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

by Morris, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781566638708
• ISBN10: 1566638704
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-16
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee

Summary

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. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: A Generation in Search of a Hero	p. 3
In the Beginning	p. 27
The Catcher as Tough Guy	p. 35
The Catcher as Indispensable	p. 59
The Catcher as One in a Million	p. 69
The Catcher as the Man in Disguise	p. 87
The Breaking Point	p. 105
Protecting the Catcher's Face (But Bruising His Ego)	p. 114
"A Lot of Fools in the Crowd Laugh at Him"	p. 135
The Thinking-Man Catcher	p. 158
The Catcher as Desperado	p. 172
Harry Decker, the "Don Juan of Shaven Head"	p. 189
The 1890s: "An Era When Most of the Catchers Were Pot-Bellied and Couldn't Get Out of Their Own Way"	p. 208
"The Last of the Old Guard of Ball Players"	p. 229
A New Pitch and a New Crisis	p. 237
An Enduring New Model	p. 249
The Catcher's Legacy	p. 278
Afterword: The Man the Hall of Fame Forgot	p. 285
Appendices	p. 291
Notes	p. 295
Selected Bibliography	p. 363
Index	p. 371
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