Tim McCarver wins Frick Award

[stevejrogers]

http://baseballhall.org/news/press-releases/tim-mccarver-named-2012-ford-c-frick-award-winner-broadcasting-excellence

Well, I guess we can pretend its just for his days as the local TV guy for the Mets...

[metirish]

Congrats, no idea if he deserves it or not, don't know much about it.I do think though that working as he does with Buck has got to bring down his level of color guy quality.

[MFS62]

When he was good, he was very, very good. He made us think about what was going on in a different light. He was opinionated about "accepted" baseball strategy. For example, why should a third baseman guard the line in certain situations? He felt he should play in (closer to the batter) to cut down the angles both to his right and to his left.
When he was bad, he really wasn't. He became pedantic after a while, as though his mission in life was to educate us about baseball. But he continued to report the game he was watching rather than thanking someone for bringing cannolis to the booth.
Good for you, Tim.

BTW- for what team did Graham McNamee broadcast? Wasn't he better known as a football announcer?

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

He was damn good in his Mets days. He was a very good predictor of the action. He'd yell at Strawberry for playing too deep seconds before a bloop single would dunk in front of him. His sense of humor played well with Kiner and Zabriskie.

But then he went to Fox and became a part of the 'We have determined a story line in our pre-game meeting and we're going to stick with it regardless of what happens in the game' machine. He became repetitive and predictable. His fellating of St. Jeter is legendary. He lost his fastball and now he's more annoying than anything else.

So yeah, he deserves it for his Mets days.

[metirish]

Yeah, most of my exposure to him has been on FOX , heard a lot of great things about his Mets days, wouldn't mind hearing him with the SNY booth for a few weeks.

[G-Fafif]

Earned this in the '80s. Congratulations to the Timmy of sainted memory.

[Edgy MD]

I don't think it's working with Buck so much as (1) working with Fox and under instructions to talk to people like they're not sure which way to run after hitting the ball, (2) an inflated sense of self, and somewhat defensive too, going back to his run-in with Deion Sanders, (3) perhaps related to (2), only kinda sorta keeping up with the changes in the game.

The problem with being the smartest guy in the class, which he was back in 1985, is you you take it for granted and stop doing your homework, leaving you wholly unprepared for when the dynamics of the classroom change.

Congratulations to Tim. When he first joined the Mets, he stayed at a hotel where my dad was the security director. When he moved out, he left behind some property --- the reading he used to brush up on the job: broadcasting history books, US history books, baseball history books, vocabulary books.

I get the notion that he's since not always been as aggressive with keeping up. But I also get the notion that he does more homework in a month than a Mark Grace does in a career.

But that Jeter thing. Man, some days it's almost like FOX owns stock in the guy. But I guess they kinda do.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

"You know, the interesting thing about the Ford Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence that most people don't know is that it's meant to be given in recognition of a person who's been excellent in the field of broadcasting. "

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He taught us all too well, now we don't need him anymore.