The book was an interesting look behind the perceived glitz and glamor of professional baseball players and focuses on the gritty underdog, the backup catcher. This book centers around the unsung, blue collar, show up and get it done guys that are the backup catchers. Often an unheralded and thankless job, the backup catcher can be a very important aspect of a baseball team and this book proves that point.

I really enjoyed the unique story of Erik Kratz and his wife Sarah. Tim Brown did a fantastic job of detailing the strength that she exerted helping hold the family together while still supporting her husband’s dream of playing Major League Baseball, which he eventually achieved after many years of trials and tribulations.

This book was a quick, sports related read, while not focusing solely on the X’s and O’s of the game itself. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it! This book was provided by NetGalley and Twelve in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

For baseball fans, Tao of the Backup Catcher makes a strong case for caring about the guys at the end of the bench - not just the bright shiny sluggers and Golden Glovers.

Baseball is a sport of perseverance. This is true for fans waiting for their team to find the right combination of talent and luck to make a run at the postseason. It’s also true for every person involved in a major league ball club as they tackle, at a minimum, 162 games a season.

In baseball, the grind, as it’s often called, requires a commitment to seeing a season through regardless of success on the field. Still, no matter how stacked that starting line up may be with stars, or even a generational talent, a ball club cannot function without the guy behind the guy.

Tao of the Backup Catcher is the story of those journeymen, many dedicating years of their lives to the sport because they can’t imagine doing any other job. While only the most dedicated fans will recognize the backup’s names (unless they become managers like David Ross or Joe Maddon) they are still an essential part of every team.

Tao leads us through the life and career of such a backup catcher, Erik Kratz, as he moves through the MLB system. We see his joy and disappointment, along with the way his wife and children shift their lives to accommodate the unique demands of baseball in and off season.

Weaved through Erik’s story are other similar players that share that personality quirk which makes them particularly well-suited to backup catcher life. For fans of the sport in general, Tao digs deeper into the parts of a ball club many never think about or notice.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Twelve Books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date July 11th, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. As a mom of 3 boys all of which who have caught at one time or another this book was AMAZING. All three of my boys are totally different types of athletes. This book helps you to love who you are and to do your best and do it for the love of the game. A must read for all. The life lessons are not just for ball players.

Like all sports, the national pastime revolves around stars, followed by the rest of the regulars and then the benchwarmers. Somewhere in the last group is the backup catcher, a man who gets into maybe one game a week if he’s (un)lucky because the main guy is always behind the plate unless he gets hurt or needs an occasional day off. For every Yogi Berra, there’s a Ralph Houk who appeared in just 91 games over an eight-year career with the Yankees.

Throughout THE TAO OF THE BACKUP CATCHER, we are told how Erik Kratz and his fellow backups must have a real love for the game to keep at it for so long, fully realizing they will never enjoy the careers they had expected. These athletes were often the best on their little league teams through college, believing they were on their way to being a high draft pick with a huge signing bonus and unlimited potential.

Read more on Bookreporter.com: https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/the-tao-of-the-backup-catcher-playing-baseball-for-the-love-of-the-game

I’m a sucker for anything detailing the experiences of the people on the fringes of baseball. Not the stars, not the big heroes, but those on the margins.

There’s no more prototypical fringe guy in baseball than the backup catcher, and this is a charming, intriguing account of several such men and their baseball journeys.

It’s a little bit heartbreaking and definitely inspiring, but mostly it’s just an interesting peek behind the curtain about a very unique subset of the baseball world.

Perfect for fans of Barry Svurluga’s The Grind or Dirk Hayhurst’s The Bullpen Gospels, this is more about vibes than information, designed to allow readers to immerse themselves in baseball atmosphere and enjoy some exceptionally good storytelling about guys who are inspiring and easy to root for, rather than being the type of baseball book whose primarily purpose is to educate and convey information.

That said, there’s an educational aspect to this, and allows readers to understand and appreciate what is surely one of the toughest jobs in baseball.

I loved every word of this book! Mr. brown has written an ode to the unsung hero ( and his wife/family). The backup catcher.
If you really like baseball, you may have wondered what does the backup catcher do? Turns out he does an awful lot if he is a good one. He is the team guy. He is a leader. He is an all round helper guy. The guy in the shadows that sees all. And they make pretty darned good managers after their playing days are done.
Mr. brown tells ( mainly ) the story of Erik Kratz, who spent two decades bouncing from team to team in order to try and get to the big leagues, A consummate professional team player, he went where he was sent, did what they asked and was never famous but was an integral part of the team..
Wonderful baseball stories and terrific amount of information. I highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC.

