(Original Caption) St. Louis Cardinals catcher, Tim McCarver clutches his bat, August 1967. McCarver is hitting 308 and is having one of his best years with the team. McCarver a stalwart behind the plate is looking forward to his 2nd World Series as he was with the Cardinals in 1964 when the Cards beat the Yankees.
Bettmann/Bettmann ArchiveOne of baseball's most notable voices has passed away.
Tim McCarver, who was successful as a player and later in his career as a broadcaster died Thursday at the age of 81. The St. Louis Cardinals, the team McCarver played with the most in his career, posted to social media with the news and condolences.
McCarver, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, made his way to the big leagues through the St. Louis Cardinals farm system as a catcher and would later become a key component to the team's huge success in the 1960s. McCarver lead the Cardinals to two World Series championships and one National League pennant between 1964 and 1968.
In 1967, McCarver played alongside future Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda and Steve Carlton in St. Louis — in addition to other baseball greats in the lineup; Roger Maris, Curt Flood, Dal Maxvil, Julian Javier and future Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon. It is often said that the 1967 Cardinals are one of the best World Series teams ever assembled.
McCarver played for three other organizations including the Philadelphia Phillies where he made his last postseason appearances between 1976 and 1978.
Over the course of a 21-year career, McCarver batted .271 with 1,502 hits, 242 doubles, 57 triples and 97 home runs. He collected a career best 13 triples in 1966, the same year the new spacious Busch Memorial Stadium opened.
But McCarver probably cemented his name in baseball forever after he went from the field to the press box to become a broadcaster. He appeared on numerous nationally televised games on all major networks and eventually became postseason baseball's top color commentator alongside St. Louis native Joe Buck covering countless playoff and World Series games.
His way of speaking during broadcasts came under immense criticism from fans that it made its way into a cut-away gag on Fox's "Family Guy," but criticism is something McCarver wasn't shy in handing out. In 1992 he criticized two-sport athlete Deion Sanders for playing in both the baseball playoffs and a regular season NFL game in the same day. The end result was McCarver being dunked by Sanders with a bucket of water.
McCarver returned to the Cardinals in 2013 to join their broadcasting team. In 2012 was inducted as a broadcaster into the Baseball Hall of Fame and he would later be enshrined in the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2017.
