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McCarver pegs baseball history in 'Diamond Gems'

By Shaun McCormack | Special to amNewYork

April 30, 2008

Tim McCarver's occasionally clumsy color commentating during national baseball telecasts overshadows what should be his claim to fame: the 1964 World Series. He hit .478, caught Bob Gibson three times and crushed a three-run 10th-inning home run that won Game 5 as his Cardinals took down the Yankees in seven games.

Broadcasting qualms aside, McCarver knows baseball. His new book, "Tim McCarver's Diamond Gems," is a worthwhile read that takes us back to the golden days before free agency and steroids tarnished the image of America's national pastime.

"Diamond Gems" is essentially a compilation of interview transcripts from "The Tim McCarver Show," an outlet the broadcaster has used to score gritty television interviews with the game's greatest legends.

Willie Mays talks about "The Catch" and Bob Gibson claims he never tried to intimidate anyone, while Earl Weaver and Jim Palmer continue their manager-pitcher beef after all these years apart.

Much of the book focuses on players from the 1950s and '60s, but the current generation of fans will find plenty to identify with.

Mets fans will get to see Game 6 of the 1986 World Series through the eyes of Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter and Mookie Wilson, who admits, "Anyone who claimed to have been optimistic before Gary Carter got a two-out hit in the tenth had to be lying."

Yankees fans will feel like they're sitting on the dugout bench between Don Mattingly and Joe Torre. Torre gushes about Mariano Rivera's unhittable cutter and squirms with the memory of the 2004 ALCS collapse. Mattingly talks about battling Dave Winfield for a batting title during the last game of the 1985 season and how Lou Piniella taught him the best way to abuse the short right field porch in Yankee Stadium.

In addition, Chipper Jones claims that he loves New York and Mike Schmidt wishes Philadelphia fans had liked him more.

McCarver's ability to put his guests at ease and get them talking openly is the key to the book's success. There are no McCarversisms to be found here -- just candid conversations with the players we've grown up admiring.

Tim McCarver's Diamond Gems
224 pages, $24.95
( McGraw-Hill)