Tim McCarver: 1941-2023

I never met Tim McCarver, so I'm pleased I bought this great signed photo of McCarver and Steve Carlton last year. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Catcher and longtime MLB baseball broadcaster Tim McCarver passed away yesterday at the age of 81. I’ve grown up hearing Tim McCarver’s voice on baseball games, and it’s hard to imagine baseball without him. I also felt a connection to McCarver because he was the “personal catcher” in the late 1970’s for my favorite baseball player, Steve Carlton.  

As a kid, I remember my dad was not a big fan of McCarver’s commentary, as he felt that McCarver simply talked too much. (My father was not alone in this viewpoint.) I didn’t disagree with my dad, but I eventually grew to like McCarver’s commentary, in part simply because of his ubiquity. He was always there, for every World Series and All-Star Game. By the time McCarver left the Fox network after the 2013 season, I found myself missing McCarver’s Southern accent and incisive insights. I didn’t really realize how much I liked McCarver until he was gone. I don’t think McCarver and Joe Buck were a great broadcast team—to me, it never felt like they actually knew each other outside of the broadcast booth. I blame Joe Buck’s robotic stiffness, as I can’t imagine how anyone wouldn’t get along with the friendly and garrulous McCarver. I don’t hate Joe Buck, but I don’t really like him, either. There’s nothing really wrong with Joe Buck, but there’s nothing really right with Joe Buck, either. Joe Buck just does every sport and does a B- job at every sport.  

Back to Tim McCarver. I’m very glad that I read William C. Kashatus’ excellent 2022 biography of McCarver and Steve Carlton, Lefty & Tim: How Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver Became Baseball’s Best Battery, as it gave me a greater appreciation for Tim McCarver’s baseball career. McCarver was an extremely gifted athlete, and he had football scholarship offers from many colleges, including Notre Dame, but he turned them down to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals. McCarver graduated from high school in June of 1959, and on September 10, 1959, he made his major league debut. He turned 18 a month later. By 1963, McCarver was in the big leagues to stay. In 1964, McCarver was the regular catcher for the pennant-winning Cardinals, and he hit .478 in the World Series, as the Cards beat the Yankees in 7 games.  

Not known for his speed, McCarver is the only catcher to ever lead the league in triples, as he slugged 13 in 1966. He appeared in two more World Series with the Cardinals, in 1967 and 1968, and finished runner-up to teammate Orlando Cepeda in the 1967 NL MVP vote.  

McCarver handled two of the greatest pitchers of all-time: Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. McCarver has related stories of how Gibson forced McCarver to face his own prejudices, and they became great friends. McCarver was behind the plate for one of the greatest seasons by a pitcher ever: Bob Gibson’s 1968 season, when he hurled an unbelievable 1.12 ERA over 304 innings. McCarver was also behind the plate for part of Steve Carlton’s legendary 1972 season with the Phillies, when Carlton won an incredible 27 games for a team that only won 59 games. Gibson and Carlton’s success speaks to McCarver’s prowess as a handler of pitchers.  

In mid-1975 it looked like McCarver’s playing career was over when the Boston Red Sox released him. But the Phillies picked him up, and Timmy carved out a niche as a pinch-hitter and Steve Carlton’s personal catcher. The Phillies’ regular catcher was Bob Boone, a fantastic defensive catcher, but Carlton and Boone didn’t always see eye to eye on pitch calling. Boone had introduced Carlton to strength and martial arts coach Gus Hoefling after the 1975 season, and the strenuous workouts helped improve Carlton’s performance on the mound. One of the best-known exercises called for Carlton to stick his left arm into a barrel of rice and try to work his hand down to the bottom of the barrel. 

With Hoefling’s workout routine, and his friend McCarver behind the plate, Carlton rejuvenated his career, winning 20 games in 1976, and three more Cy Young Awards in 1977, 1980, and 1982. McCarver retired after the 1979 season, and he made a seamless transition to the broadcast booth with the Phillies. But the Phillies did McCarver a favor and activated him as a player in late 1980 so he could become a four-decade player. As Carlton stopped talking to the press in the late 1970’s, McCarver also became Carlton’s “designated talker,” answering the questions from reporters that Carlton refused to.  

