On July 8th, 1997, Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr., slammed a two-run home run in front of the hometown crowd at Jacobs Field to give American League a 3-1 win in the All-Star Game. Alomar, who had a 30-game hitting streak to end the first half of the season, is named the game’s MVP for helping end the National League’s three-game winning streak

Sandy Alomar, Jr., was one of those players early in his career that I thought had a good chance at the Hall of Fame (his brother of course, Roberto, made it– at a much less difficult position, 2B). Sandy Jr. hit for average and had a little power and seemed like the kind of catcher every team would want.

But looking now at Sandy’s Baseball Reference Stats it is clear that my perception was colored by two things. First, during many of his peak years I was in a Rotisserie Fantasy Baseball League where a good-hitting catcher was a coveted commodity. Second, and most importantly, I have always over-weighted the value of catchers. It is the most difficult job in sports and I admire the hell out of the individuals who have what it takes to put on “The Tools of Ignorance” everyday.

Over his 20-year career Sandy Jr. caught 1325 games. For context, Joe Mauer, the best hitting catcher of all time, was behind the plate for 921 games.

Next time that you are at the ballpark try this: concentrate only on the two catchers. How many times do they take a foul-tip or an errant 90+mph pitch off some part of their body? How many times are they kneeling down and springing up? How often does the umpire walk a ball back to the pitcher or dust off the plate just to give the catcher a few seconds more to shake off the ball that just hit him in the groin?

Here is a list of 8 catchers who have been behind the plate for the most games in MLB history (here is a link to a longer list):

• Ivan Rodriguez – 2,543 games
• Carlton Fisk – 2,408 games
• Bob Boone – 2,264 games
• Yadier Molina – 2,224 games
• Gary Carter – 2,152 games
• Jason Kendall – 2,085 games
• A.J. Pierzynski – 2,059 games
• Yogi Berra – 2001 games

Of those 8 catchers, four are in the Hall of Fame: Rodriquez, Fisk, Carter, and Berra. I think anyone who is productive enough to stay in a major league lineup at the most difficult, not to mention most painful, position in all of sports for more than 2000 games, should automatically be in the Hall of Fame. (And yes all you A,J. haters out there, that means Pierzynski as well.)