Berra and Posada (NOT Sanchez): most Yankee catcher home runs.

Yankee announcer Michael Kay continues to repeat that Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez has set a new Yankee record in tonight's game for most home runs in a season as a catcher, supposedly breaking his own record of 33 hit in 2017. That's not correct.

A "catcher" may have some data included for appearances other than as a catcher: PH, DH, another fielding position.

Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra was known for having hit 30 Home Runs (HR) in a season ... twice, 1952 and 1956. And that 30 was the American League (AL) record at the time.

Jorge Posada hit 30 in 2003.

In 2017 Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez hit 33 HR and with two home runs tonight Sanchez already has 34 in 2019.

Both Yogi Berra and Jorge Posada hit all 30 HR as catchers. Gary Sanchez has never hit 30 HR as a catcher.

I do not know what criteria was used in the 1950s to determine that Yogi Berra had hit the most HR for an AL catcher when we still don't know how many were hit by Rudy York in 1938. Berra's numbers by position are also incomplete for the first of his two 30 HR seasons:
1952: 24 as catcher; none shown for other positions.
1956: 30 as catcher:

I	Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
	as C	135		587	514	93	154	28	2	30	103	3	4	62	29	.300	.377	.537	.914	276	7	5	1	5	9	7	.270	101	143
	as LF	1		4	3		1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	.333	.500	.667	1.167	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	158	186
	as PH	5		5	4		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	.000	.200	.000	.200	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	-47	-34

Yankee catchers with the most home runs in a season through 2018, including some as non-catchers:

Rk	Player	HR	SO	AB	OPS+	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Gary Sanchez	33	120	471	126	2017	24	NYY	AL	122	525	79	131	20	0	90	40	1	10	0	4	9	2	1	.278	.345	.531	.876	*2D/H3
2	Jorge Posada	30	110	481	144	2003	31	NYY	AL	142	588	83	135	24	0	101	93	6	10	0	4	13	2	4	.281	.405	.518	.922	*2/HD
3	Yogi Berra	30	29	521	142	1956	31	NYY	AL	140	596	93	155	29	2	105	65	7	5	1	5	8	3	2	.298	.378	.534	.911	*2/H7
4	Yogi Berra	30	24	534	137	1952	27	NYY	AL	142	603	97	146	17	1	98	66		4	1		8	2	3	.273	.358	.478	.835	*2/H
5	Bill Dickey	29	22	530	144	1937	30	NYY	AL	140	609	87	176	35	2	133	73		4	1			3	2	.332	.417	.570	.987	*2/H
6	Jorge Posada	28	151	505	139	2000	28	NYY	AL	151	624	92	145	35	1	86	107	10	8	0	4	11	2	2	.287	.417	.527	.943	*23/HD
7	Elston Howard	28	68	487	141	1963	34	NYY	AL	135	531	75	140	21	6	85	35	4	6	1	2	17	0	0	.287	.342	.528	.869	*2/H
8	Yogi Berra	28	12	597	135	1950	25	NYY	AL	151	656	116	192	30	6	124	55		4	0		11	4	2	.322	.383	.533	.915	*2/H
9	Yogi Berra	27	20	541	120	1955	30	NYY	AL	147	615	84	147	20	3	108	60	6	7	2	5	13	1	0	.272	.349	.470	.819	*2/H
10	Yogi Berra	27	32	503	141	1953	28	NYY	AL	137	557	80	149	23	5	108	50		3	1		7	0	3	.296	.363	.523	.886	*2H
11	Yogi Berra	27	20	547	130	1951	26	NYY	AL	141	594	92	161	19	4	88	44		3	0		16	5	4	.294	.350	.492	.842	*2/H
12	Bill Dickey	27	22	454	143	1938	31	NYY	AL	132	533	84	142	27	4	115	75		2	1			3	0	.313	.412	.568	.981	*2/H

Both Dickey seasons and 5 of 6 Berra seasons: fewer SO than HR!

Since we have documented that the great Yogi hit all 30 of his 1956 HR as a catcher, let's check Jorge Posada and Gary Sanchez.

Posada 2003:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
as C	133		570	467	82	131	23	0	30	98	2	4	90	104	.281	.404	.522	.926	244	13	9	0	4	6	7	.300	101	156
as DH	2		9	8		2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	.250	.333	.250	.583	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	31	51
as PH	9		9	6	1	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	4	.333	.556	.500	1.056	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000	134	227

Sanchez 2017:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
as C	103		446	401	63	112	16	0	27	80	1	1	34	96	.279	.343	.521	.864	209	7	7	0	4	1	6	.301	98	136
as 1B	1		1	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	4.000	5.000	4	0	0	0	0	0	0		943	1010
as DH	18		75	66	15	18	4	0	5	8	1	0	6	22	.273	.360	.561	.921	37	2	3	0	0	0	1	.333	110	147
as PH	3		3	3		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	-100	-100

Sanchez 2019 before his two in tonight's game:

Split	G	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
as C	80		343	309	43	70	9	1	25	55	0	0	27	94	.227	.300	.505	.805	156	2	6	0	1	3	3	.236	94	120
as DH	15		67	59	12	16	2	0	7	16	0	0	7	18	.271	.358	.661	1.019	39	1	1	0	0	0	1	.265	142	154
as PH	5		5	5		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.200	.200	.200	.400	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	3	13

Both Berra and Posada hit all 30 HR as catchers. Sanchez hit 27 as a catcher in 2017 and also so far in 2019.

Javy Lopez: most Home Runs in a season as a catcher. Friday, February 8, 2019