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 19th century players and not including credit for 19th century seasons by 20th 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 19th 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.