Former MLB player David McCarty passed away on Friday of "a cardiac event". He was 54.
McCarty's death comes only 10 days after he was in Boston on Opening Day at Fenway Park to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Boston Red Sox' World Series championship.
During the ceremony, McCarty and his teammates paid tribute to Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield who died of cancer last October. McCarty is now the second member of the 2004 Red Sox to leave this mortal coil.
The Red Sox were actually the final stop in McCarty's 11-year big league career which began with the Minnesota Twins in 1993. McCarty was the Twins first round draft pick in 1991 and third overall in the nation after a distinguished collegiate career at Stanford University.
Despite being a high draft pick, McCarty's baseball career was arduous, and he vacillated back and forth between the majors and minors while with the Twins before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds during the 1995 season. McCarty's brief tenure with the Reds was spent at Triple-AAA Indianapolis before being traded to the San Francisco Giants in an 8-player deal which included Deion Sanders.
Although McCarty saw some playing time with the Giants in 1995 and 1996, by the late 1990's he appeared to be stuck in Triple-AAA playing all of the 1997 season in Phoenix before the Giants traded him to the Seattle Mariners. McCarty spent nearly all of 1998 playing in Tacoma although he did get into 8 games with the Mariners. In 1999, McCarty signed with the Detroit Tigers but would spend all year with the Toledo Mud Hens before finally catching a break with the Kansas City Royals when he played a career high 103 games hitting .278 with 12 HR and 53 RBI.
Unfortunately, McCarty did not repeat those numbers with KC in 2001 and would be released by the Royals in early 2002. McCarty would repeat the MLB-Triple AAA shuttle during stints with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Oakland A's in both 2002 and 2003 until the Red Sox picked up him on waivers late in the 2003 season.
By the time McCarty joined the Red Sox, he was a 33-year-old journeyman who knew his role and yet saw new opportunities. While primarily a backup outfielder and first baseman, McCarty was also brought in to pitch during blowouts on several occasions during the 2004 season giving much needed a relief to the Red Sox pitching staff. His willingness to try something new endeared McCarty to his teammates and the organization. Although McCarty did not play in the 2004 post-season, he nevertheless earned his World Series ring.
McCarty would retire early in the 2005 season after declining yet another minor league assignment. In 630 career games, McCarty collected 362 hits for a lifetime batting average of .242 with 36 HR and 175 RBI. He would remain tied to the Red Sox through the 2008 season as a studio analyst for NESN before returning home to Northern California to begin his real estate career.
Naturally, time will always remain undefeated. Indeed, Carl Erskine, the last surviving member of the 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers, passed away earlier this week at the age of 97. Erskine would live nearly 70 years after that triumph in Brooklyn. Who among the 2004 Boston Red Sox will still be among us in 2074? Will Manny still be Manny?
Still, both Wakefield and McCarty were only in their 50s (as am I). Wakefield's absence loomed large at the reunion and McCarty's passing so soon after it only reinforces the fact that mortality is a line thinner than the between the big leagues and Triple AAA and far more permanent. Big Papi managed to dodge death nearly five years ago but who among us gets more than one lifeline?
David McCarty has lost his life, but our memories will keep him alive such as this walk off HR off J.J. Putz on May 30, 2004. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment