A Brief History of Bay Area Major League Baseball Catchers

By Rich Campbell

This year in this space, we have looked at best shortstops, third basemen, second basemen, first basemen, left fielders, right fielders and center fielders to have played in the Bay Area. This month we look back at the best to ever play catcher in Oakland and San Francisco, to finish out our coverage of the outfield. Future articles will tackle designated hitters, starters and relievers.

The list below is based on the number of games played with the franchises. All four catchers appeared in over 750 games for their respective clubs. The Wins Above Replacement (Baseball Reference version) presented is the value accumulated by each player in their time in the A’s/Giants, not their career overall. Let’s get started:

Buster Posey at the 2012 San Francisco Giants' World Series parade.Photo byWikimedia Commons

Buster Posey, Giants, 12 seasons, 1371 games, 44.8 WAR, 3.7 WAR per season

Posey, who was recently named the team’s President of Baseball Operations, is the greatest catcher in San Francisco Giants’ history. He slashed .302/.372/.460 for a 129 OPS+ in his career, all in San Francisco. His achievements include MVP, Rookie of the Year, a Gold Glove, five Silver Sluggers, a batting title (.336 in his MVP season in 2012) and three World Series titles.

Seemingly a HOF lock, his career will test Jay Jaffe’s Rule of 2,000, which points out no post-World War II players with fewer than 2,000 hits have been elected to the Hall. Posey had just 1,500 hits in his illustrious career. Let’s hope his election - which seems likely - will open the door to other deserving players with fewer the 2,000 hits including Bobby Grich (career WAR 71.1), Andruw Jones (62.8), Sal Bando (61.5), Dick Allen (58.7), Thurman Munson (46.1) and a former A’s catcher profiled below (46.8), all of whom have higher Career WAR than Posey.

Terry Steinbach, A’s, 11 seasons, 1199 games, 24.8 WAR, 2.3 WAR per season

Steinbach anchored the A’s team that appeared in three consecutive World Series 1988-90. He was a solid, durable player and appeared in the Mid-Summer Classic thrice in his time in Oakland, including being named MVP of the 1988 All-Star Game. In his years in the Green and Gold he slashed .275/.328/.420.

After his time in Oakland, he signed with his hometown Minnesota Twins (he was drafted in the ninth round out of the University of Minnesota by the A’s in 1983) and played three more seasons in the Twin Cities before calling it a career with an OPS+ of 102. An interesting note on his durability is that he played in at least 100 games in every season from 1987 until his retirement after the 1999 campaign.

Bob Brenly, Giants, 9 seasons, 823 games, 13.3 WAR, 1.5 WAR per season

Brenly played nearly his entire career in San Francisco (save 48 games in Toronto in 1989) and his team spanned the 1980’s (1981-89). During that time, he made one All Star Game (1984) and was seen as a scrappy, durable backstop. He slashed .250/.333/.408 with a 108 OPS+ in his time in the City by The Bay. He retired after the Giants were swept by the A’s in the 1989 World Series.

After his retirement, he returned to the organization as a coach under Roger Craig and Dusty Baker. He also was a national broadcaster, calling World Series games on Fox with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in 1996, 1998 and 2000. In 2001 he managed the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series title. He returned to broadcasting after his three-year stint as a manager, calling games locally for the Cubs and Diamondbacks.

Gene Tenace, A’s, 8 seasons, 805 games, 23.6 WAR, 2.9 WAR per season

Tenace famously hit 4 home runs and won MVP honors in 1972 when the A’s beat the Big Red Machine to hoist their first World Series title in Oakland. At the time, he was 25 years old in his fourth season as a part-time player who had never had more than 230 at-bats in a season. He would go on to become a great player.

He became a full-time player in Oakland the following season and ended his tenure in Oakland after 1976 with a slash line of .245/.374/.435. From there he went on to play seven more seasons in San Diego, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. All told he slashed .241/.388/.429 with a 136 OPS+ in his career – higher than Posey.

With only 1060 hits and one All-Star appearance (how?), Tenace’s HOF case seems light. But if a walk is as good as a hit, how many times did he and Posey reach base? Tenace reached 2,135 times, with a whopping 984 walks (led the league twice!) and 91 hit by pitch in 5,527 plate appearances. Posey reached base 2,083 times, with 540 walks and 43 times hit by pitch in 5,607 plate appearances. So perhaps for catchers, the Rule of 2,000 should be updated to be times reaching base, given the wear and tear and shorter careers at the position.

Tom Haller, Giants, 7 seasons, 761 games, 19.0 WAR, 2.7 WAR per season

Haller, a product of the Giants’ farm system, played in San Francisco from 1961-67 and earned All-Star nods in 1966 and 1967 before taking his talents to the Dodgers (via trade) and earning his third (and final) All-Star appearance in 1968. In his time in San Francisco he slashed .248/.340/.4321, good for a 114 OPS+ (100 is league average). His career WAR, including a final season in Detroit in 1972, was 29.3.

After retiring, Haller returned to the Giants as a scout and eventually Vice President of Baseball Operations (1981-85).

Other catchers who may hold a spot dear in the hearts of Bay Area fans include: Kurt Suzuki (718 games with the A's), Kirt Manwaring (709 games in SF), Ramon Hernandez (595 games with the Moneyball A’s), current Guardians manager Stephen Vogt (528 games in Oakland, 99 in SF), beloved A’s announcer Ray Fosse (294 games with the A’s) and current Giants/former A’s manager Bob Melvin (265 games with the Giants).

Rich Campbell is a Marketing Professor at Sonoma State University by day and A’s fan by night. He has previously been a sports business contributor at Forbes.com and his academic writing has appeared in Sport Marketing Quarterly. You can find him on Twitter @RichCampbelPhD.