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Catchers of the Last 40 years

By Bill James

December 14, 2017

2017-66

22. A Moment for Simba

Ted Simmons’ has been reminded several times that he was probably not as good as Johnny Bench. But in the late 1970s, after Bench faded, he was the best catcher in baseball for a couple of years.

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1977	Ted	Simmons	27.51
2	1977	Carlton	Fisk	27.19
3	1977	Gene	Tenace	26.01
4	1977	Johnny	Bench	23.90
5	1977	Gary	Carter	22.38
6	1977	Thurman	Munson	22.10
7	1977	Darrell	Porter	20.09
8	1977	Jim	Sundberg	19.81

1	1978	Ted	Simmons	27.94
2	1978	Carlton	Fisk	26.41
3	1978	Gary	Carter	23.73
4	1978	Johnny	Bench	23.04
5	1978	Darrell	Porter	22.70
6	1978	Jim	Sundberg	21.60
7	1978	Thurman	Munson	19.04
8	1978	Bob	Boone	18.28

I intended to break each list after 1939 and 1979 to summarize where we were. I had to move the 1939 break back to 1943 because Bill Dickey was in the middle of a run, and here I will move the break up one season to get it in before Gary Carter takes over.

Through 1978 the top 20 catchers in terms of position dominance are in the chart below. The Hall of Famers are highlighted in blue. Fisk, Bench, Simmons and Tenace were still active at this time,and their totals were still going up. Some totals may not match the previous charts because of the changes I made, explained in sections 15-16 of this series.

First	Last	1	2	3	4	5	YOPDI
Yogi	Berra	13	0	0	0	1	131
Bill	Dickey	6	5	4	0	0	111
Johnny	Bench	8	0	1	2	0	95
Gabby	Hartnett	3	7	3	2	0	95
Mickey	Cochrane	8	0	3	0	0	92
Joe	Torre	4	2	1	2	1	72
Wally	Schang	4	2	3	0	2	68
Roger	Bresnahan	4	1	2	1	0	57
Bill	Freehan	2	2	1	2	2	57
Ted	Simmons	2	3	1	1	0	56
Johnny	Kling	2	4	1	0	1	53
Roy	Campanella	0	7	0	1	0	51
Elston	Howard	4	1	0	0	0	47
Ray	Schalk	3	0	2	2	2	44
Walker	Cooper	1	3	2	2	0	43
Chief	Meyers	4	0	0	1	0	42
Tom	Haller	0	3	2	1	0	41
Ernie	Lombardi	2	0	4	1	2	40
Carlton	Fisk	0	3	1	1	0	38
Gene	Tenace	1	1	3	0	0	38

While these are the top 20 catchers, 1900 to 1978, in terms of peak value.

YEAR	First	Last	Peak
1972	Johnny	Bench	32.91
1930	Mickey	Cochrane	31.63
1937	Bill	Dickey	31.59
1954	Yogi	Berra	31.47
1951	Roy	Campanella	30.40
1968	Bill	Freehan	29.82
1972	Carlton	Fisk	29.79
1906	Roger	Bresnahan	28.56
1975	Gene	Tenace	28.47
1963	Elston	Howard	28.32
1978	Ted	Simmons	27.94
1935	Gabby	Hartnett	27.13
1966	Joe	Torre	26.51
1967	Tim	McCarver	25.45
1914	Art	Wilson	25.06
1970	Dick	Dietz	24.82
1968	Tom	Haller	24.63
1938	Rudy	York	24.37
1978	Gary	Carter	23.73
1970	Thurman	Munson	23.29

Joe Torre’s peak value was actually not as a catcher; it was in 1971, when he won the National League MVP Award as a third baseman. And Gary Carter’s best years are still ahead of him.

23. The Gary Carter Years

From 1979 to 1986 the best catcher in baseball was Gary Carter:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1979	Gary	Carter	27.32
2	1979	Darrell	Porter	26.34
3	1979	Ted	Simmons	24.15
4	1979	Gene	Tenace	22.70
5	1979	Johnny	Bench	22.65
6	1979	Jim	Sundberg	20.14
7	1979	Lance	Parrish	18.70
8	1979	Carlton	Fisk	17.33

1	1980	Gary	Carter	28.52
2	1980	Ted	Simmons	21.84
3	1980	Darrell	Porter	20.37
4	1980	Lance	Parrish	20.12
5	1980	Jim	Sundberg	19.30
6	1980	Carlton	Fisk	19.03
7	1980	Gene	Tenace	18.01
8	1980	Rick	Cerone	17.94

1	1981	Gary	Carter	26.29
2	1981	Darrell	Porter	21.37
3	1981	Lance	Parrish	19.37
4	1981	Jim	Sundberg	18.65
5	1981	Carlton	Fisk	18.09
6	1981	Ted	Simmons	16.53
7	1981	Terry	Kennedy	15.77
8	1981	Bruce	Benedict	13.45

1	1982	Gary	Carter	29.05
2	1982	Lance	Parrish	23.42
3	1982	Terry	Kennedy	21.55
4	1982	Carlton	Fisk	20.96
5	1982	Darrell	Porter	18.79
6	1982	Bo	Diaz	18.31
7	1982	Ted	Simmons	17.78
8	1982	Tony	Pena	16.96

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1983	Gary	Carter	27.83
2	1983	Carlton	Fisk	23.57
3	1983	Lance	Parrish	23.12
4	1983	Terry	Kennedy	20.31
5	1983	Tony	Pena	19.54
6	1983	Jody	Davis	19.27
7	1983	Darrell	Porter	18.21
8	1983	Ted	Simmons	16.17

1	1984	Gary	Carter	29.92
2	1984	Lance	Parrish	21.55
3	1984	Tony	Pena	19.38
4	1984	Rich	Gedman	19.34
5	1984	Jody	Davis	19.25
6	1984	Bob	Brenly	18.34
7	1984	Carlton	Fisk	17.96
8	1984	Terry	Kennedy	17.16

1	1985	Gary	Carter	29.90
2	1985	Mike	Scioscia	22.63
3	1985	Lance	Parrish	20.48
4	1985	Rich	Gedman	20.44
5	1985	Carlton	Fisk	19.82
6	1985	Jody	Davis	17.81
7	1985	Ernie	Whitt	17.04
8	1985	Terry	Kennedy	16.69

1	1986	Gary	Carter	24.63
2	1986	Mike	Scioscia	18.37
3	1986	Lance	Parrish	17.75
4	1986	Jody	Davis	17.34
5	1986	Rich	Gedman	17.07
6	1986	Ernie	Whitt	16.98
7	1986	Bob	Brenly	16.86
8	1986	Ozzie Jr.	Virgil	15.63

24. A Tribute to Carlton

There were a cluster of outstanding catchers born in 1947—Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Thurman Munson, Bob Boone, Ray Fosse, some others of lesser stature. Gene Tenace was born in late ’46, Most of these catchers were injured, dead or clearly past their prime by 1980, but Boone and Fisk carried on for another ten years. Gary Carter was seven years younger than Fisk, but Fisk outlasted him, and had his run as the best catcher in baseball after Carter’s knees gave out. Pena, Parrish, Gedman, Simmons, Scioscia, Kennedy. .. .they were all younger than Fisk, but Fisk outlasted them all:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1987	Mike	Scioscia	18.64
2	1987	Matt	Nokes	18.17
3	1987	Ernie	Whitt	17.48
4	1987	Carlton	Fisk	17.43
5	1987	Gary	Carter	17.15
6	1987	Benito	Santiago	16.84
7	1987	Ozzie Jr.	Virgil	14.90
8	1987	Jody	Davis	14.43

1	1988	Carlton	Fisk	18.62
2	1988	Mike	Scioscia	17.15
3	1988	Ernie	Whitt	16.89
4	1988	Bob	Boone	16.83
5	1988	Matt	Nokes	15.29
6	1988	Benito	Santiago	15.26
7	1988	Lance	Parrish	15.00
8	1988	Tony	Pena	14.67

1	1989	Carlton	Fisk	20.80
2	1989	Mickey	Tettleton	19.66
3	1989	Mike	Scioscia	18.16
4	1989	Bob	Boone	17.91
5	1989	Craig	Biggio	16.29
6	1989	Benito	Santiago	16.24
7	1989	Brian	Harper	16.21
8	1989	Lance	Parrish	16.14

1	1990	Carlton	Fisk	20.72
2	1990	Lance	Parrish	20.66
3	1990	Mickey	Tettleton	20.62
4	1990	Craig	Biggio	19.52
5	1990	Brian	Harper	19.09
6	1990	Mike	Scioscia	18.71
7	1990	Darren	Daulton	17.65
8	1990	Sandy Jr.	Alomar	15.83

In 1990 Carlton Fisk was 42 years old, I am sure the oldest man ever to rank at the top of this list, by several years. In reality, of course, Fisk in 1990 was not the player he had been in the mid-1970s; he was 70 or 80% of the player he had been in the mid-1970s. But he finally found room at the top of the list.

In 1991-92 the top catchers in baseball were Mickey Tettleton and Darren Daulton. Tettleton and Daulton were Gene Tenace-type catchers, with low batting averages but with 100 walks and 25, 30 homers a year spiking their value:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1991	Mickey	Tettleton	24.95
2	1991	Craig	Biggio	22.83
3	1991	Brian	Harper	19.76
4	1991	Darren	Daulton	18.09
5	1991	Matt	Nokes	16.65
6	1991	Benito	Santiago	16.42
7	1991	Terry	Steinbach	16.23
8	1991	Lance	Parrish	15.89

1	1992	Darren	Daulton	25.32
2	1992	Mickey	Tettleton	23.95
3	1992	Brian	Harper	18.99
4	1992	Mike	Macfarlane	16.88
5	1992	Terry	Steinbach	16.53
6	1992	Chris	Hoiles	16.52
7	1992	Matt	Nokes	14.45
8	1992	Joe	Oliver	14.32

Tettelton and Daulton were not Hall of Famers, but they fill in the gap between Hall of Famers. Daulton was a better defensive player than Tettleton.

25. Piazza, Pudge, Posada

After Gary Carter there wasn’t another great catcher who came along for several years, and then three of them arrived about the same time:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1993	Mike	Piazza	27.41
2	1993	Darren	Daulton	24.08
3	1993	Chris	Hoiles	21.21
4	1993	Rick	Wilkins	19.57
5	1993	Mike	Stanley	19.09
6	1993	Mike	Macfarlane	17.18
7	1993	Brian	Harper	16.23
8	1993	Ivan	Rodriguez	16.17
9	1993	Terry	Steinbach	15.03

1	1994	Mike	Piazza	27.14
2	1994	Mickey	Tettleton	19.13
3	1994	Ivan	Rodriguez	18.34
4	1994	Mike	Stanley	17.84
5	1994	Darren	Daulton	17.25
6	1994	Chris	Hoiles	17.16
7	1994	Terry	Steinbach	15.35
8	1994	Mike	Macfarlane	15.15
9	1994	Dave	Nilsson	14.42

1	1995	Mike	Piazza	32.74
2	1995	Ivan	Rodriguez	19.86
3	1995	Mike	Stanley	19.26
4	1995	Chris	Hoiles	16.80
5	1995	Todd	Hundley	16.19
6	1995	Terry	Steinbach	16.03
7	1995	Dave	Nilsson	15.62
8	1995	Mike	Macfarlane	13.84
9	1995	Darrin	Fletcher	13.57

1	1996	Mike	Piazza	34.58
2	1996	Ivan	Rodriguez	23.42
3	1996	Todd	Hundley	20.40
4	1996	Dave	Nilsson	19.85
5	1996	Mike	Stanley	19.14
6	1996	Terry	Steinbach	17.92
7	1996	Javier	Lopez	17.50
8	1996	Chris	Hoiles	16.09
9	1996	Benito	Santiago	15.96

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	1997	Mike	Piazza	36.27
2	1997	Ivan	Rodriguez	26.23
3	1997	Javier	Lopez	21.09
4	1997	Todd	Hundley	19.18
5	1997	Dave	Nilsson	19.01
6	1997	Jason	Kendall	18.64
7	1997	Sandy Jr.	Alomar	17.16
8	1997	Dan	Wilson	16.15
9	1997	Terry	Steinbach	15.10

1	1998	Mike	Piazza	33.08
2	1998	Ivan	Rodriguez	27.85
3	1998	Javier	Lopez	23.42
4	1998	Jason	Kendall	21.77
5	1998	Eddie	Taubensee	15.93
6	1998	Dave	Nilsson	15.38
7	1998	Jorge	Posada	15.17
8	1998	Darrin	Fletcher	14.60
9	1998	Mike	Lieberthal	14.34
10	1998	Charles	Johnson	13.87

1	1999	Ivan	Rodriguez	28.09
2	1999	Mike	Piazza	27.40
3	1999	Jason	Kendall	19.32
4	1999	Mike	Lieberthal	18.83
5	1999	Javier	Lopez	18.06
6	1999	Jorge	Posada	17.29
7	1999	Charles	Johnson	15.57
8	1999	Darrin	Fletcher	15.39
9	1999	Eddie	Taubensee	15.21
10	1999	Brad	Ausmus	14.18

1	2000	Mike	Piazza	27.45
2	2000	Jorge	Posada	25.06
3	2000	Ivan	Rodriguez	24.06
4	2000	Jason	Kendall	19.51
5	2000	Charles	Johnson	18.21
6	2000	Javier	Lopez	17.42
7	2000	Mike	Lieberthal	15.24
8	2000	Darrin	Fletcher	14.01
9	2000	Brad	Ausmus	13.69
10	2000	Mitch	Meluskey	12.94

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	2001	Jorge	Posada	25.07
2	2001	Mike	Piazza	23.28
3	2001	Ivan	Rodriguez	21.49
4	2001	Paul	Lo Duca	17.99
5	2001	Javier	Lopez	16.61
6	2001	Charles	Johnson	16.54
7	2001	Jason	Kendall	16.50
8	2001	A.J.	Pierzynski	15.50
9	2001	Ramon	Hernandez	14.11
10	2001	Damian	Miller	13.03

1	2002	Jorge	Posada	25.32
2	2002	A.J.	Pierzynski	19.14
3	2002	Ivan	Rodriguez	18.48
4	2002	Paul	Lo Duca	17.68
5	2002	Javier	Lopez	17.58
6	2002	Jason	Kendall	16.53
7	2002	Mike	Lieberthal	15.73
8	2002	Eli	Marrero	14.83
9	2002	Jason	Varitek	14.47
10	2002	Ramon	Hernandez	14.32

1	2003	Jorge	Posada	26.50
2	2003	Javier	Lopez	25.61
3	2003	Ivan	Rodriguez	21.49
4	2003	A.J.	Pierzynski	20.22
5	2003	Mike	Lieberthal	18.12
6	2003	Jason	Varitek	18.07
7	2003	Jason	Kendall	18.02
8	2003	Ramon	Hernandez	16.96
9	2003	Paul	Lo Duca	16.76
10	2003	Mike	Piazza	16.12

1	2004	Jorge	Posada	23.94
2	2004	Ivan	Rodriguez	21.50
3	2004	Javier	Lopez	19.89
4	2004	Victor	Martinez	19.55
5	2004	Jason	Varitek	18.32
6	2004	Jason	Kendall	17.58
7	2004	Mike	Lieberthal	16.81
8	2004	Paul	Lo Duca	16.81
9	2004	Ramon	Hernandez	16.68
10	2004	Michael	Barrett	16.36

1	2005	Jorge	Posada	22.88
2	2005	Joe	Mauer	22.36
3	2005	Victor	Martinez	22.32
4	2005	Jason	Varitek	17.84
5	2005	Ivan	Rodriguez	17.33
6	2005	Michael	Barrett	16.66
7	2005	Ramon	Hernandez	16.16
8	2005	Paul	Lo Duca	15.38
9	2005	Jason	Kendall	15.28
10	2005	Bengie	Molina	15.26

Piazza was probably the greatest hitting catcher of all time.

Jorge Posada dropped off the Hall of Fame the ballot after one round of voting. But as I see it, Posada was the #1 catcher in baseball for five straight years (2001-2005), and only seven men have done that—Cochrane, Dickey, Berra, Bench, Carter, Piazza and Posada. He didn’t do that over weak competition; he did that over Rodriguez, Pierzynski, Javier Lopez, Varitek, a young Joe Mauer and a fading Piazza.

26. The Joe Mauer Years

It has been almost a decade now since Joe Mauer lost his magic; it is almost 2018 and his last great year was 2010. My sense is that not that many fans remember anymore how formidable a player he was. We think of Joe Mauer now as the Joe Mauer we have had for the last seven years. At his best he was a sort of combination of George Brett and Jim Sundberg. Any game against Minnesota revolved around trying to keep Joe Mauer from beating you with his bat.

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	2006	Joe	Mauer	28.88
2	2006	Jorge	Posada	23.48
3	2006	Victor	Martinez	23.17
4	2006	Ivan	Rodriguez	20.54
5	2006	Brian	McCann	18.55
6	2006	Ramon	Hernandez	17.63
7	2006	Bengie	Molina	15.55
8	2006	Paul	Lo Duca	15.45
9	2006	Russell	Martin	15.24
10	2006	Michael	Barrett	14.92

1	2007	Joe	Mauer	28.75
2	2007	Victor	Martinez	25.01
3	2007	Jorge	Posada	22.92
4	2007	Russell	Martin	19.81
5	2007	Brian	McCann	19.06
6	2007	Bengie	Molina	16.13
7	2007	Yadier	Molina	14.99
8	2007	Ivan	Rodriguez	14.91
9	2007	Ramon	Hernandez	14.44
10	2007	Kenji	Johjima	13.72

1	2008	Joe	Mauer	31.16
2	2008	Brian	McCann	19.85
3	2008	Russell	Martin	19.33
4	2008	Geovany	Soto	18.55
5	2008	Victor	Martinez	17.82
6	2008	Yadier	Molina	17.15
7	2008	Bengie	Molina	16.79
8	2008	Ryan	Doumit	16.13
9	2008	Kurt	Suzuki	15.54
10	2008	Jorge	Posada	15.28

1	2009	Joe	Mauer	31.26
2	2009	Brian	McCann	21.10
3	2009	Victor	Martinez	20.79
4	2009	Yadier	Molina	19.68
5	2009	Russell	Martin	17.27
6	2009	Jorge	Posada	16.95
7	2009	Carlos	Ruiz	15.58
8	2009	Kurt	Suzuki	15.56
9	2009	Miguel	Olivo	15.21
10	2009	Bengie	Molina	14.96

1	2010	Joe	Mauer	28.22
2	2010	Brian	McCann	20.83
3	2010	Yadier	Molina	20.24
4	2010	Carlos	Ruiz	20.04
5	2010	Buster	Posey	18.70
6	2010	Miguel	Montero	16.67
7	2010	Geovany	Soto	16.29
8	2010	Matt	Wieters	15.53
9	2010	John	Buck	15.29
10	2010	Miguel	Olivo	15.23

27. Buster

Since Mauer faded the best catchers in baseball have been Buster Posey and Yadier Molina, and I say that out of respect for Yadi, but it is really just Buster:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	2011	Miguel	Montero	25.21
2	2011	Alex	Avila	23.68
3	2011	Yadier	Molina	22.54
4	2011	Brian	McCann	22.47
5	2011	Joe	Mauer	21.59
6	2011	Matt	Wieters	21.59
7	2011	Carlos	Ruiz	20.96
8	2011	Mike	Napoli	20.64
9	2011	Buster	Posey	20.31
10	2011	Russell	Martin	15.23

1	2012	Buster	Posey	32.56
2	2012	Yadier	Molina	27.83
3	2012	Joe	Mauer	24.32
4	2012	Miguel	Montero	23.98
5	2012	Carlos	Ruiz	22.74
6	2012	Matt	Wieters	22.10
7	2012	Brian	McCann	18.59
8	2012	Jonathan	Lucroy	18.41
9	2012	A.J.	Ellis	17.93
10	2012	A.J.	Pierzynski	17.56

1	2013	Buster	Posey	28.65
2	2013	Yadier	Molina	28.18
3	2013	Joe	Mauer	23.69
4	2013	Brian	McCann	20.90
5	2013	Jonathan	Lucroy	20.27
6	2013	Matt	Wieters	19.44
7	2013	Salvador	Perez	18.63
8	2013	Russell	Martin	18.63
9	2013	Wilin	Rosario	18.47
10	2013	Miguel	Montero	17.49

