Catcher : how the man behind the plate became an American folk hero / Peter Morris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris, Peter, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catchers (Baseball)--United States--History.

Catchers (Baseball).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 386 p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Today the baseball catcher is a familiar but uninspiring figure. Decked out in the so-called tools of ignorance, he stolidly goes about his duty without attracting much attention. But it wasn't always that way, as Peter Morris shows in this lively and original study. In baseball's early days, catchers stood a safe distance back of the batter. Then the introduction of the curveball in the 1870s led them to move up directly behind home plate, even though they still wore no gloves or protective equipment. Extraordinary courage became the catcher's most notable requirement, but the new positioning also demanded that the catcher have lightning-fast reflexes, great hands, and a cannon for a throwing arm. With so great a range of needed skills, a special mystique came to surround the position, and it began to seem that a good catcher could single-handedly make the difference between winning and losing.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A Generation in Search of a Hero

Chapter 01. In the Beginning

Chapter 02. The Catcher as Tough Guy

Chapter 03. The Catcher as Indispensable

Chapter 04. The Catcher as One in a Million

Chapter 05. The Catcher as the Man in Disguise

Chapter 06. The Breaking Point

Chapter 07. Protecting the Catcher's Face (But Bruising His Ego)

Chapter 08. "A Lot of Fools in the Crowd Laugh at Him"

Chapter 09. The Thinking-Man Catcher

Chapter 10. The Catcher as Desperado

Chapter 11. Harry Decker, the "Don Juan of Shaven Head"

Chapter 12. The 1890s: "An Era When Most of the Catchers Were Pot-Bellied and Couldn't Get Out of Their Own Way"

Chapter 13. "The Last of the Old Guard of Ball Players"

Chapter 14. A New Pitch and a New Crisis

Chapter 15. An Enduring New Model

Chapter 16. The Catcher's Legacy

Afterword: The Man the Hall of Fame Forgot

Appendix 1: The Shift of Catchers of the Late 1880s to Other Positions

Appendix 2: Number of American League and National League Games Managed by Former Catchers, 1899-1920

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

A Note on the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

979-82-16-36197-8

1-282-71407-4

9786612714078

1-61578-003-3