Catchers with 2000 Hits
Posted by Raphy on May 18, 2009
Jason Kendall hit a single in the second inning of tonight's Brewers-Cardinals game for his 2000 career hit. Here are all the players with at least half of their games at catcher and at least 2000 career hits: (Totals through yesterday)
Cnt Player **H** From To Ages G PA AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+--------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Ivan Rodriguez 2637 1991 2009 19-37 2301 9387 8757 1268 530 50 300 1236 477 63 1314 56 27 70 293 124 61 .301 .339 .476 .815 *2/D34 TEX-FLA-DET-TOT-HOU 2 Ted Simmons 2472 1968 1988 18-38 2456 9685 8680 1074 483 47 248 1389 855 188 694 39 11 100 287 21 33 .285 .348 .437 .785 *2D3/759 STL-MIL-ATL 3 Carlton Fisk 2356 1969 1993 21-45 2499 9853 8756 1276 421 47 376 1330 849 105 1386 143 26 79 204 128 58 .269 .341 .457 .798 *2D/735 BOS-CHW 4 Yogi Berra 2150 1946 1965 21-40 2120 8364 7555 1175 321 49 358 1430 704 49 414 52 9 44 146 30 26 .285 .348 .482 .830 *279/35 NYY-NYM 5 Mike Piazza 2127 1992 2007 23-38 1912 7745 6911 1048 344 8 427 1335 759 146 1113 30 0 45 229 17 20 .308 .377 .545 .922 *2D/3 LAD-TOT-NYM-SDP-OAK 6 Gary Carter 2092 1974 1992 20-38 2295 9019 7971 1025 371 31 324 1225 848 106 997 68 33 99 180 39 42 .262 .335 .439 .774 *29/375 MON-NYM-SFG-LAD-MON 7 Johnny Bench 2048 1967 1983 19-35 2158 8669 7658 1091 381 24 389 1376 891 135 1278 19 11 90 201 68 43 .267 .342 .476 .818 *253/798 CIN 8 Jason Kendall 1999 1996 2009 22-35 1867 7813 6847 957 360 34 73 677 650 46 596 236 25 55 157 170 81 .292 .370 .386 .756 *2/79D PIT-OAK-TOT-MIL
May 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
This made me wonder about a list of most hits "as" a catcher, but I don't know how to get there. I borrowed the following from a "baseballhalloffame.org" news story after Ivan Rodriguez' 2,600th career hit last Fall:
"(Rodriguez) already holds the record for most hits as a catcher with 2,502, followed by Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk (2,145) and Ted Simmons (1,908)."
Obviously, Rodriguez has added to his total since then, but does anyone out there have such a list? Kendall may be higher than 8th on that one.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Using the bb-ref splits for Kendall, he has 1966 hits as a catcher. That might mean in games where he started as catcher, and might still include hits after he made a defensive switch, if any. But he looks to be in 3rd overall, ahead of Fisk.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
OK, looking more carefully it appears those really are hits when his defensive position was catcher.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Interesting...thanks...so Kendall should soon become just the 3rd catcher in history with 2,000 hits. I think that is extremely impressive. Can you post a top ten?