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[This is part of a series exploring the Baseball Tarot. If you would like to prompt for a part of the game or a card from the deck, there's still plenty of space. Leave a comment with a prompt. All other comments are still welcome, of course.]
If you want to learn about the complexities and subtleties of baseball, watch baseball games. In person. Accept no substitutes nor television broadcasts. And keep score. If there isn't a Major League team in your area, or tickets for those games are ridiculously expensive, many areas have minor league teams that are much more affordably priced, or a local university or college team may play regularly.
Television focuses on the things it considers exciting - the pitcher-hitter duel, runners on the basepaths, and the action that happens after the ball is put into play. In doing so, however, television misses out on the major strategic portions of the game, and it denies the savvy baseball watcher the understanding of what is about to happen. TV makes the pitcher out to be the leader of the defense as the person that sets everything in motion. In reality, much of the material that makes the highlight reel in terms of defensive catches and plays has been carefully orchestrated before the batter even steps into the box, while television is doing promotions or nattering on about sponsors and upcoming broadcasts. There is, in fact, a conspiracy among the defense to make sure they are precisely in the correct spot to make plays based on the tendencies of the hitter approaching the plate. Much of this information is in the dugout with the manager, and needs to be relayed to the players on the field. Since even the mightiest lungs will not reach all the players, and the time in between batters is too short to relay all instructions verbally, a system of shorthand and signs are used to communicate from dugout to fielders.
The responsibility of signaling falls to the field general of the defense - the catcher. As the only player blessed with the ability to see the entire field, the catcher can position the defense correctly for maximum effectiveness against batted balls. As a member of the battery (the pitcher and catcher, so named because their roles during pitching resemble that of spotter and shooter in an artillery unit), the catcher is also able to indicate to the pitcher where the most effective place to throw a pitch will be, as well as the type of pitch that will be most effective in achieving an out, or at the very least, a strike. Television cameras do occasionally catch this part of the catcher's responsibility, so when you see a series of gestures delivered at crotch level before a pitch is delivered or hear a commentator talking about "the signs", those are generally the signals involved in pitch placement and selection. The other signs have long since already gone by, and TV broadcasts are not usually in the habit of showing the defensive alignment created before the batter begins their at-bat, unless the alignment had been seriously wrenched out of a normal configuration (also called "the shift", where sometimes a hitter hits so much to one side of the field that a player who would normally be playing on the other side of the field crosses over to provide an extra fielder on that side). So an important part of the game of baseball doesn't get covered when you don't see it live.
As an aside: While it is not expressly forbidden by the rules to steal and relay the defensive signs to the offensive batter and coaches, as a runner, if the defense catches you at it, you can expect an extra-hard tag, an "accidental" spikes-up slide, or a catcher that chooses to block the plate and apply a full-body tag, the kind that reminds players of running full-force into an immovable object, on a close-ish play, as a reminder that there are things one does not do, even if the rules don't expressly forbid it. Similarly, disrespecting others, taunting, or showboating while you are on the field may earn an "accidental" headhunter from the pitcher the next time once is at bat. The umpires are instructed to punish deliberate retaliation, usually with immediate ejection from the game, but one can usually get away with sending a message once.
The Tarot deck, for this card, emphasises the fact that the catcher is the one who receives the pitch, always ready to collect whatever comes to him. There's a little mention of the fact that the catcher both receives and delivers signs, ever-changing signs that the catcher always knows, but mostly, the catcher hews more toward their Tarot equivalent, the Moon, which has the domain of secret knowledge, of intuition, psychic power, and of being okay with and working through emotions. The presence of the card is supposed to indicate being receptive to signs, your intuition, and to not overthinking things to find your solutions. Which is nice and dandy, but it's also misleading - sometimes being an effective catcher is directing the action with the signs, putting things into their correct places, and providing targets for the pitchers in your life to try and hit, in the support role instead of a passive one. As well as throwing the ball to the base ahead of anyone trying to steal on you, picking off those who stray too far, backing up fielders on throws, and occasionally using the fact that you're the only armored player on the field to physically prevent someone from scoring a run on you, which are much more active roles than just receiving. Catchers are also traditionally deceptively strong and fast hitters - wearing the armor can lull the opposition into thinking you're slow without the armor on, to their surprise. Another thing the television cameras don't usually show is that on many throws to first base, the catcher is the fielder backing up the play, having hustled their way down the line from the plate. While wearing armor.
The catcher has to have the wisdom of a sage so as to pull the strings and set everything up. They are dependent on everyone else to execute the plan, so they have to be good team players. A good catcher relieves the manager of a lot of the burden of managing the game by being an effective field commander and making decisions. Many of those decisions will seem magical or intuitive, but they are the product of experience and expertise, just not always consciously thought about.
