The premier catcher of the late 1930s and early 1940s, the lefthanded-hitting Dickey was the soul of the Yankee dynasty bridging the Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio eras as a player, and the Mantle era as a coach. He was a keen handler of pitchers, especially the erratic Lefty Gomez, as quiet as his roommate, Gehrig, consistent, setting a major league record for catching 100 or more games in 13 straight seasons, and never played another game at another position. He was the first Yankee to find out about Gehrig's illness and was the only active player to play himself in the Gary Cooper movie "Pride of the Yankees." The Yankees retired his number 8, but ironically Dickey didn't wear that number at the start or the end of his Yankee days. When Dickey first came up, Benny Benbaugh wore number eight. When he came back to coach, Yogi Berra was wearing it.

At his best in October, Dickey hit .438 in the 1932 Classic, went 4-for-4 to open the 1938 edition, knocked in at least one run in every game in 1939, and finished off the Cardinals in Game Five of the 1943 Series with a two-run homer in the ninth.

Signed by Yankee scout Lena Blackburne on the back of an Elks Club card, Dickey tried to impress manager Miller Huggins with his home run swing. Huggins told him, "Stop unbuttoning your shirt on every pitch." With Ruth, Gehrig, and Lazzeri, the Yankees didn't need power from Dickey. What they wanted was steadiness. Dickey provided it, leading AL catchers three times each in assists and fielding and five times in putouts.

Given the job of turning Yogi Berra into a catcher, he looked up one day to find Joe Garagiola and Roy Campanella listening. In Yogi's phrase, Dickey "learned them all his experiences," too.