In Memory of Tim McCarver, 2012 Recipient of Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award
Tim McCarver passed away due to heart failure Thursday morning in Memphis, Tenn. McCarver, who was with his family, was 81. He is survived by his daughters Kathy and Kelley, and grandchildren Leigh and Beau. He was predeceased by four siblings and his parents.
While McCarver’s career was spent with several teams, he is best-known for his days with the St. Louis Cardinals, initially as a catcher and after his playing career as an analyst for the Cardinal telecast.
“We were saddened to learn today of the passing of Tim McCarver,” said Cardinals’ Principal Owner & Chief Executive Officer Bill DeWitt, Jr. “Tim was a very popular player with the Cardinals and a key member of our World Series Championship teams in 1964 and 1967. He remained a fixture in the game following his playing career, earning Hall of Fame recognition as a national broadcaster, and in later years as a Cardinals television analyst and a member of the Cardinals Hall of Fame. On behalf of the entire Cardinals organization, I would like to express our deepest condolences to the McCarver family.”
For six decades, McCarver – the Hall of Fame’s 2012 Ford C. Frick Award winner – shared the spotlight when baseball took the national stage. First as a player and later as a broadcaster, McCarver – over and over again – wrote his name into the game’s history book.
A championship-caliber catcher who seamlessly transitioned into the broadcast booth, McCarver enjoyed a career that spanned from the 1950s to the third decade of the 21st century.
Born Oct. 16, 1941, in Memphis, Tenn., McCarver starred as a football and baseball player in high school before signing with the Cardinals right after graduation. As a 17-year-old, he hit .360 for Class D Keokuk of the Midwest League in the summer of 1959 before earning a promotion to Triple-A Rochester and then all the way to St. Louis. Those eight games he played with the Cardinals that September would one day help make him one of a handful of players to appear in MLB games in four different decades. He played 21 seasons for the Cardinals, Phillies, Expos and Red Sox.
A key member of World Series-winning teams with the Cardinals in 1964 and 1967, McCarver retired following the 1980 season – a year in which he also got his feet wet on the national broadcast stage on NBC’s Game of the Week.
McCarver called Phillies games from 1980-82 then Mets games from 1983-98. During that time, he moved to ABC, where he worked on Monday Night Baseball and made his debut on World Series broadcasts in 1985. He moved to the Yankees broadcasts in 1999 and the Giants in 2002, while working national games for CBS (1990-93) and The Baseball Network (1994-95).
Then in 1996, FOX acquired the main MLB rights package and brought McCarver aboard. He remained with the network through the 2013 season, working a total of 23 World Series (a record at the time of his retirement) and 20 All-Star Games.
Following his days at FOX, McCarver called about three dozen games a year for the Cardinals’ TV network.
Tim McCarver Bio
Born: Oct. 16, 1941, Memphis, TN
Died: Feb. 16, 2023, Memphis, TN
Text from Tim McCarver’s 2012 Ford C. Frick Award
Tim McCarver made a seamless transition from the playing field to the broadcast booth after a successful 21-year career in the big leagues, thanks to his knowledge of the game and his natural passion for analyzing the sport. His down-home style and fan-friendly analysis has kept him in the national spotlight for more than four decades, with four national networks. His analysis and familiar tones have become the standard for baseball’s biggest televised games in providing key perspective and analysis within the game.
Born in Memphis, Tenn., McCarver was a gifted high school athlete who made his big league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959 – the same year he signed with the club out of high school. He was the starting catcher for a Redbirds club that won three National League pennants and two World Series in the 1960s, and also played for the Phillies, Expos and Red Sox.
With his playing career complete, the articulate McCarver quickly joined the Phillies broadcast team as an analyst. After moving to the Mets in 1983 for a regular broadcasting assignment, McCarver attracted the attention of the national networks and began working for NBC and then ABC. When CBS took over Major League Baseball’s national package in 1990, McCarver was selected as its lead analyst, finding an audience appreciative of his ability to simplify the game.
After four years with CBS, McCarver worked with The Baseball Network in 1994-95 before heading to FOX in 1996, as the emerging network would become baseball’s new home for marquee events. During this time, McCarver maintained his position with the Mets through 1998, moving to the Yankees’ broadcast team from 1999-2001 and then to the Giants in 2002. His 22 World Series assignments are the most for an analyst in the television era.
His sharp wit, catchy one-liners and insistence on keeping the game fun made McCarver a fixture on baseball’s national TV presence for multiple generations of fans.
Quotes from Tim McCarver
“I think there is a natural bridge from being a catcher to talking about the view of the game.”
“I have always tried to be myself. I think I’ve been successful at that.”
On the web: Click here for more about the life of Tim McCarver.