Dodger Catchers: A History

                                                The Dodgers have a history of having some very good catchers over the years. It started in Brooklyn. Depending on which era you have watched the most, one most likely will find varying opinions as to who was the best. Not debating that here, just showing how many very good receivers have played for the Dodgers. Some of these guys, you might have never heard of. I begin in 1890, the Dodgers first year in the National League.  

                                               Tom Daly, who I honestly have never heard of, played for the Brooklyn team from 1890 to 1901, 11 years. Now remember, homers were very rate in those days before the live ball era. Daly was a career .294 hitter with Brooklyn. He did smash 8 homers in 1894, and he had a career high 38 doubles in 1901. He was the starter for most of his career. His best full season BA was .315 in 1901. 

                                              Daly shared those duties with Tom Kinslow from 91-94. Kinslow was not that great defensively, and neither was Daly in all reality. Both, like many players pre-1900, played multiple positions. Daly was an infielder, and Kinslow played 1st base. Kinslow in his time with Brooklyn batted .271. They both also shared some of the duties with Cam Daily. Daily also played the outfield and 1st base. Daily is the top photo and Kinslow below. 

                                            Brooklyn used five catchers in 1902 after Daly left. All were in their mid 20’s and none were notable. Hughie Hearne played the most games 66 and batted .281. Lew Ritter and Bill Burgen shared the job from 03-08. Neither was impressive with the bat. Ritter hit just .217 for his career, Bergen was a -6.9 WAR player who hit under the Mendoza line .170 for his 11-year career. He would stay with Brooklyn until 1911. One thing younger readers need to understand, defense at the catcher’s position was not all that great early in the century. It was not uncommon for catchers to have close to 20 errors or more a year. One thing many were good at was keeping passed balls to a minimum. Both Ritter and Burgen were adept at that skill. Bergen is the top photo and Ritter below. 

                                         Tex Erwin became Bergen’s back up in 1910. He would play for Brooklyn until 1914. In 1913, Otto Miller took over as the regular catcher. He would remain the starter until 1922 having spent his entire 13-year career in Brooklyn. Miller was a career .245 hitter and played in 8 of the 12 World Series games Brooklyn played in 16 and 20. For his era, he was a pretty decent defensive catcher with a .972 percentage. He also caught 44.2 % of runners trying to steal. He shared the job with Lew McCarthy for a couple of years. From 1915 to 1921, Miller and Ernie Kruger shared the duties. By this time, the team was being called the Robins, after their manager, Wilbert Robinson. Also, a catcher during his career.

                                        Hank DeBerry took over as the starter in 1922. He would play for Brooklyn until 1930. He hit .301 in 1922 and was a career .267 hitter. He threw out 38% of base stealers. He had come over in a trade with the Indians along with Dazzy Vance, who was 31 when he was traded for and would win 190 games with the Dodgers. The Dodgers wins leader until Drysdale passed him in the 60’s. DeBarry was backed up a couple of years by Zack Taylor. In 1928, 19-year-old Al Lopez made his debut. He would spend seven years in Brooklyn, taking over as the starter in 1930. By all that era’s standards, he was an excellent defensive backstop. Over his career, he threw out an amazing 60% or more runners 9 times with his high being 72% in 1940. He played 19 years in the majors and went on to manage for 17 years with the White Sox and Indians. He won 1410 games while managing. He managed two pennant winners, the 54 Indians and the 59 White Sox. 

                                        With Wilbert Robinson gone, the team began to be called the Dodgers. This was in reference to the denizens of Brooklyn having to dodge streetcars on their daily travels through the borough. One other thing of note, the catchers of the era did not have the same type of protection behind the plate that catcher do now. Rarely did a catcher play all of the games. The Dodgers were like many other teams who carried multiple back-ups during the season. Usually, it was a wily veteran. In 1934, the Dodgers had 3 other catchers besides Lopez who got into games, Clyde Sukeforth, who eventually would be a Dodger, then Pirate scout, Ray Berres and Wally Millies. Lopez was 25 at the time.

