Pat McCarthy pinch-hits for his dad
By: Philadelphia Phillies
Tags: Family, Talent, Baseball, Phillies, Philadelphia

Pat McCarthy pinch-hits for his dad

The 26-year-old voice of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs was embraced by Phillies faithful while filling in for Tom McCarthy last weekend. Philadelphia Phillies Follow Aug 28 · 4 min read

Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola walked to the dugout as the fourth inning ended in last Saturday’s game against the Padres in San Diego. He retired the first 12 batters in a row.

As the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast of the game cut to commercial, Pat McCarthy looked down at his phone for the first time in a few innings. It was on “Do Not Disturb” mode, but he quickly glanced at his messages.

It was blowing up.

Friends, family and former college baseball teammates texted him frantically. Maybe they wouldn’t say it outright, but all of them eluded to the same idea.

In his first Major League broadcast, Pat had a chance to call a perfect game.

“And I was a pitcher in college so I love pitching duels,” Pat McCarthy said. “It was probably like the fourth or fifth inning when it really settled in and we realized this was something we had to prepare for.”

The bid for perfection made it to the seventh inning before the Padres broke through. Nonetheless, it was a perfect weekend for Pat, the 26-year-old radio voice of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, who filled in for his dad, Tom, on the Phillies’ television broadcast.

While Tom worked an NFL preseason game in Cleveland, Pat called a “roller-coaster” game on Saturday night and a dominant Phillies victory on Sunday afternoon alongside Ruben Amaro Jr.

And, as a quick Twitter search will show you, he was instantly embraced by Phillies fans.

“It was so overwhelmingly positive,” Pat McCarthy said. “I could have never imagined the response that people gave. They were so genuinely nice and gave so many positive comments about the broadcast. Truly, it was humbling and it was overwhelming at times. I couldn’t believe the number of people that reached out.”

There were nerves, of course. Filming a TV open was a new experience for the radio play-by-play broadcaster. But Pat knew once the first pitch was thrown, his 400+ games of experience would kick in. Leadoff hitter Odúbel Herrera made that even easier.

“Odúbel hitting a leadoff home run was the greatest thing that could happen,” Pat McCarthy said. “It didn’t give me any time to overthink. It was just like, ‘Ok! Here we go!’ It just loosened everything up and jump-started the entire broadcast.”

Pat’s partner on set also kept the broadcast loose. Pat has known Amaro since he was kid, which made it easier to keep the game conversational and relaxed. Pat was also able to lean on Amaro’s perspectives as a player, coach and general manager throughout both games.

“He couldn’t have made my life easier,” Pat McCarthy said.

Pat and Amaro were stationed in the NBC Sports Philadelphia studios at the Wells Fargo Center for both games in San Diego. Calling games off a monitor isn’t easy, but Pat is used to more difficult circumstances while calling IronPigs games off an iPad.

“I’ll be in the middle of calling a pitch and the screen will go to black with a circling white buffering screen,” Pat McCarthy said. “And then I have to go call it off of Gamecast.”

“Seeing our studios was like Christmas for him.” Tom McCarthy said.

Tom decided a couple hours before the game that he wouldn’t watch the broadcasts live. He had his own game to prepare for. Plus, he wanted to be there for Pat as a father first instead of a broadcast critic.

He even held back from adding on to the barrage of texts Pat received once he noticed the Phillies were perfect through six. When he listened back, he heard some familiar cadences.

“I have a system, and he kind of followed it without me even telling him,” Tom McCarthy said. “I usually go, ‘15 up, 15 down.’ Then, ‘He’s gotten 18 in a row.’ And then as the seventh inning gets underway I’ll say something like, ‘He’s perfect so far.’”

“We have a way of communicating with each other without saying a ton,” Pat McCarthy added.

Tom had a few pieces of advice for Pat before his debut. He told him simply to have fun, be on time and just be himself. When the weekend ended, Tom didn’t critique Pat as a professional. He just glowed as an excited father.

“He just told me he was proud of me,” Pat McCarthy said. “He told me it was special.”

Pat was vacationing with his fiancée in Ocean City two weeks ago when he got the call to the big leagues. It was a process that began last offseason when NBC Sports Philadelphia reached out and asked for his demo reels.

Now, Pat is back at Lehigh Valley where the IronPigs need his services for an extensive 12-game homestand against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Syracuse.

But his weekend in the majors is sure to be a standout moment in his 2021 season.

“At the end of the day, people were trusting me,” Pat McCarthy said. “The Phillies trusted me and NBC Sports Philadelphia trusted me to do a good job. So, to know I was able to do the job that they were all hoping I was able to do and to make my dad proud of me, that was all I needed.”

— Beyond the Bell contributor Graham Foley