I was watching an old episode of “What’s My Line” last night and one of the panelists said that catchers’ equipment was called “the tools of the ignorant.” That seems like a fairly bizarre designation so I’m wondering if it’s true and if so, from whence the name?
30-year baseball fan and never heard of that. How old was the episode?
It’s an old-timey thing. Kind of a joke saying that anybody who purposely stands in the way of a fastball has something wrong.
heres the best quick found cite I can find before nightly shutdown.
It originally aired September 19, 1965 (Muhammed Ali was the mystery guest and he was billed as “Muhammed Ali (Cassius Clay)”) which is why sports came up.
Yeah, it’s definitely ‘old school’ baseball slang for a catcher’s gear.
Remember, there was also a ‘macho’ element to catching back then. Catcher’s facing a pitched ball without pads, armor, masks and gloves were considered ‘real men’ and when some of them began to say ‘this is stupid’ their was a certain amount of derison applied.
But good sense won in the end.
I’ve always heard it as “the tools of ignorance”. According to The New Dickerson Baseball Dictionary, the term has been around since 1937 and comes from the idea that the catcher’s job is grueling and painful and therefore one that a smart player would avoid. The same book notes the possible Ruel origins but also says that there’s some dispute, as Charles C. Meloy (Baseball Magazine, Aug. 1939) credits Yankee catcher Bill Dickey with coining the phrase.
Of course, there may be a bit of irony in the phrase also as the catcher’s job is mentally demanding as well. Besides having to handle the pitchers (not an easy task), a catcher will often act as sort of a “field general”, directing his teammates as necessary in response to the action on the field.
I’m guessing that the panelist on “What’s My Line” was Joe Garagiola, a one time major league catcher.
The term is still in occasional use, at least among television baseball announcers. Some of these guys are former catchers and pitchers, and they pepper their patter with little tidbits about ways of fooling the batter. The other day, when a Cubs catcher was thrown out of the game with his pitcher, for, um, conversations with the umpire, the camera showed backup catcher Paul Bako “strapping on the tools of ignorance.”
“The tools of ignorance” is a relatively common phrase among baseball people. As mentioned above, it is ironic as catchers are often the most intelligent players on the team. They “call” the game - determine which pitches are thrown to which batters, position the fielders based upon the pitch and game situation, and advise the manager on subsitutions.
A large percentage of managers and broadcasters are former catchers, much moreso than any other position player.
LM, UW baseball alum. Catcher, of course 