One of the questions I get asked often during radio interviews and other discussions of my book Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises is: Which teams are particularly strong or weak at each position? After all, even the best overall dream teams have some relatively strong or weak spots.
I’ll start in this post with a review of the Catcher position. The oldest teams have had a lot more history to draw from, so I’ll separate the analysis into two groups: the original 16 franchises (where the AL teams date back to 1901 and the NL teams date back to the 1800s) and the 14 expansion-era teams that date to the 1960s-1990s only. And for each team I’ll list only the most notable candidates: the starter and backup I selected and one or two others I considered, though in many cases I considered several others in the book.
The Best of the Original 16 Franchises
Yankees: Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey (Thurman Munson, Jorge Posada, Elston Howard)
Few positions are as loaded as catcher is for the all-time Yankees. Two all-time greats in Berra and Dickey lead the way, but Munson and Posada would be credible choices at catcher for an all-time dream team roster as well. Howard had several good seasons, and now there is slugger Gary Sanchez too. Their strong history at such an important position is no doubt one reason for the Yankees overall historical success as a franchise.
Dodgers: Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza (Mike Scioscia, John Roseboro, Steve Yeager)
Two clear Hall of Famers in Campanella and Piazza are arguably as strong as the top two Yankees catchers, but then the star power drops off after that.
Reds: Johnny Bench, Ernie Lombardi (Bubbles Hargrave, Ed Bailey, Johnny Edwards)
Similarly, two strong Hall of Famers are the headliners here, but then even weaker depth after them.
Braves: Joe Torre, Del Crandall (Brian McCann, Javy Lopez)
No hall-of-fame players here, but four solid candidates that make the choice of starter and backup very debatable.
The Other Original 16 Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Athletics: Mickey Cochrane, Gene Tenace (Terry Steinbach, Frankie Hayes)
- Cardinals: Yadier Molina, Ted Simmons (Tim McCarver, Walker Cooper)
- Cubs: Gabby Hartnett, King Kelly (Johnny Kling, Jody Davis)
- Giants: Buster Posey, Buck Ewing (Roger Bresnahan)
- Indians: Victor Martinez, Carlos Santana (Sandy Alomar, Jr.)
- Orioles: Chris Hoiles, Rick Dempsey (Matt Wieters, Gus Triandos)
- Phillies: Darren Daulton, Andy Seminick (Carlos Ruiz, Bob Boone, Mike Lieberthal)
- Pirates: Jason Kendall, Tony Pena (Manny Sanguillen, Smokey Burgess)
- Red Sox: Carlton Fisk, Jason Varitek (Rick Ferrell, Rich Gedman)
- Tigers: Bill Freehan, Lance Parrish (Ivan Rodriguez, Mickey Cochrane)
- Twins: Joe Mauer, Early Battey (Muddy Ruel, Brian Harper)
- White Sox: Carlton Fisk, Sherm Lollar (Ray Schalk, AJ Pierzynski)
Plenty of Hall of Famers and other star names here. The Tigers in particular have a lot of stars listed, though Rodriguez only played 5 seasons for the Tigers late in his career, and Cochrane only 4 late in his. Fisk split his career between the Red Sox and White Sox, lessening his value in this context for each club. As with the Braves, I find it hard to choose a starter and a backup from the many Phillies catcher candidates (there were actually nine I considered in the book). The weakest cohort in this list has to be the Orioles/Browns franchise with Hoiles, Dempsey, Wieters, and Triandos as the top four.
The Best of the 14 Expansion Era Franchises
Mets: Mike Piazza, Gary Carter (John Stearns, Jerry Grote)
Two strong headliners here, even though Piazza and Carter only played part of their Hall of Fame careers for the Mets. Grote was a light hitter but great behind the plate, handling some outstanding pitchers like Seaver and Koosman. And Stearns was an All-Star four times, providing rare speed for a catcher with 91 stolen bases.
Nationals: Gary Carter, Wilson Ramos (Brian Schneider, Darrin Fletcher)
Carter appears a second time here, and played the majority of his Hall of Fame career for the Expos/Nationals franchise. Ramos is a capable backup on their dream team roster, making this a relatively strong showing.
Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez, Jim Sundberg
These two combined to play 25 seasons for this franchise. They don’t have any other candidates worth mentioning, but the strong defense of Sundberg and the all-time greatness of Rodriguez make this combo one of the best.
The Other 14 Expansion Era Franchises (alphabetical order)
- Angels: Bob Boone, Bengie Molina (Mike Napoli, Buck Rodgers)
- Astros: Alan Ashby, Brad Ausmus (Jason Castro, Cliff Johnson)
- Blue Jays: Ernie Whitt, Pat Borders (Gregg Zaun, Russell Martin)
- Brewers: Jonathan Lucroy, B.J. Surhoff (Dave Nilsson, Charlie Moore)
- Diamondbacks: Miguel Montero, Damian Miller (Chris Snyder)
- Mariners: Dan Wilson, Dave Valle (Kenji Johjima, Mike Zunino)
- Marlins: Charlies Johnson, J.T. Realmuto
- Padres: Benito Santiago, Terry Kennedy (Gene Tenace)
- Rays: Toby Hall, Dioner Navarro (John Flaherty)
- Rockies: Chris Iannetta, Wilin Rosario (Jeff Reed)
- Royals: Salvador Perez, Darrell Porter (Mike Macfarlane, John Wathan)
It is understandable that the four most recent expansion teams might not have yet had a star catcher, let alone more than one. But the entries here for the Astros, Blue Jays, and Mariners are notably weak in star power.
Next up will be First Base…