Hello Baseball Fans,
We’re inching ever closer to Spring Training 2015 style as pitchers and catchers report in less than a week. YES!! Perhaps a fan looking forward to the start of spring ball was the reason behind a most interesting quote having recently been passed along to us here at VFTD. Here’s the line from the devoted reader, “A catcher must want to catch. He must make up his mind that it isn’t the terrible job it is painted, and that he isn’t going to say every day, ‘Why, oh why with so many other positions in baseball did I take up this one?'” Hall of Fame masked man Bill Dickey said those remarkable and interesting statements. As the predecessor to Yogi’s shared and separately retired number 8 jersey, Dickey surely had the credentials to voice such a stance on the catching position. It’s an interesting quote on many levels, and we’ll offer explanations, or at least View points on his statement as we go on. Fellow HOFer Bob ‘Rapid Robert’ Feller said that Dickey was the best ever and if he had had him behind the dish on his Indians clubs, he’d have won 35 games a year. That’s quite a complement, especially from a rival.
Dickey played from 1928 to ’46 and missed two years due to WWII. He debuted a year after the famous 1927 Yankee lineup was dubbed Murderer’s Row, and thus helped connect the careers of Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, DiMaggio, and Berra (albeit symbolically as Berra only appeared in 7 games and Dickey 54 games in ’46). He was inducted in ’54 after 11 All-Stars, 1209 RBI, 1969 hits in 1789 games, and 202 HRs to boot. And don’t forget his .313 BA and .382 OBP. Feller’s words sum up his ability to call a game and his career 47% defensive caught stealing rate sums up the ole cannon behind the plate. WOW!!
I can relate a bit to Dickey’s quote about deciding to catch vs. playing elsewhere. It’s safe to say that I did want to catch. I absolutely loved catching. Everyday. Hot weather? No matter. Catching is where more of the game takes place than other fielding positions, obviously. It’s a culmination of other spots on D too. You need soft hands to dig balls out of the dirt and to frame pitches, you need some agility back there to block pitches and the dish, and you need quick reflexes to get up and quick-release the snap throws around the diamond. You gotta wanna get dirty. It’s required and inevitable. And, just like other positions in real life that require getting dirty or being physical, there are perhaps less people willing to do so. There’s surely more glory in other spots, and some people really buy into that. So much so, they may even direct their little Johnny to play a position where the win-the-lottery dream of a big contract is even richer. That is the current state, despite the well known idea that catching (and calling the game and throwing well) or throwing 95+ from the left side of the hill are the two quickest ways to the Bigs. That’s a whole other shpeal for maybe not even a different day. However, I think the ‘terribleness’ of the position is typically either overlooked or exaggerated, and rarely commented on accurately.
Here is what I mean by that. Sure, catching five or six days out of seven or eight is physically and mentally draining, but so is playing shortstop or CF seven or eight days or more on the same team and conditions. While commentators sometimes bemoan the catching position for its ruggedness, they could and should often emphasize the game’s general wear and tear on everyone, especially at the college and pro levels. There’s a huge difference between playing two games a week that are 6 or 7 innings long vs. playing nine innings 28 out of 30 days in four different cities. And I don’t care that the plane is a charter with all the perks and that the hotel is five-star.
Baseball constantly gets thrown under the bus for not being a contact or even physical game and having ‘little for fielders to do other than spitting seeds and adjusting personal protective equipment during a game’ (i.e. CUP CHECK!). And you don’t hear this from people in the game or on broadcasts of course, but those are the people who could better explain the grueling aspects of the game in general. You usually hear it from people who never played the game at all. Whenever people disrespect baseball in conversation for being soft, I love my go-to example of saying, “When was the last time you did something 200 days in a row?’ (in terms of exercise, counting Spring Training and no, brushing your teeth and getting dressed DON’T count!). Regardless of position, the game is a grind and weeds out anyone early on not genetically fit (or gifted one could say) for the wear and tear of every single day play. Low-level minor leaguers get into arm issues? Don’t say too much too early or that new guy who just came over as a throw-in ‘player to be named later’ via trade will be in your spot in the lineup. If he hits two doubles and a bomb in the first two games, it’s all over for your playing time. And in the meantime, good luck taking that half-hour long infield practice on an off day before a road trip while your throwing arm feels six inches longer than the one holding your mitt. Baseball commentators need to thump their chests so to speak in order to explain to average viewers that baseball is much more difficult and tougher than it appears. And that’s not even getting into how much skill is required to hit in baseball.
