Plum Job

It’s a thankless job, short on accolades and glory.

The medals are bruises and the trophies come in the form of approving nods from the mound.

Author Tim Brown didn’t just focus on catchers for his book with Erik Kratz, The Tao of the Backup Catcher. Instead he examined the guys who don’t get regular at bats or crouch behind home plate every day. It’s these second-string and third-in-line backstops who are the true glue guys in a major-league organization – players like Kratz, who began his professional career with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays in 2002 before donning a mask for nine MLB teams.

In The Cards: 1986 Calgary Cannons

The second season of Calgary Cannons baseball at Foothills Stadium featured some good talent.

But the team couldn’t replicate the success they had their first year.

The baseball cards created for them, however, allow fans to reminisce about some of the future MLB players who donned the red, yellow and white.