Okay, my Sabermetric Encyclopedia arrived today, so let’s run this sucker…
CAREER
C
LEFT HANDED HITTERSHOMERUNS HR
1 Yogi Berra 358
2 Bill Dickey 202
3 Darrell Porter 188
4 Ed Bailey 155
5 Darren Daulton 137
6 Matt Nokes 136
T7 Tom Haller 134
T7 Ernie Whitt 134
9 Smoky Burgess 126
10 Darrin Fletcher 124
11 Mickey Cochrane 119
12 Terry Kennedy 113
13 Dave Nilsson 105
14 John Roseboro 104
15 Duke Sims 100
Like I mentioned, there aren’t all that many; those are all with 100 or more homers. I should have remembered that Dickey was lefthanded, and that would have led me to him in second place.
That’s for careers by players who were primarily catchers. It would be slightly different if you only include seasons in which they were regularly catchers.
Mac, I am just interested, I thought the common assumption is that Salty will be the one who will change position rather than McCann. It is interesting that you brought up the idea about switching McCann to be a first baseman, but what lead you to this idea rather than having Salty (who SEEMS to have better power numbers) to change position?
Could go either way, of course. Before last season, I’d heard that McCann would be more likely to move (and before last season, he had the better power record). I think that’s because the Braves were counting on Estrada as the regular through at least 2006 and more likely 2007; McCann would have to be dealt with by the end of that period, but Saltalamacchia, a year younger, would not. The situation changed one night against Anaheim.
I figure the odds are the situation won’t come up. Either one will stall out or get hurt or one will be traded. That’s just how it happens. If not, Saltalamacchia would probably be the one to move — less because of the power numbers than because McCann already has the job, plus Saltalamacchia has a taller, slimmer frame — but I don’t think it’s fixed that way yet.
Cool list, Mac — thanks for providing it.
Wow, Josh Roseboro eh? i always thought he was a defensive guy (and a piniata of Juan Marichals) I guess the era and stadium and had something to do with his percieved lack of O, but that also speaks to the lack of good lefty hitting catchers
How many full seasons did Dave Nilsson play and hes on there
Roseboro hit 52 homers in his first four-plus years (a callup in the Dodgers’ last season in Brooklyn and the years they played in the Coliseum). In eight-plus years after that his homers per season were cut in half even though his playing time increased. Through Age 28 his most-similar hitter was Mickey Tettleton. At the end of his career, it was Johnny Edwards, Bob Boone, and Jim Hegan…
I’ll throw this one in as a bonus…
Chambliss was LaRoche when LaRoche’s numbers were acceptable….
I feel like an idiot for not knowing that Yogi Berra hit lefty.
Are we in a bidding war w/ the Mets?
http://www.nj.com/mets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/113635726867820.xml&coll=1
Interesting. I had given up on Baez too soon apparently. I think it would be funny if Atlanta’s involvement caused the Mets to give of Heilman.
Let’s hope to god we lose.
I hope not. Baez would suck in Atlanta and we’d have to give up too much to get him. I mean they wanted Marte and a prospect for Lugo.
It would be funny if they asked for Shuerholz’s first-born son – and he said “fine, take this crappy no-hit SS prospect who was drafted for nepotism reasons only.”