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Tim McCarver
Scouted at age fifteen by Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey, who, at
the time, was working for the St. Louis Cardinals, Memphis-reared Tim McCarver
was a standout on both the gridiron and baseball diamond. After signing with
the Cardinals in his senior year of high school, McCarver debuted with the
Major League team as a seventeen year old in 1959, commencing a twenty-one year
Major League career that would span four decades.
Earning the role of full-time catcher with the Cardinals in 1963, McCarver
excelled at and behind the plate. In 1964, McCarver was the World Series’ Most
Valuable Player, batting .478 and leading his team to a dramatic seven game
triumph over the New York Yankees. From 1964-1969, McCarver developed lifelong
friendships with Cardinals’ future Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Gibson and Steve
Carlton, who respected his valued insights on opposing hitters.
McCarver starred in two more World Series, 1967 and 1968, before being traded,
unexpectedly, to the Philadelphia Phillies at the 1969 season. After brief
sojourns with the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, McCarver re-joined his
old teammate Steve Carlton in Philadelphia and appeared in three consecutive
National League Championship Series from 1976-1978. Early in the 1980 season,
McCarver retired from the Phillies and Major League Baseball as one of only four
players to play in four decades.
McCarver’s broadcast career started with the Philadelphia Phillies, almost
immediately after his retirement as a player, but it wasn’t long before his
talents were recognized by NBC and WOR, the superstation home of the New York
Mets. Within two years, McCarver was doing double duty as the network’s Game of
the Week baseball analyst and WOR’s everyday analyst of the New York Mets,
becoming a mainstay in All-Star and World Series broadcasts. After leaving the
Mets at the conclusion of the 1998 season, McCarver excelled as the New York
Yankees broadcast analyst for three years, before serving the same role for the
San Francisco Giants in 2002.
Over the past two decades, McCarver has worked as the lead baseball analyst
for every network which has controlled Game of the Week and post-season rights:
NBC, CBS, ABC and, currently, Fox. He has broadcast sixteen World Series
and anchored the Albertville Winter Olympics of 1992 in prime time after
covering individual events at the 1988 Games.
All three of McCarver’s books have been sports best-sellers, published by
Villard (Random House), including "Oh, Baby, I Love it," "Baseball for Brain
Surgeons" and his most recent, "The Perfect Season." His long and short-form radio
show was heard throughout the United States in 1998-2000.
McCarver is now completing his fourth year as the host of the critically
acclaimed and GM sponsored Tim McCarver Show, which airs in 100% of all Northeast
U.S. markets, Southern California, European English language stations and, for
one season, on CTV (now Rogers) Sportsnet.
In April 2003, McCarver won his third consecutive national Emmy Award as
"Best Sportscaster/Analyst," following a string of nominations over the past
twenty years.
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