Tim McCarver Quotations

I don't think I could really talk about this (the TV aspect of working a big game) before the 1985 World Series when I was working (on ABC replacing Howard Cosell) with Al (Michaels) and Jim (Palmer). I don't think I could tell you how to do a big game.

He (Colon) is not throwing the ball hard now.

I will be shocked if Al Leiter doesn't come into the game now.

Look at Benito Santiago. When he first signed, there was definitely a language barrier. But he could throw, and if you can do that and block the balls in the dirt, that speaks volumes.

I think if you asked that question 30 years ago, it would have brought a different response,

While you may not have Boston or New York in it from a ratings standpoint, you do have the third largest market in Chicago and Clemens going for Houston, a team who has never been in a World Series.

You have Red Sox fans from coast to coast. The Yankees are an international team. The Red Sox match that. I don't think there is any question about that. They match anything the Yankees throw at them except victories. And they're going to try to solve that in the next 10 days.

There's no question that Roberts is in Gordon's head.

I've never seen anyone take to the booth as quickly as Lou. He's smart and sage.

You may not have Boston or New York from a ratings standpoint, but you have the third-largest market and Roger Clemens going for Houston, which has never been in the World Series.

You don't want to use too many statistics. The ones that apply to a July or August game won't be relevant on Saturday. If they are tied, or a game separated, who cares what happened back in May? Who cares if this hitter was 6-for-28 against this pitcher.

It's the guys who can breathe. It's the guys who have moisture in their mouth. It's hard. The water goes down in lumps.

It's doubled his workload, at least. He's trying to get to know these guys quickly. That didn't happen 30 years ago. The decade that Jorge has had with the Yankees has been much harder, from a mental standpoint, than Bench with the Reds or (Carlton) Fisk with the Red Sox or White Sox.

No, the fifth game of the first round is the worst, the most pressure. That ranks No. 1 because of the difference of the three-out-of-five format and the season. You play 162 games to play three-out-of-five. The disparity between the two is the reason it makes such an impact.

No, the fifth game of the first round is the worst, the most pressure, ... That ranks No. 1 because of the difference of the three-out-of-five format and the season. You play 162 games to play three-out-of-five. The disparity between the two is the reason it makes such an impact.

They have yet to come up with a remedy for that.

If he'd been around 75 years ago, George Gershwin would have written about him 'the way you wear your hat, the way you raise your knee.'

You want to give the audience the feeling this is the only game the Yankees and Red Sox are playing this year, ... that this is the only game that matters.

... and he can turn the double play.

The only difference between resigning and resigning is a hyphen.

A walk is as good as a home run.

When Steve and I die, we are going to be buried in the same cemetery, 60-feet 6-inches apart.

When Steve Carlton and I die, we're gonna be burried 60'6" apart.

If somebody told me back in 1980 that I would have a 32-year career, and that I'd be [elected into the Hall of Fame], I'd say no way. For three years, I couldn't even break into the Phillies broadcast booth. I was just hoping to make it, much less be mentioned as a Ford Frick winner. Believe me, when I started out, this award wasn't even close to being on the radar.

Carlton does not pitch to the hitter, he pitches through him. The batter hardly exists for Steve. He's playing an elevated game of catch.

As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii.

Speed slows down the game.

In many ways, it is easier to hit a pitcher when he is wild.

I think Tim Wakefield would even say tonight that Tim Wakefield got to Tim Wakefield tonight,

I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the batter; that the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit!

The playoffs are the wedge between the season and the World Series. If you lose, it means you won't be going to the greatest sports event in this country...You're forgotten by Thanksgiving.

Watch Darren Daulton use his mitt like a glove.

One thing about ground balls: they don't go out of the ballpark.

When a catcher has to use his thumb to give signs, that means the pitcher has more than four pitches.

Roy Oswalt is a drop and drive pitcher. What is a drop and drive pitcher? He is a guy who drops and drives. Very simple.

That pitch wasn't down and in, that pitch was down and up.

Something to keep in mind - it's raining lightly. The infield could be very wet on ground balls.

Yankee pitchers have had great success this year against Cabrera when they get him out.

Well, David Eckstein, like most of us, has 20 digits. Ten fingers. Ten toes.

Good habits are as easy to form as bad ones.

The reason we call that pitch up and in is because the arms are attached to the shoulder.

Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn't score any runs.