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Tim McCarver

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James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American former catcher in Major League Baseball and a current broadcaster. He began his playing career after being signed by the St. Louis Cardinals from Christian Brothers High School in Memphis in 1959. He hit .359 that year while splitting time between the Cardinals' minor league teams in Keokuk and Rochester and, though just 17 years old, was briefly called up to the Cardinals.

He spent the 1960, 1961, and 1962 seasons shuttling between St. Louis and the minor leagues in places like Memphis, Charleston, and Atlanta. In 1963, he was called up to the majors for good.

McCarver's greatest playing success came with the Cardinals. In 1966, he was named to the All-Star Team. In 1967, he finished second to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the National League Most Valuable Player award. He was a member of two World Series championships during his time in St. Louis, and fostered a relationship with young pitcher Steve Carlton that would keep him in the major leagues later in his career.

After a trade to Philadelphia involving, among others, his teammate Curt Flood (which led to Flood's dramatic lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause) before the 1970 season, McCarver began a somewhat nomadic existence playing for the Phillies, Expos, Boston, and another brief stint with the Cardinals.

McCarver finished his career as the personal catcher for Steve Carlton for the Phllies in the late 1970s, which prompted some critics to remark that he is most known for "holding Carlton's jock strap". He retired after the 1979 season to begin a broadcasting career. McCarver briefly returned to duty in September 1980 so he could play in four different decades.

The minor league baseball stadium in Memphis was christened "Tim McCarver Stadium" in 1978; it was replaced by a new downtown stadium (named AutoZone Park in a naming rights arrangement) in 2000.

McCarver currently resides in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Broadcasting Career

As a broadcaster, McCarver has enjoyed prominence as a color commentator on the network level. He has won three Emmy Awards for Sports Event Analyst.

He began his broadcasting career at WPHL (Channel 17) where he was paired with Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas. He then moved on to a color commentator role with NBC Sports.

He is currently paired with Joe Buck on the Fox network's MLB telecasts, after previous stints with ABC (where he teamed with Al Michaels and Jim Palmer) and CBS (where he teamed with Jack Buck from 1990-1991 and Sean McDonough from 1992-1993). He has also called games locally for the Phillies, Mets, Yankees, and Giants. McCarver also co-hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics with Paula Zahn for CBS. Some refer to him as Chevrolet's Tim McCarver in reference to the sponsor of his nationally syndicated, sports talk show that is broadcast on network television. The Tim McCarver Show is enjoying its seventh season and has recently been signed for five additional seasons. During his time on network television, Tim also did local games for New York Mets telecasts with Ralph Kiner on WWOR-TV in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Criticism

McCarver has not been above controversy. During the 1992 National League Championship Series, he criticized Deion Sanders for playing both football and baseball on the same day. For his criticism, Sanders dumped a bucket of water on McCarver while he was covering the National League pennant winning Atlanta Braves' clubhouse celebration for CBS. In 2004, he was criticized by Roger Clemens over the rehashing of a bat throwing incident four years earlier. Some critics argue that McCarver is quick to grab on to an idea, and slow to let it go, even when obviously wrong.

Some Red Sox fans criticize him for alleged bias towards the New York Yankees (a team whose games he called for a number of years.) Following the ALCS and 2004 ALCS various accusations appeared in the Boston Globe, ESPN columns, Red Sox Nation message boards, and sports radio. For example, one allegation was that McCarver inaccurately lip read and falsely accused Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez of threatening to hit New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada in the head with a pitch during a broadcast of the 2003 ALCS. Ironically, McCarver appeared in the Red Sox themed movie Fever Pitch.

During the 1992 postseason, Norman Chad criticized McCarver in Sports Illustrated by saying that he's someone who 'when you ask him the time, will tell you how a watch works.' Chad's critique of McCarver was a reference to McCarver's supposed habit of overanalyzing. Chad went further by saying "What's the difference between Tim McCarver and appendicitis? Appendicitis is covered by most health plans."

He has been known to make many gaffes from time to time. One of his more amusing miscues came during the 1992 National League Championship Series when he repeatedly referred to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Tim Wakefield as "Bill Wakefield." He finally explained that Bill Wakefield was one of his old minor-league teammates, and he laughed at himself because "I forgot my own name!" He also has been known to refer to current Cincinnati Reds and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo as "Brandon" Arroyo. While commentating on the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, McCarver described a fastball from Brad Penny by saying "A Mark Wahlberg fastball. Catch me if you can!" McCarver seemed to forget that Leonardo DiCaprio starred in the movie Catch Me If You Can, not Mark Wahlberg.

Memorable Moments

McCarver has been on hand for some of baseball's most memorable and exciting moments in the later part of the 20th Century and even beyond that. Noteworthy moments that Tim McCarver was present for while broadcasting include: In 2003, McCarver set a record by broadcasting his 13th World Series on national television (surpassing Curt Gowdy). The first World Series broadcast that McCarver worked on was in 1985 for ABC. McCarver was promoted to the 1985 World Series telecast shortly after ABC fired Howard Cosell in retaliation for Cosell's controversal book I Never Played the Game. Tim McCarver's previous major exposure for ABC Sports was serving as a field reporter during the 1984 National League Championship Series between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs. Since 1984, McCarver has to date, never missed commentating on the League Championship Series.

1989 World Series

Perhaps Tim McCarver's most memorable broadcast occurred on October 17, 1989 before Game 3 of the World Series at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. In the pre-game TV segment for ABC, some game footage of Oakland Athletics slugger Dave Parker hitting a double to the wall in right field to drive in José Canseco from Game 2 was being shown. Unbeknownst to the viewing audience just yet, the ground was beginning to shake at 5:04 p.m local time. The picture became staticky, a distracted McCarver, who was assessing the San Francisco Giants' chances for victory in the game, did a verbal double-take, and then McCarver's colleague Al Michaels broke in and said, "I'll tell you what; we're having an earthqu-" just as power went out. Soon, a green ABC Sports graphic replaced the normal picture and over a telephone line, Al Michaels tried to make light of the confusing and chaotic situation by jokingly saying "Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television - bar none!" ABC was able to restore the proper audio and video with a backup generator while McCarver, Michaels, and Jim Palmer remained calm.

External links

Tim McCarver Criticism Sites:

 

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