Munson, Freehan, Schang, & Posada: A Realistic Look at Hall of Fame Catchers

Third basemen are criminally underrepresented in the Hall of Fame. It’s a topic that’s been discussed – or at least mentioned in passing – for years. Tyler Kepner wrote about for The New York Times in early 2018. A few years earlier, in a piece discussing David Wright’s Hall of Fame case, The Sporting News’ Graham Womack made a similar conclusion. And a couple decades earlier the immortal Bill James wrote the following in his 1995 book, Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame: “So even though third base is dramatically underrepresented in the Hall of Fame, [Ron] Santo would rank in the middle or top off that group.”

Santo, of course, would eventually get into the Hall, regrettably two years after his passing.

And while third baseman still account for the fewest members of the Hall (excluding the newly inducted designated hitters), there’s a separate argument that has seemingly been overlooked: Is the Hall of Fame induction bar too high for catchers?

The answer: yes – a resounding, yes.

Catching is the most demanding position on the diamond – day in, day out. Foul tips ricocheting off unpadded body parts. The grind on the knees from the squatting for hours on end, pulverizing cartilage. The heat. The gear.

Bill Dickey – or Muddy Ruel, depending upon the source – didn’t refer to the position’s equipment as “the tools of ignorance” for nothing, after all.

And it’s even more evident on the “career games played” leaderboard.

Only six catchers – Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Bob Boone, Yadier Molina, Gary Carter, and Jason Kendall – have appeared in more than 2,000 games behind the dish. Unsurprisingly, that’s more than half the total for any other position on the infield. Twenty-one first basemen have accomplished the feat, as have 13 second basemen, 13 third baseman, and 19 shortstops.

Now let’s take a different approach, something a little more concrete.

The below chart shows a position breakdown of how many players – both Hall of Famers and non-Hall of Famers – to accrue at least 50 Wins Above Replacement (Baseball Reference) in their careers, as a well as a JAWS total of at least 50.

Pretty eye opening, isn’t it?

So if the position is that demanding and the production is vastly different than any other spot on the diamond, why is the entrance to the Hall of Fame the same standard for catchers as, say, first baseman or shortstops?

It shouldn’t be.

In fact, ignoring backstops not yet eligible for the Hall of Fame (Joe Mauer, Buster Posey, and Yadier Molina), there are strong arguments for as many as four additional catching inductions: Thurman Munson, Bill Freehan, Wally Schang, and Jorge Posada.

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Thurman Munson:

Even ignoring a lower entrance threshold for catchers, it’s surprising that the former Yankee great hasn’t been enshrined yet. Munson was a powerhouse during the 1970s, winning the American League Rookie of the Year, an MVP award, and seven All-Star appearances. He’s a career .292/.346/.410 hitter with three Gold Gloves on his resume. And, in 1976, he became the first Yankees captain since the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig.

He was the best American League catcher during the 1970s and he was in the conversation for the second best backstop in baseball, only shadowed by Johnny Bench.

His production during the 70s rivaled two of his Hall of Fame peers: Carlton Fisk and Ted Simmons.

Before the end of the 1979 season, though, Munson was killed in a plane crash in Ohio.

His career 46.1 WAR ranks 15^th all-time at the position. But, perhaps, his strongest argument for Hall of Fame inclusion: his 41.6 JAWS score ranks 11^th among catchers. Ten of the eleven players that rank above him are in the Hall of Fame, and the one player that isn’t, Joe Mauer, will be in a couple years.

While his career was short, Munson meets the HoF’s eligibility requirement of having played in at least 10 Major League championship seasons.

The peak was great. And another two or three seasons would have put him in Mickey Cochrane, Ted Simmons, Buck Ewing territory.

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Bill Freehan:

The former Detroit Tiger’s racked up a plethora of hardware during his 15-year big league career, including: 11 All-Star appearances, one World Series ring, five Gold Gloves, and two Top 3 finishes in MVP voting. He would finish third behind Carl Yastrzemski’s Triple Crown and Harmon Killebrew in 1967. And he was runner-up to teammate Denny McLain and his 31-win season a year later.

Freehan did all the little – and big – things on the field: he hit for power; he walked; he led baseball with 20 HBPs in 1967 and paced the junior circuit with 24 beanings a year later; he threw out nearly 40% of would-be base stealers in his career; he would occasionally hit for average.

He did everything.

Freehan was the best catcher in baseball in 1967-68, the best AL catcher in 1971 and the second best in 1964.

But he largely seems to be a forgotten man nowadays. Perhaps, it’s because he doesn’t feel like a Hall of Famer. Or maybe it was because he was essentially done after 1974 when he was 32-years-old.

The long time Tiger started showing signs of decline in 1975 and was out of baseball after another year. He retired after his age-34 season. He would finished as a .262/.340/.412 hitter with a 112 OPS+ and nearly 45 wins above replacement.

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Wally Schang:

Trivia Time Part I: Who was the best hitting catcher in baseball between 1910 and 1919?

Wally Schang, of course, who posted an impressive 130 Weighted Runs Created Plus total during that time frame, 12 percentage points better than the runner-up (Art Wilson).

Trivia Time Part II: Who was the best hitting American League catcher between 1920 and 1929?

Mickey Cochrane, of course. But Schang was nearly the Hall of Famer’s equal, posting a 118 wRC+ to his counterpart’s 121.

Schang’s three main contemporaries – Mickey Cochrane, Gabby Hartnett, and Ray Schalk – each made it into the Hall of Fame. And here’s how Schang’s numbers stack up against the trio:

In comparison with Cochrane and Hartnett, Schang’s power numbers fall short – though he did flash some power throughout his career:

• In 1916, he slugged seven homeruns – which was tied with four other hitters as the 10^th best in baseball. Those four hitters he tied: Hall of Famer Max Carey, Happy Felsch, Vic Saier, and Fred Merlke. A 20-year-old Rogers Hornsby, by the way, hit six homeruns during his first full year in the big leagues.

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Jorge Posada:

Apart of the Yankees’ Core Five that were homegrown stars that helped vault the organization back to prominence in the late 1990s. Posada’s career hardware speaks for itself: five All-Star appearances, five Silver Slugger awards, and one top 3 MVP finish as a 32-year-old in 2003.

He would end up with a career .273/.374/.474 slash line, belting out 379 doubles, 10 triples, 275 homeruns, and 1,065 RBI. He finished with a 121 OPS+.

Only 14 of the 19 catchers in the Hall of Fame appeared in at least 1,000 games at the position. Of those 14, Posada’s:

• doubles would rank sixth (between Johnny Bench and Gary Carter)
• homeruns would rank seventh (between Ivan Rodriguez and Roy Campanella)
• RBIs would rank tenth (between Gabby Hartnett and Campanella)
• OPS+ would rank ninth (between Yogi Berra and Ted Simmons)

One more little tidbit: only two switch-hitting catchers are in the HoF – Ted Simmons and Biz Mackey.