I still remember the burning of my legs from the aluminum bleachers of the old rangers stadium in the middle of July and the smell of the burning glove from second baseman, Doug Strange, as Ivan Rodriguez was throwing out would-be base stealers. The 22 year-old kid from Puerto Rico blew me away with his passion of the game more than his arm.  He brought a new level of excitement to the city of Arlington that we had never seen before.  His style and grace was embraced by every kid that dreamed about being a big league ball player.  The snap throws to first while on his knees, throwing out runners before they even begin to slide, and the relentless smile will always forever be a trademark of Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. A week has past since his official retirement so I thought it was in my best interest to rank the top 3 catchers of all-time.

3.Yogi Berra- Standing at 5’7” at 185 pounds we have Lawrence Peter Berra residing at number 3.  Most critics have Yogi at number 2 but I feel that his MVP awards were not rightly earned especially in the year of 1956 when his teammate, Mickey Mantle, hit 37 homeruns and batted over .300 while Yogi only batted .272. Furthermore, Ted Williams batted .356 that year and had one more homerun than him. The Boston media has always ridiculed Mr. Williams for not being cordial enough to answer personal questions. Ted “The Kid”Williams has outperformed Mr.Berra every year that he has been named the MVP.  With that set aside, Yogi has 10 World Series rings and no other catcher comes close to that. Apparently he must be doing something right. Hitting for a career average of .285, 358 home runs, 1430 RBI, 1175 runs scored, and 2,150 base hits has the 18 time all-star in my top 100 hitters of all-time. Theodore Williams is the best hitter of all-time on my list if your curious.  Who else do you know that can leave the league to do 3 years of military service then comeback and win the MVP award with a batting average of .342, 38 homeruns and 123 RBI’s. Don't worry I’ll wait...

2.Johnny Bench- The 1968 Rookie of the Year award winner was the main cog of the “Big Red Machine”.  Batting .267 for his career he had 389 home runs, 1,376 RBI, 1,091 runs scored, and 2,048 base hits.  Unfortunately I didn't have the honor of getting to see Johnny in rare form in the 70’s.  Any player that has 10 consecutive gloves in any position deserves recognition.  This was a toss up between the Oklahoma native and Ivan Rodriguez.  Unlike Yogi, Johnny only won 2 World Series Championships and won 2 MVP awards. But he also was the first player to win the rookie of the year honor and a gold glove in the same year.

1. Ivan Rodriguez- The hometown favorite is tagged at number one.  He holds the record for the most games squatting behind home plate with 2427. During his career, he had the best caught stealing percentage of any major league catcher, at 45.68%. He tied Johnny Bench with ten consecutive Gold  Gloves and set the record for the most Gold Gloves for catchers at 13. He was the best defensive catcher longer than anyone else.  Ivan only has one championship ring and one MVP award but catchers are not the only ones responsible for winning rings. From an offensive standpoint he held is own by hitting .296, 311 homeruns, 1332 runs batted in, and 2844 hits in his career.  Bench had more pop in his bat but Pudge was a more consistent hitter.

Honorable mention-Josh Gibson

We have to go on purely speculation but he is said to be not only be the best hitting catcher but the best hitter of all-time too. Coming out of the Negro Leagues he didn't receive a lot of respect because of barnstorming, playing inferior competition. It is estimated that he has hit more than 800 homeruns over his career which was generated between the Negro Leagues and exhibition games. His batting average ranged from about .354 to .384 over his career. After a walk-off homerun against the Pittsburgh Crawfords rumor has it he hit it so far into the night sky, they couldn't see it anymore. The next day, the same two teams played in Washington, and an outfielder caught a ball falling from the sky. The umpire yells to Gibson "Yer out! In Pittsburgh! Yesterday!"  He had no defensive skill set like most average catchers but was easily overlooked because of his strength which is why they called Babe Ruth “ the white Josh Gibson”.