FILE - In this July 21, 2012, file photo, Tim McCarver greets the crowd before accepting the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting as part of the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y.(Photo: Heather Ainsworth/AP)

He lives in Sarasota, Florida, and owns a residence in Napa, California, but Tim McCarver, the former major league all-star catcher and broadcaster, says hell always have an affinity for his hometown.

And his hometown continues to reciprocate.

McCarver, 75, will receive the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Distinguished Citizen Award in a ceremony June 25 at the Memphis Hilton. The award has been presented to a wide range of prominent Americans through the years. Past recipients include Elvis Presley, former Ole Miss and NFL quarterback Archie Manning, FedEx founder Fred Smith, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospitalfounder and actor Danny Thomas, Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, and legendary football coaches Bear Bryant and Lou Holtz.

The honor is very nice, McCarver said. Im very flattered. Any time you receive an honor whose origin is your hometown, its very, very special.

McCarver said he moved from Memphis in 1978, but in reality, I never really left.

My friends that are there people that have been my friends since childhood, or at least after high school they are people that are going to be friends for the rest of my life, he said.

McCarver was a Christian Brothers High standout in football and baseball in the late 1950s and began his pro baseball career as a 17-year-old. His 21-year major league career spanned four decades, the majority of those seasons spent with the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1964, he was named MVP of the World Series after hitting .478 and helpingthe Cardinals beat the New York Yankees in a seven-game series.

Following his playing career, he moved into broadcasting and began a second career that ultimately earned him a place in the broadcasters wing in the Baseball Hall of Fame. McCarver was an analyst for 16 World Series broadcasts and remains in the booth, on a limited basis, doing Cardinals broadcasts on Fox Sports Midwest. He said hell work about 30 games this season.

"He was born and raised in Memphis," said Steve Ehrhart, executive director of the bowl game. "He is perfect for us to recognize."

Ehrhart said McCarver will join a group of a past honorees "who have distinguished themselves" to reach the pinnacles of their respective fields.

Although the Liberty Bowl didnt move to Memphis until the mid-1960s, McCarver has followed the game through the years. He said there was a brief period he got involved with the game as a representative, or bowl scout, when the bowls sent representatives to `scout potential teams.

I traveled for the bowl, I made two trips to the University of Missouri, he said. In fact, the first one was in 1969 and Harry Caray was still doing (play-by-play) for the University of Missouri football games.

McCarver said Caray, the longtime baseball play-by-play announcer for the Cardinals at the time, invited him to be his halftime guest and talk about the Liberty Bowl. Instead, McCarver said, Caray spent someof the interview discussing his and McCarver's recent exits from St. Louis. Caray left to become play-by-play announcer for the Oakland A's (followed by stints with the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs) and McCarver departed in a trade to Philadelphia.

The honor will be the second McCarver has received from his hometown since retiring from full-time broadcasting. He recently was elected into the CBHS Hall of Fame, which gave him another opportunity to rekindle friendships from an earlier era.

Ive never forgotten Memphis, McCarver said. And I never will. Its part of my legacy.

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Liberty Bowl to honor ex-Memphian Tim McCarver - The Commercial Appeal