Tim McCarver retired from broadcasting after the World Series ended on Wednesday, but not before a touching tribute from his longtime partner Joe Buck.
Buck gave McCarver a sendoff after the Boston Red Sox finished out the St. Louis Cardinals, calling McCarver “the best to ever do do this.”
McCarver had announced before the season that he planned to retire after working for more than 30 years in the booth, including 28 consecutive postseasons,
Fox Sports writer Ken Rosenthal acknowledged that Tim McCarver had his critics, but that comes with the territory when someone signs up to talk uninterrupted for three hours every game.
But Rosenthal also said that McCarver was one of the most passionate and knowledgeable analysts he had ever seen.
“Tim is the only baseball analyst who has worked for all four major networks. What astonished me about him in his later years — when I worked with him — is that he lost none of his passion, none of his curiosity, none of his love for the game or even its language,” Rosenthal wrote. “I can’t tell you how many times I heard him tell a player or manager before a game, “I have never heard that term before.” And then he would use that term on the broadcast, drawing sheer delight out of what he had learned.”
Tim McCarver was remembered by many for his opinionated style, and the conflict that sometimes brought. During the 1992 MLB playoffs, he was critical of Atlanta Braves outfielder Deion Sanders for leaving the team to play for the Atlanta Falcons.
After the Braves clinched the NLCS with a Game 7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sanders attacked McCarver in the locker room, repeatedly dousing him with ice water.
“I didn’t know what I would do or say, but as I was going toward the middle of the clubhouse, Sanders was creeping up with another tub of water,” McCarver said. “He said, ‘Where’s McCarver?’ and I said, ‘I’m right here.’
“He tried to hit me with another tub that missed me, and I said, ‘You know, Deion, you’re a real man, you are a real man.’ I thought it was a deliberate, cowardly act.”
Aside from his more than 30 years in the broadcast booth, Tim McCarver also had a 21-year MLB career that included two World Series titles.
