Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - Trivia for the Prior Years

December 2005

There are 14 catchers in baseball's Hall Of Fame (including Josh Gibson of Negroe League fame). Additionally, there are eight more players in the HOF who caught at one time or another. Furthermore, there are 56 pitchers in the HOF of which 34 were caught by a Hall Of Fame catcher, forming true:

HALL OF FAME BATTERIES

Catcher	Pitchers	Teams	Yrs	Years
Johnny Bench	Tom Seaver	CIN	5	1977-1981
Yogi Berra	Whitey Ford	NY-A	12	1950-1963
Roger Bresnahan	Rube Marquard	NY-N	1	1908
	Christy Mathewson	NY-N	6	1902-1908
	Joe McGinnity	Balt/NY-N	8	1901-1908
	Vic Willis	STL-N	1	1910
Roy Campanella	Don Drysdale	BKN	2	1956-1957
	Sandy Koufax	BKN	3	1955-1957
	Tommy Lasorda	BKN	2	1954-1955
Gary Carter	( None )
Mickey Cochrane	Lefty Grove	PHI-A	9	1925-1933
	Waite Hoyt	PHI-A	1	1931
Bill Dickey	Lefty Gomez	NY-A	13	1931-1942
	Burleigh Grimes	NY-A	1	1934
	Waite Hoyt	NY-A	3	1928-1930
	Herb Pennock	NY-A	6	1928-1933
	Red Ruffing	NY-A	14	1930-1946
Buck Ewing	John Clarkson	CLE Spiders	2	1893-1894
	Tim Keefe	Troy/NY-N	13	1880-1892
	Amos Rusie	NY-N	2	1891-1892
	Monte Ward	Troy/NY-N	13	1880-1892
	Mickey Welch	NY-N	13	1880-1892
Rick Ferrell	Lefty Grove	BOS-A	4	1934-1937
	Herb Pennock	BOS-A	1	1934
	Early Wynn	WAS-A	4	1939, 41, 44, 47
Carlton Fisk	Steve Carlton	CHI-A	1	1986
	Dennis Eckersley	BOS-A	3	1978-1980
	Ferguson Jenkins	BOS-A	2	1976-1977
	Juan Marichal	BOS-A	1	1974
	Tom Seaver	CHI-A	3	1984-1986
Gabby Hartnett	Pete Alexander	CHI-N	5	1922-1926
	Dizzy Dean	CHI-N	3	1938-1940
	Burleigh Grimes	CHI-N	2	1932-1933
Ernie Lombardi	Carl Hubbell	NY-N	1	1943
	Eppa Rixey	CIN	2	1932-1933
	Warren Spahn	BOS-N	1	1942
	Dazzy Vance	BKN	2	1931, 34
Ray Schalk	Red Faber	CHI-A	15	1914-1928
	Carl Hubbell	NY-N	1	1929
	Ted Lyons	CHI-A	6	1923-1928
	Ed Walsh	CHI-A	3	1914-1916

November 2005

From 1960-2004 there were a total of 55,951 different battery (pitcher and catcher) combinations that were paired in the forty-five years in both the National and American Leagues. By grouping them in a career-wise manner, there were 36,063 pairings involving 3,768 different pitchers and 780 different catchers. Some of these pairings were for only 1/3 of an inning and some were for over a thousand innings together. The single season high for the most innings paired belongs to pitcher Wilbur Wood and catcher Ed Hermann of the White Sox in 1972 when they joined for 353.3 innings. The most innings paired in a career is held by pitcher Mickey Lolich and catcher Bill Freehan who formed a team for 2,331.3 innings.

When one tabulates the Battery's Earned Run Average (BERA) or the number of runs charged to the duo per nine innings, some measure of good/bad performance can be estimated. The lowest BERA (0.890) for a season (minimum of 75 innings paired) was recorded by pitcher Bob Gibson and catcher Johnny Edwards in 1968 with St. Louis. The lowest BERA for a career belongs to Vida Blue (pitcher) and Dave Duncan (catcher) who notched a 1.865 in over 362 innings together.

Catcher's Earned Run Average (CERA) for all batterymates is an easy measure for a backstop's contribution to the team's performance. For a single season (minimum 1,000 innings caught) the catcher with the Lowest CERA in the period 1960-2004 was Dan Wilson (Sea-A) in 1995 who recorded a mere 2.53 average. Second seasonal lowest was Jerry May (Pit-N) in 1968 with a 2.61 CERA. The Top 100 Best CERA Seasons can be viewed at this link.