                                     Babe Phelps was Lopez’s backup in 1935. Lopez was traded to the Braves after the season. Phelps took over in 36 as the starting catcher. He would stay with the team through 1941. In 1938, the Dodgers used 7 different catchers at one time or another plus Phelps. Phelps played in 66 games. Also seeing time Merv Shea 48, Gilly Cambell 54, Roy Spencer 16, Paul Cervinko 12, Charles George 7, Ray Hayworth 5, and Ray Thomas who got into one game and went 1-3. It was his only MLB appearance. Shea, Spencer and Hayworth, all had careers lasting more than 10 years.

                                  In December of 1940, Brooklyn made a trade with the Cardinals bringing 25-year-old Mickey Owen in to be their catcher. Larry McPhail had taken over the team and made many changes. He had brought in guys like Pete Reiser, Pee Wee Reese, Dixie Walker, Dolph Camilli. The 41 team would win the pennant. Owen first and foremost, was a defensive catcher. Whatever they got from his bat was a plus. His main backup in 41 was Herman Franks, who would later manage the Giants and the Cubs. Camilli was the league MVP that year. Brooklyn lost the series, and Owen made one of the more famous errors in World Series history when a third strike with 2 outs in the 9th got by him and the Yankees scored 4 to win the game.

                              Owen was the Dodger starting catcher until 1945. Bobby Bragan was his backup in 43 and 44. Bragan would also become a manager with 3 different teams, Pirates, Indians and then four years as the Braves skipper. With WWII ending, players would begin to return to the teams in 1946. A guy named Mike Sandlock was the Dodger starter in 1945. Owen was his main backup that year.

                                The Dodgers began infusing some youth into their roster in 1946. The youngest was infielder Eddie Miksis, who was 19. Bruce Edwards, a 22-year-old catcher and 24-year-old RF, Carl Furillo were regulars. Edwards had a decent bat and was also very good defensively.  They ended the season tied with the Cardinals and lost the first ever playoff, 2-0. Edwards had a nice year, hitting .267. His one drawback was a lack of power. He hit just 1 homer.

                                Edwards hit .295 in 47. He also pumped up his power numbers a bit and hit 9 homers. He played in 130 games. One of his backups was a kid named Hodges. He would have a Hall of Fame career at a different position. But of course, the big news in 47 was the signing and arrival in the majors of Jackie Robinson, and the secondary story was the suspension of Dodger manager, Leo Durocher, and his being replaced by Burt Shotton. They won the pennant and lost the World Series to the Yankees.

NEW YORK, NY – 1953: Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella appears on a bubble gum card in 1953.

                               Long range change came to the Dodgers at catcher in 1948 in the person of Roy Campanella. Roy would not relinquish his starting role for the next 10 years. He would only leave the job after a terrible auto accident left him paralyzed in 1958. Over the next 10 years he would set the standard for future excellence by Dodger catchers. He would hit 242 homers as a catcher and win 3 MVP awards. Not only was he a powerful hitter, but he was also an excellent defensive catcher. Over his career, he threw out 57.4% of runners trying to steal on him. That is a major league record that still stands. From 1948-55, he never threw out less than 52.3%. He topped 62.5% four times in 5 years. His high was 69.4 in 1951. Pitchers must have loved pitching to this guy. He also still holds the record for the most homers in a season by a Dodger catcher with 41. Piazza hit 40 one year.

                             Bruce Edwards backed him up until 1951 when Rube Walker was brought in to be his caddy. Walker must have loved his job. He never played in more than 60 games in any of his 7 years backing up Campy. He also caddied one year in LA for the new catcher, Johnny Roseboro, who got his MLB debut in Brooklyn in 1957. With Campy and Walker as the 2 main guys, no one else stood much of a chance except the occasional veteran who lasted for a cup 0 joe. 

Rosey

                              The team moved to LA for the 1958 season. Campy could no longer play, so the job fell to Johnny Roseboro, affectionately called Rosey by his mates. In what now was becoming more common for the Dodgers, he would hold his job for 10 full seasons. Campanella played in 6 World Series and had one win. Roseboro played in four and had 3 wins. He caught two Hall of Famers at the height of their careers, Koufax and Drysdale. He was the catcher in 2 of Sandy’s no-hitters, 62 when he beat the Mets, and 63 when he beat the Giants. Campy caught 3, two by Erskine and one by Maglie. Both of those games he caught were at Dodger Stadium. Koufax’s only road no hitter came at Philadelphia in 1964.

