Yankees #8: Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra.

The New York Yankees have the most retired numbers, too many. One of those numbers (8) is shared by two Hall of Fame catchers of comparable accomplishment: Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra.

Bill Dickey

Position: Catcher

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Right

6-1, 185lb (185cm, 83kg)

Born: June 6, 1907 in Bastrop, LA us

Died: November 12, 1993 (Aged 86-159d) in Little Rock, AR

 

Yogi Berra

Positions: Catcher and Outfielder

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Right

5-7, 185lb (170cm, 83kg)

Born: May 12, 1925 in St. Louis, MO us

Died: September 22, 2015 (Aged 90-133d) in West Caldwell, NJ

Here are the best hitting catchers since 1903 (data from stathead.com):

Playing in the AL or NL, At least 4500 Plate Appearances, Played at least 75% of games at C, in the regular season, requiring Adjusted OPS+ >= 120, sorted by descending Adjusted OPS+.

Rk	Player	OPS+	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB
1	Mike Piazza	143	1992	2007	23-38	1912	7745	6911	1048	2127	1348	344	8	427	1335	17	20	759	1113	.308	.377	.545	.922	143	3768
2	Buster Posey	129	2009	2021	22-34	1371	5607	4970	663	1500	1040	293	9	158	729	23	9	540	721	.302	.372	.460	.831	129	2285
3	Mickey Cochrane	129	1925	1937	22-34	1482	6211	5169	1041	1652	1136	333	64	119	830	64	47	857	217	.320	.419	.478	.897	129	2470
4	Bill Dickey	127	1928	1946	21-39	1789	7065	6300	930	1969	1352	343	72	202	1209	36	32	678	289	.313	.382	.486	.868	127	3062
5	Johnny Bench	126	1967	1983	19-35	2158	8674	7658	1091	2048	1254	381	24	389	1376	68	43	891	1278	.267	.342	.476	.817	126	3644
6	Ernie Lombardi	126	1931	1947	23-39	1853	6353	5855	601	1792	1298	277	27	190	990	8	9	430	262	.306	.358	.460	.818	126	2693
7	Gabby Hartnett	126	1922	1941	21-40	1990	7300	6432	867	1912	1216	396	64	236	1179	28	32	703	697	.297	.370	.489	.858	126	3144
8	Yogi Berra	125	1946	1965	21-40	2120	8364	7555	1175	2150	1422	321	49	358	1430	30	26	704	414	.285	.348	.482	.830	125	3643
9	Roy Campanella	123	1948	1957	26-35	1215	4816	4205	627	1161	723	178	18	242	856	25	20	533	501	.276	.360	.500	.860	123	2101
10	Jorge Posada	121	1995	2011	24-40	1829	7150	6092	900	1664	1000	379	10	275	1065	20	21	936	1453	.273	.374	.474	.848	121	2888

Dickey and Berra are almost dead even.

Of the ten catchers above, only Posada is not in the Hall of Fame. All were Most Valuable Player (since 1931) except Piazza, Dickey and Posada. Multiple MVP:

Campanella: 3 (1951, 1953, 1955)
Berra; 3 (1951, 1954, 1955)
Bench: 2 (1970, 1972)

If Dickey and Berra are of comparable accomplishment, how to explain Berra dominating Dickey in MVP awards?

Dickey started 1929-1941. Yanks had HoF starters:
Ruth 1920-1934
Gehrig 1926-1938
Combs 1925-1933
Lazzeri 1926-1937
Gordon 1938-1943
Sewell 1931-1933
DiMaggio 1936-1942 1946-1951
Rizzuto 1941-1942 1946-1956
Also:
Keller 1939-1943 who would have been HoF if not injured.

Dickey's MVP competition. Foxx, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Greenberg.

Berra started 1948-1960. Yanks had HoF starters:
DiMaggio 1936-1942 1946-1951
Rizzuto 1941-1942 1946-1956
Mantle 1951-1968
Neither Mize nor Slaughter started.

MVP (modern award started in 1931):

Dickey: (all who beat Dickey: HoF)
1936 5th. Gehrig first.
1937 5th. Gehringer first.
1938 Distant second. Foxx first.
1939 6th. DiMaggio first.
1940 Greenberg first.
1941 13th. DiMaggio close over Ted Williams.

Berra:
1950 3rd. Rizzuto first. DiMaggio 9th.
1951 Close over pitcher Ned Garver. What?
1952 4th. Pitcher Shantz first.
1953 Distant second. Rosen first.
1954 Very close over Doby and Avila
1955 Close over Kaline.
1956 Distant second. Mantle first.

Campanella NL MVP 1951, 1953, 1955. Catchers were in.

