Tim Mccarver

Oh baby, he loves those Blue Jays. And Tim McCarver says, "Watch out for the Cubs," too. And what's the toughest division in baseball now? How about the top-heavy National League West? All of these observations - and more - came roaring out of the always- astute brain fields of J. Timothy McCarver, the pride of CBS-TV and occasional sidekick of Ralph Kiner, the other day. And when Tim McCarver talks, we listen. Here, he talks about the big doings at last week's winter meetings.

Although the Phillies failed to win a place in the baseball playoffs, a voice very familiar to Philadelphia fans will be heard when the New York Mets and the Houston Astros open the National League championship series on television tonight. Tim McCarver, a popular catcher with the Phils for years, will be the analyst working with play-by-play announcer Keith Jackson when the Mets and the Astros play at 8 p.m. on ABC (Channel 6). The first team to win four games will go on to the World Series, scheduled to begin on NBC (Channel 3)

Former Phillies catcher Tim McCarver, who began working in television as a Phillies announcer, will achieve his highest broadcast visibility yet when he begins his 16-day stint as prime-time co-host of the XVI Winter Olympic Games tonight on CBS (Channel 10 at 8). CBS's pairing of McCarver with Paula Zahn as nightly co-anchors of the snow-and-ice spectacle from Albertville, France, is an obvious indication that the network has broader plans for the affable announcer than the baseball diamonds that have engaged most of his attention for more than three decades.

Patricia Merbreier, better known to scores of Philadelphia's now-grown children as Mrs. Noah, died Thursday night after a long illness. She was 86. Merbreier entered Delaware Valley homes on Channel 6, alongside her husband W. Carter Merbreier, a/k/a Captain Noah, on "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark. " About 3,600 shows aired between 1967 and 1994. While Carter wore the captain's hat, it was Patricia who operated the puppets, like Mumwah the Monster. There also were occasional celebrity cameos, such as Elvis Presley and Charles Barkley.

BACK IN THE DAY, when major league baseball resembled a half-vast plantation and teams owned players forever and a day, the Cardinals traded centerfielder Curt Flood to the Phillies. It was October 1969 and Flood got the news from the publicity guy, so far down the chain of command he rattled when he walked. Flood said, hell no, he won't go. What he actually said was, "In the history of man, there's no other profession except slavery where one man is tied to one owner for the rest of his life.

NEW YORK - Fox analyst Tim McCarver will miss the first two games of the AL Championship Series because of a medical procedure and will be replaced by former Phillies and Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona. McCarver, also a former Phil, will have a "minor heart-related procedure" later this week, the network said Wednesday. He's expected to rejoin announcer Joe Buck for Game 3 on Tuesday. Francona is free after the Red Sox announced on Friday they would not pick up his contract option after eight seasons and two world championships.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Sunday at Bright House Field was unique in many ways. On one of the most gorgeous days in the history of mankind on this planet, visibility was obscured. By bees. Harry Kalas was back, thin as a rail and smoking in the tunnel, spring training, one presumes, for a hallowed voice mellowed by time, Kools and many, many choruses of "High Hopes. " Cole Hamels was about to be shut down next door at the Carpenter Complex when "soreness/tightness" reared its ugly head.

A former major league catcher, Fox Sports broadcaster Tim McCarver was a member of four franchises in his career, but he spent much of it with the St. Louis Cardinals and Phillies. The Phillies and Cardinals have a chance to be joined for another reason. If the Phillies reach the World Series, they will become the first National League team to do so in three consecutive seasons since the 1942-44 Cardinals. McCarver pointed out that everyone around Major League Baseball realizes how difficult it is to put together consecutive winning seasons the way the Phillies have.

Return Lineup Prominent players who've had multiple stops with Philadelphia's four major teams: EAGLES Hugh Douglas - 1998-2002; 2004 Ed Khayat - 1958-61; 1964-65 Tommy Thompson - 1941-42; 1945-50 Jeremiah Trotter - 1998-01; 2004-05; 2009- FLYERS Craig Berube - 1986-91; 1998-00 Dave Brown - 1982-89; 1991-95 Ron Hextall - 1986-92; 1994-99 Ken Linseman - 1978-82; 1989-90 Rick MacLeish - 1970-81; 1983-84...

Legendary Phillies announcer Richie Ashburn is among the names on the preliminary list for consideration for the Ford C. Frick Award, given annually to a broadcaster by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Chris Wheeler, Larry Andersen and former Phils broadcaster Andy Musser are also on the list. The list will be trimmed to a final ballot of 10 by a 20-member committee that includes past winners - Harry Kalas among them. The 10 finalists will be revealed Dec. 4, with the winner announced in February.

