of metaphor and his penchant for predicting what was about to unfold on the field, often correctly, McCarver was sometimes a play-by-play announcer but most often a color man, a role that better suited his gift of gab.
His career spanned more than 30 years, from his start in Philadelphia in 1980, to his famous pairing with the former slugger Ralph Kiner in the Mets’ booth, to his national appearances on four different networks, to stints with the Yankees and the San Francisco Giants.
Throughout, his informed, perceptive and articulate observations of the game were widely admired, and his gravelly tenor with a hint of his Tennessee upbringing in it became one of the game’s most familiar voices.
Like all long-serving talking heads, he had his detractors. Some said he talked too much, belabored the obvious, too often tangled his grammar and was overly thrilled by his own cleverness; examples abounded on a now-defunct web page, shutuptimmccarver.com, and he was mocked on “The Simpsons.” The Atlanta Braves outfielder Deion Sanders once took exception to a McCarver criticism and dumped a bucket of ice water over his head in the locker room after a game.
But more numerous were those who appreciated his independence of mind and his alertness to situational nuances in the game.
McCarver ran well; for the Cards in 1966, he led the league in triples with 13, the only time in baseball history a catcher did such a thing. That was his first year as an All-Star; the next year was his second.
In 1967, he hit .295, had career highs with 14 home runs and 69 runs batted in and finished second (behind his teammate Orlando Cepeda) in voting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. With McCarver in the lineup, the Cardinals won the pennant in 1964, 1967 and 1968. He was a leading figure in the Cards’ victory over the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, hitting safely in all seven games, batting .478 and blasting a 10th-inning three-run homer to win Game 5. McCarver hit poorly and was less of a factor in the Cards’ 1967 Series win over Boston, but he hit .333 in the ’68 Series against Detroit, though the Cardinals lost in seven games.