Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers

BATTING
YR 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1965	TM NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY	LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL	POS C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C OF C C C	G 7 83 125 116 151 141 142 137 151 147 140 134 122 131 120 119 86 64 4	AB 22 293 469 415 597 547 534 503 584 541 521 482 433 472 359 395 232 147 9	R 3 41 70 59 116 92 97 80 88 84 93 74 60 64 46 62 25 20 1	H 8 82 143 115 192 161 146 149 179 147 155 121 115 134 99 107 52 43 2	2B 1 15 24 20 30 19 17 23 28 20 29 14 17 25 14 11 8 6 0	3B 0 3 10 2 6 4 1 5 6 3 2 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 0	HR 2 11 14 20 28 27 30 27 22 27 30 24 22 19 15 22 10 8 0	RBI 4 54 98 91 124 88 98 108 125 108 105 82 90 69 62 61 35 28 0	TB 15 136 229 199 318 269 255 263 285 254 278 211 204 218 160 184 90 73 2	BB 1 13 25 22 55 44 66 50 56 60 65 57 35 43 38 35 24 15 0	IBB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 7 10 5 5 6 4 4 2 0
Totals	G 2120	AB 7555	R 1175	H 2150	2B 321	3B 49	HR 358	RBI 1430	TB 3643	BB 704	IBB 49

BATTING								BASERUNNING			PERCENTAGES
YR 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1965	TM NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY	LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL NL	K 1 12 24 25 12 20 24 32 29 20 29 24 35 38 23 28 18 17 3	HBP 0 0 1 6 4 3 4 3 4 7 5 1 2 4 3 2 2 1 0	SH 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	SF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 5 5 4 6 2 4 5 5 1 0	GDP 0 7 9 6 11 16 8 7 9 13 8 11 6 6 11 7 7 4 0	SB 0 0 3 2 4 5 2 0 0 1 3 1 3 1 2 2 0 1 0	CS 0 1 3 1 2 4 3 3 1 0 2 2 0 2 1 0 1 0 0	SB% -.--- .000 .500 .667 .667 .556 .400 .000 .000 1.000 .600 .333 1.000 .333 .667 1.000 .000 1.000 -.---	AVG .364 .280 .305 .277 .322 .294 .273 .296 .307 .272 .298 .251 .266 .284 .276 .271 .224 .293 .222	OBP .391 .310 .341 .323 .383 .350 .358 .363 .367 .349 .378 .329 .319 .347 .347 .330 .297 .360 .222	SLG .682 .464 .488 .480 .533 .492 .478 .523 .488 .470 .534 .438 .471 .462 .446 .466 .388 .497 .222	AB/HR 11.0 26.6 33.5 20.8 21.3 20.3 17.8 18.6 26.5 20.0 17.4 20.1 19.7 24.8 23.9 18.0 23.2 18.4 --.-	AB/K 22.0 24.4 19.5 16.6 49.8 27.4 22.3 15.7 20.1 27.1 18.0 20.1 12.4 12.4 15.6 14.1 12.9 8.6 3.0
Totals			K 414	HBP 52	SH 9	SF 44	GDP 146	SB 30	CS 26	SB% .536	BAVG .285	OBP .348	SLG .482	AB/HR 21.1	AB/K 18.2

CAREER FIELDING STATISTICS

YEAR TEAM LG POS G Ch PO A E DP FPCT

1946
1947
1947
1948
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1954
1955
1956
1956
1957
1957
1958
1958
1958
1959
1959
1960
1960
1961
1961
1962
1962
1963
1965
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYA
NYN
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
AL
NL
C
OF
C
OF
C
C
C
C
C
C
3B
C
C
OF
C
OF
C
1B
OF
C
OF
C
OF
C
C
OF
OF
C
C
C
6
24
51
50
71
109
148
141
140
133
1
149
145
1
135
6
121
2
21
88
7
116
36
63
15
87
28
31
35
2
34
49
285
99
340
611
854
788
779
639
2
788
815
3
798
3
769
10
44
550
11
761
60
281
84
170
68
193
260
17
28
48
259
93
297
544
777
693
700
566
1
717
748
1
732
3
704
10
39
509
8
698
56
256
76
161
63
175
244
15
6
0
18
4
36
60
64
82
73
64
1
63
54
2
55
0
61
0
3
41
1
61
2
22
8
7
1
16
13
1
0
1
8
2
7
7
13
13
6
9
0
8
13
0
11
0
4
0
2
0
2
2
2
3
0
2
4
2
3
1
2
0
5
2
5
18
16
25
10
9
0
14
10
0
15
0
12
2
1
8
1
9
0
6
0
2
0
6
5
0
1.000
0.980
0.972
0.980
0.979
0.989
0.985
0.984
0.992
0.986
1.000
0.990
0.984
1.000
0.986
1.000
0.995
1.000
0.955
1.000
0.818
0.997
0.967
0.989
1.000
0.988
0.941
0.990
0.988
0.941

