Photo: Tim McCarver, left, and Orlando Cepeda
It was probably 1993 or 1994 (maybe 1995). San Francisco Giants legend Orlando Cepeda had recently moved to Suisun City and momentum was building behind his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. I was writing a big feature article for the Daily Republic about Cepeda.
I'd interviewed Orlando, but needed other sources. Mike Massa, then the assistant sports editor at the Daily Republic, went to a Giants game with me. I planned to ask Giants manager Dusty Baker about Cepeda, but had no further ideas.
Unbeknownst to us, the following day was a national Game of the Week TV broadcast. That became clear when we saw Tim McCarver, the famous broadcaster who was working as the lead analyst on ABC-TV.
It hit me: McCarver had been Orlando Cepeda's teammate on the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967, the year Cepeda was the National League MVP. He could be a source! I could interview McCarver.
Then second thoughts: Was McCarver on that team? He had to be. Or maybe not? This was pre-Internet and I had to rely on my memory, because my Baseball Encyclopedia was at home.
I approached McCarver behind the cage during batting practice and introduced myself as Mike stood behind me. I told McCarver I was working on the article on Cepeda, then made sure I wasn't wasting my time. "You were on that 1967 team with Orlando, right?" I asked.
McCarver smirked and shook his head.
"Was I on the team? Was I on the team? Come on, Brad! Do your homework!"
He knew my name! (Maybe he read it off my press pass, maybe he just had a good memory). I laughed because McCarver clearly was having fun. He wasn't mad, he was engaging me. He turned to Massa. "Can you believe this guy, Mike? Was I on the team? Orlando was the MVP and I was second! Was I on the team? Come on! You're better than that, Brad!"
McCarver was indeed on the Cardinals that year and he was indeed second in the MVP voting, although Cepeda got every first-place vote. But McCarver was having fun at my expense, which was fine. I'd been given a genuinely hard time by other baseball figures (Bobby Bonds, Matt Williams, Tony La Russa) and this was different. McCarver was a huge broadcasting star and he was having fun teasing the small-town sports writer who was too young to remember 1967.
McCarver ended up giving me some great quotes. He adored Cepeda and respected him as a teammate. When the interview was over, McCarver shook my hand and wished me good luck with the article. That night, Mike and I returned to the office with a great story and a new appreciation for McCarver: "Was I on the team? Come on, Brad! Do your homework!"
Cepeda made the Hall of Fame in 1999. McCarver was inducted in 2012 as a broadcaster.
When McCarver died Thursday at age 81, that interview was the first thing I remembered. Former Daily Republic sports editor Paul Farmer texted me that night, also recalling the story.
Tim McCarver had a legendary career. He was an above-average major leaguer for 21 seasons, then an elite broadcaster for decades more, calling a record 24 World Series on national TV.
He was an outstanding player, a great teammate and a broadcasting legend.
Late in his broadcasting career, McCarver became almost a caricature: A broadcaster who talked too much. His great insight (he was an outstanding communicator who would tell you things you didn't know) was sometimes overshadowed by his loquaciousness ("You can't see the wind, Jack! You can see the effects of the wind, but you can't see the wind.").
I never bought that view of McCarver. I thought he was a great broadcaster. More than that, I never forgot that Friday night when the network TV broadcaster took time to not only talk to me, but to give me a hard time while winking at my colleague to ensure that we knew he was joking.
He most definitely was on that 1967 Cardinals team!
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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