For a Career CERA (minimum 4,000 innings caught), the lowest average was by J.C. Martin who had a phenominal 2.83. Coming in second was Ellie Hendricks with a 3.02. The Top 100 Career Best can be seen at CAREER CERA.

October 2005

Fourteen catchers were involved/made the last out in the 100 World Series that have been played (1903-2004). Boss Schmidt (Det-AL) is the only catcher to have batted into two World Series endings (1907 & 1908). Both were at home against the Chicago Cubs.

Of the fourteen series-ending outs: one struck out, two flied out, two hit popups, eight hit into ground outs (batter retired), and one of which forced the runner out at second. There was one hit into a double play. Nine of these games were at home and five were away.

Eleven of the fourteen were National League catchers involving seven different teams: Chicago Cubs, New York Giants (3), Philadelphia Phillies (2), St. Louis Cardinals (2), Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, and the New York Mets. Besides the 1907 & 1908 WS out enders made by Detroit, the only other American League catcher played for the New York Yankees (Jorge Posada in 2003).

The fourteen benefactors (Series winning teams) were: Chicago Cubs (2), Philadelphia Athletics (3), Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees (4), Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, and the Florida Marlins.

September 2005

Buddy Rosar holds the Catcher Record for the Fewest Passed Balls in a Career (28) which he allowed in 934 games. (800 games caught minimum). Buddy also holds the Catcher Record for the Lowest Passed Balls per Game career average (0.039). Current catcher, Dan Wilson is in 2nd place with a PB Average of 0.032 (41 PB in 1,270 games caught). Third on the all-time list is Brad Ausmus (0.048) with just 47 PB in 1,424 games caught. [See complete list at 800 Games Fielding].

Lance Parrish holds the modern (Post 19th Century) record (192) for the Most Passed Balls in a Career which he amassed while playing in 1,818 games.

Pop Snyder holds the 19th Century record (647) for the Most Passed Balls in a Career which he amassed while playing in only 744 games catching. He also holds the Worst Record for Passed Balls per Game Average with 0.738. The Hall Of Fame Catcher with the Worst PB per Game Average is Roger Bresnahan (0.132).

The Most Passed Balls in a Single Season (19th Century) record (105) is held by Ed Whiting while catching for Baltimore (AA) in 1882 in just 72 games behind the plate.

On August 12, 1995 Pirate catcher Angelo Encarnacion used his mask to fetch a "passed ball" and tagged the Dodger runner out. The umpire ruled it illegal and awarded the game-winning run to Los Angeles. Encarnacion was charged with an error (Passed Ball that wasn't?). [See Passed Balls Trivia].

Alex Gardner (Was-AA) holds the record for the Most Passed Balls in a Game (12) set May 10, 1884 (His only major league game). The record for Most Passed Balls in an Inning is held by Dan Sullivan (Stl-AA) who had 5 on August 9, 1885, third inning.

August 2005

Since 1876 there have been only 9 catchers who have made two Unassisted Double Plays (UDP) in their career. Many catchers have had one career UDP. No catcher has ever had two in the same game. The last catcher to have two career UDP's was Buck Rodgers who collected his with the Los Angeles/California Angels in 1965 and 1969.

Ray Schalk holds the catcher record for the most double plays (226) in a career which he amassed in 1,727 games over an 18 year span (1912-1929). Steve O'Neil is in second place with 193 and Yogi Berra is in third place with 175.

The catcher record for the Most Double Plays in a Season is held by Steve O'Neil who had 36 of them while playing for the Cleveland Indians in 1916.

Unassisted Double Plays that do not involve interference generally fall into three types: Popups, Groundouts and Strikeouts plus caught stealing of home. From 1960-2004 there were 31 catcher UDP's. Eight were of the popup variety, four were groundouts, and nineteen were strikeouts plus caught stealing. A fourth variety is the very rare tagging out of two runners. Such notable backstops as Luke Sewell (1933), Darrell Porter (1979), Buck Martinez (1985), Carlton Fisk (1985), Darren Fletcher (1992), and Mike DeFelice (2000) accomplished this feat. Buck Martinez (TOR-A) tagged out Phil Bradley in a home plate collision that broke Martinez' leg. While sitting on the ground in agony, Buck tagged out Gorman Thomas who tried to score on the play.