Tim McCarver leaves behind a long legacy in major league baseball, and he’ll be fondly remembered by those who appreciated his talents behind the plate and behind the microphone. 

Book Review: Lefty & Tim: How Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver Became Baseball's Best Battery, by William C. Kashatus (2022)

 

Lefty & Tim, by William C. Kashatus, 2022. Pictured with 2004 Fleer baseball card of Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Historian and author William C. Kashatus.

Steve Carlton was one of the best pitchers in baseball history. Carlton won 329 games, the 2nd highest total for a left-hander. He struck out 4,136 batters—a record for left-handers at the time he retired in 1988. Carlton was the first pitcher to win 4 Cy Young Awards, and he set a record for most strikeouts in a game when he fanned 19 Mets in 1969. Carlton, known by his nickname of “Lefty,” was a first ballot Hall of Famer, easily elected in 1994 when he was named on 95.82% of the ballots. Throughout his career, Carlton was known for his unorthodox training regimen, which included martial arts exercises, and for his silence with the media.  

William C. Kashatus’ 2022 book Lefty & Tim: How Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver Became Baseball’s Best Battery, examines the careers of Carlton and Tim McCarver, who became Carlton’s “personal catcher” with the Phillies from 1975-1979. The connection between McCarver and Carlton began in 1965 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Carlton was a rookie: 1964 was his first year in professional baseball. McCarver, only 3 years older than Carlton, was already well-established as a major leaguer. He had made his MLB debut at the tender age of 17 in 1959, and by 1963 he was the Cardinals’ starting catcher. McCarver was a hitting star of the 1964 World Series, appearing in all 7 games and hitting .478 as the Cardinals beat the New York Yankees.  

Carlton and McCarver were both stubborn men. Carlton wasn’t impressed by McCarver’s status, as he approached the catcher during spring training and said to him “Hey, you’ve gotta call for more breaking pitches when we’re behind in the count.” McCarver yelled at Carlton for having the gall to question his pitch calling. Carlton calmly walked away. The next day, McCarver apologized to Carlton for chewing him out. Carlton accepted McCarver’s apology and said, “I wasn’t listening anyway.” (Lefty & Tim, p.32-3)  

Despite this rocky beginning to their relationship, Carlton and McCarver soon became good friends, and McCarver was behind the plate during 1967, 1968, and 1969 as Carlton established himself as one of the best young pitchers in baseball. McCarver had another stubborn ace pitcher to deal with on the staff of the St. Louis Cardinals: Bob Gibson. McCarver and Gibson had clashed early on, but eventually came to a terrific understanding of one another, both as baseball players and as human beings. Gibson was also influential on Steve Carlton’s development as a pitcher. Gibson was no-nonsense on the mound. The mound was his office, and you didn’t mess with Gibson in his office. To Gibson, opposing hitters were the enemy. They were not to be fraternized with. Carlton developed the mental attitude to act the same as Gibson did on the mound.  

Carlton was known for his long silence with the media, so he might seem like an unlikely candidate for a biography. There have been two books written about Carlton’s amazing 1972 season, when he won 27 games for the last-place Philadelphia Phillies, but Kashatus takes a wider view of Carlton’s career. Kashatus got a lot of information from Carlton off the record, but ultimately, Lefty decided not to do any on the record interviews for the book. It’s a shame, because it would be fantastic to have Carlton’s story in his own words, but Kashatus did a terrific job of writing Lefty & Tim, even without the participation of one of the two subjects. (And besides, the garrulous McCarver, who did several interviews with Kashatus, probably did enough talking for two people.)  

Kashatus has done an excellent job of combing through the historical record to find good quotes from Carlton in the interviews he has done. The myth is that Steve Carlton never talked to the press, but that’s not true. Carlton gave plenty of interviews from 1965 until 1977, and even during his media silence from 1977 to 1986, Lefty still did the occasional interview here and there.  

Carlton began his career with an excellent fastball and curveball, and in 1969 he added a devastating slider. Carlton threw the slider from the same arm slot as his fastball, which meant that batters couldn’t tell which pitch was coming. Lefty’s slider broke down and in on right-handed batters, and down and away on left-handed batters. Standing 6 foot 4 and weighing 210 pounds in his prime, Carlton was strong enough to throw the slider without putting strain on his elbow.  

