The Crane Pool Forum

I saw something in my Facebook feed that says it's National Catchers Day, and asked users to post the name of their favorite catcher.

Two things:

1. This sounds like fake news. I don't believe there's anything called National Catchers Day.
2. There's no way I'm going to post a response to this. Nothing good can come from doing so.

However, I was inspired to ask the question here.

Who's your favorite catcher?

John Stearns has my vote.

Purely sentimental, Mike Piazza , my Mets Fandom coincided with Piazza being traded to the Mets , obviously Mike had many memorable moments , I've always liked him

Hothead "Hot" Ptah.

Mike Engelberg.

The first one, not the second.

Choo Choo Coleman

Yadier Molina

Bob Uecker
Later

Mackey Sasser.

Loved him dearly for personal reasons.
Also loved Alex Trevino.

Todd Hundley.

I'm with Irish on this one. I was a Mets fan long before Piazza but I associate him with those great late 90's teams that were so fun to watch. Plus I met my wife in the fall of '98 so his Mets tenure very much overlapped her induction into Mets fandom.

Holden Caulfield

I always liked Paul LoDuca too, and Charles Johnson with the Marlins, there was something quirky about him

Awesome name - and hit two home runs in one inning, with one being a grand slam.

Francisco Alvarez, I hope.

Someone is not happy that this thread has gone this long without mentioning him. And he's got a bat, even though he doesn't use it particularly well.

Ron Hodges, runner up Duffy Dyer.

Too hard to choose between Grote, Stoins, Hundley, Piazza...

I was joking about Molina.

I think I agree on Stearns, with Carter, then Grote, then Piazza.

Piazza is not my favorite guy.

Bob Alpacadaca wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:18 am

Awesome name - and hit two home runs in one inning, with one being a grand slam.

His first year he played at Pocatello Idaho.
As he rose through the minors and made it to the majors, my friend and continued to call him "Boccabella from Pocatella" because of thew way that sounded.
Later

Rank these great catchers:

• Leon Carter (as played by James Earl Jones in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings)
• Crash Davis (as played by Kevin Costner in Bull Durham)
• Mike Engleberg (as played by Gary Lee Cavagnaro in The Bad News Bears)
• Dorothy "Dottie" Hinson (as played by Geena Davis in A League of Their Own)
• John Kinsella (as played by Dwier Brown in Field of Dreams)
• Triscuitt Messmer (as played by Tony Longo in Angels in the Outfield)
• Bruce Pearson (as played by Robert De Niro in Bang The Drum Slowly)
• Hamilton "Ham" Porter (as played by Patrick Renna in The Sandlot)
• Gus Sinski (as played by John C. Reilly in For the Love of the Game)
• Jake Taylor (as played by Tom Berenger in Major League)

We are working with only fictional-world dudes so Swede Risberg (Don Harvey in Eight Men Out and Charles Hoyes in Field of Dreams) and Elston Howard (Bobby Hosea in 61*) and the like are right out.