Way to go, Donny!

Of White Sox fans that follow the team a bit more deeply than the average fan, most of them know of and love Donny Lucy. Why? I couldn’t tell you. There was some disappointment expressed when the Minor League journeyman Catcher was released from the team, and rejoicing when he was re-signed to the organization. He’s been up in the majors for a couple of short stints, the proverbial cup of coffee in 2007 and again in 2010, but mostly just handles staffs in the minors. His numbers offensively have never been anything to write home about, and frankly I have no idea what his value is defensively. I must admit though, I am also a fan of Donny Lucy. I was very excited when he got the chance to come up last year and see some at-bats. Why was I so excited? Why do I love Donny Lucy? I can shed some light on why I love Donny Lucy, but it sheds no light on anybody else’s personal experiences. I first saw Donny Lucy down in spring training along with a pal. We both loved him immediately. And not only because he allowed us to drop Lebowski references regularly as long as he was within our line of vision(we’d have found other ways without him). Something inexplicable, perhaps something intrinsic in backup catchers. Not 100%, but a lot of time. Like Asian kids being good at math.

It’s a little something I’ll call the back-up catcher exception. When you are the backup catcher, you are granted an extra amount of rope. You are allowed to suck a little more. You have a little personality? Great, we love you. Donny isn’t unique in this respect. Sox backup backstops like Corky Miller, Toby Hall and Chris Widger, though pretty awful in their tenure as far as the numbers go, were for the most part spared from the typical bashing for sub-par performances that is handed out by Sox fans. Do you recall The Officer? When I was a kid, Ron Karkovice was the man. Quite the player, a good guy. Would I want him on my fantasy team? Ever look at his actual numbers? Though not as bad as the other few I’ve mentioned, he was absolutely revered, at least to my recollection. To be fair, Karkovice wasn’t a lifetime backup. He did eventually have full time duties but he spent enough time on the team backing up that he qualifies for the exception apparently. Ranging through the list of relatively recent backup catchers for us, nobody ignites a great deal of ire, despite naturally sub-par performances. Well, maybe a little bit for Jamie Burke. If it wasn’t for 2005, 2004 would burn a heckuva lot more.

So my question to you is: Who is your favorite backup catcher?