Totals G
1962 Ch
10165 PO
9221 A
819 E
125 DP
183 FPCT
0.988

ALL-STAR STATISTICS - BATTING TOTALS

BATTING															PERCENTAGES
YR 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1959 1960 1960 1961 1961 1962	TM NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY	LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL	G 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1	AB 0 3 2 4 2 4 4 6 2 3 2 0 3 2 2 1 0 1	R 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0	H 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0	2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	HR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0	RBI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0	TB 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0	BB 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0	SB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	BAVG -.--- .000 .000 .250 .000 .000 .500 .167 1.000 .333 .000 -.--- .333 .000 .000 .000 -.--- .000	SLG -.--- .000 .000 .250 .000 .000 .500 .167 1.000 .333 .000 -.--- 1.333 .000 .000 .000 -.--- .000	AB/HR --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- 3.0 --.- --.- --.- --.- --.-	AB/K --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- --.- 1.5 --.- 2.0 --.- --.- --.-
Totals			G 15	AB 41	R 5	H 8	2B 0	3B 0	HR 1	RBI 3	TB 11	BB 2	K 3	SB 0	AVG .195	SLG .268	AB/HR 41.0	AB/K 13.7

WORLD SERIES STATISTICS - BATTING TOTALS

BATTING															PERCENTAGES
YR 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 1962 1963	TM NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY	LG AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL	G 6 4 4 6 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 4 2 1	AB 19 16 15 23 28 21 24 25 25 27 22 11 2 1	R 2 2 2 4 2 3 5 5 5 3 6 2 0 0	H 3 1 3 6 6 9 10 9 8 6 7 3 0 0	2B 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 0	3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	HR 1 0 1 0 2 1 1 3 1 0 1 1 0 0	RBI 2 1 2 0 3 4 2 10 2 2 8 3 0 0	TB 6 1 6 7 13 13 14 20 12 9 10 6 0 0	BB 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 1 2 5 2 0	K 2 3 1 1 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0	SB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	BAVG .158 .063 .200 .261 .214 .429 .417 .360 .320 .222 .318 .273 .000 .000	SLG .316 .063 .400 .304 .464 .619 .583 .800 .480 .333 .455 .545 .000 .000	AB/HR 19.0 --.- 15.0 --.- 14.0 21.0 24.0 8.3 25.0 --.- 22.0 11.0 --.- --.-	AB/K 9.5 5.3 15.0 23.0 7.0 7.0 24.0 25.0 --.- --.- --.- 11.0 --.- --.-
Totals			G 75	AB 259	R 41	H 71	2B 10	3B 0	HR 12	RBI 39	TB 117	BB 32	K 17	SB 0	AVG .274	SLG .452	AB/HR 21.6	AB/K 15.2

WORLD SERIES FIELDING

YEAR	TEAM	POS	G	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	FPCT
1947 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1957 1958 1960 1960 1961 1962	NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY	OF C C C C C C C C C C C OF OF C	2 4 4 4 6 7 6 7 7 7 7 3 4 4 1	3 23 40 31 31 67 40 44 53 48 66 14 5 12 7	3 19 37 30 27 59 37 40 50 45 60 13 5 11 6	0 2 3 1 3 7 3 4 3 2 6 1 0 0 1	0 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0	0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0	1.000 0.913 1.000 1.000 0.968 0.985 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.979 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.917 1.000
Totals			G 73	Ch 484	PO 442	A 36	E 6	DP 5	FPCT 0.988

TEAM ABBREVIATION KEY
YEARS 1946-1963 1965	TM NY NY	LG AL NL	TEAM NAME New York Yankees New York Mets	LEAGUE NAME American League National League

Berra was named to the AL All-Star team fifteen times, a three-time MVP and holds numerous World Series records, including games by a catcher (63), hits (71) and number of times on the winning team (10). Although lightly regarded as a manager, he was the first big league skipper to win pennants in both leagues in nearly forty years.

As testament to Berra's hidden mobility, he logged 2 unassisted double plays as a catcher, tagging hitters and base runners on bunt plays.

