
The Tao of the Backup Catcher
Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game
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Narrated by:
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Justin Price
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Tim Brown
About this listen
This fascinating book chronicles the unsung men of baseball who serve the job, the hardships they face, and their love for a game that would not always love them back―told partly through the experiences of an MLB veteran.
In baseball there are superstars and stars and everyday players and then there are the rest. Within the rest are role players and specialists and journeymen and then there are the backup catchers. The Tao of the Backup Catcher is about them, the backup catchers, who exist near the bottom of the roster and the end of the bench and between the numbers in a sport–and a society–increasingly driven by cold, hard analytics.
The Tao of the Backup Catcher is a story of grown men who once dreamed of stardom and generational wealth. Instead, they were handed a broom and a deeper understanding of who wins and why, who stands tall and who folds, and who will invest their own lives in catching bullpens and the back ends of doubleheaders.
Backup catchers survive in part because every team needs one. They are necessary, once or twice a week. They prosper because the game, like the world around the game, still needs good souls, honest efforts, open eyes and ears, closed mouths, compassion for the sad parts, a laugh for the silly parts, and a heart that knows the difference. Backup catchers are sports’ big brothers, psychologists, priests, witch doctors, player coaches, father figures and drinking buddies, all wrapped in a suit of today’s polycarbonate armor and yesterday’s dirt. They come with a singular goal–to win baseball games. They play for the greater good. After that, they play for themselves. A reverie on loving the grind and the little things baseball can teach us, The Tao of the Backup Catcher profiles Erik Kratz, Josh Paul, AJ Ellis, Bobby Wilson, Drew Butera, Matt Treanor, and John Flaherty to name a few.
“This isn’t just a story about baseball. It’s about life and the beauty of knowing and accepting who you are.” ―Jeff Passan
©2023 Tim Brown (P)2023 TwelveListeners also enjoyed...
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“Lend Tim Brown’s inimitable voice to a sporting subculture overflowing with personality, mix in Erik Kratz’s tale of perseverance and what blossoms is magic. This isn’t a story about baseball. It’s about life and the beauty of knowing and accepting who you are.”—Jeff Passan, ESPN baseball columnist and bestselling author of The Arm
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- Narrated by: Ron Hippe
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since Pearl Jam first blasted onto the Seattle grunge scene three decades ago with their debut album, Ten, they have sold 85M+ albums, performed for hundreds of thousands of fans around the world, and have even been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation, music critic and journalist Steven Hyden celebrates the life, career, and music of this legendary group, widely considered to be one of the greatest American rock bands of all time.
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Just ok
- By IndyMATT on 11-06-23
By: Steven Hyden
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How to Talk Dirty and Influence People
- An Autobiography
- By: Lenny Bruce, Lewis Black - preface, Howard Reich - foreword
- Narrated by: Ronnie Marmo
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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During the course of a career that began in the late 1940s, Lenny Bruce challenged the sanctity of organized religion and other societal and political conventions; he widened the boundaries of free speech. Critic Ralph Gleason said, "So many taboos have been lifted and so many comics have rushed through the doors Lenny opened. He utterly changed the world of comedy". Although Bruce died when he was only 40, his influence on the worlds of comedy, jazz, and satire are incalculable.
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Where is the Lenny Bruce of this era?
- By Amazon Customer on 02-20-19
By: Lenny Bruce, and others
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The Boys of Summer
- The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
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Why We Love Baseball
- A History in 50 Moments
- By: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Joe Posnanski, Ellen Adair
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
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Narration
- By Peter on 01-10-24
By: Joe Posnanski
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Adventures in the Screen Trade
- By: William Goldman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the best-selling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and more.
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Classic in the field stands up
- By Jenny Jenkins on 01-01-24
By: William Goldman
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Vertigo
- The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany
- By: Harald Jähner
- Narrated by: Sam Peter Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Out of the ashes of the First World War, Germany launched an unprecedented political project: its first democratic government. The Weimar Republic, named for the city where it was established, endured for only fifteen years before it was toppled by the insurgent Nazi Party in 1933. In Vertigo, prizewinning historian Harald Jähner tells the Republic’s full story, capturing a nation caught in a whirlwind of uncertainty and struggling toward a better future.
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How. Did It Happen?
- By Bettyb on 10-19-24
By: Harald Jähner
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The Last Goodnight
- A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal
- By: Howard Blum
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Betty Pack was charming, beautiful, and intelligent - and she knew it. As an agent for Britain's MI6 and then America's OSS during World War II, these qualities proved crucial to her success. This is the remarkable story of this "Mata Hari from Minnesota" ( Time) and the passions that ruled her tempestuous life - a life filled with dangerous liaisons and death-defying missions vital to the Allied victory.
