Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero

Catcher will change the way you think about baseball, heroism, and-most especially-the man behind the plate. Baseball's indefatigable researcher and brilliant chronicler, Peter Morris, explores the evolution of the catcher from the 1870s-when the position became the ultimate example of the American ideal of the rugged individualist-to the early 1900s. He has produced a lively and original history filled with generous use of newspaper accounts and stirring profiles of long-forgotten players who were daring, deranged, or both.

Today's baseball catcher 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 without protective gear. 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 other protection. 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 throwing arm with the power of a cannon. With so great a range of required 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 a winning and losing team.

Publishers Weekly

Morris (But Didn't We Have Fun?) offers a thorough look at the evolution of the catcher from the 1870s-when the position "became the ultimate example of the American ideal of the rugged individualist"-to the early 1900s. Indeed, the position was not for the timid. Early catchers dealt with pitches and foul tips without the benefit of today's fancy protection, just a pair of gnarled hands and tons of grit. However, as baseball's rules changed and equipment such as chest protectors and mitts became part of the catcher's uniform, public opinion plummeted. Additional changes in the game saw the catcher valued again in the early 20th century, this time for his intelligence as he "didn't need to endure pain to become a hero." Morris's superlative research and keen observation never leads to dry or academic writing. He has produced a fascinating merger of social and baseball history, taking an almost irrelevant subject and filling it with color-thanks to the generous use of old newspaper accounts-and stirring profiles of long-forgotten players who were daring, deranged or both. (Apr.)

Peter Morris's most recent book is But Didn't We Have Fun?, a widely praised informal history of the early days of baseball before it turned professional. His A Game of Inches, a compendium of baseball's innovations, was called "magisterial" by the Boston Globe and was the first book ever to win both the Seymour Medal and the Casey Award as the best baseball book of the year. A former national and international Scrabble champion, Mr. Morris lives in Haslett, Michigan.