{"id":13217,"date":"2025-06-04T09:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13217"},"modified":"2025-06-04T09:17:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:17:24","slug":"around-the-horn-with-tom-and-pat-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13217","title":{"rendered":"Around the horn with Tom and Pat McCarthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the final out was made and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched a playoff berth in 2022, Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy \u201990 did what a baseball announcer would typically do in this circumstance. He threw it to his sideline reporter for the post-game interviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except that this was a special moment for more than just the Phillies. Tom passed the microphone, so to speak, to his son, Pat \u201917, then a Phillies minor league broadcaster who was helping on the TV broadcast crew that night. \u201cI took my headset off, put it down and thought, \u2018Wow that was pretty incredible,\u2019\u201d says Tom. Three years later, Tom and Pat McCarthy are part of the history of father-son announcers in the major leagues (the most notable being four generations of the Caray family \u2014 the Hall of Fame sportscaster Harry, his son Skip, grandson Chip, and great grandson Chris). Tom is in his 17th year as the primary television voice of the Phillies and also announces for the NFL and college basketball. Pat is in his third season as a radio broadcaster for the New York Mets and does college hoops, too. Grab your peanuts and find your seats as we provide the play-byplay of their lives and careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

1st inning: Leading off<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom grew up in Brick, New Jersey, the middle of three boys and an avid New York Mets fan. He went to Trenton State in 1986 not having any sense of what he wanted to do, other than play baseball. \u201cIf someone had said \u2018You should really make cheeseburgers for a living,\u2019 I\u2019d have made cheeseburgers,\u201d says Tom, who started college as a biology major. He was cut from the TSC baseball team during his freshman year. But his Alpha Chi Rho fraternity contacts led him to sports writing jobs at Hopewell Valley News and the Trenton Times. Tom, who didn\u2019t take a journalism class until his senior year of college, says he \u201chad no idea how to write a story,\u201d but <\/span>learned on the job. Tom\u2019s advisor, biology professor Gary Lipton, saw how well Tom was doing in writing and broadcasting and had questions: \u201cWhat are you doing? Why are you a biology major?\u201d Tom switched to communications, and a feature-writing trip to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Times was a turning point. He got a broadcasting opportunity there and made a demo tape. It helped him land a broadcasting and public relations job with the minor league Trenton Thunder in their inaugural season in 1994.<\/span><\/p>\n

2nd inning: The home team<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pat grew up in Allentown, New Jersey, the oldest of four children born to Tom and his wife, Meg \u201990. Not surprisingly, baseball was central to Pat\u2019s childhood. As a kid, he learned the rules of the game (and his love for it) as he sat on his dad\u2019s lap in the announcer\u2019s booth. And on the flip side, his dad was in the stands to watch Pat develop into a star player. In fact, Tom caught Pat\u2019s first Little League home run and can still recite from memory key moments from Pat\u2019s athletic career, which included two years of pitching at TCNJ after transferring from Syracuse University.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was at TCNJ where Pat blossomed into a broadcaster in his own right, calling field hockey, soccer, football, and basketball games. Having had a feel for what to do on the air from listening to his dad (and, admittedly, the voices on the baseball video games that he played), Pat was quick to pick up the trade. \u201cHe was a natural and was exceptional with his preparation,\u201d says then-TCNJ sports information director Mark Gola.(1) \u201cWe might have had 22 viewers on the <\/span>livestream, but Pat was treating it like it was a huge game with a huge audience.\u201d Pat\u2019s professional career started as a fill-in on a Thunder radio broadcast while still a student at TCNJ. His cousin Mary had worked for the Thunder and tipped him off that the team needed an announcer for a day. A minor league broadcasting internship with the Reading Fightin\u2019 Phils followed.<\/span><\/p>\n

3rd inning: Called up to the Big Leagues<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tom
Tom McCarthy, announcer for the for the Philadelphia Phillies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tom announced games for the Thunder for seven seasons. In 2001, the Phillies hired him as a radio broadcaster. He left in 2006 for two years to do the same for the Mets, but rejoined the Phillies in 2008 and became their lead TV announcer when legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas died in 2009. \u201cI had the greatest opportunity to be part of the fabric of an amazing sports town,\u201d he says. After TCNJ, Pat spent five years as a radio broadcaster for a Phillies minor league affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. His minor league work was so well-regarded that he was even asked to cover for his dad on a few televised Phillies games in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Pat was hired as a Mets radio broadcaster. He hosts all the pre- and postgame shows and sometimes calls the play-by-play. \u201cIt\u2019s the honor of a lifetime,\u201d says Pat, who knows that hundreds of broadcasters apply for the handful of jobs available each year. \u201cThere was a standard set going back to the Mets\u2019 first season in 1962. Every day, I work to maintain that level of excellence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4th inning: Playing ball<\/strong><\/p>\n