Gregg Zaun (HOU-N) in 2002 had a strikeout/caught stealing UDP with a twist. After the K, the runner tried to steal second and Zaun ran out to second base and tagged him to finish the UDP.

Sometimes the catcher UDP happens because the batter didn't run. That happened to Jorge Posada in 2000 when Luis Alicea bunted with the bases loaded in front of the plate. Posada picked up the ball and stepped on the plate to force out the runner from third then proceeded to tag Alicea for the UDP.

July 2005

Gabby Hartnett was the very first catcher in All-Star history to come to bat, when he appeared in the first All-Star Game in 1933.

The only player to have hit a home run in his very first at-bat (Sep 12, 1986) and his first All-Star at-bat (Jul 12, 1988) was catcher Terry Steinbach (MIN-A). Both Johnny Bench and Javy Lopez hit homers in their first All-Star at bat but not their first MLB at bat..

Sandy Alomar Jr. has the highest career All-Star batting average (for catchers) with .417 which he accomplished in 6 games.

In the 1981 and 1984 All-Star games Gary Carter was named as the Most Valuable Player. He hit two homeruns in the 1981 Summer Classic.

Ivan Rodriguez was the youngest catcher to start an All-Star Game when he was voted to start in 1993. Pudge was 21 years old at the time. He had been previously named as an alternate the year before in 1992.

Johnny Bench and Gary Carter hold the catcher records for Most Career Homeruns in All-Star games with 3. Mike Piazza has two and can tie them with one swing of the bat.

The catcher record for Most Career All-Star RBI's is held by Johnny Bench with six. Gary Carter and Mike Piazza each have five. Ivan Rodriguez and Johnny Bench jointly hold the catcher record for Most Career All-Star Hits with 10.

Yogi Berra holds the catcher record for starting the Most All-Star Games with 17 (1948-1961). He was selected for 18 All-Star games.

June 2005

For the period 1876-2005 there have been 659 Triple Plays executed in the major leagues. Catchers have been involved in 170 of these events. Pop Snyder leads all catchers with five involvements, with Luke Sewell in second place with four.

Since 1876 catchers have Batted into 96 triple plays (of the 659 recorded). Deacon McGuire leads all catchers with three (1887, 1894 and 1901)..

Catchers started 30 (of the 659) triple plays of which 17 began with a strikeout.

142 different catchers were involved in the 170 catcher-triple plays. Nineteen catchers were involved two or more times.

Eighteen times the catcher made two of the three outs in a triple play. Twice (Jack O'Brien in 1884 & Otto Miller in 1912) the catcher made the first two outs. Three times ( Pop Snyder in 1877, Charlie Ganzel in 1890 & Hal Smith in 1955) the catcher made the second and third outs, with both Ganzel's and Smith's outs being tags at the plate. Thirteen times the catcher made the first and third outs.

In all, the catcher made the first putout 46 times, the second putout 24 times, and the third putout 85 times. In addition, catchers were credited with an Assist 96 times, 75 of which were either first or second assists.

May 2005

There have been 137 players who have have played both ends of a battery (pitcher - catcher) at some point in their MLB careers. Many have played other fielding positions as well. In fact one could make up a complete positional team of those versatile batterymen.

P - Roger Bresnahan (HOF)
C - Buck Ewing (HOF)
1B - Jimmie Foxx (HOF)
2B - Hardy Richardson
3B - Ezra Sutton
SS - Bert Campaneris
LF - Jim O'Rourke
CF - Paul Hines
RF - King Kelly (HOF)
DH - Wayne Nordhagen
PH - Cal McVey
Mgr - Cap Anson (HOF)
Coach - Cookie Rojas

There have been 41 career catchers who have pitched in a game. Amos Booth holds the record amongst these forty-one with 95 2/3 Innings Pitched in a Career and 86 Innings Pitched in a Season.

Five times there have been catchers who CAUGHT and PITCHED in the SAME GAME: Frank Bowerman (9/23/1904), Roger Bresnahan (8/3/1910), Rick Cerone (7/19/1987 and 8/9/1987), and Rick Dempsey (7/2/1991). None of the four won these games .

The catcher career pitching records for Games Pitched (15), Games Started (9), Batters Faced (449), and Complete Games (6) are all held by Amos Booth.

