McCarver hits home run with two recent books

Holding two cups of coffee, Tim McCarver walked carefully across the room in his Lido Beach condo. "These once-steady hands aren't quite as steady any more," he said, laughing. 

McCarver may no longer be able to handle fastballs from Bob Gibson or Steve Carlton, the Hall-of-Fame pitchers whom he caught during his baseball career. But as a commentator, McCarver is as steady, smooth and knowledgeable as anyone in the business. 

An analyst for the Fox Network's baseball broadcasts and a member of the New York Yankees' television team, the 57-year-old McCarver is widely admired for his fearlessly opinionated style, and for his ability to explain the intricacies of the sport with precision and wit. 
McCarver brings the same insight to his two most-recent books, "Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans" and "The Perfect Season," both co-authored by Danny Peary. While spending the winter in Sarasota, McCarver will appear at two book-signings. 

"Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans," examines every aspect of the sport, from pitcher-batter confrontations to the positioning of infielders. "It was the hardest work I've ever done," said McCarver in a rich voice that still bears traces of his Tennessee upbringing. 
"We started with 800 pages, and pared it down to 350. Originally, it was to be a guide to watching baseball on TV, but we went far beyond that. I think we go deeper into the game than anyone ever has." 

Reviewers agree. Business Week magazine called it "the `Gray's Anatomy' of baseball." 
"The Perfect Season" is McCarver's account of the baseball milestones of 1998, the year of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home-run chase and remarkable achievements by Kerry Wood, Roger Clemens, Juan Gonzalez and many more players. McCarver calls the season "the greatest that any sport has ever enjoyed." 

McCarver has been coming to Sarasota since the 1960s, when, as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, he played spring-training games against the Chicago White Sox at Payne Park. But his three-month stay this year is his first extended visit. 

He's joined the Prestancia Country Club, where he's making his "first serious attempt at playing golf." But when asked how he's doing, McCarver grimaced as if he'd taken a foul tip against his catcher's mask. "It's such a mentally challenging game," he said. "I'm not sure the members of Prestancia would say I'm making a serious attempt." 

Later this month, McCarver will drive up to Tampa to check out the spring-training progress of the Yankees. He joined the Yankees' broadcast team last year after 16 seasons as a commentator for the New York Mets. It was widely speculated that McCarver's Mets' contract wasn't renewed because he'd been too critical of manager Bobby Valentine's decisions. 

"Nobody ever told me that, but the rumors persist," McCarver said. "But I never for a minute felt I went too far in my commentary. Some broadcasters feel that their responsibility is to the team, and to more or less root for the team. But I've never thought that. My obligation is to the fans. I try to tell the truth as I see it. 

"But I don't second-guess. Anybody can critize a decision afterward. I try to lay out various scenarios ahead of time." 

Believing that baseball doesn't exist in a vacuum, McCarver often brings in outside references, some of them literary. He once described the bounce of a tricky ground ball as "harder to read than a Russian novel." As a camera panned the disconsolate faces of the Chicago Cubs during a losing streak, he quoted a line from "Love's Labour's Lost": "Mirth cannot move a soul in agony." 
McCarver says he is a voracious and eclectic reader. "I enjoy everything from history to mysteries to biographies Churchill is a hero of mine," he said. "I'm also a big Civil War buff." 

McCarver's allusions and his penchant for puns can irritate some listeners. And in a letter to The New York Times last year, one Yankee fan lamented that he would now be forced to endure McCarver's "monotonous overanalysis" on Yankee broadcasts. 

"If someone said I'm quirky to a fault," I'd accept that," McCarver said, grinning. "And when I was a younger broadcaster, I did talk too much. Now, I try to put more impact into what I say, instead of more words. As for the reputation for puns, not every play-on- words is a pun. That's ridiculous." 

McCarver broke into broadcasting with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980. But informally, at least, his announcing days began as a kid in Memphis. "We'd play corkball in the streets, and we'd announce the games as we played," he said. "Our idol was Harry Caray, who was broadcasting Cardinals' games then. We all wanted to sound like him. I was always mad, because my fried Louie got Harry down better than I did." 

McCarver thinks baseball has a bright future, notwithstanding such problems as the imbalance between big-market and small-market teams. "I think the wounds have healed from the strike of 1994," he said. "And in a way, the fact that it took some time for the fans to return was a good sign. 

"I think it shows how emotionally tied people are to baseball. Basketball went on strike last year, and people didn't get as upset, and they came right back. I think it was different with baseball because the fans really took it personally. They said, `When you mess with baseball, you're messing with me. You're messing with my game.'" 

DETAILS 

Tim McCarver will sign books from 1-2:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at Circle Books, 478 John Ringling Blvd., St. Armands Circle, and at 3 p.m. March 12 at Sarasota News & Books, 1341 Main St. 
PHOTO; Caption: Baseball commentator Tim McCarver is spending the winter on Lido Key.


Copyright Sarasota Herald Tribune Feb 13, 2000
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