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Value
1	2014	Buster	Posey	30.41
2	2014	Yadier	Molina	24.40
3	2014	Devin	Mesoraco	24.06
4	2014	Jonathan	Lucroy	22.74
5	2014	Russell	Martin	21.86
6	2014	Salvador	Perez	21.07
7	2014	Brian	McCann	20.18
8	2014	Joe	Mauer	19.30
9	2014	Miguel	Montero	16.74
10	2014	Derek	Norris	16.14

1	2015	Buster	Posey	28.64
2	2015	Yadier	Molina	20.66
3	2015	Brian	McCann	20.01
4	2015	Salvador	Perez	19.58
5	2015	Russell	Martin	19.12
6	2015	Joe	Mauer	18.25
7	2015	Jonathan	Lucroy	17.94
8	2015	Yasmani	Grandal	16.48
9	2015	Derek	Norris	16.14
10	2015	Stephen	Vogt	15.81

1	2016	Buster	Posey	25.45
2	2016	Wilson	Ramos	21.43
3	2016	Yadier	Molina	20.30
4	2016	Jonathan	Lucroy	19.41
5	2016	Salvador	Perez	19.04
6	2016	Yasmani	Grandal	17.62
7	2016	J.T.	Realmuto	16.95
8	2016	Russell	Martin	15.66
9	2016	Miguel	Montero	15.31
10	2016	Cameron	Rupp	14.92

1	2017	Buster	Posey	20.68
2	2017	Yadier	Molina	17.09
3	2017	J.T.	Realmuto	16.95
4	2017	Salvador	Perez	16.21
5	2017	Willson	Contreras	15.66
6	2017	Gary	Sanchez	14.62
7	2017	Welington	Castillo	13.26
8	2017	Tucker	Barnhart	12.81
9	2017	Mike	Zunino	12.76
10	2017	Yasmani	Grandal	12.57

28. Summarizing the Data

YOPDI stands for "Years of Position Dominance Index". . .a count of the number of years that this catcher ranks as one of the top catchers in baseball. This chart lists the Top 40 catchers in history, not including 19^th century players and not including credit for 19^th century seasons by 20^th century players. Hall of Famers marked in blue; the chart indicates that Yogi Berra had 13 years as the #1 catcher in baseball, one year as #5, while Bill Dickey had six years as #1, five years as #2, and four years as #3. The asterisk on certain players indicates that this total includes some years as a top player at a different position, usually first base.

Rank	First	Last	1	2	3	4	5	YOPDI	Y1	Last
1	Yogi	Berra	13	0	0	0	1	131	1946	1965
2	Bill	Dickey	6	5	4	0	0	111	1928	1946
3	Carlton	Fisk	3	4	1	3	2	100	1969	1993
4	Johnny	Bench	8	0	1	2	1	99	1967	1983
5	Ivan	Rodriguez	1	5	5	1	1	98	1991	2011
6	Gabby	Hartnett	3	7	3	2	0	95	1922	1941
7	Gary	Carter	8	0	1	0	2	94	1974	1992
8	Mickey	Cochrane	8	0	3	0	0	92	1925	1937
9	Mike	Piazza	7	2	0	0	0	88	1992	2007
10	Jorge	Posada	5	2	1	0	0	84	1995	2011
11	Joe	Mauer	5	1	2	0	1	82	2004	2017
12	Ted	Simmons*	2	4	2	1	0	76	1968	1988
13	Yadier	Molina	0	5	3	1	0	73	2004	2017
14	Joe	Torre*	4	2	1	2	1	72	1960	1977
15	Victor	Martinez*	2	2	4	2	2	69	2002	2017
16	Wally	Schang	4	2	3	0	2	68	1913	1931
17	Buster	Posey	6	0	0	0	1	66	2009	2017
18	Lance	Parrish	0	3	4	1	0	59	1977	1995
19	Roger	Bresnahan*	4	1	2	1	0	57	1897	1915
19	Bill	Freehan	2	2	1	2	2	57	1961	1976
19	Brian	McCann	0	3	1	2	2	57	2005	2017
22	Johnny	Kling	2	4	1	0	1	53	1900	1913
23	Roy	Campanella	0	7	0	1	0	51	1948	1957
24	Javier	Lopez	0	1	3	0	3	50	1992	2006
25	Elston	Howard	4	1	0	0	0	47	1955	1968
26	Gene	Tenace*	1	1	3	1	0	45	1969	1983
27	Ray	Schalk	3	0	2	2	2	44	1912	1929
28	Walker	Cooper	1	3	2	2	0	43	1940	1957
28	Mike	Scioscia	1	3	1	0	0	43	1980	1992
28	Mickey	Tettleton*	1	3	1	0	0	43	1984	1997
31	Chief	Meyers	4	0	0	1	0	42	1909	1917
32	Tom	Haller	0	3	2	1	0	41	1961	1972
33	Ernie	Lombardi	2	0	4	1	2	40	1931	1947
34	Darrell	Porter	0	2	1	0	2	36	1971	1987
35	Thurman	Munson	0	0	2	4	0	35	1969	1979
35	Jason	Kendall	0	0	1	2	0	35	1996	2010
37	Bob	O'Farrell	3	0	0	1	1	33	1915	1935
38	Russell	Martin	0	0	1	1	3	32	2006	2017
39	Sherm	Lollar	0	3	2	0	2	31	1946	1963
40	Mike	Grady	3	4	0	1	0	29	1894	1906
40	Phil	Masi	2	1	0	1	0	29	1939	1952
40	Darren	Daulton	1	1	0	1	1	29	1983	1997