Jim Keenan holds the catcher career pitching ERA record with an Earned Run Average of 2.37.

April 2005

On Base Percentage (OBP) is one measure of a batter's ability to get on base by any means and be capable of scoring a run. If every plate appearance resulted in the batter getting a hit, a walk, hit-by-pitch, or a sacrifice fly, his OPB would be 1.000 (no outs made). If all of a batter's on base achievements were base hits, his OBP would equal his Batting Average.

Mike Piazza holds the Catcher Record for Highest Season OBP when he had 0.431 for the 1997 Los Angeles Dodgers. Mike Dick Dietz is in second place with 0.426 (1970 SFN) and Mike Piazza is in third with 0.422 (1996 LAN). [400 At-Bats minimum.]

Billy Sullivan Sr. holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Season OBP when he chalked up a mere 0.235 for the 1908 Chicago White Sox. Bob Boone has second worst with 0.2417 (1984 CAL) and Oscar Stanage is third worst at 0.2418 (1914 DET). [400 At-Bats Minimum.]

Mickey Cochrane holds the Catcher Record for Highest Career OBP with 0.419 mark. Wally Schang is in second with 0.393 and Gene Tenace is in third place with 0.388. [4000 PA's minimum.]

Red Dooin holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Career OBP with 0.272. Malachi Kittridge is second worst at 0.277 and George Gibson is third worst at 0.295.

Gene Tenace has the Catcher Record for Highest Differential Between Career OBP and BAVG with 0.146 (BAVG=0.242 and OBP=.388). The next best three are: Mickey Tettleton 0.128, Darren Daulton 0.112, Wally Schang 0.109.

Manny Sanguillen holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Differential Between Career OBP and BAVG with 0.030 (BAVG=0.296 and OBP=0.326).

March 2005

Slugging Percentage (SLG%) is Total Bases divided by At-Bats and is one measure of a batter's power hitting. If the batter hit a homerun every time he came to the plate, his SLG% would be 4.000. If all of a batter's hits were singles (no Extra Base Hits [EBH]: doubles, triples nor homeruns), his SLG% would equal his Batting Average.

Javy Lopez holds the Catcher Record for Highest Season SLG% when he had 0.687 for the 2003 Atlanta Braves. Mike Piazza is in second place with 0.638 (1997 LAN) and Gabby Hartnett is in third with 0.629 (1930 CHN). [400 At-Bats minimum.]

Billy Sullivan Sr. holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Season SLG% when he chalked up a mere 0.228 for the 1908 Chicago White Sox. Oscar Stanage has second worst with 0.232 (1914 DET) and Jack Boyle is third worst at 0.238 (1892 NYG). [400 At-Bats Minimum.]

Mike Piazza holds the Catcher Record for Highest Career SLG% with 0.562 mark. Javy Lopez is in second with 0.502 and Roy Campanella is in third place with 0.4996. [4000 PA's minimum.]

Malachi Kittridge holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Career SLG% with 0.274 in 1,215 games. Red Dooin is second worst at 0.298 and George Gibson is third worst at 0.3112.

Mike Piazza has the Catcher Record for Highest Differential Between Career SLG% and BAVG with 0.252 (BAVG=0.319 and SLG=.572). The next best four are: Roy Campanella 0.224, Javy Lopez 0.215, Johnny Bench 0.208, and Mickey Tettleton with 0.207.

Malachi Kittridge holds the Catcher Record for Lowest Differential Between Career SLG% and BAVG with 0.055 (BAVG=0.219 and SLG=0.274).

February 2005

For the period 1876-2004 there have been 650 Triple Plays executed in the major leagues. Catchers have been involved in 153 of these events. Luke Sewell leads all catchers with four involvements, while three other catchers have three apiece (Duke Farrell, Hank Severeid, John Warner, and Muddy Ruel).

Since 1950 catchers have Batted into 44 triple plays (of the 230 recorded). Andy Etchebarren and John Wathan each did it twice.

Twelve catchers have been on both sides of a Triple Play since 1950. That is they helped turn one and they were caught in a triple play. Ed Kirkpatrick and Darrell Porter each helped turn one but were both caught in two different triple plays.

Six times a Triple Play started with a strikeout since 1950, crediting the catcher with the first putout. Four other times the catcher was the first player involved. Two of those times a ground ball was gloved and the catcher threw to the 3B for an out. The other two times the catcher snatched a popup.

