San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds and My IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

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Aug 22, 2015; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees former catcher Jorge Posada address the crowd during a ceremony for the retirement of his number before the game against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /

Jorge Posada
42.7 Career WAR, .273/.374/.474/.848, 1664 hits, 275 HR’s, 1065 RBI’s, 936 BB’s

#Yankees Jorge Posada had 1,767 regular and postseason hits. 5.83% (103) came in the postseason, the highest percentage in baseball history.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) August 22, 2015

Jorge Posada helped lead the New York Yankees to five World Series championships. Despite not having some of the regular season numbers that most Hall of Famers share, his contributions in the post-season were much greater. He shined brightest in October, like so many Yankees. While he may not have been the best hitting catcher like Piazza or the best defensive catcher like Rodriguez, his versatility made him stand out. The switch hitting catcher was a leader and did enough on both sides of the plate and in the clubhouse to be a part of one of the great dynasties we’ve ever seen in sports. We tend to pick out flaws in players too often when judging their worthiness for the Hall of Fame, but outside of Piazza and Rodriguez, Posada may be the best catcher during his 17 year career. Many other worthy players have missed the Hall of Fame because of that very reason. Tim Raines is still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame for not being as good as Rickey Henderson and Alan Trammell wasn’t Ozzie Smith or Cal Ripken Jr. Posada ultimately is one of the 15-20 best catchers to ever play the game no matter what metric you look at and that alone should be worthy of Cooperstown.