McCarver, catcher and broadcaster, dies at 81

Tim McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday. He was 81.

McCarver’s death was announced by baseball’s Hall of

Fame, which said he died Thursday morning due to heart failure in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was with his family.

Among the few players to appear in major league games during four decades, McCarver was a two-time All Star who worked closely with two future Hall of Fame pitchers: The tempestuous Bob Gibson, whom McCarver caught for St. Louis in the 1960s, and the introverted Steve Carlton, McCarver’s fellow Cardinal

in the ‘60s and a Philadelphia Phillies teammate in the 1970s.

He switched to television soon after retiring in 1980 and called 24 World Series for ABC, CBS and Fox, a record for a baseball analyst on television.

NHL NHLPA NAMES LABOR SECRETARY WALSH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR >>

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was named executive director of the NHL Players’

Association, putting an experienced union leader and the former Boston mayor in charge at a time of growing revenues in hockey and with collective bargaining talks a few years away.

The NHLPA said its executive board with representatives from all 32 clubs unanimously approved Walsh’s appointment. Walsh, 55, will begin his new role in mid-March, succeeding longtime executive director Don

Fehr, who had been in the job for more than a decade.

The NHLPA had been looking for a new executive director to take over for Fehr since April, when a search committee was formed to find his successor. Fehr, best known for his lengthy career running the Major League Baseball Players Association, started working for hockey’s union in December 2010 and was quickly named executive director, overseeing collective bargaining negotiations in 2013 and 2020.

Skiing

AMERICAN SKIER SHIFFRIN WINS GOLD IN GIANT SLALOM AT WORLDS >> American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom at the world championships.

Shiffrin held on to her first-run lead to beat Italian skier Federica Brignone by 0.12 seconds. Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway took bronze.

It’s Shiffrin’s seventh world title and 13th medal overall from 16 career world championship races.

Shiffrin’s victory came a day after an unexpected split with longtime coach Mike Day.

NBA LOVE DISCUSSING POSSIBLE BUYOUT FROM CAVS >>

Kevin Love’s long, winding run with the Cleveland Cavaliers could be ending after nearly nine years.

The five-time All-Star forward has discussed the possibility of a contract buyout with the Cavs after being dropped from their rotation, a person familiar with the situation told AP on Thursday.

Love is in the final year of a $120 million, four-year extension he signed in 2018.

The Boston Celtics named Joe Mazzulla their full-time head coach, removing the interim tag he has held throughout the season after stepping in for Ime Udoka.

Udoka was initially given a yearlong suspension before training camp for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization. The 34-year-old Mazzulla, a assistant under Udoka last season, will now replace his former boss, who will not return. Mazzulla is the NBA’s youngest head coach.

Terms of his new deal were not immediately available.