Lefty had one of the greatest seasons a starting pitcher has ever had in 1972, when he won 27 games and claimed his first Cy Young Award. But from 1973-1975, Carlton’s won-loss record was 44-47. But things were about to change. In mid-1975, the Phillies reacquired McCarver, after he was released by the Red Sox. The Phillies had one of baseball’s great defensive catchers in Bob Boone, but Boone and Carlton had different theories about pitch calling. Slowly, McCarver started to catch all of Carlton’s starts.  

Bob Boone had introduced Carlton to strength and martial arts coach Gus Hoefling, and the strenuous workouts helped improve Carlton’s performance on the mound. One of the best-known exercises called for Carlton to stick his left arm into a barrel of rice and try to work his hand down to the bottom of the barrel. Phillies starter Jim Lonborg, plagued by elbow problems, tried the rice workout and never had elbow issues again. Hoefling’s training also focused on the mental aspect of sports. One day, fellow starting pitcher Larry Christenson saw Carlton lying on the trainer’s table before a start with his eyes closed. Christenson asked Lefty what he was doing. Kashatus writes that Lefty’s response was that “he was visualizing the spin on his slider and how he was planning to throw it against the various batters in the opposing team’s lineup that night.” (p.186) 

After the 1975 season, Carlton’s lifetime record stood at 148-119, for a winning percentage of .554. From 1976 through the 1984 season, Carlton’s record was 165-88, for a winning percentage of .652. Carlton won 20 games 4 times from 1976-1982, and he won 3 more Cy Young Awards. The Phillies also turned into a powerhouse, making the playoffs 6 times from 1976-1983, culminating in the team winning their first World Series in 1980.  

Lefty & Tim will serve as the definitive book about how Steve Carlton became one of the most dominant pitchers of his era. Lefty & Tim also makes a compelling case for Tim McCarver’s reputation as a great handler of pitchers, and as a superbly intelligent student of baseball. Kashatus has interviewed many people close to Carlton and McCarver to create a comprehensive account of their baseball careers. If you’re a fan of either Steve Carlton or Tim McCarver, you should read Lefty & Tim.  

Book Review: Flamethrowers: Carlton & Gossage, by Bill Gutman (1982)

 

My copy of Flamethrowers: Carlton & Gossage, by Bill Gutman, 1982. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

(This article was first published on Mark My Words in June, 2019.) Why did I recently read the 1982 baseball book Flamethrowers: Carlton & Gossage, by Bill Gutman, when it was probably intended for 6^th graders? Well, because Steve Carlton is my favorite baseball player. When I found Flamethrowers in a box of books marked 50 cents at one of my favorite used bookstores, I had to get it. There was a book about Steve Carlton that I didn’t even know about!

As you can tell from the title, Flamethrowers focuses on two pitchers who ended up in the Hall of Fame: Steve Carlton and Rich “Goose” Gossage. Bill Gutman tells us their backstories and takes us through their careers, year by year. Flamethrowers is written well, for what it is, and although I don’t think Gutman interviewed either Steve Carlton or Goose Gossage for the book, he sprinkles it with quotes from newspapers and other sources. (I’m assuming Gutman used other sources, although, not surprisingly, the book lacks either footnotes or a bibliography.)

The part of the book about Goose Gossage was less interesting to me, so I’ll cover that first. It’s still an interesting overview of Gossage’s career through 1981. Gossage was one of the finest relief pitchers in baseball from 1975-1985, using his wild delivery, overpowering fastball, and Fu Manchu mustache to intimidate batters in late innings. On the subject of mustaches, Al Hrabosky, another Fu Manchu-d reliever from the 1970’s, once said, “How can I intimidate batters if I look like a fucking golf pro?”

It’s interesting now to read about how Gossage was used in relief, which is very different from how most closers are used today. Nowadays, your closer comes in for the 9^th inning, throws some fastballs, and nails down the save. But in Flamethrowers, you’ll read about Gossage coming into games in the 7^th or 8^th innings! That’s right, closers sometimes used to pitch more than just one inning!