Ok we get it, the sport is tough on all. But catching is toughest so let’s get back to being a catcher, specifically hitting as a catcher. Clearly by the stats mentioned above, Dickey really knew what he was doing at the plate too. His stats deceivingly make it look easy. In terms of hitting, it’s always fun to hit, but even more so when your legs feel fresh (which they often won’t while catching) and your whole uniform isn’t drenched with sweat because you had a crying pitcher to deal with after the last out because he gave up a meaningless two-out, two-strike solo shot (although that is a cardinal sin) as you have a big lead anyway and now you’re leading off so there was barely time for a practice swing with the doughnut on the bat, let alone a chance to grab a suffice amount of drink and to towel off a bit in the 90 degree heat. And don’t forget, you still need to ring-out your skull cap before the next inning. You zoomed-in in time to see the opposing pitcher throw just two of his warm-up tosses while two of your own teammates were talking to you about a nice block or where the ump may have screwed us on a borderline pitch call that looked good from right and now you think you’re ready to hit. Well, you may not even think or feel you’re ready to hit, but it’s time to step in the box and hack away anyway because they’re waiting for you. And sometimes ‘hack’ is all that happens during your coveted plate appearance. And I’m not talking Hack Wilson (career .940 OPS) type results. This is an easy situation to ‘K’ on in less than five pitches or roll your wrists over for a weak left-side grounder on the first pitch that makes you sprint to first (as you should), only to be chucked out by two steps anyway. Time to sit down, grab the gear (minus the mask of course) and the rest of that drink, and get ready for the next three due up. That was fun?!
Yeah, for a minute anyway, but now you’re just mostly mad. And glad that defense is coming right up. The goal: try to throw it back harder than it comes in during warm-ups. Catcher therapy right there kids. But still hit your spot too with the throws: glove side, between the should and belt, and don’t make him stretch.
As you get ready to take the field, you talk pitch-mix stuff with the pitcher. You say, ‘Yep, don’t worry about it, we’ll start ’em out with what they ain’t expectin’.” The pitcher doesn’t know it and that’s why he feels uneasy, but of course you have a plan. It’s actually simple for you because you’re the catcher and that’s your job. But the pitcher never knows that in a game (and most don’t know that after the game either) and you have to reassure him as though you came up with some fancy and new plan. It could potentially be fancy, but it surely ain’t new.
Let’s see, you throw four different pitches, and we really only use three, and rely on mostly two. As the catcher, you know you’re in the bottom third of their order, so the first two guys up are both going to get two breakin’ balls each to start their at-bats. That’s because they’re gonna be overly aggressive looking for straight ones to start and aren’t expecting two benders in a row either. By the time the nine hitter comes up, he’s looking off-speed after watching (too) closely to his teammates’ at-bats, but he’s getting nothing but straight gas for the entire at bat. And that’s because you had time to get out of the crouch in his last at-bat as you waited for his one day late swing to end. No way are we going ‘speed up’ his bat (speed) by throwing him something slower. Anybody can get lucky with a slower pitch. ‘Catching up’ to heat is less likely. There’s your inning: three up, three down with a pop-up, a groundout, and a strikeout. After strike three, roll the ball back to the mound and head into the dugout. The team is in good shape, your pitcher feels good about himself, and everyone thinks you just mastered a most puzzling issue. AND you get to sit down and have a casual and long drink as you reload the sunflower seeds too. Ahhh, almost as much fun as hitting!
A catcher’s work is never done. So much to do and only nine innings to do it. A player hitting well and catching well for an extended time is most impressive. The game is a kid’s game and catching is a grind. As great of an offensive player as he was, Dickey still mustered up the following quote too. It goes, “I loved to make a great defensive play, I’d rather do that than hit a home run.” I think I know part of the reason why, as I agree with his view. Counting the rounding of the bases, you have to jog/run over 400 feet if you hit a homer. If you block the dish and slap the tag on a guy for the third out, it’s far less than 100 feet to the dugout. No one scored, everybody’s happy, and for a moment, that cold drink waiting for you is all that’s left to work on.
Later Baseball Fans.