As a baseball player, Tim McCarver was beloved by fans for his clutch hitting, solid catching and steady leadership. In his second career as a color announcer for baseball games on Fox and other networks, McCarver became a more polarizing figure, thrilling some fans with his incisive analysis and commentary, while irritating others with his strained puns and firm grasp of the obvious. Perhaps that backlash has as much to do with his ubiquity, because for many years he seemed to be covering nearly every baseball game on national television. However, no one could deny that he had a great voice for TV and radio and it turns out that he’s been doing a little impromptu moonlighting as a singer in piano bars. McCarver told USA Today recently that he was encouraged by friends (one of whom was a record producer, of course) to record a CD. “Since I’m getting older, I figured I may as well do it,” he told the newspaper. The title of the recording is Tim McCarver Sings Selections from the Great American Songbook and although it is not likely to supplant the works of Sinatra or Fitzgerald in the pantheon of vocal jazz standards, it’s not necessarily as bad as his worst enemies might wish. His vocal range is limited, say, to that of late, very late, era Frank, but his mellifluous tones are unmistakable. The album was produced by Sid Selvidge for Archer Records in Memphis with noted area session musicians.
Here’s the songlist:
1. On A Clear Day
2. This Will Be My Shining Hour
3. Two For The Road
4. There Used To Be A Ballpark
5. Gone With The Wind
6. Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You
7. Change Partners
8. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
9. A Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square
10. I’ll Remember April
11. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So
12. Then I’ll Be Tired Of You
13. I Wish I Were In Love Again
14. Day By Day
The CD is available at Amazon, iTunes and his own site.
