Iron Men Catchers Catching the Majority of a Team's Games
by Chuck Rosciam (Jacksonville, FL)
A member of the Society for American Baseball Research more info
If either Mike Piazza or Ivan Rodriguez catch 122 games this year (out of
162 games played by their teams), then they'll join a select group of twelve
catchers who have caught 75% of their team's games in 8 or more seasons. The
record is held jointly by Bob Boone and Ray Schalk, who have done this 12
times each.
The list of Most Seasons Catching 75% or more of team games is:
From 1871 thru 2000 there were only 123 catchers who caught 90% or more of
their team's games. During this time there were 9,401 catchers involved in
the 2,355 teams playing these seasons. The Iron Man Catcher list for the
most times catching 90% or more of the games is:
6 Jim Sundberg (1975, 77-81) * short 1981 season
5 Yogi Berra (1950-52, 54-55) # schedule of 154 games
5 Gary Carter (1977-78, 80-82) * short 1981 season
The list of Most Games Caught in a season (and % of team's games) is:
160 1968 Randy Hundley (98.16%)
155 1944 Ray Mueller (100%)
155 1944 Frankie Hayes (100%)
155 1975 Jim Sundberg (95.68%)
154 1978 Carlton Fisk (94.48%) - HOF
154 1975 Ted Simmons (94.48%)
154 1968 Johnny Bench (94.48%) - HOF
The record holder for the Most Games Caught in a Career is Carlton Fisk with
2,226 and for the Highest Career Percent of Games Caught is Ivan Rodriguez
with 78.52% (1221 out of 1555 games his team played while he was on the
team). The Top Highest Career Percentage catchers are:
The other Hall Of Fame catchers' percentages are: Bill Dickey .6512, Johnny Bench .6466, Ray Schalk .6303, Ernie Lombardi .5902, Carlton Fisk .5838,
Gabby Hartnett .5803, and Yogi Berra .5732.
Considering the demands of the position, all of the aforementioned catchers
can be considered to be Iron Men.
»Chuck Rosciam maintains the Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers at www.baseballcatchers.com.
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