Baseball legend and sports broadcaster Tim McCarver dies at 81

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Baseball legend and sports broadcaster Tim McCarver has died in Memphis, Major League Baseball announced. He was 81.

"All of us at Major League Baseball are grateful for Tim's impact on sports broadcasting and his distinguished career in our National Pastime," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement issued late Thursday. "I extend my deepest condolences to Tim's family, friends and the generations of fans who learned about our great game from him."

Manfred praised McCarver as an all-star player, "a World Series Champion, a respected teammate, and one of the most influential voices our game has known."

McCarver was a key part of St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies teams during his 21-year career but perhaps was even better known as an announcer, mainly for Fox Sports.

"We are saddened by then passing of our longtime friend and former colleague, baseball legend Tim McCarver," Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said in a statement .

"Tim will forever be remembered as the champion whose game-winning home run during the 1964 World Series echoed throughout time; to another, his voice will forever be the soundtrack to some of the most memorable moments in the game's history," he said.

McCarver began his playing career in 1959 at age 17 when he joined the Cardinals while still in high school.

Throughout his career he was primarily a catcher, and would go on to win two World Series with the Cardinals in 1964 and in 1967.

After retiring as player, McCarver moved into the world of sports broadcasting, becoming one of the country's most recognizable baseball commentators and winning three Emmy awards.

In 2012 he was awarded the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award and in 2016 he was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.