Appreciating Tim McCarver

Before Tim McCarver walks off the stage I wanted to take a minute to appreciate his work with the Mets.

Generation Piazza has been spoiled with excellent broadcasters, but back in the darkest timeline the Mets TV coverage, like the team, had hit rock bottom.

The lone TV carryover from the golden age, Ralph Kiner, had spiraled down into sounding like a doddering old man whose malapropisms weren’t cute. As awesome as Ralph has been in late life, the Kiner of the early 80’s was just another bad broadcaster.

Along comes McCarver who brought enthusiasm and fresh analysis. That first time he told us all that you never make the first or third out at third base a lightbulb went on.

Suddenly there was talk of strategy. The way Keith Hernandez was positioned. What Whitey Herzog might be thinking.

Just as important, Tim knew how to pull stories out of Ralph. Here was a stud player on and off the field. When Ralph talked about hitting he had the resume to back it up. All Ralph had needed was someone to ask the question and provide an audience.

Tim in the 80’s was great. The sound of 75-100 games a summer (with the rest of the games inaccessible to those in the outer boroughs since there was no cable TV in those boroughs and the Mets had taken half the games off free tv.)

Don’t judge Tim by his work sitting next to Joe Buck. It’s like judging U2 by No Line On The Horizon or How I Met Your Mother by this awful season.

Nice job Tim. I will fondly remember those nights in the 80’s.