Remembering Cardinal Tim McCarver

We remember those special players who wore the “Birds on the Bat” and played significant roles in making the St. Louis Cardinals—winners of 19 pennants and 11 world championships—the National League’s premier franchise.  Those players who led their teams to championships remain indelibly etched in our local culture as a baseball town.  James Timothy McCarver who passed away on Thursday was one such player.

It has been 50 years since McCarver performed here, but those who saw him play recall that he epitomized winning baseball: good defense, execution and fundamentals.   One might say that he was a kindred soul to Cardinal favorite, Yadier Molina who backstopped pennant-winning teams in 2006, 2011 and 2013.

Likewise, our catcher of yesteryear led Cardinal pennant-winning teams in 1964, 1967 and 1968.  Like Molina, he was tough and durable, a nimble receiver, and a savvy signal-caller for the Red Bird’s pitching staff.  Although not possessing Molina’s cannon arm, McCarver too was a fiery leader both on and off the field, a constant who acted as a field general to teams known for playing sound fundamental baseball.

Recognized as one of the top catchers of the 1960’s, McCarver placed second as the National’s League’s most valuable player in 1967.  An aggressive base runner and unusually quick for a player of his position, McCarver remains the only catcher in history to lead the league in triples with 13 in 1966.  That same year, he scored the winning run in the All-Star game, sliding across the plate in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 10^th inning to end that classic game on a torrid afternoon in Busch II’s inaugural season.  

A key player in the Cardinals’ incredible run to capture the pennant in 1964, the then 22-year-old batsman hit .478 in the World Series, which included one of the more memorable home runs in Red Bird lore.  His three-run shot in the 10^th inning of pivotal Game 5 at Yankee Stadium propelled St. Louis to a 5 to 2 victory, punctuating the first of seven straight World Series victories for his long-time battery mate, Bob Gibson.   Indeed, the native of Memphis, Tennessee caught all nine world series games pitched by the incomparable Gibson with whom he remained forever close both on and off the field.     

The thrice pennant winning Cardinal was traded by the club after the 1969 season, but he soldiered on primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies where he served as hall of famer Steve Carlton’s personal catcher of choice.  The Phillies gain was our loss in the barren decade of the 1970’s. 

But our former catcher remained cardinal red through and through.  A team leader and champion, he ranks third in games caught for the Red Birds, for whom he banged out more than a thousand hits while compiling a .272 batting average for his celebrated teams of the 1960’s—solid numbers compiled during an era so dominated by elite pitching.

Ironically, some St. Louisans resented their former catcher turned color man on national telecasts for his refusal to call the game as a Red Bird partisan rather than as a neutral commentator.  Yet, he was inducted into baseball’s hall of fame for his work as a broadcaster providing color for 24 years of World Series action—an unparalleled run for longevity in that role.   This articulate man understood the nuances of the game, and how to share that knowledge with his audience.

In his late autumn years at age 75, McCarver returned to his roots serving as color man emeritus for selected Cardinal games.  Like his playing days when he made his Red Birds better teammates, his commentary made Dan McLaughlin a better broadcaster. 

The St. Louis Cardinals created their own Hall of Fame to recognize and preserve the memories of the notable players who built this franchise’s storied history.  James Timothy McCarver earned that enshrinement where he remains remembered as a leader of those great Red Bird teams of yore.

paul lore