Marichal goes nuts

                             Rosey was a career .249 hitter with not a lot of power. He did hit 18 their last year in the coliseum, but he never hit more than 9 after that. He was an all-star 3 times as a Dodger and his best year at bat was 1964 when he hit .287. By all accounts he was an excellent defensive catcher. The Gold Glove came into existence in 1956. Roseboro became the first Dodger catcher to earn one in 1961. He got his second in 1966. He also was an All-Star 3 times as a Dodger. He was a contact hitter and never struck out more than 69 times in any season. He was not a great hitter in the postseason, batting just .167 with 1 homer and 7 driven in. In 1965, he was battered over his head by Giant pitcher, Juan Marichal, in one of the more brutal attacks on a baseball field ever. In today’s game, Marichal would likely have been suspended for the rest of the season, but back then, he missed just one start in his 10 days off.

UNITED STATES – AUGUST 22: Baseball: Los Angeles Dodgers Johnny Roseboro escorted off the field by Mays.

UNITED STATES – AUGUST 22: Baseball: Los Angeles Dodgers Johnny Roseboro (8) receives one of fourteen stitches from the trainer in the dugout after sustaining head injury.

                             Walker backed him up in 1958 along with Joe Pignatano. Piggy would be his caddy until 1960. Piggy had a couple of bright moments in his career, one of them being getting a clutch single in the 12th inning of the second playoff game against the Braves in 1959. It moved Hodges to second, and he scored the winning run on Furillo’s single. Roseboro would have some very memorable moments also, like being the catcher when the Dodgers swept the Yankees in 1963, the only time in their 8 World Series wins that they have won the game at home.

Baseball: World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers Sandy Koufax (32) victorious with Johnny Roseboro (8) as Maury Wills (30) runs in after winning Game 4 and championship series vs New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles, CA 10/6/1963

                             Norm Sherry was his backup 60-62. Larry’s brother is largely credited with getting Sandy Koufax’s career heading in the right direction. A suggestion in spring training in 1961 that he quit trying to strike everyone out, totally changed the trajectory of Koufax’s career. Norm would later manage the Angels for a short time and also manage in the minors. He is also the one MLB catcher I have met personally and had long conversations with. He moved to a house on my block in Highland Park, along with Larry not long after the 59 series ended. He and Larry had us kids shag balls for them at Arroyo Seco Park, where they would work out before heading to Vero.  I met him again while I was in the Army and he was managing the Angels farm team in El Paso. One of his players there was Kurt Russell, the actor, who was a very good infielder until he injured his shoulder.

                         Sherry shared the backup duties with Doug Camilli, Dolph’s son until he left the Dodgers in a trade with the Mets in 1962. Camilli was Rosey’s backup in 1963, when he was then traded to the Senators. Jeff Torborg took over the backup duties in 1964. None of these guys were great hitters. Almost all of them though were very good defenders. And some, like Torborg, were known for being excellent game callers. Most of them also threw out runners at a 30-38 percentage rate. Torborg would catch 2 no-hitters, one of them being Koufax’s perfecto in 1965. The other was thrown by Bill Singer in 1970.

                        Roseboro was traded to the Twins after the 1967 season and was replaced by former Giant, Tom Haller who came over in a trade. Haller was a better hitter in LA than he was in San Francisco, .276-.248. His power numbers though dropped way down. Defensively, he was above average. He made one All-Star team as a Dodger in 1968. Torborg was his backup until 1971. One side note, LA also had a kid named Jim Campanis. Yep, Al’s boy. Must not have been much love there, GM Al traded his son to the Royals for cash in 1968.

