The general consensus regarding Tom “Mac” McCarthy is that he was a talented and exceptionally competitive softball player who retired from the game far too soon. Tom wanted to be involved with his three sons as they grew up, and made the right decision, people are quick to say. Still, they contend, softball is the less for it.

“It’s a shame he couldn’t have played longer,” said his old skipper, Bank of Westmont manager Don Loid. “We would have loved to have had him continue playing for us over the years.” But Loid understood McCarthy’s motives back then, and he understands them now.

“As his boys grew, he made the decision,” said Loid. If McCarthy has been as good a father as he was a softball player, his sons are now lucky men. Because McCarthy epitomized the competitive softball player.

In 14 years of USSSA ball, played primarily with the Bank, but also Bunca Car Wash and Burla Construction, the left center fielder forged a reputation as an intense competitor.

“He was a high intensity player,” said Loid. “His motor was always running.”

“I reveled in victory and sorrowed in defeat.” shrugged McCarthy.

That didn’t stop McCarthy from appreciating all that he was experiencing, however.

“During off time, I could relax with the best,” he said. “But when the time came to play ball, I was disciplined and expected all who played the game to give it as much effort and determination as I did.”

At the heart of that attitude was an intense pride, both in his personal game, and the game of softball itself.

“When I played on the Bank of Westmont, even though we did like to enjoy ourselves, we really dedicated ourselves to being a very competitive team, along with representing the USSSA in a professional manner.”

McCarthy was mostly a good percentage hitter who would go long from time to time. He boasts .630 career batting average and over 250 home runs in 14 years during an era— 1978 through 1990— in which the game of softball was played without the artificial boost of space age metals and trampoline effect bats.

McCarthy was named Most Valuable Player at five Class B and A tournaments between 1983 and 1987, including a Class A tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich. while playing in a  Bunca Car Wash Qualifier in which he went 28-0f-29 against some of the strongest competition in the country.

McCarthy was able to keep things in perspective, and never put softball ahead of some of the more important things in life. But he may have gone a bit too far in the mid-nineties. Asked to list his all-state honors on the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame application a while back, he wrote down several years, then added, “but I cannot find my trophies. I threw a lot of stuff out in the mid-90’s.” Apparently that included many of his National, NIT and World  all-tournament awards, of which he wrote, “there’s more, but I can’t remember!”

That’s OK. Others remember it for you, Mac.