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Fascinating
- By Salui on 11-30-16
By: Howard Blum
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The Library
- A Fragile History
- By: Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident.
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Stays on point
- By Alex on 04-29-23
By: Andrew Pettegree, and others
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The Mental Game of Baseball
- A Guide to Peak Performance
- By: H.A. Dorfman, Karl Kuehl, Rick Wolff - foreword
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this book, authors H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl present their practical and proven strategy for developing the mental skills needed to achieve peak performance at every level of the game. The theory and applications are illustrated by anecdotes and insights from major and minor league players, who at some point discovered the importance of mastering the inner game in order to play baseball as it should be played. Intended for players, managers, coaches, agents, and administrators as well as fans who want a more in-depth look at the makeup of the complete baseball player.
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Dry but great information
- By Amazon Customer on 01-13-20
By: H.A. Dorfman, and others
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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- By: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
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Three Ten Year Updates Give Bouton a 5th Star
- By Byron on 08-09-12
By: Jim Bouton
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The Last of His Kind
- Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness
- By: Andy McCullough
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Many of his peers consider him the greatest pitcher to ever climb atop a big-league mound.
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Last of his kind is one of a kind
- By Anonymous User on 01-28-25
By: Andy McCullough
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Hell's Princess
- The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm". Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace.
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Can a book about a serial killer be entertaining?
- By Lori Hanson on 05-08-18
By: Harold Schechter
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The Game
- Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball's Power Brokers
- By: Jon Pessah
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 20 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In the fall of 1992, America's national pastime is in crisis and already on the path to the unthinkable: cancelling a World Series for the first time in history. The owners are at war with each other, their decades-long battle with the players has turned America against both sides, and the players' growing addiction to steroids will threaten the game's very foundation.
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Bad Narration
- By Sally Harrison-Pepper on 08-15-15
By: Jon Pessah
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Shit, Actually
- The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema
- By: Lindy West
- Narrated by: Lindy West
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Shit, Actually is a love letter and a breakup note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they're one and the same.
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How Woke
- By R. Squyres on 02-27-21
By: Lindy West
What listeners say about The Tao of the Backup Catcher
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Isha
- 09-16-23
Different and Interesting Persoective
I really enjoyed this book! I think it gave a great peek into the mentality needed to stay in the game when you’re not a star or even an every day player. My main takeaways were about the importance of being patient, not overstepping, being thankful, working hard, and being humble. Love having a different perspective on the game.
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- hennish
- 07-19-23
Loved it
This is a Love letter to the Baseball player who was just good enough. I’ll listen to The intro over and over!!
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- S. O.
- 07-28-23
A great book for baseball and non baseball fans
This book dives into what it means to chase your dreams and understand that embracing what you have achieved. Regardless if your dream turned out a little different than you expected. The book was well read and was very enjoyable.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JR in VT
- 07-28-23
Wonderful Book
This is more than a baseball book, it’s a journey that you’re allowed to take along with truly exceptional people who love and honor baseball.
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- Cirque Du Sewell
- 04-18-25
Insightful, optimistic, and encouraging
Great book! Really captures the dreams of becoming a ball player and gives a palpable idea of what it is actually like. Reader has a great voice, but is obviously not a baseball guy. Mispronounced multiple HOFer's names, baseball terms - pulls the listener away from the overall authenticity of the story. Surprised that wasn't caught during post production, honestly.
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- Judy Davis
- 02-10-24
The story and background of the players.
Liked that the tone of the reader, matched the story. Mellow. Family’s mattered to the players.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Robert Pecor
- 04-25-25
An inspirational and detailed account.
This is a great book written for baseball geeks who want a peek behind the scenes of real life baseball for the non stars. The author offered details and emotions that made me feel like I experienced the life. Fantastic.
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- Anthony D. Crisler
- 05-02-25
loving baseball
this book explains how someone falls in love with baseball & everything that goes along with it. a great insight as to what players actually go through in their career. I loved this book.
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- Bill Keithler
- 07-27-23
Every Baseball fan should read this book
This book provide tremendous insight into the hidden game of baseball and hidden aspect of a baseball players life. It takes a very special person to be a back up catcher and have a career like Eric Kratz has had
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- Theodore B.
- 08-06-23
I too was a backup catcher.
A fun read…it called to my mind some personal experiences but mainly reminded me of some of the great players and managers of a sport I love.
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