MCCARVER STEPS DOWN AS LEAD MLB ON FOX ANALYST
AFTER 2013 SEASON
Highlights of 30 Year Broadcasting Career & Quotes from Wednesday’s Press Call
Buck on McCarver: “I’ve Learned More from Him Than Anybody I’ve Ever Been Around in This Business, Including My Father.”
This afternoon, Tim McCarver, who for three decades has been baseball’s premier television analyst, announced that he is stepping down from his lead MLB on FOX position upon conclusion of this season’s World Series. McCarver was joined by Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig, News Corporation Senior Executive Vice President David Hill, Former FOX Sports President and Executive Producer Ed Goren, FOX Sports President and COO Eric Shanks, FOX Sports Executive Vice President of Production John Entz and his broadcast partner at FOX Sports for the last 17 years, Joe Buck.
Below are some highlights of McCarver’s illustrious broadcasting career and quotes from today’s announcement.
TIM McCARVER
· 2012 Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
· Only MLB analyst to work for all four major broadcast networks
· Won three straight Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst (2000 – 2002)
· Worked on-air every postseason since 1984 (28 consecutive)
· Called 23 World Series – a record
· Called 20 All-Star Games – a record
· Called Mark McGwire’s record breaking 62nd regular season home run in 1998
· Teamed with Joe Buck, his MLB on FOX play-by-play partner, a record 17 years as the network’s lead national baseball broadcast team
· 23 seasons as a local team analyst
· One of only three broadcasters to call local games for the Mets and Yankees
· 30 seasons as a national network MLB analyst
Selig on McCarver’s contribution to Major League Baseball: “I want to take this opportunity to thank Tim for seven decades of service in one form or another to Major League Baseball. He’s certainly been a Hall of Fame broadcaster, but to me, more importantly, he has always been a great symbol of class. He’s a great analyst, and through all of our great events his remarkable composure has been a pleasure. On behalf of all the 30 clubs and everybody associated, we congratulate and thank him for all he’s done for the great game of baseball.”
Buck on what McCarver has meant to his career: “When I was 27 and got the chance, thanks to David Hill and Ed Goren, to do the World Series, I was sitting there in Yankee Stadium scared out of my mind and the biggest asset I had was Tim McCarver. The minute he engaged me in a baseball conversation or agreed with any opinion I might have, I had instant credibility. I was probably there before I was ready but I got through that World Series because of Tim. Fast forward all these years, to losing my voice a couple seasons ago, I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate or somebody that rooted harder for me than Tim McCarver. He’s become one of my best friends and somebody that I treasure. For him to share the booth with me and allow me the opportunity to have the time with him is a blessing.”
Hill on McCarver’s impact on FOX Sports: “He is, quite frankly, one of the best broadcasters I’ve ever worked with. Not only that I have worked with, but that I’ve listened to. I’ve worked in three countries and I’ve worked with some very, very talented individuals, but I put Tim right at the very top of the tree. Ed (Goren) and I would sit in the truck and look at each other when Tim would say, ‘This is going to happen,’ and it did. We knew it wasn’t guessing because to use the term ‘guessing’ there’s an element of doubt. Tim would know. He is one of those unique individuals that makes you so proud to work in this profession, and he’s leaving huge, huge shoes. This season, this World Series, this All-Star Game, for all of us here, is going to be so bittersweet because we love working with him and we know that he’s hanging his boots up from the day-by-day workload. It’s his call, and we respect him greatly, and we love him to bits.”
Shanks on McCarver’s best qualities: “My fondness for Tim over the last few years coming back to FOX Sports is probably nothing short of a man crush. That goes beyond what his performance is on the air, which he’s probably taught me more about baseball than my own father. It is bittersweet, but I do think that a lot of the DNA of Tim is toughness as a man, toughness as a broadcaster, toughness as a player, is something that is and will be a part of FOX Sports. As much as Tim wants to be part of FOX Sports 1 as time goes on, FOX Sports will continue to do what we can to fit into his schedule. I look forward to making sure that the path that Tim has set for baseball coverage here at FOX continues.”
Buck on one of the best lessons he learned from McCarver: “The word that you use to describe Tim McCarver is tough. He was tough as a player and he is as tough as a broadcaster. What makes him great is that he doesn’t let criticism bother him. He takes it in and he moves on. He doesn’t mind the online stuff, which is not easy to do in this world. He takes it and he moves on. He doesn’t mind if a manger or player doesn’t like what he has to say because everything he says is based in his opinion, it is well thought out and said for the right reasons. He has taught me more about handling all of that stuff than anybody. Nobody is even close.”
Buck on McCarver’s decision to step down as lead MLB on FOX analyst: “I don’t want to do these games with anybody but Tim. I respect his decision to step aside but nobody will be missed in this weird business more than Tim will be missed by me. For a kid that got into this business because of his father, and for somebody that needed everything he could get out of his partner at a young age, he’s every bit as important to me as my Dad. I love him like a brother and I’m lucky to have been with him. I’ve learned more from him than anybody I’ve ever been around in this business, including my father.”
McCarver on his decision to make this year his last as FOX Sports’ lead MLB analyst: “I don’t think that there was any one event that said, ‘this is too much.’ I just thought that it has to end sometime. Timing is everything. I feel like the timing is right for this year.”
Buck on McCarver’s call of what proved to be the final pitch in the 2001 World Series: “In the 2001 World Series, when that World Series came down to one pitch from Mariano Rivera and one floating base hit from Luis Gonzalez, Tim McCarver said before the final pitch the danger of playing the infield in with Rivera on the mound, saying there are a lot of jam shots with Rivera pitching and that there’s a lot of room behind the infielders. That World Series ended on the next pitch the way he described before it happened. That’s just – put your headset down and walk out and know that you’re the best ever to do what you’re doing.”
McCarver on calling the 2001 World Series between the Yankees and Diamondbacks: “There were so many emotions that surrounded those telecasts. Games 4 & 5 at Yankee Stadium were two of the most remarkable World Series games ever played. You can’t plan on anything like that. There a lot of things you say during a game and however prescient you want to be, sometimes those things don’t pan out. I still have a lot of people coming up and talking to me about that moment. That was only one moment in many emotional moments in that World Series and it was extraordinary and a real privilege to be a part of.”
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