We can see, then, that there is a very high degree of agreement between the YOPDI scores and Hall of Fame selections, although there are a few anomalies. I said earlier that the Hall of Fame breaks at about 65 points, but the change in methodology that I made since I wrote that tends to screen out the short-term wonders, and concentrates more of the highest rankings on longer-term stars, thus moves the Hall of Fame line up from 60-65 to more like 80-85. Below 50 points, not likely, although there are three Hall of Fame catchers there—Schalk (44), Lombardi (40) and Rick Ferrell (9).

The other relevant measurement which emerges from this is the Peak Value, but warning you that Peak Value can be misleading if a player has a couple of outstanding years in an otherwise undistinguished career. Art Wilson, Stan Lopata, Devin Mesoraco, Carlos Ruiz, Dick Dietz and John Romano did that, among others. These are the top 50 catchers in peak value, including 19^th century catchers. Joe Torre was not actually catching in 1971, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award and established his peak value:

Rank	YEAR	First	Last	Peak
1	1997	Mike	Piazza	36.27
2	1972	Johnny	Bench	32.91
3	2012	Buster	Posey	32.56
4	1971	Joe	Torre	31.65
5	1930	Mickey	Cochrane	31.63
6	1937	Bill	Dickey	31.59
7	1954	Yogi	Berra	31.47
8	2009	Joe	Mauer	31.26
9	1951	Roy	Campanella	30.40
10	1984	Gary	Carter	29.92
11	1968	Bill	Freehan	29.82
12	1972	Carlton	Fisk	29.79
13	1906	Roger	Bresnahan	28.56
14	1975	Gene	Tenace	28.47
15	1963	Elston	Howard	28.32
16	2013	Yadier	Molina	28.18
17	1999	Ivan	Rodriguez	28.09
18	1978	Ted	Simmons	27.94
19	1935	Gabby	Hartnett	27.13
20	1888	Buck	Ewing	26.99
21	2003	Jorge	Posada	26.50
22	1979	Darrell	Porter	26.34
23	2003	Javier	Lopez	25.61
24	1889	Fred	Carroll	25.51
25	1967	Tim	McCarver	25.45
26	1992	Darren	Daulton	25.32
27	2011	Miguel	Montero	25.21
28	1914	Art	Wilson	25.06
29	2007	Victor	Martinez	25.01
30	1991	Mickey	Tettleton	24.95
31	1970	Dick	Dietz	24.82
32	1968	Tom	Haller	24.63
33	2014	Devin	Mesoraco	24.06
34	1891	Duke	Farrell	23.98
35	2011	Alex	Avila	23.68
36	1982	Lance	Parrish	23.42
37	1970	Thurman	Munson	23.29
38	1972	Earl	Williams	23.12
39	1922	Bob	O'Farrell	23.03
40	1956	Stan	Lopata	22.84
41	1912	Chief	Meyers	22.77
42	2012	Carlos	Ruiz	22.74
43	2014	Jonathan	Lucroy	22.74
44	1985	Mike	Scioscia	22.63
45	1971	Manny	Sanguillen	22.54
46	2011	Brian	McCann	22.47
47	1914	Ted	Easterly	22.35
48	1963	Earl	Battey	22.15
49	2012	Matt	Wieters	22.10
50	1938	Ernie	Lombardi	22.10

A Peak Value of 27 appears to be more or less the minimum standard for Hall of Fame selection, again with the same limitations. A Win Shares total of 30 indicates an MVP-candidate season. A peak value of 27 indicates that the player played consistently at a near-MVP level for a period of several years.

COMMENTS (28 Comments, most recent shown first)

Steven Goldleaf
...and Kirk Gibson and Dick McAuliffe the next day!
7:03 AM Dec 19th

hotstatrat
Uh, sorry, that was a computer glitch - I didn't intend to send it 3 times.
6:08 PM Dec 18th

hotstatrat
Morris and Trammell today, Whitaker and Freehan tomorrow . . .
6:06 PM Dec 18th

Brock Hanke
Yogi Obviously Played Defense Incredibly.
4:47 AM Dec 17th

FrankD
I would like to see the following added to the tables of the YOPDI data: teams wins, team in playoffs, pennants, and WS wins. Just a quick data check has Yogi with 10 pennants and 7 WS wins when rated at top 5 catcher in YOPDI. Dickey has 8 pennants and 7 WS wins, respectively. Fisk never got a pennant when he was a top 5, and only 1 playoff (a little cheesey since he was 6th in '75 and Boston lost playoff in '78). Bench, when in the top 5 YOPDI, 6 playoffs, 4 pennants, and 2 WS wins. Ivan was 4 playoffs and 1 pennant. I am curious if there is a trend of having the best players at certain positions leads to winning pennants? Or is it just have the best players, regardless of positions?