The work that goes into each broadcast, Tom says, is \u201cpretty intense.\u201d He\u2019s at the ballpark hours before the first pitch, talking to players and meeting with the manager about gameday lineups. He studies the notes prepared by the team\u2019s public relations department, scrolls through social media and pertinent sports websites, and looks at sponsorship scripts he\u2019s asked to read. During the game, Tom confers with members of his TV production team, who update him on <\/span>graphics they might show or statistics that might be worth mentioning. \u201cFor Tom to be able to master the craft of describing the game and then also have the personality to be able to weave his knowledge into a conversation or the flow of a game is great,\u201d says Howie Rose, a longtime radio commentor who worked with Tom during his years with the Mets. \u201cAnd so I was really impressed with that from the very beginning.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Pat goes through a similar regimen. \u201cPreparation is the number one thing,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019re not prepared, people are going to know.\u201d <\/span>Pat has to be descriptive, since he\u2019s serving as the listener\u2019s eyes. Tom says that he admires his son\u2019s way with words: \u201cHe\u2019s way wittier than I am. I don\u2019t have the wordsmith ability that he does.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be having fun,\u201d Pat says. \u201cBecause if you\u2019re not having fun, I <\/span>guarantee you, the listeners are not, either.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Both McCarthys have become part of the tight-knit group of sports broadcasters, especially those in the Philadelphia and New York area. Many broadcasters have worked with both Tom and Pat at some point. \u201cThe two of them have a lot of similarities in their personality and in their sense of humor, which meshes well with me and our booth,\u201d Rose says. Former Phillies first baseman John Kruk, who is on the Phillies broadcast <\/span>team with Tom and has also worked with Pat, says: \u201cThey make life easy when you do games with them.\u201d But it is an off-air trait that Pat admires in his dad and tries to emulate the most: \u201cI watch him learn everybody\u2019s name and shake everybody\u2019s hand,\u201d Pat says, noting that this includes the players, coaches, and fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

5th inning: Crowd pleasers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom estimates that, in his career, he has announced 6,000 baseball games. But his most memorable call was in 2010 when Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a perfect game against the Marlins. Caught up in the magnitude of the moment, and the rarity of the accomplishment, he yelled: \u201cThe 1-2 pitch. Hit toward third. Castro has it, spins, fires \u2026 a perfect game! Roy Halladay has thrown the second perfect game in Philadelphia Phillies history. He faces 27 batters. He retires alllllllll 27!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Pat\u2019s favorite post-game interview was with Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the same night his dad passed him the mic in 2022. Hoskins was one of the longest-tenured players on the team and had been through some rough seasons. His emotions came out in the interview. \u201cI got Rhys to curse, laugh, and cry in the same interview,\u201d Pat says.<\/span><\/p>\n

6th inning: Heart of the order<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the lineup of people integral to the McCarthys\u2019 success, the team MVP would be Meg McCarthy. She was instrumental in managing the household for Pat, his brother Thomas \u201919, and his sisters Maggie \u201921, and Kerri \u201925. \u201c[Mom] raised four kids(2) and got us all where we needed to go,\u201d says Pat. \u201cShe was a rock star then and continues to be a rock star to this day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She was also there for Tom. \u201cWe took a lot of chances,\u201d says Tom. \u201cNot only with my ventures, but also with the kids\u2019 dreams. She has been there to support, lift, and also catch them when they fall.\u201d Both of Tom\u2019s sons have followed him into baseball. Thomas works in player relations for a baseball equipment company and broadcast games for the Thunder (now a summer college baseball team) last summer. His sister Maggie followed Meg\u2019s path and is now a teacher; his other sister, Kerri, graduated from TCNJ in May and is headed to grad school.<\/span><\/p>\n

7th inning: A word from our sponsor<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few times during a Mets broadcast, listeners will hear a commercial for The College of New Jersey, read by Pat: \u201cTCNJ has meant so much to me in terms of where I\u2019m at.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Pat
Pat McCarthy, post-game broadcaster for the New York Mets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My best friends are from TCNJ. My wife (Emily \u201918) went to TCNJ. It\u2019s indoctrinated in our family\u2019s DNA.\u201d Pat appreciates the chance to connect his work with TCNJ. \u201cGiving back with a 30-second read is such a small portion of the debt that I owe to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

8th inning: A friendly rivalry<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Phillies and Mets play each other, Tom and Pat often drive to the ballpark together and have the kind of father-son time they rarely get these days. The 2024 baseball season was great for both of them, as the Mets-Phillies rivalry included a trip to London (both brought their wives and toured the city together) and a playoff matchup. Though the teams are rivals, that doesn\u2019t spill over to family relationships. \u201cIt was just so much fun to experience together,\u201d Pat says. The Mets beat the Phillies to advance to the League Championship Series, but <\/span>Pat didn\u2019t rub it in. \u201cHe sensed my disappointment,\u201d Tom says. \u201cBut I was excited for him to get to broadcast on a bigger stage in the next round.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

9th inning: The winning team<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom loves that Pat followed him into a broadcasting career. \u201cI wish every parent could have the experience of a child who shares their interests as much as Pat shares mine,\u201d says Tom. <\/span><\/p>\n

Would the \u201cgrand slam\u201d be that the two broadcast side-by-side for the same team someday? \u201cI think that any opportunity you have to make more memories is worth doing,\u201d says Pat. \u201cTo share a mic, to share a passion, is the ultimate gift.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Peter Murphy<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How this father and son duo have become popular voices of Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":13219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13217"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13302,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13217\/revisions\/13302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}