Timmy

Some folks claim that when baseball fans remember the golden years of baseball, they are usually the years when the fan was 12 or 13.

Bob Matthews summed up Tim's career as follows; 

"Tim McCarver, who died of heart failure this week at age 81, was a very good catcher during his 21-year Major League Baseball career and and a Hall of Fame TV baseball analyst who worked 24 World Series for ABC, CBS and FOX. As a broadcaster, he wasn't always popular with players and managers because he wasn't afraid to criticize them for bonehead plays or lousy strategy. In 1992, Atlanta Braves outfielder Deion Sanders dumped a bucket of ice water on McCarver's head after McCarver criticized Sanders on air for playing games with the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves in the same day/night. But most fans appreciated McCarver's work and respected his informative second-guessing. He was a two-time world champion with the St. Louis Cardinals and hit .311 in his three trips to the World Series. He later with Philadelphia was the favorite catcher for Steve Carlton. He was a career .271 hitter with 1,501 hits and finished second for National League MVP in 1967...McCarver was a former Rochester Red Wing very briefly in 1959. In 17 games, the left-handed hitter batted .357 (25x70) with 8 RBI. He even stole a base. And he was only 17 years old. If he wasn't the youngest player in Red Wings history he was close. He was only months removed from graduating from high school in Memphis and signing a $75,000 contract as a bonus baby with the Cardinals"

When Tim played for the Red Wings, I was 12 going on 13. The Red Wings were my favorite team. Every night I listened to the play by play of their games. When someone would ask me how the game was going'I'd say, "We're ahead or we're behind", the key word was 'we'. The Red Wings represented our city. We were proud of them. They were still owned by the Cardinals but soon our community would buy them. 

When the community bought the team, my grandfather bought two shares of stock which he presneted to my brother and me.

Tim got the proverbial cup of tea passing through Rochester like a meteor. He was the fastest guy on the team as well as the youngest. His potential was inestimable. In that same seaon he was promoted to the major leagues where he became not only the first seventeen year old to bat lead off for the Cardinals but also the first Cardinal catcher to bat lead off.

When Tim was on the Wings he was only a few years older than us. We called him Timmy. 

He was the best prospect that I ever saw in a Red Wing uniform. The previous year, I saw Bob Gibson have his cup of tea with the Wings and his presence was also overwhelming but I was only 11....just a little too young I suppose. Tim arrived at exactly the right moment.  Later Bob and Tim would become famous as battery mates on the Cardinals. 

Obviously, Tim had a great career on the field and in the booth. I particularly enjoyed his time as an announcer with the New York Mets when he was teamed up with Ralph Kiner. He was still a young man when he became an announcer.

We imagined that he was a "good guy".

One year, my son's birthday was coming up. My brother told me that he was gonna send an airmail copy of Tim's latest book to the address where he knew Tim could be found. Tim was broacasting a playoff game. The package that Deke sent to Tim included a self addressed stamped, postage paid return air mail envelope. Deke included a little note telling Tim about my son's birthday. It was his Beau's birthday and he was falling in love with baseball. 

Sure enough, on the day of his birthday, less than a week later the package arrived. Tim had signed and returned the book with a personal message included.

Yeah

Great guy.

Timmy

Everyonce in awhile I get to thinking about the "face of baseball" and when I do I usually come up with the face of Pete Rose or Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth with all of their blemishes. The Say Hey Kid also comes to mind. Three of those four are in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Ridiculously and hypocritically Pete is not in the Hall.

I'm adding Tim McCarver's grill to that list of great baseball faces. Everytime I looked at that face I could see that 17 year old speed demon from Memphis arriving in Rochester underneath the layers of twenty one years pulling on the tools of ignorance and lending his perspective as well as his overwhelming love of and respect for the game to millions of fans.

As I write this, I am feeling simultaneously young and old.

Fortunately I am both.