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ST. LOUIS – Longtime St. Louis Cardinals catcher and MLB broadcaster Tim McCarver has died at the age of 81.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame first reported McCarver’s death Thursday afternoon, noting that he died in the company of family.

McCarver, a two-time World Series champion with the Cardinals, played 12 seasons in St. Louis.

A Memphis native, McCarver made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 1959 at the age of 17. He earned two All-Star nods with the Cardinals and finished as runner-up of the National League MVP in 1967.

After baseball, McCarver became more well-known nationally for his work in TV broadcast with FOX Sports. He formed a strong partnership with Joe Buck, working together to call for 23 World Series and 20 MLB All-Star Games.

McCarver’s work in broadcast led him to three Emmy Awards, the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame honors in 2016.

FILE – Baseball announcer Tim McCarver poses in the press box before the start of Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Oct. 2, 2003 in New York. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)FILE – Tim McCarver greets the crowd before accepting the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting as part of the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies, at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 21, 2012. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth, File)FILE – Tim McCarver, a member of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 1967 World Series championship team, takes part in a ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of the victory before the start of a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox on May 17, 2017, in St. Louis. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)Original caption: St. Louis Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver clutches his bat, August 1967. McCarver is hitting 308 and is having one of his best years with the team. McCarver a stalwart behind the plate is looking forward to his 2nd World Series as he was with the Cardinals in 1964 when the Cards beat the Yankees. (Getty Images)FILE – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson receives a congratulatory hug from catcher Tim McCarver after he pitched a three-hit, 7-2 victory in Game 7 over the Boston Red Sox to win the 1967 World Series at Fenway Park, on Oct. 12, 1967 in Boston. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/File)FILE – St. Louis Cardinals’ Tim McCarver watches ball as he hits the game-winning home run in the 10th inning in Game 5 of the baseball’s World Series against the New York Yankees on Oct. 12, 1964 in Yankee Stadium in New York. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/File)FILE – Philadelphia Phillies catcher Tim McCarver, left, and pitcher Steve Carlton chate before a baseball game against New York Mets on Sept. 9, 1977, in New York. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/File)FILE – New York Mets’ Tim Foli of the slides across home plate to score in the first inning of a baseball game as the ball gets away from Philadelphia Phillies’ catcher Tim McCarver on July 5, 1978, the Shea Stadium in New York. McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday morning, Feb. 16, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., due to heart failure, baseball Hall of Fame announced. He was 81. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File)

“I think there is a natural bridge from being a catcher to talking about the view of the game and the view of the other players,” McCarver told the Hall in 2012, the year he and Buck were given the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting. “It is translating that for the viewers. One of the hard things about television is staying contemporary and keeping it simple for the viewers.”

As a catcher, McCarver ranks Top 50 among primary MLB backstops all-time with a 28.7 WAR rating. Behind the plate, he caught more than and, 11600 innings, threw out more than 300 baserunners attempting steals and fielded at a .990 clip.

McCarver caught many talented pitchers in his prime, including Hall-Of-Famers Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. He made 228 starts as a starting battery mate of Carlton and 197 such starts with Gibson.

“Behind every successful pitcher, there has to be a very smart catcher, and Tim McCarver is that man,” Carlton said during his Hall of Fame speech in 1994.

“It would take us an inning or too to get on the same page, but pretty much once the game got going, we were there,” said Gibson on McCarver in a 2018 Bally Sports Midwest interview.

As a hitter, McCarver collected 1,501 hits with 97 home runs and 645 RBIs with a lifetime .271 batting average. One of the biggest hits came in Game 5 of the 1964 World Series, during which he delivered an extra-innings home run in an eventual Cardinals victory.

After his Cardinals days, McCarver also spent nine years with the Philadelphia Phillies, two years with the Boston Red Sox and one year with the Montreal Expos. Wrapping up his baseball career in 1980, McCarver is among a small handful of MLB players to have competed in four different decades.

McCarver pursued broadcasting shortly after he retired as a player. Within a few years, he called games for the Phillies, New York Mets and New York Yankees. He also became Jack Buck’s sidekick for baseball broadcasts on CBS, a role he reprised with his son Joe Buck on FOX Sports from 1996 to 2013.

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One of McCarver’s most iconic calls came during Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. The score was tied 2-2 as the New York Yankees drew in their infield with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. New York’s Hall-of-Fame closer Mariano Rivera was facing Arizona’s Luis Gonazlez.

“Rivera throws inside to left-handers,” McCarver noted. “Left-handers get a lot of broken-bat hits into shallow outfield, the shallow part of the outfield. That’s the danger of bringing the infield in with a guy like Rivera on the mound.”

Moments later, Gonzalez did exactly just that. He got just enough of a bloop single to short center field and drove in the series-clinching run.

McCarver also joined various Cardinals broadcasts on FOX Sports Midwest from 2014 to 2019, a stretch during which he was also inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. He officially retired from his broadcasting duties in April 2022.

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