                       LA traded for Duke Sims after the 1970 season to be the starter. Haller backed him up. Sims was below average offensively although he did have a little power, and he was barely average on defense. But the Dodgers had three catchers in the minors who were making a push to be called up to the majors. Joe Ferguson got a short look in 1971 appearing in 36 games. He wasn’t a defensive whiz, but he definitely had some pop in his bat. Bill Sudakis, really more suited as a utility guy, got into 40 games that year.

                      In 1972, Steve Yeager saw action in 35 games. It would take a few years, but Boomer, as nicknamed by his mates, would be the man in LA for most of his 14 seasons as a Dodger. Ferguson was the starter in 1973, he had a pretty good season at the plate, batting .263, leading the team with 25 homers and 88 driven in. Yeager got into 54 games and hit .254, with 2 homers. The team won 95 games but finished 2nd in the West to the Reds, 3.5 games back.

                     Fergie and Boomer swapped jobs in 74. Yeager became the starter and Ferguson was his backup. Yeager played 93 games there, and Ferguson 88. Yeager hit .266 with 12 homers and 41 driven in. Fergie, who was also playing the outfield, batted .252 with 16 homers and 57 driven in. The infield played their first full season together. LA won the division and then beat the Pirates 3-1 in the LCS. Yeager was ofer in the LCS but went 4-12 in the World Series with the A’s. Ferguson drove in 2 runs against the Pirates but hit just .125 in the series. He did homer in the Dodgers only win; it came off of Vida Blue. He also made a memorable throw from right field nailing Dick Green at the plate.

PITTSBURGH – CIRCA 1979: Outfielder Dave Parker #39 of the Pittsburgh Pirates crashes into catcher Steve Yeager of the Los Angeles Dodgers in a collision at home plate.

                  For the next 5 years, Yeager was the #1 catcher. He was very good defensively, whereas Ferguson was average. He was very good at blocking the plate. He was run over by Dave Parker in one game. In 1976, he was nearly killed while in the on-deck circle when a piece of Bill Russell’s bat hit him in the throat, just missing his jugular. He spent 14 years with the Dodgers, a .228 career hitter. He had exactly 100 homers as a Dodger. In 1981, he was a Tri-MVP with Cey and Guererro in the 1981 World Series over the Yankees. He played for Seattle his last season and returned to LA later as a coach.

               Ferguson was traded in June of 1976 in the Reggie Smith deal. Boomer’s back up for the rest of the year was Ellie Rodriguez with rookie Kevin Pasley also seeing some time. They opted for a more veteran backup in 77 and brought in Johnny Oates. Ferguson returned in 78, but they got Jerry Grote, the former Met as the main caddy for Yeager. Oates was still with the team. 79 saw Oates once again the main backup, but after winning 2 pennants in a row and losing 2 series to the Yankees, they finished 3rd.

            Yeager, now 31, was the #1 in 1980, but young Mike Scioscia made his debut and played in 54 games hitting .254 with a homer. Yeager hit just 2 in his 96 games. In limited playing time, Ferguson slugged 9. Scioscia took over in 1981, and except for 1983, when he was injured and played just 12 games, he would hold the job until he retired after the 1992 season.  Yeager was the #1 in 83 when Mike went down, he was backed up by Jack Fimple, who played in 54 games. 

          After Yeager left the team following the 1985 season, LA traded Candy Maldonado to the Giants for Alex Trevino. He would caddy for Mike for the next two years. After the 1979 season, they signed veteran Rick Dempsey, another very good defensive catcher to be the #2 guy. Dempsey was part of the subs for that team who were called ” The Stunt Men” because they came in to replace the stars. Mickey Hatcher, one of those guys, would play a key role in the win over the A’s in the series. Replacing Gibson in the starting lineup, he would lead all Dodger hitters with a .358 average, 2 homers and 5 driven in. Dempsey meanwhile would stay in LA three years as the backup for Scioscia. Scioscia hit a crucial homer for LA in the 88 LCS against the Mets. It came in game 4 in the 9th inning off of Dwight Gooden. It tied the game and Kirk Gibson’s homer would win it in the 12th inning. Had they lost that game, the Mets would have led the series, 3-1.

