Position Champions

            In the early days of baseball, you may not know, there was a period when the "championship" of baseball was determined by beating the previous champion in head to head competition, like the boxing championships.  It didn’t work worth a hoot, that system; it quickly devolved, as boxing has, into multiple claims of the championship, and to teams trying to hold on to a share of something by ducking the teams that could beat them.  

            Not a good system, but a better effort at the same result is sort of what I am trying to do here.  Mickey Cochrane was the best catcher in baseball until somebody came along who was better than him, but who was that?  Johnny Bench was the greatest until somebody came along who was better, but who exactly should we say that was?  Thurman Munson?  Carlton Fisk?  I say Ted Simmons, but that is in part because I don’t like one-year championships, and won’t list a one-year champion unless there is really no way to avoid it.  This is my historic list of the best catchers in baseball since 1900:

            It’s probably Realmuto now, right?   The hardest parts of this list are (1) coming to terms with all of the one-year champions, and (2) Figuring out when to say that Yogi Berra is no longer the #1 catcher.  Campanella was just as great as Berra, of course, but Yogi was great every year.  Campanella was up and down, way up and way down.  By  my formula Yogi holds the lead through 1960, but that’s not realistic; by 1960 he was a part-time player.   Crandall was a little better than Yogi in 1958 and significantly better in 1960, although Yogi played better than Crandall did in 1959, so you could switch that one the other way, Yogi through 1959; it wouldn’t be definitively wrong.   Feel free to argue; there’s a comments space below. 

            I feel in some way that documenting this list, figuring out who passed the baton to who, connects us to the past.   That’s why I don’t like the one-year players.  Harry Danning didn’t CARRY the baton; he just held it for a moment and then gave it back to its rightful owner, Bill Dickey.  But Danning had been one of the top catchers for several years before 1940 and was much better than Dickey in 1940, so I kind of had to give him a nod.   A one-year player doesn’t seem to be running a leg of the race; he’s just standing still, passing the baton without carrying it.  He’s not a real participant in history’s relay race; he’s a brief diversion from it.  

            Eleven catchers have held the #1 spot who are not and probably will never be in the Hall of Fame.  I’m sure that is more than any other position.   Carlton Fisk didn’t move into the #1 spot until he was past 40 years old, when Gary Carter, who was six years younger than Fisk, finally gave it up.  That’s got to be unprecedented, too, somebody taking the baton from a player six years younger, but then holding it for several seasons.

            Five players on this list (Torre, Simmons, Biggio, Piazza and Posada) were often not recognized by the baseball community as the best of their time because they were strong hitters but not great defensive catchers.   But I don’t have that option.  I can’t say that Jim Sundberg was better than Ted Simmons, just because I want a strong defensive catcher. 

            Second basemen. . .

            Sorry that Pedroia doesn’t make the list; he just doesn’t.   This list is a lot more straightforward than the catchers’ list, fewer debatable selections.  It is interesting how many guys own the position for a calendar decade.  Lajoie during the 1900s, Collins the 1910s, Hornsby the 1920s, Gehringer the 1930s, Morgan the 1970s, Sandberg the 1980s, Biggio the 1990s.  

            I’m going to do two more here, third baseman and starting pitchers.  Outfielders and first basemen would be tough to do because outfielders are forever switching among the three outfield positions and also moving to first base.  You could do shortstops or left-handed starting pitchers, but it takes a lot of time; this article would have been published three weeks ago but the work hours are hard to find when the basketball and football seasons overlap; have to watch the Chiefs, Jayhawks and 76ers.  But you could do, for example, American League catchers. . .after Bill Freehan is Thurman Munson, after Munson is Fisk, etc.  To me, that’s still an interesting list, still an interesting question, although the process is devolving toward smaller and smaller questions.  Middle relievers.  There is no end to the possible questions or the process of creating them, and you have to keep double-checking the list to see that you didn’t list somebody as the number one third baseman in some year when he was playing right field.  I’m sure I did that somewhere.  Bob Elliott mostly played the outfield in 1946, but I decided to leave him on the list, because he did play some at third base and there just isn’t anybody better.  Here are the third basemen. . .

            Lots of irate fans here.  Cleveland fans are protesting that Kenny Keltner and Al Rosen are not listed; they understand about Buddy Bell.  St. Louis fans are upset about Ken Boyer, Baltimore is fuming about Brooks Robinson, Strat-o-Matic players are standing up for Harland Clift, Detroit doesn’t understand why the system likes Bob Elliott better than George Kell. . . .all solid arguments, of course.  The method wants you to have ten good years, or it doesn’t want to say that you were the greatest of your era. 

            And starting pitchers. . .

            Thank you for your patience.