He wrote history books for the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club and the Canada Games, and a biography of football quarterback Russ Jackson.

[3] MacCabe grew up in the Westboro neighbourhood, and his father worked as a typesetter for the Ottawa Journal and handled sports wagers.

[1][8][9] He covered the Grey Cup championship annually from 1947 onward,[10] and often wrote about amateur golf and boxing, junior ice hockey and high school sports.

[1][11] MacCabe joked that he once bribed a caddie to allow him to carry the golf bag for the president to get an exclusive interview, then after being noticed he was pinned to the ground with guns pointed at his head.

[9] Luiza Chwialkowska wrote, "MacCabe also gave the capital a glimpse into its own soul by writing columns and stories about Old Ottawa, bringing the street cars, the bars, the characters, the gangs, the boxing rings, the athletes, and their hangers-on to life".

[3] According to Dave Brown, MacCabe "knew the writer's job was to find the reader's emotional string, and give it a twang".

[13] His funeral at St. George's Catholic Church was attended by dignitaries including Clayton Kenny, John Turner, Brian Kilrea, Patrick MacAdam, Keith Davey, and players from the Ottawa Rough Riders.

After his death, his daughters planned to publish a book of his Christmas stories and donate the proceeds toward their fundraising campaign for a colon cancer centre in Ottawa.

[3][16] When he was inducted into the builder category of the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 1994, MacCabe estimated that he had written about or knew 90 per cent of the other 162 inductees.

[11] He also received a citation of merit from the Government of Canada for contributions to amateur sport, and was inducted into the Canadian Sportswriters Hall of Fame.