                  LA had Gary Carter come in to back up Scioscia in 1991. He would play in 101 games. Carlos Hernandez saw some time behind the dish too. 1992 saw the arrival of Mike Piazza. He did not impress much with the glove or the bat that year. Most of the backup duties fell to Hernandez. A good defensive player, he hit .260 with 3 homers and 17 RBI’s. Scioscia retired after the 1992 season, and the kid, Mike Piazza took over as the #1.

Piazza

                  He had a pretty decent rookie year, .318, 35 homers and 115 RBI’s. He was a unanimous choice for the Rookie of the Year. He would become maybe the best offensive catcher in Dodger history had he played his entire career with LA, but that was not to be. That title still belongs to Campy. But for his time in Los Angeles, Piazza was an offensive force.  Mike was one of five consecutive rookies of the year for the Dodgers. Karros, Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo, Hollandsworth.

                Until 1996, Hernandez was Mike’s backup. In 1996, former Pirate catcher, Tom Prince took over that role. Prince did a good job hitting .297 in that role. 1997 would be Mike’s last full season as a Dodger and he had an awesome year. He batted .362 with 40 homers and 124 driven in. He finished 2nd in the MVP race to Larry Walker. Prince was once again his backup. Lasorda had a heart attack that caused him to have to retire from managing the Dodgers. Bill Russell took over. That winter Peter O’Malley sold the Dodgers to Fox, and the winds of change came fast. 

                Contract negotiations with free agent to be Piazza, got more than a little bit contentious. There were a lot of accusations back and forth between the Dodgers and Piazza. With Fox now in charge, the unthinkable happened, at least for Dodger fans, the Fox execs traded Piazza and third baseman, Todd Zeile, to the Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich and Manny Barrios. Dodger fans were stunned, and mostly very angry. 

              Johnson took over as the #1 catcher. Superior to Piazza as a defensive catcher, his offense left a lot to be desired. That may have been why 1998 was the only year he was in LA. Prince was his backup for most of that year, but a couple of young catchers got their feet wet, Angel Pena and Paul LoDuca. LA brought in a new manager, Davey Johnson, and a new GM, Kevin Malone in 1999. Malone traded Johnson to the Mets along with Roger Cedeno for a minor league pitcher and Todd Hundley.  Hundley was the son of former Cub catcher, Randy Hundley. 

              Todd would be backed up by Pena and LoDuca. He hit just .207 but had 24 homers. Defensively he was very good. He threw out 30% of base runners trying to steal on him. Chad Kreuter came over as a free agent and backed Hundley up that season. He was another good defense; we’ll take what we get hitter. 2001 saw another new manager, Jim Tracy, and an interim GM in Dave Wallace. Paul LoDuca took over as the #1 catcher. LoDuca had an excellent offensive year, batting .320, with 25 homers and 90 runs driven in. Krueter remained as his caddy.

            LoDuca was very good defensively, he too had a caught stealing percentage of 30%. But he never reached the offensive heights of 2001. He would eventually be traded to the Marlins in the Brad Penny deal. 2001 would be Angel Pena’s last as a Dodger. In three seasons he caught in just 71 games. 2003 was LoDuca’s last as the starter. That winter the team changed owners again, with Frank McCourt buying the team from Fox. Paul DePodesta took over as the GM.

            LoDuca started the 04 season as the #1. His backup was David Ross. LoDuca was batting .301 when he was traded. Ross hit just .170 in 70 games. Veteran catcher, Brent Mayne was brought in to be the #2 catcher. He also hit below Mendoza line. The team made the playoffs but was eliminated in the LDS. Jason Phillips was the starter for just the 05 season, young Dioner Navarro was brought in to back him up. Navarro at the time was considered the catcher of the future. He had good defensive tools but still threw out less than 30% of base runners in a 13-year career. 

                    New year, new manager in 2006. Grady Little was brought in to manage the team. His new starting catcher was 23-year-old Russell Martin. Martin had a nice season, batting .282 with 10 homers and finished 9th in the ROY voting. Along with Navarro, Sandy Alomar and Toby Hall saw action. Martin would be the #1 until he left as a free agent after the 2010 season. He never hit below .248. He was an All-Star twice and won a Gold Glove in 2007. He also was pretty fast for a catcher, stealing in double figures in his first four years with the Dodgers. 

