Lefty and Tim

If you are older than 60 and a avid baseball fan you might enjoy this book covering the relationship between Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver. The book takes you back to an era when starting pitchers threw complete games. The timeframe includes several labor disputes between the owners and the players, with issues that still plague Major League baseball. If you would like to learn how to throw a slider this is the book for you!

The two men who are the subject of this book, Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver, are both members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, albeit in different areas. Carlton, one of the most dominant left-handed pitchers in the history of the game, was a first-ballot inductee for his pitching. McCarver, who had a long productive career as a catcher for several teams, had even more success as a broadcaster and his long and illustrious career there was rewarded with the Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor bestowed to baseball broadcasters and a spot in the Hall of Fame.

However, Hall of Fame credentials are not all that link the two together. They both started their careers with the St. Louis Cardinals, where they developed a friendship that would develop into a great working relationship where McCarver became Carlton’s personal catcher – first with the Cardinals until they traded McCarver to the Philadelphia Phillies before the 1970 season and then later when Carlton was also sent to the Phillies before the 1972 season for a brief time before becoming teammates once again in 1976. This pairing of pitcher and catcher is captured in this book by William C. Kashatus.

Kashatus is known for his work on books about the Phillies, especially the depth of knowledge he has about the team and it shows in this book. The seasons in which Carlton and McCarver worked together are captured in great detail with a lot of game descriptions and rundowns of the outcomes of their teams. This is the case for not only their time together in Philadelphia but also in St. Louis, where there is a good deal of writing about the state of the Cardinals franchise in the 1960’s as well as the rise of the Phillies in the 1970’s from a last place team in 1972 to the championship 1980 season, even though the pair was no longer together as McCarver left the team after 1979 and after a brief stop in Boston, started his broadcasting career in 1980.

If this review sounds like it talks a lot about the baseball and not much about the two men who are the subject of the book, that reflects how the book is structured. In the introduction, Kashatus tells the reader that this will not be a biography of the two men but instead will focus on the teamwork and results of their time working together to bring success to both franchises. He certainly succeeded on that goal as the reader will learn much about the success for both men on the diamond, especially Carlton. The best chapter in the book about Lefty is about Carlton’s best season – 1972 when he went 27-10 for a last-place Phillies team.

However, that season saw him only work briefly with his friend McCarver because Tim was traded that season to the Montreal Expos and did not rejoin the Phillies until 1976, when the battery became even more productive and was seen by a larger audience as the Phillies won the National League East division for three consecutive seasons. These seasons are captured as well as 1972 by Kashatus and readers will learn a little more about stars on that team such as Mick Schmidt and Greg Luzinski as well as Carlton and McCarver.

While this book is not heavy into details about Carlton and McCarver, especially their personal lives, it is one that serious baseball fans of that era will enjoy reading to learn more about the success of a very effective pitcher and catcher team.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Simply put world champs. Love these two as a Phillies fan. Well written. Learned. A lot about these friends and battery partners

I would rate this book 3.75 stars out of 5.

Obviously the main focus of this story is about Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton and Catcher and reporter Tim McCarver and their careers in the Major Leagues. Two individuals whose careers span the 60's, 70's and 80's who had tremendous work ethic and pride in their craft. Many consider them the greatest battery or pitcher and catcher combo. There relationship started in St. Louis with the Cardinals and would eventually have stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and with the general manager of the Phillies recognizing that McCarver was like a security blanket for Steve so he brought back McCarver a second time with the Phillies. A couple of things I found interesting was one how could Steve was at throwing even in his teenage years and how that helped him to hunt. The second was to read that at one time both Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan were thought of as underachievers. Can you imagine what those same people if alive what would have thought at the end of both men's career. In my opinion this is a well researched book and maybe a little deeper then what a casual fan of baseball would be looking for. But if you are baseball diehard or a Philie Fanatic this should be right up your alley. Thank you to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press for an ARC for a fair and honest review. It was funny to read someone's comment that these two when they passed they would be buried 60 feet 6 inches apart.

Subtitled: How Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver Became Baseball’s Best Battery

Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver both started their baseball careers playing for the St. Louis Cardinals during into 60s and early 70s before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies because of union activism (McCarver) and salary demands (Carlton). Carlton became a Hall of Fame pitcher largely because of his achievements for the Phillies, although never earning the job of starting catcher, McCarver served for much of the 70s as Carlton’s ‘personal catcher,’ helping his old friend from St. Louis become better than he’d ever been before.


Lefty & Tim provides biographies of both men and a season-by-season rundown of each man’s baseball career, particularly for seasons where the two were teammates. After being an all-star and World Series hero at catcher in the 1960s and then reaching the post-season several more times with the Phillies in the 70s, McCarver went on to become a standout sportscaster, eventually entering the Hall of Fame himself for his on air work. Carlton pitched into the later half of the 1980s before retiring and then earning election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

I gave Lefty & Tim five stars on Goodreads. This book will appeal to baseball fans in general, and specifically to fans of the sport during the 60s and on through the 80s.

For background: Lefty and Tim is the dual biography of Hall of Fame pitcher Steve “Lefty” Carlton and catcher Tim McCarver, detailing their relationship from 1965, when they played with the St. Louis Cardinals, through 1980, when they played for the Philadelphia Phillies. Along the way McCarver became Carlton’s personal catcher, and together they became the best battery in baseball in the mid-to-late 1970s. Older baseball fans will be familiar with these two men and the effect they left on baseball. Philadelphia Phillie fans will love the background of these two friends. A great gift idea for the older baseball fan.

I'm an avid baseball book reader (and baseball fan) and my favorite reading area is the 1960's/1970's game so this book fits the bill for me perfectly. This detailed look at the greatest battery in baseball, Lefty Steve Carlton and catcher Tim McCarver is outstanding.

The two were battery mates for both the St Louis Cardinals (in the 1960's) and the Philadelphia Phillies (in the 1970's) and the author does an excellent job explaining how the two players were in sync as to their pitching approach, to the benefit of Carlton's performance.

Naturally, the focus is on Carlton but the book is very well-researched. The avid baseball enthusiast would probably love it but the even the more casual fan might enjoy it.

An excellent baseball (dual) biography!!