Eight career catchers, playing first base during a game, were involved in helping to turn a triple play.

January 2005

Ray Berres is the oldest living baseball catcher. He is 97 years and 4 months old, having been born on 8/31/1907.

Tom Hess is the youngest catcher to play the game, when he debuted on 6/6/ 1892 at the age of 16 years, 9 months and 21 days (born 8/15/1875).

The oldest catcher to play a complete game is Jim O'Rourke when he played on 9/22/1904 at the age of 52 years and 29 days (born on 9/1/1852).

The Average Career for all 1,582 Catchers is 5.236 years of major league experience, playing an Average 294.3 Games. Half (50.9%) of all MLB catchers played only 3 years or less for an average of 31.4 games. Only 15% of all catchers played for more than 10 years (the mythical standard Hall-Of-Fame cutoff).

Nick Testa is 1-of-9 catchers to have played in just one game for one inning with zero At Bats and zero Putouts or Assists. Nick is the only one of the nine to have made an Error in his one inning career.

December 2004

2004 saw a number of catcher records broken or tied. The most notable was Mike Piazza's Home Run Record of 358 round-trippers by a catcher, breaking Carlton Fisk's record of 351. Piazza ended the season with 378 career HR's (playing all positions) which put him into 2nd place behind Johnny Bench with 389. [See CAREER BATTING LEADERS ]

Mike Matheny (STL) set three Fielding Records in 2004: Most Consecutive errorless games in a Season (138); Most consecutive errorless games in a Career (252); Most consecutive errorless chances in a Career (1,555).

Damian Miller (OAK) set a record for the Most Consecutive Errorless Chances in a Season (654).

Brian Schneider (MON) created a new defensive mark with the Most Double Plays in a Game (3)

Dan Wilson (SEA) had the Most Doubles in a Game where each one batted-in three runs when he hit two on 5/15/2004.

Hitting for the Cycle (Single, Double, Triple and a Homerun) is a great offensive achievement. Chad Moeller (MIL) did it on 4/27/2004).

November 2004

The 2004 Throwing Out Base Stealers Best Record belongs to Brian Schneider (MON) who nabbed 50% of the thieves (36 of 72). [Minimum 81 games plus 30 or more attempts.] The Worst Record in 2004 goes to Johnny Estrada (ATL) who only caught 18% (16 of 86).

Paul LoDuca (FLA) had the Most SB Attempts against him with 129 (93 SBs & 36 CSs). The Fewest SB Attempts were made against Miguel Olivo (SEA) with 49 (32 SBs & 17 CSs). [81 games minimum.]

The Most Runners Caught Stealing was 37 by Jason Kendall (PIT). The Most Stolen Bases Against was 93 by Paul LoDuca (FLA)

Mike Matheny (STL) had the Fewest SB Attempts per Game with 0.44 (122 games & 54 SBAs). Paul LoDuca (FLA) had the Most SB Attempts per Game 0.992 (130 games & 129 SBAs). [81 games minimum.]

The 2004 Average for All 110 Catchers was 23.5 SBs, 10.0 CSs, .25 CS%, 50 Games, 0.67 SB Attempts per Game. There were 2,589 Stolen Bases in 2004 and 1,100 Runners Caught Stealing.

October 2004

Yogi Berra holds the World Series Records for Most Series Played (14), Most Games in a Career (75), and Most WS Hits in a Career (71).

Thurman Munson shares a World Series Record for Most Consecutive Hits in a Career (7) with Billy Hatcher (CIN-N 1990).

Hank Gowdy (BOS-N 1914) holds the Catcher World Series Record for the Highest Single Series Batting Average with .545 (ten or more at bats).

Johnny Bench (CIN-N .533) and Thurman Munson (NY-A .529) led their respective teams in Batting Average in the 1976 WS. Bench was named the Series MVP.

Boss Schmidt (DET-A 1909) holds the Ignoble WS Record of Most Errors in a 7-game series (5) plus permitting 16 stolen bases in that series.

Ray Schalk (CHI-A) holds the Single Series Record for Catching the Most Base Stealers (10) in that "Infamous 1919 Black Sox Series.".

John Roseboro holds the Catcher WS Record for Most Putouts in a Nine-Inning Game with 18 (LA-N 10/2/1963).

