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

"Long before catchers actually had tools of ignorance, brave—or crazy—young men clamped their teeth around a chunk of rubber and crept up behind the batter to receive pitches barehanded. When their gnarled fingers split open or a foul ball collided with their skull they got back up and kept at it, earning the respect of their peers and the admiration of the spectators in the grandstand. Part daredevil, part cowboy, these early catchers made themselves indispensable with a reckless disregard for their own safety. No team could hope to contend without a star receiver. The growth of the position significantly affected the evolution of the young game in the latter part of the 19th century."
Baseball America

"Nobody is better at recapturing how and why Americans played baseball in the 19th century than award-winning baseball historian Peter Morris, whose several books on early baseball even include a study of pioneering groundskeepers. Last year, in 'But Didn’t We Have Fun,' he traced the game’s evolution from the pastime of self-governing amateur clubs who played for fun and sociability to the post-Civil War appearance of professionals like the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who played for fun and profit. Now, in 'Catcher,' Morris tells the story through the last three decades of the 19th century and into the 20th, when the game became essentially the one played today. He does so by focusing on the role of the catcher. Although his argument that for a couple of decades the catcher became a folk hero like the cowboy or even Daniel Boone is more than a bit of a reach, the rest of his book is so well done that Morris’s occasional detours into the Am Civ theorizing are only minor distractions."
History News Network

c. 1900's A.J. Reach Catchers Mitt With Old Tag Front

Unmasked hero
"Modern catchers in baseball are almost anonymous; they are hidden head-to-toe behind pounds of high-tech, protective equipment, and their catching hand is guarded with a massive mitt. But that was not always the case, as Haslett baseball historian and author Peter Morris details in his new book 'Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate became an American Folk Hero.' In the early days of baseball, the catcher was positioned right behind the batter, just like today, but that’s where the similarities end. In the mid-to-late 1800s, catchers had no protective equipment whatsoever. No mask, no chest protector, no shin protectors and, amazingly, no glove. During this time, the position of catcher and the men who filled it took on mythic proportions, representing everything important to baseball."
Lansing City Pulse

Clements, C

"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."
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