[Mick]

Ken Rosenthal wrote of a documentary on Yogi Berra. I hope I get the chance to see it. Berra has been reduced to a caricature based on his looks and malapropisms. In fact, there is a solid argument that he’s the greatest catcher in history. 19 years. He played in 18 All-Star games. Won 10 WS as a player. Most in history. He also landed at Normandy and won a Purple Heart.  

Check out his numbers. Here is a sample: 1950. 151 games. .322/.383/.533/.915. 28 HRs. 124 RBIs. Oh, he struck out 12 times. 12. All season. Yeah, the game has changed. Still, that’s incredible. 

I would go with either Bench or Berra. For me, it's Berra. Different times.  Berra played 2,120 games, Bench played 2,158.  Bench is ahead on WAR by a fair amount (75.1 - 59.5). Berra has considerably more triples (49-24), runs (1,175 - 1,091) and fewer strikeouts (414 - 1,278), whereas Bench more doubles (381 - 321) and home runs (389 - 358). Berra had a better OPS (.830 - .817) in the regular season, Bench was better in the postseason (.862 - .811).

Fielding-wise, Bench had a better fielding percentage by a bit (.990 to .989), whereas Berra threw out more runners (48.6% to 43.4%). Bench had fewer errors (97-110), but also fewer double plays (127 - 175). Yogi had fewer passed balls (76 - 94). Interestingly, both Berra and Bench led the league in most passed balls early in their careers, Bench when he was 20, Berra when he was 25. Yogi's career caught stealing rate of 48.6% was closer to the league's caught stealing rate of 43%, whereas when Bench threw out 43.4% of the runners, the league as a whole threw out 35%.

It's pretty close.

[Mick]

Ken Rosenthal wrote of a documentary on Yogi Berra. I hope I get the chance to see it. Berra has been reduced to a caricature based on his looks and malapropisms. In fact, there is a solid argument that he’s the greatest catcher in history. 19 years. He played in 18 All-Star games. Won 10 WS as a player. Most in history. He also landed at Normandy and won a Purple Heart.  

Check out his numbers. Here is a sample: 1950. 151 games. .322/.383/.533/.915. 28 HRs. 124 RBIs. Oh, he struck out 12 times. 12. All season. Yeah, the game has changed. Still, that’s incredible. 

I would go with either Bench or Berra. For me, it's Berra. Different times.  Berra played 2,120 games, Bench played 2,158.  Bench is ahead on WAR by a fair amount (75.1 - 59.5). Berra has considerably more triples (49-24), runs (1,175 - 1,091) and fewer strikeouts (414 - 1,278), whereas Bench more doubles (381 - 321) and home runs (389 - 358). Berra had a better OPS (.830 - .817) in the regular season, Bench was better in the postseason (.862 - .811).

Fielding-wise, Bench had a better fielding percentage by a bit (.990 to .989), whereas Berra threw out more runners (48.6% to 43.4%). Bench had fewer errors (97-110), but also fewer double plays (127 - 175). Yogi had fewer passed balls (76 - 94). Interestingly, both Berra and Bench led the league in most passed balls early in their careers, Bench when he was 20, Berra when he was 25. Yogi's career caught stealing rate of 48.6% was closer to the league's caught stealing rate of 43%, whereas when Bench threw out 43.4% of the runners, the league as a whole threw out 35%.

It's pretty close.