Former MLB player and broadcaster Tim McCarver passed away on Thursday of heart failure. He was 81.
To most contemporary baseball fans, McCarver is best remembered for his years in the broadcast booth particularly with the New York Mets as well as with FOX where he was partnered with Joe Buck. In 2012, McCarver was inducted into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award. After stepping down from FOX after the 2013 season, McCarver occasionally did color commentary for the St. Louis Cardinals where he spent the bulk of his playing career.
Indeed, McCarver had a solid big-league career and is among the few players in MLB history to have played in four different decades beginning in 1959 with the Cardinals at the age of 17. McCarver earned two World Series rings with the Redbirds in 1964 and 1967. In 1967, McCarver finished runner up in NL MVP voting to teammate Orlando Cepeda. The previous season, McCarver became the first catcher to lead the league in triples when he swatted 13 of them in 1966.
Aside from two stints each with the Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, McCarver also briefly played for both the Montreal Expos and the Boston Red Sox. McCarver's career lasted as long as it did in large part because of his capacity as Steve Carlton's personal catcher while with the Phillies. The two had been teammates with the Cardinals where McCarver also forged a strong relationship with Bob Gibson. In 21 big league seasons, McCarver collected 1501 hits for a lifetime batting average of .271 with 97 HR and 645 RBIs.
I leave you with McCarver's "grand slam single" which he hit on the U.S. Bicentennial on July 4, 1976. McCarver hit a grand slam HR for the Phillies but was called out when he passed teammate Garry Maddox thus being credited for a 3-run single. R.I.P.
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