                   Torre took over as manager in 08. Ned Colletti had become the GM after the 05 season. LA made the playoffs in 06. In 2008, they would make it all the way to the LCS. Martin caught 155 games that year. His backups were Danny Ardoin, and Gary Bennett. Neither saw much time. The big news that season was the trade for Manny Ramirez at the deadline. Manny was a monster in his short stint and helped push LA to the playoffs.

                   His backups were veteran, Brad Ausmus, and 29-year-old rookie, AJ Ellis. AJ would become Kershaw’s preferred catcher. Rod Barajas would be the #1 in 2011. Ellis and Novarro backed him up, with young Tim Federowicz getting a cup of coffee with the team.  Martin had gone to the Yankees as a free agent. Mattingly was the new manager. The team finished 3rd. Matt Kemp just missed a 40-40 season. The Dodgers were sold just prior to the 2012 season to the Guggenheim group. 

                 AJ Ellis took over the starting role in 2012. He would stay the starting catcher through 2014 when he was dealt to the Phillies for Carlos Ruiz. He had guys like Drew Butera, Matt Treanor, and Ramon Hernandez as backups. Ellis was an excellent game caller, and a decent defender. His bat was mediocre at best, and he was just under 33% in catching runners stealing. One thing he did really well was see a lot of pitches during his at bats. 

               After the 2014 season, Guggenheim replaced Colletti with Andrew Freidman as the President of Baseball Operations. He hired Farhan Zaidi as his GM. Zaidi had been with the A’s under Billy Beane. Freidman wasted no time molding the team according to his ideas of how a winner was built. He made several trades, and a big one with the Padres netted him a new catcher, Yasmani Grandal.

          Grandal was a switch hitter who was considered one of the better pitch framers in the game. He also made a trade with the Marlins that brought in Grandal’s eventual back up, Austin Barnes. I have always said I really disliked the Grandal trade. Grandal in his four years with the team, hit .238 but hit 89 homers. Although he was excellent at framing pitches and pretty good defensively, he led the league in passed balls twice with LA. He also hit into a lot of double plays that killed rallies.  

          Barnes would actually take over as the starter towards the end of the 2017 season and was the main catcher all through the playoffs that year. Barnes was excellent as a game caller, but his weakness was his inability to throw out a high percentage of base runners. His career mark is just 17.5%. Barnes took over as the #1 guy in 2019. In May, LA brought up young Will Smith to be his backup. Smith’s first big league homer was a walk-off shot against the Phillies in May.

Will Smith

        Smith took over the starting job in the pandemic season of 2020. He remains the starter at this point in time. Barnes did do a bulk of the catching in the World Series in 2020, but Smith had some key hits in the series win. He also set a Dodger record with 5 hits in game 3 of the LDS against the Padres. Smith signed a 10-year extension with the Dodgers before last season. The Dodgers have had quite a few very good catchers in their history, and a couple of Hall of Famers. Occasionally they have had to trade guys who might have been the #1, one of those was Kiebert Ruiz. He went to the Nats in 21 for Trea Turner and Max Scherzer.  Ruiz had hit a homer in his first at bat as a Dodger. He is DC’s starting catcher but has not really reached the heights LA expected of him yet. He has however played well against the Dodgers. In 16 games against the Dodgers, he has 4 homers and 13 runs batted in.

           They have had some kids in the farm system who they expected to make the team at one time or another, one of them, Diego Cartaya, who had all the tools, instead regressed and was traded to the Twins. Their catchers at AAA right now are two veteran guys, Chuckie Robinson, and Chris Okey, and a guy who has less than a handful of games in the majors, Hunter Feduccia. Feduccia’s future is up in the air. Smith’s backup at this point is young Daulton Rushing. Rushing has been very good offensively in his time in the minors. His defense is getting better. Will he replace Smith? Will the Dodgers move Smith to a less demanding position so they can keep his bat in the lineup more? Remains to be seen.