Remembering Tim McCarver's Phillies Career

Tim McCarver was an established Major League star before he ever put on a Phillies uniform. In seven years as the St. Louis Cardinals' starting catcher, McCarver had been an All-Star twice, had played on three National League pennant winners and two World Series Champions, was the star hitter on the 1964 World Champion team, was second in the 1967 MVP balloting, and had caught future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson during his incredible 22-9, 1.12 ERA season in 1968. When McCarver was traded to the Phillies in the infamous Curt Flood/Dick Allen deal, he was expected to slot in as the Phillies starting catcher, but in his nine seasons with the Phillies, McCarver was the #1 catcher for only one season: 1971. His impact with the Phillies eventually rested on his becoming Steve Carlton's personal catcher and on his consistent, timely hitting.

McCarver's first season with the Phillies in 1970 was not even a month old, when he broke a finger on his throwing hand on a Willie Mays foul tip. That injury led to one of the more bizarre incidents in Phillies injury history, when backup catcher Mike Ryan broke a couple of his glove hand fingers in the same inning, trying to tag out an on-sliding Willie McCovey. Ryan somehow finished out the inning but could not continue and was replaced by utility man Jim Hutto, for his first ever Major League appearance behind the plate. You can read the full story of that fateful day here.  McCarver returned to the Phillies in September and hit .316 for the final month. 

After a slow start with the bat in 1971, McCarver recovered to hit a solid .278, He struck out only 26 times in 525 plate appearances over 134 games. Hitting highlights included a game on June 30 where he had two hits including a home run and scored three runs in a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, a three-run home run off the Montreal Expos Mike Marshall that gave the Phillies a come from behind 7-5 victory on July 8 at Veterans Stadium, and a four-hit game against his former team the Cardinals on August 1. The season also featured a fistfight with former Cardinal teammate Lou Brock, when Brock had the temerity to laugh after McCarver dropped a foul popup.

Despite the good offensive numbers, much of the talk after the 1971 season was about McCarver's defensive liabilities, particularly his throwing. McCarver admitted he had never been the strongest throwing catcher, and years of catching and finger injuries had not helped when he went to grip the ball out of his mitt. McCarver was candid about the problems, "I've just never been a strong throwing catcher," he told the Daily News' Bill Conlin. "I got the job done in my good years, but then I started thinking about throwing the ball instead of just throwing it."

McCarver worked hard to improve his throwing under the tutelage of his backup, Mike Ryan, and maintained his starting role for the start of the 1972 season, during which he was reunited with his former Cardinal battery-mate, Steve Carlton. Carlton would, of course, go on to have one of the greatest seasons a pitcher has ever had, but McCarver would not be around for most of Carlton's success. McCarver caught Carlton in 12 of his first 14 starts, compiling a 7-6 record, but he got off slowly with the bat, hitting only .237. On June 14 he was traded to the Montreal Expos for journeyman John Bateman. The trade was precipitated by McCarver's relatively high salary of 70K, more than the Phillies were willing to pay for a hit first catcher who wasn't hitting. Bateman went on to catch most of Carlton's victories in his 27-10 season.

After the trade McCarver wandered from the Expos, back to the Cardinals, and then to the Boston Red Sox. He was used primarily as a first baseman and pinch-hitter. His days as a catcher seemed to be winding down. In July of 1975, however, the Phillies signed McCarver as a free agent and almost immediately he became Steve Carlton's designated catcher. Bill Conlin wrote, "McCarver is to Carlton what Rasputin was to Czarina Alexandra. Carlton and McCarver mix like vodka and tomato juice." The pairing, of course, worked. In 1976, with McCarver doing most of his catching, Carlton regained his 1972 form and led the Phillies to their first playoff appearance in 26 years. When Carlton took the mound in game one of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, McCarver was behind the plate. 

The Phillies, with McCarver usually catching Carlton and otherwise acting as a pinch hitter, won the National League East Division in 1976, 77, and 78. McCarver was still a good hitter. He hit .277, 320, .247, during those years. While he did not hit for high average as a pinch hitter, he contributed enough hits, along with a considerable number of walks to make him valuable in that role. On July 4, 1976, McCarver celebrated the Bicentennial by hitting a grand slam home run in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium. Unfortunately, in his excitement, he passed baserunner Garry Maddox between first and second base. He was ruled out at second base and credited with only a three-run single.

By 1979, McCarver's skills on the field had eroded considerably and he retired to the broadcast booth, as had long been his plan. The Phillies brought him back for a cameo at the end of the Championship 1980 season, so that he could become one of the very few players to play in the Major Leagues over four decades, 1959-80. From there McCarver became one of the most insightful and entertaining baseball analysts ever. 

