ALL-TIME TOP 100: Catchers

I'm not going to get in to this argument. It's one that will go on forever and I shouldn't have even brought it up in the first place to be honest.

Looking over his numbers though, his arm wasn't all that bad as far as CS % goes. I still don't think 22 is the right place for Mick, but then again that is all open to interpretation.

You are always going to find flaw in things like this. Basically everyone's definition of "best" is going to be different. Some will take hitting in to account more than defense, and some just have personal preference. It is much easier to rank the best offensive or defensive catchers, but to rank just the "best" catcher, is nearly impossible.

I agree that 22 is probably too high. But Tettleton should definitely be ON the list, and is underrated.

I will agree for him to ON the list. I guess that I'm just more of a perception guy. I remember watching him play and there was always the feeling that he was a Rob Deer type of guy.

Anyhow, looking over some of these guys I have found some pretty interesting stuff. When I saw Gene Tenace, I thought, no way, that guy wasn't that good, but when I took a closer look, he was an OBP machine.

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I agree that 22 is probably too high.

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probably not if they put hundley at 41. He couldn't play a lick of defense and had really only one above average hitting year. **** is dad was 3 times the catcher he was and he's not on the list

In relation to Hundley, he is probably ranked correctly. I'm starting to think that possibly the points adjustment for date of birth is off slightly. Seems like guys like Hundley are getting a little too much credit for their offense in those years. Looking at his '96 season, there were a ton of guys that hit 40 that year, so it really wasn't all that impressive given the time in which he did it. I mean Brady Anderson hit 50 that year.

So in essence we have ranked the top 100 offensive catchers really. When you put it that way and you look at I-Rod, he did have a stretch where he was one of the best offensive catchers in the game. He has come back down in recent years, but for a while he was quite the hitter.

All in all, the list isnt all that bad. Its similar, for the most part, to others "greatest" lists. I disagree with this statement, though....

"He said, and I completely agree, that hitting is much tougher now than it was at any prior time in history." If hitting was so much tougher now, we would not have experienced the offensive explosion of the past 15 years. The mid-60's, when they changed the strike zone (and subsequently pitchers dominated the game), rendered hitting much more difficult than it is now.

Its also not surprising that Piazza is listed #1, if you believe that A) Hitting is so much tougher now, and B) defense doesnt matter much for a catcher, especially throwing.

Piazza's gaudy offensive numbers did come in an era when everyone was hitting...a lot. His horrible throwing came during the same period, when there was little emphasis on the running game. The difference between Bench, Berra and others vs Piazza is that they could have played in any era, as catchers. piazza would have been a first baseman or left fielder at virtually any other time in history....maybe except the 50's, when no one stole bases either.

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Originally Posted by Rongar

Wass, whatever else is said, I award you and Justin an "A" for effort...I for one, have c&p'd your list for future reference...as for the chorus of criticism, well, no good deed goes unpunished...

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But he didn't make that list. He c&p'd it from a different site and posted the link at the bottom.


P.S.

Look at the date this was posted on the site wass linked to:

Friday, November 5, 2004

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Originally Posted by yankee hater

A report like this probably is not fair to the catcher position, and yet, the players still deserve mention. It will be more interesting to see how the rankings go at other positions, which we will start next week.

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Correction: which have already happened.

This is an article from over 3 years ago.

Actually, YH wasn't saying that. He copy and pasted it from the website. I added some quote tags to his post to clarify that.

Got it.

Yogi Berra = 1.

Piazza like 5 or 6. Part of being a catcher is being able to throw out baserunners and play defense. Piazza could do neither. He was a converted 1Bman.