12 Comments
User's avatar
Tom C's avatar

There should be special consideration given to catchers who wore pillows, not gloves, on their left hands and were expected to catch each pitch.

Ben Johnson's avatar

Again. Dumb. Nearly expert would have bench #1. I’d argue Berra isn’t even top 5.

Dean Ciriaco's avatar

Then argue it.

Ben Johnson's avatar

Bench is the gold standard. The total

Package not just one good thing over the other. And I will maintain that while Berra played on a lot of stacked teams, he wasn’t better than DiMaggio or Mantle.

Dean Ciriaco's avatar

Please don't tell me that you just took a screenshot from Chat GPT as your argument.

Sofa Kingdom's avatar

Yogi is vastly underrated and deserves the number 1 spot. He was the best player on the most formidable dynasty in baseball history.

Much love for Josh Gibson and he is perhaps the best player to ever play. Period.

Selfishly, I’d take Yadi and his leadership skills over Piazza, Posey, and Pudge in the modern day comparison. The intangibles that can’t be measured as new baseball metrics tell me (I am biased) he’s worth more as a field general controlling the pulse and flow of the game than any other catcher other than Berra.

Joe R's avatar

100% Agree on Berra. Called games with savvy and intelligence. As a batter he was always a threat. A joy to watch. BTW, as a kid I sat next to Campanella at the 1960 World Series. He was in a wheelchair in the aisle. Yeah, I had an AWESOME seat.

John Farrell's avatar

I’m appalled that you have omitted Josh Gibson from this list. You didn’t say “Top 10 MLB Catchers of All-Time,” meaning your list (and all your research) = 🗑️

Dean Ciriaco's avatar

Would be on different list.

Fred Schwarzenbart's avatar

Going at the 10 World Series point. Let's not forget 2 of those we're while Yankees owners were basically also running the Kansas City Athetics (1956 and 1958). And another two were while they were still enjoying the benefits of the Arnold Johnson era in KC (1961 and 1962). Winning isn't on any one player. Johnny Bench could dominate in the field and with the bat. And I will not forget his occasional displays of mastery of the art of the delayed steal. Interestingly 13% of Yogi's games started are in the outfield. Johnny Bench somewhere other than catcher just over 18.7% of the time. Maybe Pudge deserves the accolade more for being almost exclusively a catcher. Especially in the era of the DH Pudge caught about 98% of his starts. And defensively he could stand toe to toe with Johnny Bench.

Andrew Eveleth's avatar

It’s early in the morning, and I haven’t had any coffee, but it looks like, under accolades, you have Buster Posey listed as a Hall of Famer, but you omit that credential for Joe Mauer. Am I missing something, or should those be reversed?

Ray Craig's avatar

I love that you have Yogi at #1. His documentary was one of the best things I’ve seen in the last several years:

https://youtu.be/XGvXOjD6zQ8?si=V_3ge_pi6T9GT4oH