Personal catchers are neither dumb nor rare. I don't care what level of ball any pitcher made it to there was a catcher on the team they felt more at ease throwing to...felt more insynch with how they wanted to attack hitters and just felt more confident throwing to. The naive statement is saying they are professionals and therefore don't have or shouldn't have a preference. Also, Vogts exact quote was HE doesn't believe in personal catchers...that doesn't mean he's going to ignore his veteran aces believe or preference.
When I pitched games I never cared one bit who the catcher was. It was always my game not his. I threw what I wanted and where I wanted. Vogt. a long time major league catcher apparently agrees with me. Very few major league pitchers give a damn who's doing the catching. Very, very few.
Good for you and while you're correct its always the pitcher's game it's easier "playing catch" with certain people. And frankly you're way off on the very few...very few may have the standing to make the request and even fewer may be able to get the request accommodated but more than very few have a preference. I should add I'm specifically talking about starters, just so we're not lumping all pitchers with starters.
When stat people start attaching ERA's to the catcher then I'll consider your argument.
Vogt said that wouldn't be the case.
As an alternative argument.. it could be that Vogt responded to the bigger question: who controls the lineup card?.. Any infringement into the subject, however slight, would be met with aggressive response.. This is an area/subject that a manager, especially a new manager, would guard with vigor...
About the same as my experience, I didn't get home til 1am and don't mind watching recording if I don't know the end result. Accidentally caught the final score while returning texts about the 5th inning, so I drifted to sleep happily.
hmm... sort of disagree with some of this.. The sad amateur career stuff isn't salient to the point.. and you know that..