The Tao of the Backup Catcher
By Tim Brown with Erik Kratz
Twelve Books
304 Pages
Publication Date: July 11 2023

When seeing the name Erik Kratz, the first thing that comes to mind is a viral clip of his days as a Houston Astro, when offered $2000 to faceplant on the opening day roster introductions. Every time I see this video pop up I cant help but watch it a couple of times. Erik Kratz has always seemed like a likeable guy and this book further cements that.

An entertaining, heartfelt account of Erik Kratz and many other unsung heroes playing the role of backup catcher. On first glance, I expected a biography of Erik Kratz but the book profiles not only Kratz but is sprinkled with many stories of other backup catchers- Scioscia, Cash, Redmond, Thole, Joe Maddon and others though the story of Kratz and family is the main subject of the book. An ode to hard work and sticking things out and keeping the faith when things seem dour. This book has left me with a new respect for the role of backup catcher and provided me with some solid entertainment over a few summer evenings. If you know a kid who is a catcher or is thinking about becoming one, toss them this book.
5/5

Who doesn't want to root for the underdog? The person who shows up everyday and does the little things superstars often miss. The "glue" of any team. And how about writing a book about those people on the baseball diamond? Tim Brown went ahead and did that with The Tao of the Backup Catcher. "But I don't like baseball" you might say. True, but Brown is writing about more than that. Mostly through the lens of career backup catcher, Eric Kratz, Brown looks at what it takes to be the person who is often overlooked but simultaneously important in multiple ways.

This book is a breezy read and can often be both hilarious and poignant. There are many different ballplayers who provide fodder for the book but Kratz is the focal point more often than not. Every now and again the book will touch on baseball strategy but mostly it zeroes in on the drudgery, the trades, and the uncertainty of when your number may be up. Baseball lovers will find tons of great nuggets, but this book contains a lot of life lessons for everyone.

(This book was provided as an advanced copy by Netgalley and Twelve Books.)

Thanks to NetGalley and Twelve Books for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
As a lifelong baseball fan whose favorite player of all time was a catcher, I thought this book would be right up my alley. While it was very entertaining at times, it was so repetitive that I lost interest & found myself speed reading a lot. Oddly enough, my favorite part of the book was Mike Scioscia (ironically, not a backup in his career) talking about his managing career and how catchers (and there is a long list) seemingly make the best managers. That's pretty obvious when you think about it - they are constantly "on call" and observing and learning everything about the opposing team. I would have liked to read more about behind-the-scenes in the majors.

Pretty fun book about the life of backup catchers, a group of folks nobody ever really thinks about unless you are one or are married to one. They see the game and think about the game perhaps more than anyone else, since so much of their time is spent riding the bench or warming up the pitchers that actually will make it into the game.

The book follows Erik Kratz and his long career through dozens of different teams. There are also interviews with other backup catchers, some from different eras. The chapters try to take a different angle on the position, whether that's how they get traded often, or how they become coaches more than players at other positions. Each chapter is entertaining, but put them altogether into a book and it's a bit long and repetitive. I wish they'd trimmed it down a bit, 300 pages seemed too long. It's fine though, there is enough new information and angles throughout the book that it was never too annoying.

I really enjoyed the chapter about DNA school, where Mike Scioscia got all his catchers together and got them to go through what pitch they'd call in different situations. Depending on the batter or the count or whatever. I thought this was the best chapter in the book because it was closest to discussing actual baseball strategy, a theme which doesn't really come up otherwise. I think the people reading a book about backup catchers might have enjoyed a bit more of an inside baseball approach. Oh well.

A good baseball book, but not a great one.

I thought this one was ok, not as good as Brown's books with Rick Ankiel ("The Phenomenon") and Jim Abbott ("Imperfect"). Part baseball memoir with and about Erik Kratz, and part deep dive into the life of the backup catcher. Definitely an interesting angle to take for a baseball book, although I am simply not sure there is really enough here to write an entire 300 page book without getting repetitive about how hard of a life it is on the player, family and friends.

More for the diehard, thinking about baseball year round kind of fanatic than the casual fan.