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

by Peter Morris

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 behind 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.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2009

Reviews

[Reid Mccormick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected, which is my fault for not doing my research for getting the book. Given the title, I assumed the book was going to be about evolution of the position from the dawn of baseball to modern day. The book focuses only on the late 1800’s and how the backstop position evolved with the game.

Obviously, I think the topic is interesting but I found the writing to be bland and boring. Whenever the author shifted his focus off the game towards other legends, I felt my mind wandering off frequently.

For someone interested in the earliest of earliest days of baseball, they would find this book appealing. Someone looking for a broad retrospective on the catcher will probably be disappointed.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serious baseball fans and current or former catchers only!! This is definitely a baseball history book focused on the catcher's position and how their role as American Hero has changed over the course of baseball's development. I thought the read was very good, but I felt like Peter Morris repeated himself or backtracked several times before moving forward. All in all, it's worth a shot if you're a big time baseball fan.

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

On brand to finish my goal with with considering my 2020 hyperfixation. A pretty interesting overview of the evolution of the catcher from 1870s onward. Morris points out a lot of interesting parallels between this position and the "american folk hero", as the subtitle suggests, but sometimes it feels as though he's telling the history to fit his narrative, rather than crafting a narrative around the history. Still incredibly interesting though.

tldr: Catchers Do The Most™️

[Joshua Reitano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere between the cowboy and the high school quarterback, the baseball catcher became an American folk hero. Peter Morris makes this case in impressive fashion. The problem is that the book reads like a PhD dissertation - mountains of evidence compiled together. He makes the case, but not before boring the heck out of this reader.

[Sarah Codak · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5, some really good content but pacing was slow at parts

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first 100 pages of this book very much; it soon became clear, however, that Morris could have economized his fascinating thesis down to an excellent New Yorker length article.

Morris is incredibly repetitious. His central insight, that the Catcher came to embody the traits of traditionally defined heroism theretofore reserved for Daniel Boone pioneering is a fascinating one. With the rise of cities and professions therein which involved making a living in increasingly NON physical, abstract ways, the desire arose to find a vessel and model for heroism in postbellum America. This admiration for catchers, and for athletes more generally, became even more widely accepted when the intellectual requirements of the position became clear. There you have it. That's really the meat of the book. Then there are several hundred pages of support.

What I found most interesting about Morris's thesis is really that it helped answer a personal query I'd been considering. I've been reading quite a number of baseball books recently, mostly about players from around 1930-1960. I'd noticed that so many of these books, quite absurdly, have similar titles or subtitles: The Last Hero: A Life Of Henry Aaron, Willie Mays: The Life The Legend, Hank Greenberg: Hero of Heroes, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, Mickey Mantle: The Last Boy, The End of America's Childhood, etc. So many titles about heroism and the end of something.

After reading Morris's book, I began to understand why: in post WWI America, baseball became a stage upon which the heroism reserved for war and geographic expansion played out far more safely and clearly. The stars of baseball's "Golden Age" came to embody the characteristics of Daniel Boone-ism: rugged individualism, courage, teamwork, hard work, fairness, strength, and meritocracy (except regarding that little thing called race until Jackie Robinson corrected that) in a way that we cynical fans today would never be able to indulge. We simply know too much and players have failed us too many times to be fooled again. But in his time, Mickey Mantle could atavistically represent every young boy's dreams of strength, courage, and ecstatic fun.

So I'm quite thankful I read Morris's book to gain that insight. What began as a desire to see heroism in catchers in particular, evolved into an era populated by athlete-superheroes for whose return we quixotically wait.

[Brendan O'Meara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've done some catching. Nice biography of the position. Would've like to see Morris take a look at the modern catcher, but he remains rooted into the gritty past of the best position on the diamond.

I generally have a hard time getting through biographies. So, it took some time for me to grind through this. Tremendously researched a great read for people who have ever donned the "tools of ignorance."

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great historical information about the evolution of the catcher position. Morris includes stories about individual catchers and teams to add interest. Even with all of this work, it was still kind of a boring non-fiction book. But, I'm really glad I read it, and I would recommend it to any baseball fan or current/former catcher.

[John Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read countless books about baseball. This one is the best! Anyone who is more than a casual follower of the game should read this book.