THE CATCHER: Baseball's Man in Charge

This catch-all rap session from the author of Pitchers and Pitching (1972) debates the hinged vs. no-break glove, shows how catchers call pitches (diagrams explain how target area varies with the count), and talks about the rise of the steal. Sullivan has at least one story to tell on every big name catcher from Buck Ewing to the Seventies generation led by Johnny Bench and Carleton Fisk, and aspiring receivers should be relieved to hear how far baseball has come from the days when the catchers wore unpadded gloves. . . flesh colored, yet, so the spectators wouldn't think they were too sissy to catch barehanded. As entertainment, solidly in the strike zone.