Behind the Plate
Behind the Plate: A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty
This is a book by former Atlanta Braves catcher Javy Lopez. As most any Braves fan will remember Javy was the rookie catcher that came to the big leagues in 1992 and had twelve successful years including 2003 when he set an Atlanta record for home runs by a catcher with 43.
This is an easy read. I read the whole book on a six hour round trip flight to Boston. The book starts with Javy growing up in middle class (for there) Puerto Rico. He wanted to be a basketball player but quickly took to baseball. Javy and his father were big Braves fans due to all their games being broadcast on TBS. He was recruited by Bobby Cox and had no idea who he was. When he was recruited by the Braves he took a much smaller signing bonus than he should have.
Coming up in the minors speaking English was a big problem for him. He stayed more with the other Spanish speaking players and that caused problems. Javy quickly worked his way up thru the minors leading leagues in hitting. He got his call up when Braves catcher Greg Olson was hurt again and never looked back.
Even though Javy has a co-author you can tell he wrote most of the book himself. He is a writer about as much as I am. The book bounces around a good bit and while enjoyable it's a cotton candy version of events. Everyone was his friend. John Rocker? While mostly he was a great guy when he got that look in his eye you knew he was going to be a jerk. Why did he never catch Greg Maddux all those years? He wonders that too, but never got around to asking him or anyone else. He also glosses over the steroid years and never mentions doing steroids himself like he admits to in the interview on Atlantabaseballtalk.com.
I enjoyed the book. It's a nice walk down memory lane. No big revelations or wow behind the scenes stuff. I liked Mike Piazza's book Long Shot more even though I was never a fan of him. If you are a Braves fan you will like this book.
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