Tim McCarver, whose career as a major league catcher spanned four decades and included being a key member of two world championship teams but who became much better known for the 24 World Series he broadcast nationally for Fox, CBS and ABC during his more than 60 years in the game, died Thursday of heart failure in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., surrounded by his family. He was 81.
McCarver, who broadcast Mets games on television from 1983-98 working with Ralph Kiner and Fran Healy and the Yankees from 1999-2001 alongside Bobby Murcer, played for the World Series-winning Cardinals in 1964 and 1967, also for the Phillies, and briefly for the Expos (now the Nationals) and Red Sox.
“We are saddened to learn of the passing today of Tim McCarver, who for 16 years in the television booth gave Mets fans an insightful, humorous and knowledgeable behind the scenes look into the game of baseball,” the Mets said in a statement. “Tim drew on his 21-year career as a catcher to give viewers a unique opinion on what went on between the lines.”
McCarver, who also broadcast 20 All-Star games, received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012 for his analysis that some found insightful and others like nails on a chalkboard. Either way, the erudite and articulate McCarver was one of the most influential voices in the game beginning with the first time he picked up a microphone with the Phillies in 1980.
“He was the best teammate a 27-year-old doing the National Game of the Week and the World Series could have,” said play-by-play man Joe Buck, who worked 18 World Series alongside McCarver for Fox. “A fierce defender if you were in his circle. I’m indebted to him for 18 great years together.”
Never afraid to speak his mind, McCarver had a famous run-in with Deion Sanders during the 1992 National League Championship Series after he criticized the two-sport star for playing in a game for the Atlanta Falcons on the same day the Braves had a playoff game. Sanders, now the football coach at Colorado, responded by dumping a bucket of ice water on McCarver in the postgame clubhouse.
A two-time All-Star with St. Louis, McCarver set career highs with a .295 average, 14 home runs and 69 RBIs in 1967, finishing second to teammate Orlando Cepeda in the NL MVP voting. The Cardinals won the World Series that year, defeating the Red Sox in seven games.
In the 1964 World Series, McCarver hit a three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 to lift the Cardinals over the Yankees. St. Louis went on to win the Series in seven games.
In a career that spanned from 1959-1980, McCarver also caught two of the game’s most cantankerous pitchers — the intimidating Bob Gibson and a young but already temperamental Steve Carlton. Eventually McCarver became Gibson’s preferred catcher and was behind the plate for the majority of his starts in 1968 when Gibson pitched to a 1.12 ERA.
As for Carlton, when both were with the Phillies later in their careers, McCarver became the left-hander’s personal catcher, a relationship that McCarver admitted probably kept him in the big leagues long past his expiration date as a player.
That’s not to say there weren’t challenges dealing with those future Hall of Famers.
“I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson,” McCarver once said. “He told me to get back behind the plate where I belonged, and that the only thing I knew about pitching was that I couldn’t hit it.”
James Timothy McCarver was born on Oct. 16, 1941, in Memphis, the son of a policeman. While still in high school, where he also starred in football and was recruited by Notre Dame and Alabama, McCarver was signed by the Cardinals for $75,000 and called up to the majors at the age of 17. He appeared in just eight games that season and spent the next few years bouncing back and forth between the Cardinals and their farm teams before arriving in the big leagues to stay in 1963.
He went on to make two All-Star teams, appear in three World Series and bat .270 or better five seasons in a row at a time when most catchers were not known for their offensive prowess. All told, he was behind the plate for 450 games pitched by Gibson (214) and Carlton (236).
“Tim McCarver was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a respected teammate, and one of the most influential voices our game has known,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “As a player, Tim was a key part of great Cardinals and Phillies teams in his 21-year career. In the booth, his analysis and attention to detail brought fans closer to our game and how it is played and managed.
“All of us at Major League Baseball are grateful for Tim’s impact on sports broadcasting and his distinguished career in our National Pastime. I extend my deepest condolences to Tim’s family, friends and the generations of fans who learned about our great game from him.”
After leaving Fox, McCarver did some games for the Cardinals over the next six seasons. He stepped away during the pandemic in 2020, but never really retired.
“We are saddened by the passing of our longtime friend and former colleague, baseball legend Tim McCarver,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said in a statement. “To a generation of fans, Tim will forever be remembered as the champion whose game-winning home run during the 1964 World Series echoes throughout time; to another, his voice will forever be the soundtrack to some of the most memorable moments in the game’s history; to us, he will forever be in our hearts.”
A six-time Emmy winner who wasn’t afraid to step outside his sport, McCarver co-hosted CBS’s prime-time coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics. He co-authored several books, hosted a syndicated television show and had small roles in several films, including “Naked Gun,” “BASEketball” and “Moneyball.”
McCarver is survived by daughters Kelly and Kathy and two grandchildren.
“Fairness, accuracy and honesty have always been my goals, along with teaching you something you may not have known about this great game,” McCarver told viewers after the Red Sox defeated the Cardinals in Game 6 of the 2013 World Series, McCarver’s final national broadcast. “I hope I’ve achieved those things.”