I think others said this too, but YOPDI should just be called YOGI (Years Of Greatest Impact?).......
12:59 AM Dec 17th

sansho1
I would say that ASG selections work fairly well to compare catchers with each other, but not so well in comparing catchers' accomplishments with those of other position players. The need/decision to carry at least three catchers in an ASG in event of injury, combined with the presence of merely functional players on several teams at the position at any given moment, queers the ASG ratio with respect to other positions. Realizing this means I've had to stow my "Del Crandall for the HOF" banner, but life is pain.
6:12 AM Dec 16th

Steven Goldleaf
Although a better example, to take MF61's lead, would be Bobby Richardson. Howard has, as Bill notes, a few genuinely HoF-worthy years, just not enough of them, while Richardson is much harder to make a HoF argument in favor of....There are certainly a lot of multiple All-Stars whose case can't be made at all, while guys who do well on Bill's cumulative chart all have strong cases.
5:39 AM Dec 16th

Steven Goldleaf
And just to be clear, I think the A-S selections even out a little bit over time--Bo Diaz doesn't make the squad in 1982 when he has a 6th place 18.31 ranking but he does in 1981 (no higher than 13.44) when Bill doesn't have him on the chart at all, so Bo has one A-S game under his belt and one season that Bill ranks him, just not the same season. My objection to A-S selections is not that the most qualified candidate doesn't make every A-S that he's "supposed" to, it's that people use A-S selections to boost (or to reject) players' qualifications for other honors. I'm quite sure that Elston Howard is not twelve times as qualified for the HoF than some catchers who made only one A-S team (but "should" have made three or four) and I'm positive he's not "infinitely" more qualified than some catchers who never made a A-S squad. If you despise WAR as a metric, as some do, how much loopier and more subject to subjective bass-ackwards reasoning are A-S games as a measure of much beyond the number of A-S games somebody played in?
5:33 AM Dec 16th

villageelliott
Four Ballplayers I have enjoyed watching more than any others:
Willie Mays, George Brett, Rickey Henderson, Buster Posey.
7:02 PM Dec 15th

tigerlily
Thanks guys. I forgot about those several years with 2 ASG per year.
6:21 PM Dec 15th

MarisFan61
I love Elston Howard, but I have to say, part of why he made so many all star teams was that the manager seems to have been, I think, a bit into nepotism. :-)

Best little piece of evidence I can suggest for that is Bobby Richardson, 1957. I love Richardson too, but....

Mind you, I think Elston Howard in theory might well have been a good enough player to make that many all star teams if he'd had the opportunity to play more in the earlier years, but the amount he played was how much he played.
4:51 PM Dec 15th

doncoffin
Just checked...BBRef has Howard being selected for the ASTeam in 9 years. So if he appeared in/s credited with 12 ASGs, then there were 3 years in which he was in both.
2:47 PM Dec 15th

telove
Elston Howard made the all-star team every season from 1957-1965, which was 12 times in 9 seasons, including twice each in 1960-1962. That's every season where he played at least 100 games and was under age 37.
2:46 PM Dec 15th

doncoffin
tigerlily--for 2 or 3 years (maybe more) there were 2 ASG a year, so Howard is likely getting credited with multiple ASG appearances for several years.
2:45 PM Dec 15th

tigerlily
I dunno Steven Goldleaf. It seems to me the number of All Star Games does a reasonable job (with exceptions) of tracking how good a career a player had. For example, during the ASG era, the following catchers made the most ASG's.

1. Y Berra 18
2. J Bench 14
2. I Rodriguez 14
4. M Piazza 12
4. E Howard 12 (how did he make 12 ASG? - he wasn't a regular that many seasons was he?)
5. G Carter 11
5. C Fisk 11
5. B Dickey 11
5. B Freehan 11
5. D Crandall 11

That's not perfect; but, it's a reasonable approximation of the best catchers since 1933.

There are, however, others who get into many more ASG than their career would otherwise recommend. The biggest offenders I found at catcher are Sandy Alomar who parlayed a 1377 G, 115 Win Share, 86 career OPS+ into 6 ASG. Bill lists him as a Top 10 twice - 1990 (10th) and 1997 (7th). The other is Buddy Rosar, a catcher from the forties who made 5 ASG, despite a career 84 OPS+, career 9.9 WAR and only three seasons with at least 400 plate appearances. I don't know whether he ever made Bill's yearly list of the top MLB catchers. That said, I suspect that most of those selected to the ASG without making Bill's list only do that once or twice.
2:04 PM Dec 15th

Steven Goldleaf
OK, I ran a VERY small sample, three years, 1979-1981, contrasting the All-Star teams with these rankings. The starters in 1979 were Porter (AL, ranked #2, and Boone (NL, not ranked), the backups were Downing (not ranked), Newman (not ranked) in the AL and Bench (#5), Carter (#1), Simmons (#3) and Stearns (not ranked) in the NL. That's right, 1979 NL All-Star team featured 5 catchers, making 8 All-Star catchers in all, yet they managed to exclude Bill's #4-, 6-, 7- and 8th ranked catchers in 1979, Tenace, Sundberg, Parrish, and Fisk respectively.