Tim McCarver won the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence on Wednesday. The former all-star catcher and current Fox announcer has been an analyst on national television networks for three decades. He also was part of the broadcast crews for the Phillies, Mets, Yankees, and Giants. The 70-year-old McCarver will be honored in Cooperstown during the induction weekend in late July. This week, Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo was elected to the Hall a year after his death.

NEW YORK - Fox analyst Tim McCarver will miss the first two games of the AL Championship Series because of a medical procedure and will be replaced by former Phillies and Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona. McCarver, also a former Phil, will have a "minor heart-related procedure" later this week, the network said Wednesday. He's expected to rejoin announcer Joe Buck for Game 3 on Tuesday. Francona is free after the Red Sox announced on Friday they would not pick up his contract option after eight seasons and two world championships.

BACK IN THE DAY, when major league baseball resembled a half-vast plantation and teams owned players forever and a day, the Cardinals traded centerfielder Curt Flood to the Phillies. It was October 1969 and Flood got the news from the publicity guy, so far down the chain of command he rattled when he walked. Flood said, hell no, he won't go. What he actually said was, "In the history of man, there's no other profession except slavery where one man is tied to one owner for the rest of his life.

Patricia Merbreier, better known to scores of Philadelphia's now-grown children as Mrs. Noah, died Thursday night after a long illness. She was 86. Merbreier entered Delaware Valley homes on Channel 6, alongside her husband W. Carter Merbreier, a/k/a Captain Noah, on "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark. " About 3,600 shows aired between 1967 and 1994. While Carter wore the captain's hat, it was Patricia who operated the puppets, like Mumwah the Monster. There also were occasional celebrity cameos, such as Elvis Presley and Charles Barkley.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - There aren't many films of the great Walter Johnson pitching off a mound. But there are quite a few of him warming up on the side, in that grainy, Mack Sennett speed we see in the archival baseball footage unvaulted by Ken Burns. The Big Train flips the ball from a low sidearm angle with an almost insolent ease. Witnesses to his prolific Hall of Fame career said the ball was on the hitter in a blur, wickedly darting down-and-in on bailing righthanded batters.

Roy Halladay's postseason routine will be a little different this year. When he was with Toronto, late part of October for Halladay meant resting and watching the World Series. He still will put his feet up, but now that his first taste of the postseason ended bitterly, the Phillies ace might watch something besides Joe Buck and Tim McCarver tomorrow night. "I normally do watch [the World Series]," Halladay said yesterday, 2 days after the Phillies' season ended with a thud. "But I don't know if I will this year.

A former major league catcher, Fox Sports broadcaster Tim McCarver was a member of four franchises in his career, but he spent much of it with the St. Louis Cardinals and Phillies. The Phillies and Cardinals have a chance to be joined for another reason. If the Phillies reach the World Series, they will become the first National League team to do so in three consecutive seasons since the 1942-44 Cardinals. McCarver pointed out that everyone around Major League Baseball realizes how difficult it is to put together consecutive winning seasons the way the Phillies have.

Fox Sports broadcaster Tim McCarver is as excited as anyone for tomorrow night's Game 1 matchup between the dueling aces of the Phillies and San Francisco Giants. To start off the National League Championship Series, the Phillies will send out Roy Halladay. In his previous outing, his playoff debut, he threw the second postseason no-hitter in history. Opposing Halladay's mastery, the Giants will send out their own ace, Tim Lincecum. In his first and only postseason start, on Oct. 7, "The Freak" threw a complete-game shutout while striking out 14 Atlanta Braves, a Giants postseason record.

JOSIE O'KANE didn't take any guff from the customers who made Palumbo's in South Philadelphia a gathering place for generations of celebrities, politicians and other notables. She was a waitress in Palumbo's Nostalgia Room for 25 years before it was destroyed by fire in 1994. "She would drop a plate in front of Al Martino and say, 'Eat this,' " said her son, Bryan. "She was tough and feisty. She would put people in their place, no matter how famous they were, and everybody loved her for it. " Josephine Rosa Gotti O'Kane, known to one and all as Josie, a Chicago native who worked at other Philly restaurants before Palumbo's and was an accomplished Latin/Salsa ballroom dancer and teacher, died Thursday of lung cancer.

Earlier this season, the Blackhawks started playing "Chelsea Dagger" following goals. The song is better known as the Amstel Light tune (or, in Philly, as "not that $#@% thing again"). Shortly after the Hawks adopted the ditty, a team spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times that it was the perfect anthem for the club because it came without any sort of hidden message or backstory. "For the White Sox, I think 'Don't Stop Believin' ' was a little more themed," the Blackhawks official said at the time.