If you want to learn about the complexities and subtleties of baseball, watch baseball games. In person. Accept no substitutes nor television broadcasts. And keep score. If there isn't a Major League team in your area, or tickets for those games are ridiculously expensive, many areas have minor league teams that are much more affordably priced, or a local university or college team may play regularly.
Television focuses on the things it considers exciting - the pitcher-hitter duel, runners on the basepaths, and the action that happens after the ball is put into play. In doing so, however, television misses out on the major strategic portions of the game, and it denies the savvy baseball watcher the understanding of what is about to happen. TV makes the pitcher out to be the leader of the defense as the person that sets everything in motion. In reality, much of the material that makes the highlight reel in terms of defensive catches and plays has been carefully orchestrated before the batter even steps into the box, while television is doing promotions or nattering on about sponsors and upcoming broadcasts. There is, in fact, a conspiracy among the defense to make sure they are precisely in the correct spot to make plays based on the tendencies of the hitter approaching the plate. Much of this information is in the dugout with the manager, and needs to be relayed to the players on the field. Since even the mightiest lungs will not reach all the players, and the time in between batters is too short to relay all instructions verbally, a system of shorthand and signs are used to communicate from dugout to fielders.
The responsibility of signaling falls to the field general of the defense - the catcher. As the only player blessed with the ability to see the entire field, the catcher can position the defense correctly for maximum effectiveness against batted balls. As a member of the battery (the pitcher and catcher, so named because their roles during pitching resemble that of spotter and shooter in an artillery unit), the catcher is also able to indicate to the pitcher where the most effective place to throw a pitch will be, as well as the type of pitch that will be most effective in achieving an out, or at the very least, a strike. Television cameras do occasionally catch this part of the catcher's responsibility, so when you see a series of gestures delivered at crotch level before a pitch is delivered or hear a commentator talking about "the signs", those are generally the signals involved in pitch placement and selection. The other signs have long since already gone by, and TV broadcasts are not usually in the habit of showing the defensive alignment created before the batter begins their at-bat, unless the alignment had been seriously wrenched out of a normal configuration (also called "the shift", where sometimes a hitter hits so much to one side of the field that a player who would normally be playing on the other side of the field crosses over to provide an extra fielder on that side). So an important part of the game of baseball doesn't get covered when you don't see it live.
As an aside: While it is not expressly forbidden by the rules to steal and relay the defensive signs to the offensive batter and coaches, as a runner, if the defense catches you at it, you can expect an extra-hard tag, an "accidental" spikes-up slide, or a catcher that chooses to block the plate and apply a full-body tag, the kind that reminds players of running full-force into an immovable object, on a close-ish play, as a reminder that there are things one does not do, even if the rules don't expressly forbid it. Similarly, disrespecting others, taunting, or showboating while you are on the field may earn an "accidental" headhunter from the pitcher the next time once is at bat. The umpires are instructed to punish deliberate retaliation, usually with immediate ejection from the game, but one can usually get away with sending a message once.
The Tarot deck, for this card, emphasises the fact that the catcher is the one who receives the pitch, always ready to collect whatever comes to him. There's a little mention of the fact that the catcher both receives and delivers signs, ever-changing signs that the catcher always knows, but mostly, the catcher hews more toward their Tarot equivalent, the Moon, which has the domain of secret knowledge, of intuition, psychic power, and of being okay with and working through emotions. The presence of the card is supposed to indicate being receptive to signs, your intuition, and to not overthinking things to find your solutions. Which is nice and dandy, but it's also misleading - sometimes being an effective catcher is directing the action with the signs, putting things into their correct places, and providing targets for the pitchers in your life to try and hit, in the support role instead of a passive one. As well as throwing the ball to the base ahead of anyone trying to steal on you, picking off those who stray too far, backing up fielders on throws, and occasionally using the fact that you're the only armored player on the field to physically prevent someone from scoring a run on you, which are much more active roles than just receiving. Catchers are also traditionally deceptively strong and fast hitters - wearing the armor can lull the opposition into thinking you're slow without the armor on, to their surprise. Another thing the television cameras don't usually show is that on many throws to first base, the catcher is the fielder backing up the play, having hustled their way down the line from the plate. While wearing armor.
The catcher has to have the wisdom of a sage so as to pull the strings and set everything up. They are dependent on everyone else to execute the plan, so they have to be good team players. A good catcher relieves the manager of a lot of the burden of managing the game by being an effective field commander and making decisions. Many of those decisions will seem magical or intuitive, but they are the product of experience and expertise, just not always consciously thought about.