Yogi's three MVP votes were weak. Here they are:

1951:

		Voti	Voti	Voti		Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt
Rank	Name	Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Yogi Berra	NYY	184.0	6.0	55%	5.3	141	547	92	161	27	88	5	44	.294	.350	.492	.842
2	Ned Garver	SLB	157.0	6.0	47%	6.6	49	95	8	29	1	9	0	9	.305	.365	.421	.786
3	Allie Reynolds	NYY	125.0	6.0	37%	4.0	43	76	8	14	0	11	1	7	.184	.271	.224	.494
4	Minnie Minoso	TOT	120.0	1.0	36%	5.4	146	530	112	173	10	76	31	72	.326	.422	.500	.922

1954:

		Voti	Voti	Voti		Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt
Rank	Name	Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Yogi Berra	NYY	230.0	7.0	68%	5.3	151	584	88	179	22	125	0	56	.307	.367	.488	.855
2	Larry Doby	CLE	210.0	5.0	63%	5.7	153	577	94	157	32	126	3	85	.272	.364	.484	.847
3	Bobby Avila	CLE	203.0	5.0	60%	7.1	143	555	112	189	15	67	9	59	.341	.402	.477	.880
4	Minnie Minoso	CHW	186.0	2.0	55%	8.2	153	568	119	182	19	116	18	77	.320	.411	.535	.946

1955:

		Voti	Voti	Voti		Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt	Batt
Rank	Name	Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Yogi Berra	NYY	218.0	7.0	65%	4.5	147	541	84	147	27	108	1	60	.272	.349	.470	.819
2	Al Kaline	DET	201.0	4.0	60%	8.2	152	588	121	200	27	102	6	82	.340	.421	.546	.967
3	Al Smith	CLE	200.0	7.0	60%	4.7	154	607	123	186	22	77	11	93	.306	.407	.473	.880
4	Ted Williams	BOS	143.0	1.0	43%	6.9	98	320	77	114	28	83	2	91	.356	.496	.703	1.200
5	Mickey Mantle	NYY	113.0	0.0	34%	9.5	147	517	121	158	37	99	8	113	.306	.431	.611	1.042

Another non statistical item used to consider Berra better than Dickey: Batting Order Positions (BOP). This is partly explained by Dickey playing with more Hall of Fame teammates than Berra. Here are the annual percent of Plate Appearances (PA) in each BOP:

	Dickey	Berra	Dickey	Dickey	Dickey	Dickey	Berra	Berra	Berra	Berra
Split	%PA	%PA	G	GS	PA	AB	G	GS	PA	AB
Batting 1st	0.11%	0.07%	8	0	8	7	6	0	6	5
Batting 2nd	0.03%	0.87%	2	0	2	1	17	16	73	63
Batting 3rd	0.20%	11.41%	5	3	14	13	219	214	954	881
Batting 4th	3.27%	44.38%	51	50	231	195	865	857	3,710	3,312
Batting 5th	29.51%	31.98%	483	477	2,085	1,831	632	628	2,673	2,443
Batting 6th	29.30%	6.22%	500	491	2,070	1,845	140	120	520	466
Batting 7th	31.30%	2.98%	561	526	2,211	2,009	90	51	249	230
Batting 8th	5.48%	0.79%	129	81	387	355	50	2	66	57
Batting 9th	0.81%	1.29%	50	0	57	49	101	0	108	97
					7,065				8,359

Yankee Batting Order Positions (BOP) 1929-1941, when Dickey was a starter: most starts in that BOP. In a few cases, no clear leader. HoF in bold.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1929	Combs	Robertson	Gehrig	Ruth	Lazzeri	Meusel	Dickey	Durocher	pitcher
1930	Combs	Lary	Ruth	Lazzeri	Gehrig	Rice	Dickey	Chapman	pitcher
1931	Combs	Sewell	Ruth	Gehrig	Chapman	Lary	Dickey	Lazzeri	pitcher
1932	Combs	Sewell	Ruth	Gehrig	Lazzeri	Dickey	Chapman	Crosetti	pitcher
1933	Combs	Sewell	Ruth	Gehrig	Chapman	Lazzeri	Dickey	Crosetti	pitcher
1934	Crosetti	Saltzgaver	Ruth	Gehrig	Chapman	Lazzeri	Dickey	Heffner	pitcher
1935	Hills	Rolfe	Chapman	Gehrig	Lazzeri	Dickey	Selkirk	Crosetti	pitcher
1936	Crosetti	Rolfe	DiMaggio	Gehrig	Dickey	Selkirk	Lazzeri	Lazzeri	pitcher
1937	Crosetti	Rolfe	DiMaggio	Gehrig	Dickey	Powell	Lazzeri	Lazzeri	pitcher
1938	Crosetti	Rolfe	Henrich	DiMaggio	Gehrig	Dickey	Selkirk	Gordon	pitcher
1939	Crosetti	Rolfe	Henrich	DiMaggio	Dickey	Selkirk	Gordon	Dahlgren	pitcher
1940	Crosetti	Rolfe	Keller	DiMaggio	Selkirk	Dickey	Gordon	Dahlgren	pitcher
1941	Sturm	Rolfe	Henrich	DiMaggio	Keller	Dickey	Gordon	Rizzuto	pitcher
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1942-batting-orders.shtml 

Joe Gordon plays 124 games in 1942 batting sixth! MVP batting sixth. And Dickey 7th.

SO/AB:

Dickey: 289/6300=.046 (4.6%); high: 37 in 1939

Berra: 411/7646=.053 (5.3%) Yankees only; high: 38 in 1959

Cool.