With his next home run, Jorge Posada will tie Ted Simmons for first all-time in home runs by switch-hitting catchers at 248. But there are 8 other catchers with more home runs than Simmons or Posada. Can you name them?
Put your answers in the comments below. Good luck (and no cheating)!
Bonus question from ESPN's TMI blog: Mark Buehrle is set to face the Rays for the first time since his perfect game last July. Besides Buehrle, who are the only two pitchers with a World Series title and multiple no-hitters including a perfect game all with the same team?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench
ReplyDeleteRandy Johnson with D-backs for bonus?
ReplyDeleteThat's 3!
ReplyDeleteMike Piazza is #1 at 427
Johnny Bench is #2 at 389
Gary Carter is tied for #5 at 324
5 more!
And Randy Johnson is not correct for the bonus.
Carlton Fisk (as much as it kills me)
ReplyDeletei forgot Yogi too
ReplyDeleteMain Question: Carter, Fisk, Berra, Piazza, Bench, Freehan
ReplyDeleteBonus: Koufax is one. Don't know the other. Maybe Hunter???
Fisk-y business is #3 and Yogi is #4. 3 more!
ReplyDeleteFreehan is not correct (he only hit 200). Still 3 more!
ReplyDeleteBut Ben did get one of the bonus answers. Sandy Koufax is correct.
I doubt he had the no hitter like RJ - Tom Browning
ReplyDeleteclarification - are you counting home runs hit while playing the position of catcher (ex. the player had to have been catching in the game when he hit the home run) or is there simply a minimum number of games caught?
ReplyDeleteNot Browning.
ReplyDeleteThe catchers are anyone who spent at least 50% of their time at catcher. But the three guys left basically spent their whole careers at catcher.
Mike Stanley?
ReplyDeleteNot Stanley (he had 187)
ReplyDeleteJoe Torre
ReplyDeleteTorre didn't spend 50% of his career catching, so not him
ReplyDeleteLance Parrish, Pudge Rodriguez, Bill Dickey
ReplyDeleteBonus: Warren Spahn
Parrish and Pudge are correct. Dickey is not (he had 202). We have one left! Hint: he played in the 90s and 00s.
ReplyDeleteAnd Spahn is not correct. Hint with the bonus: he's a VERY famous pitcher
Ummm...Cy Young?
ReplyDeleteJavy Lopez?
And the birthday boy gets the final two answers: Cy Young and Javy Lopez closes out the question. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI really wasn't sure about Lopez, since he tailed off so quickly and had some down years (and nobody really talks about him that much).
ReplyDeleteUnderrated? Overrated? Steroids (I think so).
Javy Lopez had to have been taking steroids. I see no other explanation.
ReplyDeleteLook at that massive jump from 2002 to 2003, then the dropoff in 2004 and especially 2005. Given the era that occurred in, he had to be on the juice.
Lopez's 2003 season was one of the greatest for a catcher in baseball history (only Johnny Bench has ever had a season with more HR...and then by 2006 he was traded for a PTBNL and released twice...and then out of baseball.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one to blindly accuse someone of steroids, but it was a "coincidence" that when they started testing for steroids, Lopez's numbers fell off completely
I know you're not one to blindly accuse someone of taking steroids, but are you really saying it was a coincidence? Because that's what you typed.
ReplyDeleteOr are you just making the argument that Lopez himself would make to defend "one of the greatest seasons for a catcher in baseball history"?
There's a reason coincidence was in quotes. I don't think it was a coincidence at all. I guarantee you that if you look back at baseball stats from 2000-2003/4 and beyond for certain players, you'll see a HUGE dropoff right when testing came into play.
ReplyDeleteHe also had a huge 1998 season. Actually, 1998 Braves were a really good team, probably better than the Padres. The Braves just couldn't get past Kevin Brown and Trevor Hoffman. Galarraga and Jones combined for 78 homers and 228 RBI, not to mention the fact that their 5th Starter was Kevin Millwood. Their problem was that Mark Wohlers has a nervous breakdown and Kerry Ligtenberg blew games as closer.
ReplyDeleteThe bullpen was so bad that I believe that Greg Maddux actually got a save during the NLCS after the bullpen gave up runs in the first 3 games.
ReplyDeleteThat series MVP: Sterling Hitchcock. Amazing.
The 1998 Braves had a really good lineup and really good rotation but their big problem was their bullpen. So much so they signed 43-year-old Dennis Martinez who actually end up pitching in 4 games of that NLCS.
You're absolutely right. I even remember watching it live and having to ask my parents to explain to me why Greg Maddux was coming out of the bullpen (he was scheduled to start the next game and Bobby Cox was desperate).
ReplyDeleteAs far as rotations go, that may go down as the best combination of three starting pitchers ever. I remember in 1999 Tom Glavine was scheduled to start game 1 of the WS but had the flu. So what happened? Greg Maddux started instead. What a tragedy.