“Why has our pitching been so great? Our catcher - that's why. He looks cumbersome but he's quick as a cat." — Casey Stengel
1. Yogi Berra. Berra was short, ugly and the best Yankees catcher ever, bottom line. He won 3 MVP's in 1951, 1954 and 1955 and 4 times he finished 4th or better in the MVP voting. He never led the league in any offensive category. Not once in his career. Interesting stat, right? In fact, during his 3 MVP years, only one time was he even close to winning any batting statistic. It was 1954 when he lost the RBI title to Larry Doby by one RBI, 126 (Doby) to 125 (Berra).
HITTING: Yogi had no strike zone. This was not due to his physique and the fact that he would swing at any pitch at any time. So he’d strike out a lot, right? Wrong. Five seasons he had more home runs than strikeouts. And in those seasons, he hit 25 or more home runs. For his career, Yogi Berra hit 358 HR's and struck out 414 times.
But, despite not posting monster numbers, he still was considered the most important player in the league. And here's something you probably didn't know. For a while, Yogi batted fourth in the lineup, behind Mickey Mantle. Yeah, the stubby little catcher and provided protection for the strongest and biggest of Yankees.
CATCHING: The greatest catcher in Yankees history may have been the greatest left fielder in Yankees history had it not been for the help he got from Bill Dickey. Early in his career, there was a lot of doubt about Berra’s catching ability, especially his inability to throw runners out. But Dickey taught Yogi the tricks of the trade. Yogi may have never possessed a cannon for an arm, but he learned to call an excellent game.
Up until the 1920's, the stolen base was a HUGE offensive weapon. However, in the 1920's up to the 1960's, the home run became a more important offensive weapon while the stolen base decreased in value. Once pitching started to dominate the 1960's, the stolen base returned. But by then, Yogi’s catching days were over.
So why do I have Yogi at number one? Winning. Berra played 18 seasons for the New York Yankees. In 14 of those seasons, he played in the World Series. His teams won ten. He’s won more than any player in baseball history.
Casey Stengel described Berra and his luck by saying, "He'd fall in a sewer and come up with a gold watch." That was Yogi. Sure there’s some truth to Casey’s quip. There was the luck of playing at a certain time and playing for a great team. It’s the age old question of whether the moment makes the man or the man makes the moment. I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I do know is this, you win year after year after year by being the best and learning how to win. You MUST learn how to win. You don’t win all those World Series by luck.
Yogi ended his career in a perfectly “Yogi” way. In his final game, Yogi played all 9 innings as catcher… for New York Mets. Wait… it gets even better. The opposing team’s catcher? Joe Torre!
HONORABLE MENTION
Elston Howard. Unfortunately, baseball’s color barrier existed. but, it was beginning to be eliminated by 1947 with Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby. In 1955, the Yankees picked Elston Howard to be the man to break the Yankee color barrier. You don’t just pick any player to do this. His career numbers are very good and he should be pointed out. Interestingly enough, even though Howard is best known as a catcher and played more games at catcher than any other position, he only played 100 or more games at catcher for 5 of his 14 season.
Footnote: One thing I’d like to avoid is listing reasons why a player(s) did not make the list. Inevitably, you wind up tearing apart a player and his career. HOWEVER, once the top 3 are rated, if you’d like to make the case for a player you feel should be on this list, please do. I’d enjoy reading your comments.
--Moonlight Graham BYB Staff Writer
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