NOTHING COULD BE KINER
McCarver restored passion in Mets’ TV voice years & years ago
NAME association: Tim McCarver. Two things: 1) In 1966, as the Cardinals’ catcher, he led the NL with 13 triples.
That phrase, “He’s pretty fast for a catcher,” is nothing new. I heard it as a kid, when heavy-legged catchers — Gus Triandos, Earl Battey, Jesse Gonder — routinely were thrown out at first on two-hop line drives to right.
But McCarver, gone Thursday at 81, wasn’t as much fast as he was determined. He was easy to root for in 1966, even before running hard didn’t strike us as unusual or praiseworthy.
2) McCarver, without trying to pull teeth, but with kindness, respect and patience, in 1983 resurrected the cherished career of Ralph Kiner as a Mets TV voice.
By 1982, Kiner had very apparently lost his interest in the games he called. Teamed with Lorn Brown, a good soul, but dull as a cafeteria placemat (he recited players’ minor league stats between pitches), Kiner took on water, straining to stay afloat and awake.
Enter McCarver, off three seasons in the Phillies’ booth. He looked under Kiner’s hood and saw that the old engine was merely in need of a tuneup, some new spark plugs were needed.
He encouraged Kiner to share stories, opinions, observations. They wondered aloud and together why Kevin McReynolds was playing straightaway in left. They swapped stories about Bill Veeck, Bob Gibson and Leo Durocher. Our pleasure was their pleasure.
And for the next 15 years, the Mets’ TV team of McCarver and Kiner became entertaining, thought-provoking, amusing and quotable. They never talked down to us, always kept our heads in the game or The Game. McCarver made that happen. I could never figure why McCarver, as Yankees TV and Fox national telecast man, chose to be heard as a know-it-all, a fellow who replaced “maybe” and “perhaps” with spoken facts that often disputed the moving pictures, but was never the same away from Kiner as he was beside him.
McCarver restored Kiner from heirloom to here-and-now appreciation. He was as determined to succeed in that noble enterprise as he was to lead the NL in triples.