Gossage was part of the craziness that was the New York Yankees during the George Steinbrenner years of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Despite that, Gossage pitched well under pressure on the game’s biggest stages. Minnesota Twins fans like myself will enjoy the references to two of the Yankees’ other relief pitchers of 1981: Ron Davis and George Frazier. Ron Davis was the Twins’ closer from 1982 to 1985, and that time was, um, somewhat tumultuous. I’m pretty sure that Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse credits the trade of Davis to the Cubs in August of 1986 as the crucial move that allowed the Twins to triumph in the World Series in 1987. Ironically, George Frazier was one of the players the Twins received from the Cubs for Davis. Frazier set the ignominious record of losing three games in the same World Series for the Yankees in 1981. Fortunately, Frazier emerged unscathed from his one appearance in the 1987 World Series for the Twins.

I learned some new facts about Steve Carlton from Flamethrowers. For example, Gutman writes that Carlton was called up by the Cardinals at the end of the 1964 season, but didn’t pitch in any games. I had never heard this before. 1964 was Carlton’s first professional season, and he quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to Tulsa, the Cardinals AA farm team. Gutman writes that Carlton warmed up once for the Cardinals in the bullpen, during a high scoring game against the Mets. He even quotes Carlton: “I was so nervous I couldn’t believe it. I began throwing to Dave Ricketts and I couldn’t even see him.” (p.8)

I’ve never encountered the story of Carlton being called up at the end of 1964, and since the Cardinals were involved in a tight pennant race, which they ended up coming out on top of, I thought it was unlikely they would have called up a 19-year-old pitcher just finishing his first pro season. But I did some Googling to see what I could find. And I found a copy of a major league contract signed by Steve Carlton, dated September 19, 1964. Carlton’s contract was approved by National League President Warren Giles on September 24^th. The game that Gutman references where Carlton warmed up, but didn’t actually enter, took place on October 3, 1964. The Mets beat the Cardinals 15-5. The Cardinals used 8 pitchers in the game, so their bullpen was stretched thin. The fact that Carlton signed a major league contract in September of 1964 is proof enough for me that they called him up at the end of the season.

Steve Carlton is known now for his silence with the media, for his intense and unorthodox physical conditioning program, and for his focus on the mental aspect of baseball. But these characteristics took time to develop, and they were not part of his makeup when he made his major league debut with the Cardinals on April 12, 1965.

Carlton was clearly a talented young pitcher with a live fastball and an excellent curve, but when he added a slider to his repertoire in 1969, he took his game to the next level and emerged as a truly dominant starting pitcher. Carlton’s slider looked just like his fastball, until it dove downward at the last possible instant. It was a pitch that would confuse hitters for the rest of Carlton’s career. Late in 1969, Carlton set a major league record by striking out 19 New York Mets. (Ironically, Carlton lost the game, 4-3.)

However, in 1970 Carlton stopped throwing his slider, as it was hurting his arm. He was struggling through a difficult season as the losses piled up. Sometime that season he started getting letters from a fan who thought that Carlton wasn’t focusing his mental energy. Carlton said: “You can create an atmosphere about yourself, positive or negative. The year I lost nineteen games {1970} I was all wrapped up in self-pity. I really learned a lot about mental attitude that year.” (p.23)

Carlton rebounded from 1970 to become a 20-game winner for the first time in 1971. When he wanted a raise from the Cardinals, the team refused. The difference in dollars between Carlton and the Cardinals was small, but in February, 1972, the team traded him to the lowly Philadelphia Phillies. Carlton was determined to not let this affect his positive mental attitude. Carlton proclaimed days that he started to be “win day,” and in 1972, he was almost always right. Carlton won 27 games for a last-place team that only managed 59 wins, meaning that Carlton was responsible for 45.8% of the Phillies’ wins! Carlton won the pitching Triple Crown, leading the National League in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. He also won the Cy Young Award. Phillies manager Paul Owens said the team performed differently when Carlton was pitching: “It was Steve’s charisma, the feeling of confidence everyone had when he was on the mound.” (p.33)

