100 Greatest Catchers of All-Time

In his prime, it was clear that Johnny Bench was the greatest catcher in the history of the game. It was clear to the people who had seen Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella play. His manager, Sparky Anderson, put it plainly: “I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench.” Johnny was confident too. He was proud of his powerful throwing arm. When he was 21 years old he boasted, “I can throw out any runner alive.”

He played 12 full seasons and led the league in homers 11 times. He won three batting titles. In nearly 600 games we have statistics for, Gibson had a slugging percentage over .700 and a .374 batting average. He wasn’t just a right-handed power hitter, he was the best right-handed hitter in the history of the black leagues. Monte Irvin, who played with Willie Mays on the Giants and against Henry Aaron, spent nine years in the negro leagues where he witnessed Gibson in his prime. Irvin said of Mays and Aaron, “They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson.”

Of the great catchers, only Carter and Mike Piazza learned how to play the position in the minor leagues. Carter was drafted as a shortstop, and Piazza was originally a first baseman. Carter was a fantastic athlete (he was offered a scholarship to play quarterback at USC) and worked hard to become a Gold Glove catcher.

You have to be a great athlete to get noticed when you're growing up in New Hampshire. In college, Fisk was offered a basketball contract by the Boston Celtics, but wisely realized his future was in baseball. One of four Fisk brothers, his family called him “Pudge” because he took a while to shed his baby fat. Carlton's father was a prominent high school athlete who starred in basketball. Once he slimmed, Carlton was an impressive athlete. Even though baseball was not his preferred sport, he took to catching quickly.

Mauer won three batting titles, an MVP award, and two Gold Gloves before his 27th birthday. He’s in an elite group of seven catchers to have at least five 5-WAR seasons: Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, and Iván Rodríguez.

“He seldom misses a trick. He knows exactly what his pitchers can throw, and when they’re not throwing what he expects, he reacts quickly. It’s sort of a sixth sense.” — Casey Stengel

Only three catchers have won both a Rookie of the Year and an MVP award: Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson, and Posey. He was so good that they renamed the Johnny Bench Award, which honors college baseball's top NCAA Division I catcher, the Buster Posey Award.

Pudge II was the best defensive catcher to ever play the game: more agile than Bench and with at least equal arm strength. He was fearless, willing to fire the baseball behind runners and unafraid to block the plate. As a hitter, Rodríguez was somewhat like Mickey Cochrane, though far more willing to swing at balls out of the strike zone.

At his peak Munson was better than Berra, Dickey, and Cochrane, but he didn’t have the chance to finish out the back end of his career. His tentpole skills were: handling his pitchers; hitting the ball with authority to all fields; and releasing throws quickly.

Simmons had a squat body, a lot like Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra, with tree-trunk legs, meaty calves and a thick midsection. He had heavy eyelids and a long mane of hair that surrounded his strong face. He hit well from both sides of the plate, and in the 1970s he batted .297 and made six All-Star teams.

“I still wouldn’t have called him a good catcher. I didn’t see how he could improve, defensively, given the tools he had: he was a tall, lanky guy who was slow.” — Pedro Martínez

Campanella earned a paycheck as a professional catcher when he was 15, and at the age of 17 he was one of the best receivers in the negro leagues. It took nearly a decade for him to play with men of all colors, as the granite backstop of the Brooklyn Dodgers. But once he did, he was awarded the MVP three times.

“I don’t know of any catcher who could out-run him.” — Branch Rickey

Jim Sundberg with tattoos.

Joe Torre is the only major leaguer to win 2,000 games as a manager and also collect 2,000 hits in his playing career. The Baseball Gods like to even things out: Torre never played a postseason game, but he managed more postseason games than anyone.

Sundberg was the first player to catch 130 games in a season ten times, something Tony Peña and Jason Kendall later also accomplished. He's the only player to catch 90 percent of his team’s games six times. Sundberg wasn't in the lineup because he was healthy, he was a hell of a catcher. “Sunny” won six straight Gold Gloves while Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson were in the league, which says something about his reputation.

Had his first 5-WAR season in 2022, and fourth of at least 4 WAR. Only 13 catchers have had as many as five 4-WAR seasons, and 10 of them are in the Hall of Fame.

Like Pudge Rodríguez and Mickey Cochrane, Mackey was a strong leader. He won a negro league title as a player and as a manager, and also won a championship in the Cuban League.

Four catchers have had at least ten seasons with 20 or more homers: Johnny Bench and Mike Piazza (11 each), Yogi Berra, and McCann.

Peña was guided to the big leagues by his mother, a professional softball player in the Dominican Republic. According to family legend, Rosalia Peña was as good or better than most of the men she played against. She was known for having a strong arm and being a good contact hitter.

When Santop died five days after his 53rd birthday in 1942, sportswriter Red Smith attended his funeral. Smith, who had covered Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Joe Medwick, said: “When [Santop] passed away, I got on a train, and I went to Philadelphia for his funeral, because I had seen him play and knew what he could do.”

“Triandos may swing a slightly heavier bat, but he still isn’t the catcher Lollar is today. Right now, Lollar is the best all-around catcher in the league, maybe even the majors.” — Al Lopez, 1959

Johnson ranks second in Fielding Runs per season behind Yadier Molina, and sixth in career Fielding Runs nestled between Bob Boone and Johnny Bench. He was a fine catcher: quick with his feet and blessed with a strong arm. He was regarded highly in his prime, so much so that he was included in a trade for Mike Piazza, and he won four straight Gold Gloves.

Stearns backed up veteran Jerry Grote for a few seasons before taking over as the starter. At one point he became so frustrated that he asked the Mets to send him to Tidewater so he could play regularly. He was selected for the All-Star team four times as a Met and his tough style of play made him a fan favorite.

“I know Johnny so well, I could throw the ball to home plate without signs, and he’d still get them all.” — teammate Jack Pfiester, a side-arming southpaw pitcher

Battey won three Gold Gloves in the early 1960s for the Senators/Twins and was named an All-Star five times. He was, after Elston Howard and Bill Freehan, the best catcher in the American League in the 1960s, once finishing eighth in MVP voting.

Gowdy was the first active major league ballplayer to enlist in the service in World War I. He served in the 166th Infantry Regiment and was shipped to France, where he fought in the trenches. He missed nearly two full seasons, and when he returned he was hailed as a hero. Because of his celebrity, the U.S. Army sent Gowdy on a nationwide speaking tour. In World War II, he re-enlisted and was commissioned a captain at the age of 53. He’s the only major leaguer to serve in both world wars.