David Andrew McCarty (November 23, 1969 – April 19, 2024) was an American

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. From 1993 through 2005, McCarty played with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

(1993–1995),

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

(1995–1996),

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

(1998),

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

(2000–2002),

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

(2002),

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

(2003) and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

(2003–2005). He batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

and threw

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

Career

Born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas, McCarty graduated from

Sharpstown High School Sharpstown High School is a secondary school at 7504 Bissonnet Street in Greater Sharpstown, Houston, Houston, Texas, United States with a zip code of 77074. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District. ...

in 1988. He attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. In 1989, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

. The

(MLB) selected McCarty in the first round, with the third overall selection, of the

1991 MLB draft The 1991 Major League Baseball draft began 3 June 1991 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1990 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be distributed for players who did ...

. He made his MLB debut on May 17, 1993. In 1995, the Twins traded McCarty to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

for John Courtright. On July 21, 1995, the Reds traded McCarty,

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American American football, football coach with the Colorado Buffaloes football, Colorado Buffaloes. Sanders is also a former professional football and baseball player, having played in the N ...

, Ricky Pickett, John Roper, and

Scott Service Scott David Service (born February 26, 1967) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for several Major League Baseball teams, between 1988 and 2004. He also pitched one season in Japan, for the Chunichi Dragons in 1991. ...

to the

for Dave Burba,

Darren Lewis Darren Joel Lewis (born August 28, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player who played center field in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics (1990), San Francisco Giants (1991–1995), Cincinnati Reds (1995), Ch ...

, and Mark Portugal. Before the 1998 season, the

acquired McCarty from the Giants for

Jalal Leach Jalal Donnell Leach (born March 14, 1969), is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball in . He was primarily used as a pinch hitter by the Giants. He threw and batted le ...

and Scott Smith. On August 4, 2003, McCarty was claimed off waivers by the

from the

2004 highlights

On May 11, 2004, in the bottom of the eighth inning, original pinch-hitter

Brian Daubach Brian Michael Daubach (born February 11, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and current hitting coach for the Rochester Red Wings. During his playing career Daubach served as a first baseman, outfielder, and designated ...

was called back to the bench after the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

made a pitching change and decided to go to lefty Scott Stewart. McCarty, due to hitting well against lefties, was sent up to hit by manager

Terry Francona Terrence Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959), nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/G ...

. On an 0-1 pitch, McCarty lined a two-run triple to right field that gave the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. They went on to win by that score. On May 30, 2004, McCarty, who had entered the game in the eighth inning, hit a walk-off two-run home run against Mariners pitcher

J. J. Putz Joseph Jason Putz (; born February 22, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks. Early life an ...

in the bottom of the twelfth inning to give the Red Sox a 9-7 victory. McCarty also made three pitching appearances in 2004. The first one was in the home opener on April 9 vs the Blue Jays, the second one was on June 12 vs the Dodgers, in which he struck out Jayson Werth and the final one was in the final game of the regular season against the Orioles, in which he struck out

Rafael Palmeiro Rafael Palmeiro Corrales (born September 24, 1964) is a Cuban-American former baseball first baseman and left fielder. He played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for three teams. Palmeiro was an All-American at Mississippi State Univer ...

, Larry Bigbie and David Newhan.

Release and retirement

The Red Sox released McCarty in May 2005 after the team signed first baseman

John Olerud John Garrett Olerud Jr. (; born August 5, 1968) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays team that won two consecut ...

. He retired and was a Red Sox analyst on

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of the Boston ...

from July 1, 2005, until the end of the 2008 season.

Personal life and death

McCarty lived in

Piedmont, California Piedmont is a small city located in Alameda County, California, United States, enclaved by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 11,270 at the 2020 census. The name comes from the region of Piedmont in Italy, and it means 'foothil ...

, with his wife, novelist Monica McCarty, and their two children. McCarty died following a cardiac event in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, on April 19, 2024, at the age of 54.

References

External links

McCarty expands repertoire - Jayson Stark, ESPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarty, David 1969 births 2024 deaths Boston Red Sox players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Minnesota Twins players Oakland Athletics players Baseball players from Houston San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners players Stanford Cardinal baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Sportspeople from Piedmont, California Baseball players from Alameda County, California Orlando Sun Rays players Visalia Oaks players Portland Beavers players Salt Lake Buzz players Indianapolis Indians players Phoenix Firebirds players Tacoma Rainiers players Toledo Mud Hens players Durham Bulls players Sacramento River Cats players Lowell Spinners players Pawtucket Red Sox players All-American college baseball players 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen Goodwill Games medalists in baseball Baseball players at the 1990 Goodwill Games