RIP Tim McCarver, 1941-2023

[G-Fafif]

The analyst who changed the way Mets fans understood baseball from 1983 to 1998 has died at 81. Four-decade player, too.

[metsmarathon]

damn. he was great, and really set the bar for future baseball analysts. at least in the humble opinion of my formative years. He wasn't as good, i don't think, once he moved on to fox, but damned if he and ralph didn't make for a terrific tv booth.

[kcmets]

Phwam! RIP.

[metirish]

I'm so sad to read this , my early years of MLB fandom was with Tim doing games on FOX , absolutely loved him and learned a lot about a game I knew little about.

[batmagadanleadoff]

McCarver, I thought, was so much better than those who preceded him. Those were great Mets years, watching the powerhouse Davey Johnson Mets with McCarver, et. al. in the booth. The best ever, probably.



On a personal level, and I don't exactly know why, but I'm deeply, deeply saddened to hear of this loss. For some unknown reason that I can't quite put my finger on, yet, McCarver's death is really making me sense my own mortality. More so than Seaver, for example. Almost to the point that I have a bad feeling in my stomach from learning this.

[A Boy Named Seo]

For some reason, I was surprised he was 81 already and then I remembered how old I am. Like mm, McCarver was a huge voice in my formative years as a Mets fan.



Is McCarver on the Mets TV broadcasters Mt. Rushmore? He's gotta be on it or very close, right?



Murphy

Nelson

Cohen

McCarver

Kiner

FRAN HEALY (jk)

[Benjamin Grimm]

Tim McCarver should be in the Mets Hall of Fame.



Ralph was comatose throughout the 1982 season when he was partnered with Lorn Brown. Adding Tim to the broadcast team (and Steve Zabriskie too) really brought him back to life. The Mets became a lot of fun to watch, not only because of the great stuff that was happening in the field, but also because of the great stuff that was happening in the booth.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Very distinctive voice and delivery. You always knew it was him.

[metirish]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I agree with above, his hiring came as the Mets were going high class all the way.



He was so astute he made everyone who listened to him smarter about baseball

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, he had a combination of knowledge, style, and insight that's hard to equal. I associate him as much with the revitalization of the Mets brand as Johnson, Cashen, Doublepon, Gorman, etc. When he was announced as the new Mets announcer, my Dad said, "Oh, he got it — good for him."



My Dad certainly didn't follow baseball as closely as I did, and I mostly knew McCarver as the guy who hit a grand slam on July 4, 1976, but got called out for passing Garry Maddox on the basepaths. I probably also had some inkling of his longtime association with Steve Carlton, but it surprised me that my Dad knew he was up for the job and I didn't.



My Dad explained that McCarver had stayed at his hotel for a week before the interview, and had left behind several books he had read about public speaking, announcing, dialect, diction, and the like. Dad had tracked him down and told him the hotel still had some of his property, and McCarver thanked him and told him he was done with the books and that he could keep them or donate them to a library. Dad was impressed that the guy did all that professional research and came to the city a week early to get a feel for the town.



Anyhow, he's always been on my shortlist for Mets Hall of Fame. I imagine most of us learned more about baseball from him than anybody. It always seemed funny that so many great New York baseball voices — McCarver, Bob Murphy, Red Barber, Ernie Harwell, Lindsey Nelson ... — were from the South.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, he had a combination of knowledge, style, and insight that's hard to equal. I associate him as much with the revitalization of the Mets brand as Johnson, Cashen, Doublepon, Gorman, etc. When he was announced as the new Mets announcer, my Dad said, "Oh, he got it — good for him." My Dad certainly didn't follow baseball as closely as I did, and I mostly knew McCarver as the guy who hit a grand slam on July 4, 1976, but got called out for passing Garry Maddox on the basepaths. I probably also had some inkling of his longtime association with Steve Carlton, but it surprised me that my Dad knew he was up for the job and I didn't. My Dad explained that McCarver had stayed at his hotel for a week before the interview, and had left behind several books he had read about public speaking, announcing, dialect, diction, and the like. Dad had tracked him down and told him the hotel still had some of his property, and McCarver thanked him and told him he was done with the books and that he could keep them or donate them to a library. Dad was impressed that the guy did all that professional research and came to the city a week early to get a feel for the town. Anyhow, he's always been on my shortlist for Mets Hall of Fame. I imagine most of us learned more about baseball from him than anybody. It always seemed funny that so many great New York baseball voices — McCarver, Bob Murphy, Red Barber, Ernie Harwell, Lindsey Nelson ... — were from the South.

