American baseball player, a former catcher for both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. He had a solid major league career that lasted 21 years and he appeared in three World Series. He began broadcasting with the Phillies in 1980, covered the 1992 Winter Olympics and then worked as a TV sportscaster.
McCarver grew up in an enthusiastic Irish family of seven in the tough working-class section of Memphis where his dad, Edward, was a cop and his mom, Alice, a housewife. At the age of five, his older sister, Margaret was the first one to work on his swing. She asked him, “Why don’t you turn around and hit the other way?” It’s the only thing he does left-handed. Even in high school in Memphis he was adored and boosted by local sportswriters. Baseball wasn’t merely a game but an extension of his will and very being. He reached beyond his natural abilities. For six years, between baseball seasons, he attended several colleges but never graduated.
The 17-year-old McCarver signed with the Cardinals in 1959 for a bonus of $75,000, an enormous figure for the time. As catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals he was teamed up with Cardinal pitcher, Bob Gibson, a black player. After some shaky starts it became an enduring relationship professionally and personally. Having grown up in the segregated youth of the late 1950s, McCarver had to make adjustments playing in the big leagues. There were lessons and cultural habits to be unlearned if he was to win the approval of his gifted, tough-minded black teammates. McCarver made his leap out of sports and into mainstream TV on 8 February 1992 when he paired up with Paula Zahn as prime-time co host for the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville, France. He had apprenticed for eight months prior to that as co-anchor on CBS’s This Morning show with Zahn.
Married in 1964 to the former Anne McDaniel, his Memphis belle, they had two kids, Kathy and Kelly. He had a passion for reading, especially about the Civil War, and collecting fine wines. McCarver died of heart failure in Memphis on 16 February 2023 at age 81.
Link to Wikipedia biography