It as a fine ballplayer I prefer to remember him, however. McCarver often spoke for Carlton during Steve's silent years in the Phillies' locker room, but here I would like to turn the tables and give Carlton the final word. In his Hall of Fame induction speech in 1994 Carlton said, "Behind every successful pitcher there is a very smart catcher and Tim McCarver is that man [for me]. Timmy forced me to pitch inside. Early in my career I was reluctant to pitch inside. Timmy had a way to remedy this. He used to set up behind the hitter. There was just the umpire there. I couldn't see him [McCarver}, so I was forced to pitch inside."

Death Knell for a Dynasty: Halladay Drops 1-0 Decision to the Cardinals

This past 2022 season the Philadelphia Phillies made their first entry into the post-season in 11 long years. When I say long, of course, it is a relative term. I lived through the 25 years between post-season appearances of earlier Phillies teams (1950-1976) and my father lived through an even longer drought during the 35 woebegone years from 1915-1950. This latest season of qualified success, the Phillies just sneaked into the post-season with the final NL Wild Card spot, had me looking back on the last Phillies team to make the playoffs. That was a truly great team, which rode the pitching of the four aces, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt, to a 102-win season. It was also a team that had reached the playoffs for five consecutive years under manager Charlie Manuel, including two World Series appearances and one World Championship.

This great team went into the National League Division Series against the red-hot St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) and proceeded to lose the five-game series, 3-games-to-2. The final game saw the Phillies and Roy Halladay drop an excruciating 1-0 decision to Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals, at Citizens Bank Park before 46,520 stunned and silent Phillies fans. As Ryan Howard grounded out weakly to second base to end the game, he fell to the ground in agony with a ruptured Achilles tendon. That game and that final play became the symbols of the end of the Phillies greatest run of success in their 125-year history. The fall was precipitous. It would be 10 years before the Phillies would even finish above .500 again.

The Division Series began in Philadelphia with a Phillies 11-6 win. After Halladay gave up three runs to the Cards in the first, the Phillies hitters drove former teammate and Cardinals’ starter Kyle Lohse from the mound with a five run sixth inning. Howard hit a three-run homer and Raul Ibanez followed with a two-run blast to put the Phillies ahead for good. The Cardinals took the next game, 5-4, when Lee could not hold the four-run lead he was given. The Phillies got to Cards starter Carpenter for those four runs in the first two innings, but six Cardinal relievers held the Phillies off the rest of the way. An Albert Pujols seventh-inning single drove home the winning run.

Cole Hamels pitched six strong innings for a 3-2 Phillies victory in Game 3 as the series moved to Busch Stadium III. The Phillies Ben Francisco won the game with a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the seventh. The Cardinals battered Oswalt in Game 4 for a 5-3 win. David Freese was the Cardinal hitting star with two hits and four RBIs.

The series returned to Philadelphia for a winner take all Game 5. Halladay would face Carpenter.

The Cardinals took the lead in the top of the first inning, when Rafael Furcal led off the game with a triple and scored when Skip Schumacher doubled. That was it for the scoring as Halladay shut the Cardinals down for the next seven innings. Meanwhile the Phillies hitters could generate nothing against Carpenter, who they had handled easily in Game 1. In this game they could only manage a Shane Victorino double in the second and single in the fourth, and a Chase Utley single in the sixth. The series and the season came down to the bottom of the ninth inning. Carpenter was still on the mound. Utley led off and hit the first pitch for a fly ball out to center field. Hunter Pence grounded out to Daniel Descalso, Freese’s defensive replacement at third base. Howard was the Phillies’ last hope. Despite a home run in the first game, he had had a poor series, going 2-for-18 as he stepped in. He worked Carpenter to 2-2, then swung mightily, started to run, and crumpled to the ground as second baseman Nick Punto fielded the slow grounder and threw him out. What followed was a bizarre scene as the Cardinals rushed out to celebrate on the mound with Carpenter and the Phillies medical personal dashed out to aid the fallen Howard.

The Cardinals stayed hot and went on to win the NL Championship Series over the Milwaukee Brewers, and the World Series in seven games over the Texas Rangers.

Howard was never the same. He played just 71 games in 2012 and averaged just .229 with 19 home runs over his final five seasons with the Phillies. Halladay was never the same either. Suffering from arm miseries, he won just 15 more games in his career as his ERA rose two full runs per game in 2012. Chase Utley was slowed by bad knees, and while he managed two more decent seasons for the Phillies, he was a shadow of his former All-Star self. He was shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins was solid for the next three years for the Phillies, even winning his third Gold Glove in 2012, but his batting average hovered around .250. Lee struggled in 2012, bounced back well in 2013 and played his final season in 2014, when injuries caught up with him. In mid-2013 manager Charlie Manuel was fired, and the Phillies 2007-2011 dynasty was officially declared dead.

The Phillies got a small measure of revenge on the Cardinals in the 2022 playoffs, downing them in two straight games in St. Louis. Meanwhile, the New York Mets proved once again that 100-win seasons do not necessarily translate into post-season success, as they dropped their Wild Card Series to the San Diego Padres, 2-games-to-1. In the playoffs, it is often the hot team, and not necessarily the best team, that wins.