Expectations were sky-high for Carlton entering the 1973 season. Carlton had done nothing to tamp these expectations down, as he spoke publicly about the possibility of winning 30 games. Instead, he went from a 20-game winner to a 20-game loser, finishing 1973 with an ERA almost two runs higher than 1972, and a record of 13-20. Carlton had walking pneumonia during the season, and although he didn’t spend any time on the disabled list because of that, it couldn’t have helped. The media started being more critical of Carlton during 1973. If he was thinking so positively, why couldn’t he win 30 games? Up to this point in his career, Carlton’s relationship with the press had been largely positive. Now it turned antagonistic. Eventually, as the 1970’s wore on, Carlton stopped talking to the press altogether. Despite what most people have written about Carlton’s silence in the media, it was not absolute, as he still gave occasional interviews during this time. For example, Hal Bodley interviewed him in the 1980-81 off-season for his book about the 1980 Phillies, The Team That Wouldn’t Die. And Carlton would still talk to reporters off the record about subjects other than baseball. But if they tried to wheedle an on the record baseball-related quote from him, Carlton would grin and say, “Policy is policy.”

1974 and 1975 were two more up-and-down seasons for Carlton, as the Phillies slowly improved. According to Gutman, Carlton was suffering from a sore arm these two seasons. Carlton led the league in strikeouts in 1974, but he also led the league in walks. In 1976 both Carlton and the Phillies exploded, as the Phillies surged to the top of the NL East, and Carlton won 20 games while losing just 7. So, what changed? For Carlton, he started working with Gus Hoefling, a “strength and flexibility expert.” (p.59) Carlton and Hoefling devised an unusual workout strategy that defied much of the conventional logic about how pitchers should train. The thinking was that pitchers should run. A lot. Carlton wasn’t a fan of running, and he was an early proponent of weight lifting, which was not very widespread in baseball in the 1970’s. Carlton also studied martial arts, and some of his training was inspired by martial arts exercises. One of the exercises called for Carlton to stick his left arm in a barrel of rice and work his hand down to the bottom of the barrel. Carlton’s best friend in baseball, the chatty catcher Tim McCarver, said of Lefty’s workouts: “It’s a very strenuous training program. I know because I’ve tried it and it almost killed me.” (p.60) My own theory is that Carlton’s career was rejuvenated by his unorthodox training program. After the 1975 season, Carlton’s won-loss record stood at 148-119, for a winning percentage of .554. From 1976 through the 1984 season, Carlton’s record was 165-88, for a winning percentage of .652. I’m not saying wins and losses are the be all and end all for pitchers, and surely part of Carlton’s changing fortunes were due to the Phillies’ improvement as a team over those same years, but I think Carlton’s training helped make him a better pitcher.

Carlton won the Cy Young Award again in 1977 and 1980. The latter season was one of Carlton’s best, as he led the league in wins and strikeouts, going 24-9 for a Phillies team that finally made it past the NLCS to the World Series. Carlton went 2-0 in the World Series, including the deciding Game 6. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, in 1980 Carlton put up what will probably be the last 300-inning season a pitcher ever throws. Carlton threw 304 innings in the regular season, and then added another 27 1/3 innings in the postseason! In Game 2 of the World Series, Carlton threw eight innings and 159 pitches. No pitcher would be allowed to do that today.

The 1981 season saw Carlton add more highlights to his formidable resume, as he became the first left-hander to strike out 3,000 batters, and he also surpassed Bob Gibson’s record for most strikeouts in the National League. And that’s where Flamethrowers leaves Steve Carlton, a 37-year-old power pitcher whose slider was still one of the best pitches in baseball.

Carlton had another great season in 1982, as he became the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards, leading the league in pretty much everything: wins, games started, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, strikeouts—as well as most hits allowed. In 1983 Carlton won his 300^th game, led the league in strikeouts and innings, and helped the Phillies make it back to the World Series. In 1983 and 1984 Carlton and Nolan Ryan traded off the title of all-time strikeout leader. Carlton went on the disabled list for the first time in his career in 1985 with rotator cuff issues. He wasn’t the same pitcher after that, although he persisted with his positive mental outlook, even as he bounced from team to team. He recorded his 4,000^th strikeout with the San Francisco Giants in 1986, which is still the National League record. Carlton pitched his last game for the Minnesota Twins in 1988, finishing his career with 329 wins. Carlton was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1994.

If you’re really, really obsessed with either Steve Carlton or Goose Gossage, or baseball in the 1970’s, then I can heartily recommend Flamethrowers to you.