Now in his 24th season in the big leagues, Tom McCarthy is in the 17th year of his second tour of duty with the Phillies doing television play-by-play. In his first stint with the club, he spent five seasons (2001-05) as the host of the pre- and postgame radio shows, while also doing radio play-by-play. He also hosted his own weekday afternoon-drive show on ESPN Radio 920 AM, which concentrated on local sports. He spent the 2006-07 seasons as a radio broadcaster with the New York Mets on WFAN before returning to the Phillies in November 2007.
A graduate of The College of New Jersey (BA degree in communications), Tom spent six seasons with the Trenton Thunder, the former double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. He was hired as director of public and media relations in 1993 and promoted to assistant general manager in 1996, while also working as one of the team¡¯s broadcasters, doing play-by-play on radio and television for CN8.
After the 1999 season, Tom left the Thunder to pursue a full-time career in broadcasting, creating the first local-driven show on ESPN Radio 1680 AM. He also used to work national shows for ESPN Radio.
Tom has done extensive broadcasting for collegiate sports in his career. He currently does NFL games for CBS, baseball for FOX, basketball and college football play-by-play for CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) and NFL and college basketball games for Westwood One, after three years of doing NFL games with Sports USA Radio. Previously, he worked as the radio voice of the Saint Joseph¡¯s University men¡¯s basketball team (2004-09) and the play-by-play voice for Rutgers University football (2001-03), as well as Princeton University football (1995-2000) and men¡¯s basketball (1995-2003).
In 2000, Tom earned a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for his work on CN8 and is a two-time winner (2002 & 2004) of the Achievement in Radio Award for Best Local Sports Coverage. He also received the Radio/TV Excellence Award from the New Jersey Sportswriters Association in January 2007 and the Good Guy Award in 2009. He was inducted into the Trenton Baseball Hall of Fame in the summer of 2011 and had the radio booth at Trenton¡¯s Waterfront Park named after him. Additionally, he was named the 2013 Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame in June 2019. In March 2022, Tom received the Bob Vetrone Award, which recognizes those whose service, professionalism and commitment have made a lasting contribution to the student-athletes and institutions of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Born in Jersey City, N.J., Tom and his wife Meg live in Allentown, N.J. They have two sons, Patrick and Tommy, and two daughters, Maggie and Kerri. Patrick, a broadcaster for the New York Mets, filled in for his dad for a few games in 2021-22 when he was with triple-A Lehigh Valley.