NFL legend and current Fox broadcaster Tom Brady issued an apology on Tuesday morning, less than an hour after he mourned the passing of Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime Fox announcer Tim McCarver in his newsletter.
The issue isn’t so much that Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, reflected on McCarver’s death. However, Brady said that McCarver passed away last week, when the former St. Louis Cardinals standout actually died in February 2023.
“As I prepare for my second off-season self-scout as a broadcaster, I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about the more intangible qualities of greatness and leadership,” Brady initially wrote. “One of them, which I call ‘likability’, came right back to the front of my mind with Tim McCarver’s passing.”
The newsletter reportedly went out at 7:05 a.m. ET. Less than 40 minutes later, Brady sent out a follow-up and called the error a “proofreading mistake.”
Tom Brady wrote in his newsletter today (sent at 7:05 a.m. ET) that Tim McCarver had passed away last week.
At 7:40 a.m. ET, Tom Brady corrected himself in a 2nd email, writing that McCarver had actually passed away on February 16, 2023. Brady called it a “proofreading mistake”. pic.twitter.com/rhQvV0STuq
— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) March 10, 2026
“I apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused,” Brady said. “Tim’s legacy as both a two-time World Series champion and one of baseball’s most iconic broadcasters remains as significant as ever.”
The internet had some fun at Brady’s expense, with Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes calling it one of the “strangest eulogies in sports media history.”
“The fact that Tom Brady wrote an entire newsletter about Tim McCarver on the premise of him dying last week and hit send before anyone could pick up the mistake, makes no sense,” Contes argued.
Regardless, it’s nonetheless an amusing story, if only because of the timeline itself. In less than an hour, Brady went from eulogizing someone who had been deceased for over three years to retracting his comments and acknowledging that he had made a key error.
“You have heard of ‘The Catch’ in the 1954 World Series; if Dan Gladden scores the winning run, you might hear about the bat … that broke … that put him there.” — Tim McCarver, ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/vkDSeCqAHj
— The Twins Almanac (@TwinsAlmanac) December 31, 2025
Then, there’s Brady referencing that he saw a story about McCarver’s death last week. McCarver passed away on Feb. 16, 2023, so it would likely have been too late for an anniversary post celebrating and remembering his impact on baseball.
For the unfamiliar, McCarver was a fixture around baseball dating back to his MLB debut in September 1959. McCarver played parts of 21 seasons in the majors, hitting .271 with 97 home runs and 645 RBIs. He spent 12 years with the Cardinals, making the All-Star Game twice and winning two World Series titles, and played another nine seasons over two stints with the Philadelphia Phillies.
After initially beginning his broadcasting career with NBC, McCarver later called the World Series for ABC and CBS. He moved to Fox in 1996 and served as the lead national color commentator until leaving the network following the 2013 season.
But, given that Brady remains a relevant, well-known figure worldwide even after his 2022 divorce from Gisele Bündchen, he may have introduced a new generation of fans to McCarver.
