In his return to the Cardinals, Tim McCarver was hoping to be their first baseman, even though he’d never played the position in the big leagues.
Fifty years ago, on Nov. 6, 1972, the Cardinals traded outfielder Jorge Roque to the Expos for McCarver.
As the Cardinals’ catcher during their glory days in the 1960s, McCarver played on two World Series championship clubs and three National League pennant winners. He hit .311 in 21 World Series games for the Cardinals, In the 1964 classic against the Yankees, McCarver hit the game-winning home run in the pivotal Game 5 and had a steal of home in Game 7.
When the Cardinals reacquired him, it appeared his role would be as a reserve, but McCarver, 31, had other ideas.
Changing places
The Cardinals traded McCarver and Curt Flood to the Phillies for Dick Allen in October 1969. Flood refused to report, triggering the antitrust challenge that led to free agency for players. McCarver became the Phillies’ catcher. Limited to 44 games in 1970 because of a broken hand, he came back the next season, hit .278 and got into a fight with former Cardinals teammate Lou Brock.
In 1972, McCarver slumped, entering June with a .208 batting average, and fell into disfavor with manager Frank Lucchesi. “The Phillies had been trying since the end of the 1971 season to trade McCarver,” The Sporting News reported. “Lucchesi was not satisfied with McCarver’s receiving or throwing.”
McCarver sank deeper into Lucchesi’s doghouse when he argued with him in the lobby of a Pittsburgh hotel about the manager’s decision to ban beer on a charter flight from Montreal. In his book, “Oh, Baby, I Love It,” McCarver recalled, “I told him that the players deserved to be treated as adults.”
The Expos were interested in McCarver as a utility player. Though McCarver never had played a position other than catcher since entering the majors with the Cardinals at 17 in 1959, Expos manager Gene Mauch wanted him to play third base and left field as well as back up rookie catcher Terry Humphrey.
Mauch phoned McCarver to find out whether he’d be willing to try other positions. In his book, McCarver said Mauch told him, “If (former teammate) Mike Shannon can do it, you can.”
After McCarver agreed, the deal was made.
On June 14, 1972, Lucchesi informed McCarver he’d been traded to the Expos for catcher John Bateman. In his book, McCarver said he replied, “If you didn’t get any more for me than Bateman, you got fucked.”
In his Expos debut, McCarver started in left field. A week later, he started at third base against the Cardinals at St. Louis. “If fellows like Joe Torre and Yogi Berra could make the transition, there’s no reason McCarver can’t,” Mauch told The Sporting News. “Tim is a much better all-round athlete than those fellows.”
In August, McCarver replaced Humphrey, who was batting below .200, as the Expos’ catcher. “I know there are catchers who can throw better than I can,” McCarver said to The Sporting News, “but I can produce something that will help the team.”
On Oct. 2, 1972, McCarver was catching when Bill Stoneman pitched a no-hitter against the Mets. Boxscore
McCarver hit .251 for the 1972 Expos. He made 13 starts in left field, five at third base and 42 as catcher.
Mix and match
The Cardinals, who finished 21.5 games behind the division champion Pirates in 1972, were looking to strengthen many areas, including the bench. One position that didn’t need improvement was catcher. Future Hall of Famer Ted Simmons was stationed there.
So, when they traded for McCarver, the conventional wisdom was he’d be a utility player and pinch-hitter. McCarver thought otherwise. “I’ve got plenty of baseball left in me and I don’t like people categorizing me as a reserve,” he told The Sporting News.
McCarver went to the Cardinals’ Florida Instructional League camp in St. Petersburg and got lessons from teacher George Kissell on how to play first base.
When the Cardinals gathered for spring training in 1973, McCarver arrived in top shape after a winter of workouts. Manager Red Schoendienst needed to determine whether it would be better to open the season with Joe Torre at first base and rookie Ken Reitz at third, or shift Torre to third and start McCarver at first.
Reitz impressed with his fielding, so Torre stayed at first.
For the first two weeks of the 1973 season, McCarver was used as a pinch-hitter, but on April 22, in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader at Philadelphia, it felt like old times when the Cardinals started Bob Gibson on the mound and McCarver behind the plate. In the eighth inning, with the Phillies ahead, 1-0, Gibson walked, stole second and scored on McCarver’s single versus Dick Ruthven. The Phillies won on Mike Schmidt’s walkoff home run against Gibson with two outs in the ninth, dropping the Cardinals’ record to 1-12. Boxscore
Desperate, Schoendienst went for offense over defense in the Cardinals’ next game against the Dodgers, starting Ted Simmons in right field for the first time as a big-leaguer and McCarver at catcher. The Cardinals scored only twice, but Rick Wise pitched a shutout for them. Boxscore
A week later, Schoendienst tried Simmons at first base, and McCarver got to catch Gibson in his win versus the Padres. Boxscore
At that point, McCarver still hadn’t played at first base, but change was coming.
On-the-job training
On May 17, 1973, Torre injured his left leg in a collision at the plate with Cubs catcher Randy Hundley. McCarver made his debut as a first baseman, replacing Torre in the second inning. Boxscore
While Torre was sidelined for two weeks, McCarver filled in, hitting .316 for the month of May and fielding like a catcher. In his book, McCarver said, “I was trained to block balls thrown in the dirt, not catch them. At first base, I blocked a hell of a lot of balls, but I didn’t actually catch too many.”
Nonetheless, when Torre returned, Schoendienst sometimes shifted him to third in order to get McCarver into the lineup at first base.
On June 2, 1973, McCarver, batting for Ken Reitz, hit his first home run of the season, a grand slam against the Astros’ Fred Gladding, lifting the Cardinals to a 6-2 victory. McCarver hit .500 (7-for-14) with the bases loaded for the 1973 Cardinals. Boxscore
The next day, McCarver, playing first base, scored the tying run in the ninth and drove in the winning run in the 10th versus the Astros. “The Cardinals have won 14 of their last 16 games and tough Timmy has been a sparkplug in the resurgence,” Dick Kaegel wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boxscore
On July 26, 1973, McCarver caught Gibson for the final time. He replaced Simmons in the seventh and caught the last three innings in a 13-1 rout of the Mets. According to baseball-reference.com, McCarver caught more of Gibson’s games (214) than any other catcher. Boxscore
Make or break
First base was the position McCarver played the most in 1973, though he never felt quite comfortable there.
Recalling a game against the Phillies, McCarver said in his book, “With a runner on second, two out, a ground ball was hit three steps to my right. I should have fielded it, but, of course, didn’t. Fully realizing there’d be no play at the plate, I thought it a good time to try to figure out how I missed the ball. Jose Cruz, the right fielder, had other ideas. Trained to hit the cutoff man _ me _ that’s exactly what he did, right in the back.
“Bobby Wine, the first base coach, fell to his knees laughing as I yelled out to Cruz, ‘That’s the first time you’ve hit the cutoff man all year.’ “
In September, when the Cardinals had a chance to finish first in a weak division, McCarver did his best to help. He made 17 September starts at first base and committed no errors. For the month, McCarver hit .333 with 14 RBI and had an on-base percentage of .405.
The Cardinals finished 81-81. McCarver hit .266 overall but .291 as a first baseman. (He batted .205 as a pinch-hitter and .171 as a catcher.) He made 68 starts at first base and 10 at catcher.
McCarver rarely played the next season. He hit .217 in 106 at-bats for the 1974 Cardinals and was sent to the Red Sox in September.