September 2004

Lance Parrish holds the modern (Post 19th Century) record (192) for the Most Passed Balls in a Career which he amassed while playing in 1,818 games.

Pop Snyder holds the 19th Century record (647) for the Most Passed Balls in a Career which he amassed while playing in only 744 games catching.

The Most Passed Balls in a Single Season (19th Century) record (105) is held by Ed Whiting while catching for Baltimore (AA) in 1882 in just 72 games behind the plate.

August 2004

Bob O'Farrell was the very first catcher to win a League Most Valuable Player Award which he garnered in 1926 while playing for St. Louis (NL).

Two catchers have each won 3 MVP Awards and they are Yogi Berra (1951, 1954, 1955) and Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955)..

Sherm Lollar was the very first catcher to win a Gold Glove Award which he captured in 1957 while playing for the Chicago White Sox..

Two catchers are tied for winning the Most Gold Glove Awards with 10 each: Johnny Bench (1968-1977) and Ivan Rodriguez (1992-2001)

Mike Piazza holds the catcher record (10) for the Most Silver Slugger Awards (1993-2002).

Four different catchers have won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards in the same year. It was accomplished twelve times by these four backstops: Gary Carter, Lance Parrish, Benito Santiago, and Ivan Rodriguez.

July 2004

Gabby Hartnett was the very first catcher in All-Star history to come to bat, when he appeared in the first All-Star Game in 1933.

The only player to have hit a home run in his very first at-bat (Sep 12, 1986) and his first All-Star at-bat (Jul 12, 1988) was catcher Terry Steinbach (MIN-A).

Sandy Alomar Jr. has the highest career All-Star batting average (for catchers) with .417 which he accomplished in 6 games.

In the 1981 and 1984 All-Star games Gary Carter was named as the Most Valuable Player.

Yogi Berra holds the catcher record for starting the Most All-Star Games with 17 (1948-1961).

June 2004

Ted Simmons holds the catcher record for having the Most Stolen Base Attempts against him in a Season with 183 while he played for St. Louis in 1978

Mike Piazza holds the catcher record for having the Most Stolen Bases against him in a Season with 145 while he played for Los Angeles in 1996

Ivan Rodriguez has the best record at stopping thieves going to 2nd base with a 47.89% success rate. Johnny Bench is the best at stopping them at 3rd base with 54.67% and also at Home with 100% success.

A Special Analysis of Stolen Bases showed that runners were successful at stealing 2nd base 70.83%, 3rd base 69.76% and Home only 30.91%. Overall runners stole at a rate of 70.06%

Based upon the Special Analysis Bob Boone picked-off the most runners at 3rd base (27), Benito Santiago picked off the most at 2nd Base (28) and Ivan Rodriguez picked off the most at 1st base (50). The Career Pickoff Record is held by Bob Boone who nabbed 77 runners

Glenn Borgmann holds the dubious distinction (twice) of having the Most Steals of Home Against a Catcher in a Season (4) which happened to him in 1974 and 1975, while with Minnesota.

May 2004

The Catcher Homerun Record is now held by Mike Piazza with 352+ . In Second Place is Carlton Fisk with 351(out of his 376 hit during his career). [Click for the Top Ten].

Johnny Bench holds the Catcher Career Total Homerun Record with 389 (327 hit as a catcher). Mike Piazza is in 3rd Place at 362+.

Homeruns per Plate Appearances record is presently held by Mike Piazza with just 16.7 plate appearances for every homerun in his career. Roy Campanella is in second with 19.8 PA/HR..

8 different catchers have held the Catcher Career Total Homerun Record. Jack Clements held the record the longest (29 years, 1900-1928) with 77 HR's until Gabby Hartnett amassed 80 Career HR's in 1928.

Hitting For The Cycle (Single, Double, Triple & Homerun in the Same Game) has been accomplished 13 times by catchers (240+ by all players). The latest catcher to do so is Chad Moeller (4/27/2004).

April 2004

There have only been 3 players who have hit Opening Day Homeruns in Four Consecutive Seasons and they were all catchers. There are: Yogi Berra (NY-A) 1955-1958; Gary Carter (MON-N) 1977-1980; and Todd Hundley (NY-N) 1994-1997.

Gus Triandos (1957-1959) hit 3 consecutive Opening Day Homeruns, just one of twelve players to do so.

