Mark_Concannon's Blog

Oh, to be a Major League backup catcher! The best job in pro sports. To be that fixture of matinee lineups in day games after night games, the pinch-runner-induced-late-inning-insert, the mop up masked man of 10-run blowouts.

This is far better than being a backup quarterback or the 12th man anchoring the bench in the NBA. Because the backup catcher knows he WILL get to play: even if for only 30 or so games every season. If you can get a hit once in every 5 tries and catch most of the balls thrown your way, you are a serviceable #2 receiver.

It can be argued then that 35-year-old Paul Bako has been the best ever in that coveted position. Bako has played for ten teams in his ten year Major League career. He donned the gear for the Reds yesterday at Miller Park, where 6 seasons ago he was a Milwaukee Brewer. I dodged the monsoon to attend the game which offered little excitement, so I found myself paying particular attention to Bako. He struck out looking in the top of the third, an effort consistent with being ranked dead last(1015th out of 1015 players) in the Yahoo fantasy baseball ratings.

But in the 5th inning, Bako ripped an RBI double to tie the game, a hit that probably insured his place on the roster for the rest of the season. Then in the 7th, he singled in another run which more than likely assured him of a job somewhere for next year.

So the Paul Bako legacy grew right before my eyes. The man with a lifetime batting average of .233(including 15 homeruns!) who made the final out for the Cubs in their ill-fated collapse in the 2003 NLCS had a banner day. And considering he earns in the neighborhood of half-a-million dollars per season(roughly 15-thousand per game) and has been drawing checks like that for 10 years, for my money, Paul Bako has had a banner career.