World Series Champion And Hall of Fame Broadcaster Tim McCarver Passes Away At The Age of 81 After Being Part Of Baseball For Eight Decades

Tim McCarver, who was a legendary broadcaster for 24 World Series died today at 81. McCarver also was a longtime catcher who played in four different decades. He played so long that he was teammates with both Stan Musial and Lonnie Smith. He would work with Steve Carlton both with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies and eventually became his personal catcher.

McCarver is most probably famous for working with Joe Buck on many of those World Series until McCarver retired from FOX in 2013. It was a decent pairing that at first had McCarver as the respected voice in the booth because Buck was so young but eventually it became much more of a partnership as Buck became better and more comfortable. 

It was easy in the moment to maybe look past McCarver or take him for granted. But he was there for so many great moments in baseball history. He was there when the Red Sox broke the curse in 2004. He called the great Yankee three-peat from 1998-2000 And he was never better than in Game 7 in 2001:

Doesn't get any better than that from a color guy. 

McCarver and Deion Sanders had an interesting interaction after the 1992 NLCS. Deion dumped water on McCarver which infuriated McCarver. He yelled back "You're a real man Deion" which became a catchphrase among me and my friends for years.

When he wasn't calling national broadcasts, he was heard for years by many Mets fans locally in New York from 1983-98.

McCarver still called a small amount of Cardinals games up until 2021. That means that he was involved in baseball for an amazing eight decades. He played his first game with St. Louis when he was only 17 in 1959. In that time, he was a two-time all-star, was the starting catcher on the 1964 and 1967 World Champion Cardinals and even won the Ford Frick Award in 2012 for his work as an announcer.

RIP, Tim McCarver.