 

The Mad Monk Delivers a Little Good Luck

Whiz Kid Russ Meyer came by his many nicknames honestly. Monikers like "The Mad Monk", "Russ the Red", and "Rowdy Russ" would indicate a player with a temper. Meyer certainly had one. He is probably better remembered today for his antics on and off the field, than he is for being a pretty good pitcher. Meyer's best season as a Phillie was 1949, when he went 17-8 with a 3.08 ERA. 

Meyer was counted on to be a big winner in 1950, too, but a spring training elbow injury, plus a midseason encounter with a water bucket that resulted in a broken toe, limited his effectiveness. Meyer had shown he was a danger to himself before. In 1947, while pitching for the Chicago Cubs, he injured an ankle kicking the pitching rubber in anger. Meyer's greatest contribution to the pennant winning Phillies in 1950, was one game during the pennant run , when he beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3 at Shibe Park.

Coming into that September 8 game, the Phillies were in freefall, having lost five games in a row, three of them to the Dodgers. Their seven-game lead had shrunk to five and one-half games. Star left-hander, Curt Simmons, had been called up to military duty. Rookie sensation Bob Miller was on the shelf with a sore arm and aching back. Roberts had just dropped a 3-2 decision the night before. The Phillies needed someone to step up. Meyer answered the call. 

In the first inning, after Meyer got Jackie Robinson to popout with Pee Wee Reese on second, the Phillies staked him to a 2-0 lead, when Granny Hamner slashed a two-out single off Brooklyn starter Erv Palicka, driving home Richie Ashburn and Willie Jones. A Jones error in the second helped the Dodgers get one run back, when catcher Bruce Edwards singled home Carl Furillo. The Phillies got that run right back in the bottom of the inning, when Mike Goliat singled, Meyer sacrificed, and Eddie Waitkus singled home Goliat. The same three players increased the Phillies lead to 4-1 in the 6th. Goliat singled and again was moved up by a Meyer sacrifice. Waitkus drove home Goliat with a double this time.

As it turned out, every one of those runs was needed, because the Dodger's Duke Snider blasted a two-run home run over the high rightfield wall in the top of the eighth. With the score 4-3, Meyer took the mound in the ninth to try to preserve a much-needed Phillies win. He retired Furillo, Gil Hodges, and Edwards on three easy ground balls to notch the complete game victory. The win righted the ship for a while. "The slump's all over," a jubilant manager Eddie Sawyer declared.

What nobody knew until after the game was that the "Mad Monk" had luck on his side for this game. As Meyer related the story, "As I walked into the clubhouse, the guard stopped me. 'Here, he said. Maybe this will bring you some luck.'" Meyer showed the reporters a well-worn piece of copper with the barely discernable inscription, "Good Luck Penny," He kept the coin in his hip pocket throughout the game. Monk grinned, "I guess it did some good at that." 

The Phillies, of course, held on to win the pennant on the final day of the season behind the heroic pitching of Robin Roberts. Meyer appeared in two games in relief in the World Series and was the loser in Game 3, when he gave up a walk off single to the Yankees' Jerry Coleman.

After a couple more mediocre seasons with the Phillies, Meyer was dealt to the Brooklyn Dodgers in a deal that brought the Phillies first baseman, Earl Torgeson. Meyer seemed to find himself with the Dodgers and had an excellent season, going 15-5, helping the Bums win the 1953 pennant. 

Meyer's season was not without incident, however, as two encounters with the Phillies in 1953 illustrate. In the fourth inning of a game at Connie Mack Stadium on May 24, Meyer gave up a single to Richie Ashburn and then walked Johnny Wyrostek and Mel Clark. Meyer was incensed by several of the ball calls and let feisty homeplate umpire Augie Donatelli know about it. Finally, in frustration, Meyer threw the rosin bag thirty feet in the air. When it returned to earth it landed squarely on top of Meyer's head in an explosion of white powder. That was enough for Donatelli who tossed Meyer from the game. 

Meyer was not done, though. He stalked to the dugout, turned, yelled at Donatelli again, and grabbed his crotch. As it happened this gesture was captured by television cameras and touched off a storm of protest from viewers. The incident caused Major League Baseball to adopt the "Meyer Rule" banning TV cameras from the dugout. The rule lasted about 10 years.

In his autobiography Throwing Hard Easy (written with C. Paul Rogers) Phillies great Robin Roberts tells another Mad Monk story. The Phillies were playing the Dodgers. Ashburn was at the plate with the bases loaded. The Dodgers had a big lead. Richie, as he was very capable of doing, fouled off seven or eight consecutive pitches. That was enough for Meyer, who plunked Ashburn in the middle of the back with the next pitch and yelled into Whitey, "Foul that one off you sonuvabithch."