Seven catchers have hit 2 Consecutive Opening Day Homeruns: Gabby Hartnett (1935-36); Ernie Lombardi (1945-46); Roy Campanella (1953-54); Joe Torre (1965-66); Joe Ferguson (1977-78); Brian Downing (1981-82); and Mike Piazza (2000-01).

10 catchers are tied for hitting a Homerun For The Most Teams (7) and two of them are current players on an entirely new team this year with a chance to break the tie and make it eight different teams. The catchers are: Benito Santiago (KC-A) and Jorge Fabregas (TAM-A). Another current catcher is Greg Zaun who has homered for six teams and if he hits one out for Montreal this year, he'll join the other ten with seven teams.

Jorge Posada (NY-A) just tied catcher record holder Todd Hundley with Homers from Both Sides of the Plate in One Game (5). Posada did it on March 31, 2004 versus Tampa Bay in Japan.

March 2004

SPRING TRAINING 2004

RECORD NUMBER There are 192 catchers in Spring Training on the combined 40-man rosters and non-roster invitees. This is a new record, breaking last year's record of 176. Also, the average number per team (6.40) is a new record breaking the old one (5.86) set in 2003.

There are 90 catchers on the 40-man rosters (42 in A.L. and 48 in N.L.)

There are 102 catchers on the non-roster invitees list (44 in A.L. and 58 in N.L.)

San Francisco Giants have the MOST catchers on the 40-man roster (5); ten teams have just 2 catchers (Bal, NYA, Oak, Tex, Chi, Cin, Col, Mon, Phi & Stl)

Four teams (NYA, Ari, Atl & Stl) have the MOST on the non-roster invitees (5); Kansas City has the LEAST (1)

Six teams (Ana, Min, Ari, Atl, NYM & Pit) have the MOST on the combined list (8); Kansas City has the LEAST (4)

Milwaukee has NO returning MLers and 3 New ones & no Minor Leaguers.

Five teams (Cle, NYA, Cin, Phi & Stl) have all returning MLers with no new ones and no Minor Leaguers on their 40-man squad.

The TALLEST catcher on the 40-man roster is Sandy Alomar Jr. (CWS-A) at 6'-5" and the SHORTEST catcher is Ivan Rodriguez (DET-A) at 5'9".

The MOST FAVORITE uniform number for roster catchers is 9 (five guys wear it). The LOWEST NUMBER is 1 worn by Bengie Molina (ANA-A) and the HIGHEST NUMBER is 71 worn by Mike Jacobs (NYM-N).

February 2004

There have been 47 different catchers who have played for the San Diego Padres since the start of the ball club in 1969.

Fred Kendall was the first Padre catcher and also the YOUNGEST to have caught for them (age 20 in 1969). Don Slaught was the OLDEST Padre catcher at age 39 in 1997.

Terry Kennedy caught the most games (792 in his career with San Diego) and Benito Santiago holds the Padre record for catching 151 games in a season (1991)

The Highest Batting Average (career while with San Diego) is held by John Flaherty with .284

The Padres have had only 3 different catchers on just eight All-Star rosters: Chris Cannizzaro (1) Terry Kennedy (3) and Benito Santiago (4).

January 2004

There have been 41 career catchers who have pitched in a game. Amos Booth holds the record amongst these forty-one with 95 2/3 Innings Pitched in a Career and 86 Innings Pitched in a Season.

Buck Ewing holds the career record amongst catchers for Most Walks Issued (23) and Most Strikeouts (23).

The catcher career pitching records for Games Pitched (15), Games Started (9), Batters Faced (449), and Complete Games (6) are all held by Amos Booth.

Jim Keenan holds the catcher career pitching ERA record with an Earned Run Average of 2.37.

December 2003

Catching the majority of a team's games throughout one's career classifies a backstop as an IRON MAN CATCHER

Ray Schalk and Bob Boone hold the record for catching 75% or more of their team's games in 12 seasons.

Jim Sundberg holds the record for catching 90% or more of his team's games in 6 seasons (1975, 1977-1981).

The record holder for the Most Games Caught in a Career is held by Carlton Fisk with 2,226.

Jason Kendall has the Highest Percentage of Games Caught in a Career with 81.8% (1,059 of his team's 1,294 games played). [Minimum 800 games caught in a career]. Ivan Rodriguez is second with 76.7% (1,565 out of 2,041). Roy Campanella is third with 76.3% (1,183 out of 1,550). Jim Sundberg is fourth with 76.1% (1,927 out of 2,534).

