Time For Varitek Sign Off

Jason Varitek retired as catcher of the Boston Red Sox Thursday. He did so under duress when his 39-year-old his body told him that squatting as if doing deep knee-bends for another summer was out. If it was up to his head Varitek would have signed a 15-year contract instead to stick around Fenway Park. He was dressed up, in society’s uniform, not baseball’s, when he announced his intentions, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a handful of dirt from behind the plate in each pocket of his sports coat.

Fans sometimes get impatient with catchers who don’t swat 30 home runs or drive in 100 runs. It’s as if they look at the big galoot and figure he should be able to powder the ball off the fence with a flick of the wrist. But usually catchers are employed and valued more for their savvy than their batting power. They are the brains of the outfit on the field.

Remember, catchers are the ones who tell pitchers what to throw. They position the outfielders based on what they know about the opposing batter next coming to the plate. And they are the ones waggling fingers to remind everyone else how many outs have been recorded in that inning.

It’s not as if they can’t hit, but catchers have other responsibilities, too. They get paid to be leaders and Varitek was the prototype. Leader on the field and in the clubhouse. You got the feeling that if he thought young players in the locker room were goofing off at the wrong time he would not wait until the manager said anything, but he would step up, snarl in their faces louder than a lion on the loose and not stop berating them until their hair fell out.

In my mind there has always been such a thing as the warrior-catcher and not just because the catcher is the only one on the field who wears armor to play. The Yankees’ Thurman Munson and and the Red Sox’ Carlton Fisk come to mind as the epitome of the warrior-catcher.  They were the ultimate team guys and you didn’t want to alienate them. Varitek was the linear descendent of Fisk for the Red Sox. Not quite as good as an all-around player, but one that served the same role.

Varitek was originally property of the Seattle Mariners, but played his entire Major League career with the Red Sox. He got into one game in 1997 and represented Boston ever since. He batted .256 with 197 home runs and 757 RBIs. A three-time All-Star, Varitek was the catcher when the Red Sox ended their championship drought with World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. Tellingly, he was the Red Sox captain from 2005 through 2011.

When Varitek announced his retirement Thursday team chairman Tom Werner described him as “the rock” of the team. Guys like Varitek are always more valuable than their statistics. They play until their knees wear out and their shoulders grow weary. Their main visible emotion over the years seems to flip-flop between stoicism and being on the verge of igniting a Juan Pablo Montoya-level explosion.

So, of course, the tough guy let it all out when he said goodbye. The tears welled up in his eyes when he said the No. 1 thing he would miss about the little boys game he starred in is the brotherhood of bonding with his teammates. That’s precisely what we expected him to say. You know somebody will hire Varitek on as a coach, or maybe a minor league manager to toughen up the young guys as they rise through the ranks. A few years of that and some team will call out his name and anoint him a Major League manager. If Varitek wants it, that’s the way his path could easily go.

You can bet there would be no lollygagging on a Varitek-managed team.

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