In 1980, the starters were Fisk (#6) and Bench (not ranked), and the backups were Carter (#1),Porter (#3), Parrish (#4) and Stearns (not ranked), excluding Simmons, Sundberg, Tenace and Cerone (#s 2, 5, 7,and 8.)

In 1981, the starters were Carter (#1--YAY!) and Fisk (#5), and the backups were Simmons (#6), Kennedy (#7), Benedict (#8) and Diaz (not ranked). Excluded were Porter, Parrish, Sundberg (#s 2,3, and 4,)

From this small sampling, I'd have to say there was very little correlation between who were the best catchers in a particular year and who made the All-Star team, which if true over a wider sample, supports the case the A-S teams don't mean as much in evaluating players's careers as some people think.

6:00 AM Dec 15th

MarisFan61
Bill: About Bill Freehan, it raised my eyebrows when you said in the Yogi's Years piece that he "was not a great player for a long enough period of time to be a Hall of Famer," and they raised again with what we see in the summary here. He's not quite up there with the no-doubters in either "YOPDI" or "Peak," but on each of them he's ahead of a couple of no-doubters, as well as ahead of some additional Hall of Famers. I would think that even just from these charts alone (yes, that's how much stock I put in what you've done here), we have to say that a catcher who shows so well is a reasonable candidate.

But we don't have to say it just on the basis of these charts. Here's another quickie: 6 real good years in a row, another real good year both prior to and subsequent to that run, 11 all star teams.

As to why he did so extremely poorly with the BBWAA (0.5%, one-and-done), I have no idea....actually maybe I do: it was a loaded ballot. There were almost 20 guys that I would have wanted very much to say 'yes' on.
10:18 PM Dec 14th

mskarpelos
If Buster Posey retired today, he'd have a reasonable HOF case based on this analysis. If he can play at 75% of his current level over the next 3-5 years, he'll vault into the top 10 for cumulative YOPDI and thus pretty much assure his HOF candidacy. It's tough being a Giants fan these days, but Buster is one of the few bright spots.
7:05 PM Dec 14th

MarisFan61
Following up on Steven:
My reaction too, and I don't think for a second that it means we've been overrating catchers' defense in anything.
I'm figuring (close to assuming) that this method underrates defense.....or actually not exactly that, more like that the method doesn't measure defense accurately enough in order to consistently put the best defensive catchers where they ought to be, and often has players way up there who shouldn't be.
6:06 PM Dec 14th

shthar
so is the Years of Position Dominance Index, the Yopdi Berra index?

5:44 PM Dec 14th

Steven Goldleaf
Which isn't true of course, but now I'll think that when I see YOPDI. I have noticed that these highly-ranked catchers seem to be offensive behemoths by and large. Have we simply overrated the importance of catchers' defensive skills in discussing Great Catchers Before This Article Was Written? Or is defense too difficult to quantify? Or is there not a lot of difference between Bench-level defense and Piazza-level defense to matter all that much, compared to their offensive abilities?
5:27 PM Dec 14th

Steven Goldleaf
Yogi Only Played Defense Incidentally.
4:57 PM Dec 14th

MarisFan61
I agree that catcher is the most interesting position analytically, in large part because it's the hardest and most elusive.

These last couple of articles somewhat clarify a question I raised in a previous article: how actual playing time at catcher (and games played at other positions) are dealt with in the method -- but they don't largely clarify it. Unless I've missed something (which I often do), there's still a mystery out there. I raised the question particularly about the good showing of Mike Grady, an obscure player from circa 1900.

The way in which it's been somewhat clarified is that we can see that if a guy wasn't a catcher at all in a season -- like, Joe Torre, 1971 -- he doesn't get considered at all. But what I don't see an explanation of how the method deals with, and which I wonder if it's a big part of why someone like Mike Grady could have shown so well, is if a guy did have at least some modicum of time at catcher but had a lot of his time at other positions. What I'm wondering particularly is if all the games for such seasons get counted as though the guy caught all the time.

And in fact, even about Torre:
I see that Torre came out extremely high in 1970, which, if I understand correctly the mid-stream revision in the method, counts 1971 pretty much -- even though he didn't have an inning at catcher that year.

This does seem to mean that if a guy qualified to be considered in a given year, all of his production (or at least a large chunk; I'd guess all) is considered as though he'd been a catcher for all of it.

Clarification requested. :-)
3:54 PM Dec 14th

Steven Goldleaf
I'd love to compare your list(s) to the All-Star teams for each year. I foolishly assumed, for example, that since Jerry Grote made a few All-Star teams he would appear, maybe down the list, at least once, but there seems to be only the loosest correlation between these rankings and the historical All-Star teams. I also wonder how often the #1 catcher in MLB didn't make the A-S team for that year.
10:54 AM Dec 14th

raincheck
Thanks Bill. Catcher is probably the most interesting position for is kind of analysis, at least to me. It is a very unique position. And I am a big fan of systems that confirm my biases (I always thought Freehan was a great player during my impressionable years as a young baseball fan).
9:49 AM Dec 14th

pbspelly
Can't believe you don't have Billy Sullivan in there. Best catcher in my family.
8:51 AM Dec 14th

Catchers of the Last 40 years

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