Defense alone wasn't making Berra a mythic character. Sportswriters claimed that Berra shared Casey Stengel's gift for butchering the English language. Berra took advantage of his public persona during games. Batters curious enough to listen to Berra's babbling would lose concentration quickly, playing into the shrewd hands of the supposedly daffy catcher. (See Yogi-isms Page for some of his infamous remarks.)

During WWII, at age 18 Yogi enlisted in the Navy and served in North Africa and Italy. On D-Day -- June 6, 1944 -- Berra was shooting it out with the Germans at Omaha Beach. He was on a small rocket boat off the beach. It had machine guns and 24 rockets and Yogi was firing the rockets. After the war Yogi vanished into baseball's minor leagues, not reaching the Yanks until late in the 1946 season. Aaron Robinson was the catcher and Yogi mostly played outfield. Bill Dickey [another Hall of Famer catcher] was the manager. Yogi was a lousy catcher until Dickey taught him how to play the position. The next year Robinson was traded and Yogi became the starting catcher.

Yogi Berra is known to millions who don't even follow baseball. His persona transcends the game. Berra is funny and, at a squat 5'8", was a seemingly improbable star. But a star he was - a Hall of Famer. "To me," Casey Stengel said, "he is a great man. I am lucky to have him and so are my pitchers...He springs on a bunt like it was another dollar."

Through hard work and the help of Bill Dickey, Berra became a great catcher. He led the American League in games caught and chances accepted eight times, and led the league in double plays six times. He is one of only four catchers to ever field 1.000 in a season (1958), and between July 28, 1957, and May 10, 1959, Berra set major league records by catching in 148 consecutive games and accepting 950 chances without making an error.

Yogi was a master at calling pitches and handling a pitching staff. He caught two no-hitters by Allie Reynolds in 1951 and Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. He treated every Yankee pitcher differently; some he goaded and some he babied, depending on their temperament. An excellent, cat-like athlete, he was also a good defensive left fielder late in his career.

As a slugger, he was feared throughout the league. Berra American League records for home runs hit while playing catcher with his 30 home runs in both 1952 and 1956 and his 306 lifetime (these were later broken by Carlton Fisk). He also had five 100-RBI seasons. Between 1949 and 1955, when he was the heart of the Yankees' batting order, he led the club in RBI each season and won three MVP awards.

Berra was one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time, "the toughest man in the league in the last three innings," according to Paul Richards, a rival manager. Along with Roberto Clemente, Berra was probably the best bad-ball hitter in the game's history. He was skilled at golfing low pitches for deep home runs and chopping high pitches for line drives. Yet for all his aggressiveness at the plate, he was hard to strike out. In 1950, he fanned only 12 times in 597 at-bats.

As Lawrence Peter Berra had a way with the bat, so does he have a way with words. One of Berra's first notable quotes came in 1947, when the people of his hometown St. Louis threw Berra a "night" before a Yankees-Browns game. Grateful, Berra told the crowd: "I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary." He once said of a restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." And as a veteran, he noted, "I've been with the Yankees 17 years, watching games and learning. You can see a lot by observing." "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore," was his pithy comment on inflation. When asked as a child how he liked school he replied: "Closed." His colorful expressions that got to the heart of things became known as "Yogi-isms."

After playing briefly in the Yankee farm system, Berra enlisted in the navy in 1944. After his discharge in 1946 he reported to the Yankees' Newark club in the International League. He had a great year (.314, 15 HRs, 59 RBI in only 277 at-bats) and was called across the Hudson.
Berra came up as an outfielder before being converted to catcher, and he shared New York's catching duties with Aaron Robinson at first, and later with Gus Niarhos, before becoming the Yankees' regular catcher from 1949 to 1959. Except for a few games with the Mets in 1965, Berra played his entire career as a Yankee, serving as an outfielder and pinch hitter as well as catcher in 1960-63.

When his career was over, Berra had played on a record ten World Series champions. He also played in an unmatched 14 World Series and holds WS records for games (75), at-bats (259), hits (71), and doubles (10).

Berra was named the Yankees' manager for the 1964 season, the final season of the mighty New York dynasty. The Yankees won the pennant but were defeated by St. Louis in a seven-game World Series. The day after the Series ended, the Yankees fired Berra and hired St. Louis Manager Johnny Keane. New York finished sixth in 1965.

Berra, meanwhile, rejoined Stengel with the Mets. He took over as the Mets' manager when Gil Hodges died suddenly in 1972 and led them to the NL pennant in 1973, thus joining Joe McCarthy as the second manager to win pennants in both leagues.

In 1976 Berra returned to the Yankees as a coach, and he managed the club again in 1984 and the beginning of 1985. He later coached for Houston. Wherever he goes, Berra remains one of baseball's most popular figures.