Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

That's right - I'm talking to you, Tom McCarthy. You were 2006 and 2007's radio play-by-play guy for the Mets, and you're now going back to Philadelphia to call Phillies games again. Peace out, kid. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

The name Tom McCarthy certainly didn't mean anything to me when in late 2005 the Mets announced the replacement they had selected for Gary Cohen, who at the time was preparing for his first season in the Mets TV booth during what was then going to be SNY's inaugural season. For all the heartbreak, the Mets - Fran Healy and Ted Robinson excluded - have at least always had good broadcasters, so I figured that the team had done it's homework and found an acceptable replacement for Gary Cohen, also known as the God of all things play-by-play.

Tom McCarthy even looks like a knock-off version of this guy

Tom McCarthy was okay. Nothing more, nothing less, just okay. He kind of sounded like Gary Cohen, except crappier. His home run call was particularly crappy. All in all he was like a poor man's Gary Cohen, with a Michael Kay home run call.

All the while the Mets TV broadcasts, a weak point in the FSNY/MSG/Matt Laughlin days, have in the past two years been as good as, if not better than, anyone else in the business. Gary, Ron, and Keith have become somewhat of a trademark, and as I've mentioned previously on this blog the Mets are fortunate to have put together such a great TV announcing team.

But the WFAN/Mets relationship is perhaps as significant as that of any radio station/baseball team combo. 660 am WFAN is THE flagship station for New York sports, where WCBS 880 is just another corporate news station, doing games for the corporate Yankees. And it's carried Mets games for the entirety of its 20-year existence. Lets Go Mets! F-A-N! (doo doo doo) Anyone who's ever listened to a Mets game on the radio knows what I'm talking about. Plus they play "Meet the Mets" at the beginning of every broadcast. Mets extra.


Mets baseball on the FAN, most always preceded or followed by the sweet voice of Met fan Steve Somers, has always been a first class production. And for the most part, the broadcasts have always had first class commentators calling the game. Bob Murphy. Bob Murphy and Gary Cohen. Gary Cohen and Eddie Coleman. Gary Cohen and Howie Rose. Howie Rose and Eddie Coleman. Howie Rose and Tom McCarthy? It was just kind of a downer.

Plus Tom McCarthy is a total Phillies fan. He did their games, plus the pre and post-game shows, for the 5 seasons preceding his arrival in the Shea broadcast booth, and now he's going back there, under his own volition. He issued the following statement with regard to his most recent career move:

“I’m excited to be back in Philadelphia. I enjoyed my two years with WFAN and the Mets. Both are first-class, as are the Phillies. I’m looking forward to returning and can’t wait for spring training to get here.” (metsblog, via Phillies team press release)

Personally, I'm of the school of thought that team announcers should be partisan. Incredibly partisan. I want the people calling Mets games for the Mets TV network and the Mets radio network to be passionate Mets fans. Now, it's different for a Joe Buck, or a Tim McCarver, where the former is a Cardinals fan, the latter still has an axe to grind with the Mets, and the two of them make up Fox's - and in turn baseball's - premier announcing duo. National television announcers should at least not be blatantly slanted.

But Bob Murphy (RIP), Gary Cohen, Howie Rose - these guys all love(d) the Mets. They're not unreasonable, and they're fair in their commentary - unlike John Sterling, or anyone else who's ever called a Yankee game - but at the same time you can hear that extra note of excitement in their voice when something good is happening for the Mets. And when any one game gets out of hand you can usually catch a few old Mets fan-related anecdotes from these guys about their longstanding allegiance to the orange and blue.

Some commenter on metsblog said Tom McCarthy grew up a Mets fan. BS. If that were the case he would not have had the stones to turn around and do Phillies games for 5 years before finally getting his Mets gig. I understand that broadcasting jobs are hard to come by, but I would consider that an irreconcilable difference.

The point is that Tom McCarthy shouldn't have been with the Mets, and the Mets shouldn't have gone for Tom McCarthy. He did a decent job, but he certainly wasn't good enough for the Mets to have given a former Phillies broadcaster, who at the very least had just compromised his Mets fanhood for the previous 5 years, their top radio broadcasting spot.

So peace out, Tom. Take your generic video-game voice with you back down to Philly and enjoy yourself. Hopefully the Mets and WFAN can find a first class replacement for a second class announcer.

(Pictures courtesy mets.com, sports.gearlive.com)