What an incredible story

[Lefty Specialist]

He helped make the 80's fun. He meshed well with Ralph and Steve Zabriskie. He really did have that knack for calling what would happen before it did.



He started to decline in the 90's, and he became repetitive, hammering on one theme to the point of annoyance. I fell into and out of love with him. But he was the voice of summer for a long time. RIP, Timmy.

[metirish]

Very cool story, Edgy

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: ... I mostly knew McCarver as the guy who hit a grand slam on July 4, 1976, but got called out for passing Garry Maddox on the basepaths.

"I didn't pass him, he lapped me" was TMcC's explanation to the ump as to how he wound up on the wrong side of the fleet-footed Maddox.

[whippoorwill]

Yep he made the good Mets years even more fun.

I also liked him as a Phillies player when I was very young and just soaking up everything baseball that I could find.

[kcmets]

I have to clear my conscience on this sad day. I often complained that

Tim over-did, over-analyzed, and over-Tim'd. A lot.



I was wrong. And I'm never wrong sometimes.

[Benjamin Grimm]

http://leaptoad.com/mets/cards/TimMcCarver1973.jpg>

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

That's an awesome story!

[Edgy MD]

Tim being Tim, circa 1984. Never heard analysis like this before. It's far from standard now.



[media=youtube]7OPqBnjGzII[/media]

[MFS62]

Seems we all learned something from Tim.

I remember his insight about the third baseman "guarding the line" late in the game.

Tim noted that if the third baseman plays in, then he is cutting down the angle and protecting against balls hit to his left as well as his right.

It made sense, and when he said it, I wondered why no-one else had ever realized that.

RIP



Later

[Edgy MD]

Tim dishes to Dave and Teri, 1987.



[media=youtube]HSG1yBITeBk[/media]

[G-Fafif]

And this is still http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2023/02/16/this-is-the-game-that-tim-built/the game that Tim built.

[whippoorwill]

Edgy MD wrote: Tim dishes to Dave and Teri, 1987. [media=youtube]HSG1yBITeBk[/media]

Lol what was up with Teri? She seems in a huff

[Edgy MD]

She liked to cause trouble on the ol' Dave show.

[Frayed Knot]

His baseball career spanned a large portion of the sport itself.

He didn't quite go back to the segregation days (although did debut the same year the BoSox finally got their first black player) but did admit to growing up with the prejudices

that his generation in places like Memphis were taught about black people*, something most people tend to hide or deny when they spend as much time in the public eye as he

eventually did. He came of age in the pre-draft/bonus-baby era and was a bonus baby himself, something which gave him much higher initial status than that of Bob Gibson

who took the then less common (particularly for black players) college route to MLB. Started in a 16-team/no-division era and was still in the game or in the booth through

expansion to 30 teams and multiple playoff rounds, the creation of the player's union, the DH, Astroturf, and inter-league play. Fortunately for him he won't be alive during

the permanent ghost-runner era - in fact it wouldn't surprise me if that's what killed him.



Minutia:

- playing in four-decades

- the bicentennial grand slam that wasn't (although at least he got 3 RBIs, 2 more than Ventura was credited for)

- his longtime association with two HoF pitchers

- room-mates with Bob Uecker (now THAT must have been one funny-ass room)





* A story McCarver tells on himself was of being on a team bus drinking an orange soda (not sure why I remember the flavor of the soda although I associate orange soda with

the south) when Gibson asked if he could have a sip. McCarver said he looked at Gibson's big dark lips and thought about all the things he was taught about black people and

the thought of getting the soda can back after one had taken a sip of it and stammered .... uh, I'll let you have the last part when I'm almost done. Gibson, who didn't really

want the orange soda as much as he wanted to test this young white boy out, gave him a sly 'I got you' look. Obviously things got better from there.

[MFS62]

And this is still http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2023/02/16/this-is-the-game-that-tim-built/the game that Tim built.

Well said.

Later

[metirish]

There's an Irish American Baseball HOF ☘️

[kcmets]

Anyone know what Sean is up to these days?

[metirish]

=kcmets post_id=118464 time=1676657484 user_id=53]
Anyone know what Sean is up to these days?