November 2003

Herold Muddy Ruel is credited with labeling catching equipment as "Tools of Ignorance", although some say it was Bill Dickey.

In 1877 Harvard baseball captain Fred Thayer adapted a fencer's mask for Alexander Tyng to be used by catchers. [See History of the Mask.]

The earliest documented use of a glove occurred on June 28, 1870 by catcher Doug Allison. [See History of the Mitt.] In 1887 Draper and Maynard was the first company to market a glove specifically for catchers.

Giants catcher and Hall-of-Famer Roger Bresnahan introduces the shin guard in 1907. [See History of the Shin Guard.]

On November 23, 1987 helmets (instead of soft covers) were made mandatory for catchers.

Charlie Bennett was the first to wear a chest protector. In 1886 he wore the protector, which his wife devised, outside his jersey. [See History of Chest Protector.]

October 2003

Javy Lopez, with his 42 homeruns hit this year as a catcher, now holds the all-time catcher seasonal record. He broke the record of 41 by Todd Hundley set in 1996. [See Javy's HR List or see Catcher's Seasonal HR Leaders.]

Twenty catchers have hit 3 homeruns in a game. Johnny Bench did it 3 times himself

Eighteen catchers have Homered from both sides of the plate in one game

357 catchers have hit an Inside the Park Homerun. The last to do so was Damian Miller (ARI-N) on 8/18/2002.

Only eight catchers have had seasons (17) of a .300+ Batting Average and hit 30+ Homeruns.

A Batting Average of .300+ AND an On-Base Percentage of .400+ AND a Slugging Average of .500+ has only been accomplished 26 times by catchers. See 300-400-500 Catchers.

Walker Cooper holds the Catcher Record for Hitting a Grand Slam for the Most Teams (5). He hit them for: Bos-N, Chi-N, Cin-N, NYG-N, and StL-N.

September 2003

Four catchers have been selected as League Championship Series Most Valuable Players: Darrell Porter (1982 STL), Javier Lopez (1996 ATL), Eddie Perez (1999 ATL), and Benito Santiago (2002 SF). Click to see Catcher LCS History

In the 1996 NLCS Javy Lopez set 5 LCS records (for all players): Highest AVG (.542), Most Runs (8), Most Hits (13), Most Doubles (5) and Most Total Bases (24).

Johnny Bench (CIN-N) had 2 Stolen Bases in the 1972 NLCS to set a catcher record that has not been tied nor broken.

The Career LCS Batting Average record for a catcher (25 or more at-bats) is held by Eddie Perez with .464 Rich Gedman is second with .357 and Thurman Munson is third with .339.

Johnny Bench has hit the Most LCS Home Runs with 5, which he did in five different LCS Series (1970, 72, 73, 76, and 79).

Bob Boone has the Most LCS Putouts with 84. Johnny Bench is second with 83 and Javy Lopez is third with 82.

Thurman Munson has thrown out the Most Runners Caught Stealing (12). Manny Sanguillen has the Most LCS Errors in a Career (5) and Johnny Bench has the Most LCS Career Assists (18).

August 2003

There have only been 157 (out of 1,604) catchers in MLB history who have caught 800 or more games. Click to see the list

These 157 guys span more than 130 years. The decades of the 1960's and 1980's had the most (first year of career) catchers with 24. The Best Year was 1961 when six catchers began their 800+ game careers: Johnny Edwards, Bill Freehan, Tom Haller, Buck Rodgers, Phil Roof, and Joe Torre.

The first catcher on the list of 800+ is Pop Snyder whose rookie year was 1873. But, the very first catcher to amass 800 games caught was Charlie Bennett who caught his 800th game in 1889 with Boston, his first year there after having spent eight years with Detroit. The last catcher to make the list is Jason Kendall who started in 1996. The next two most likely to reach 800GC are Mike Lieberthal (702) and Jorge Posada (684) {number of games thru 2002}.

If you were to rank these 157, both offensively and defensively, [ See GREATEST] the Number One Catcher of All-Time Overall is HOF'er Bill Dickey.

Offensively ranked, Mike Piazza comes in first. [See RANKING]. Defensively ranked, HOF'er Ray Schalk is on top.