Charlie Hoke

Carlton Fisk's first 11 years of a 24-year Hall of Fame Major League Baseball career was with the Red Sox, where he was the Rookie of the Year in 1972, a 7-time All-star, and in the top 10 of the MVP voting 3 times. Fisk may be the best Red Sox catcher ever, but who else had great careers while catching for the Red Sox? Carlton Fisk (1969-1980) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 39.5 1078 3860 627 1097 207 33 162 568 61 26 389 588 .284 .356 .481 .837 126 .385 127 Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk hit the iconic 1975 Game 6 World Series 12th inning walk-off (wave-off) homer. With the Red Sox he was Rookie of the Year in 1972 and won the Gold Glove. A Three-time silver slugger and 11-time All-star in total, Carlton Fisk holds the AL record for years playing catcher at 24, and finished with 3 more top 20 MVP voting results, his highest being 3rd in 1983 with his division winning White Sox. Jason Varitek (1997-2011) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 24.2 1546 5099 664 1307 306 14 193 757 25 18 614 1216 .256 .341 .435 .776 99 .343 96 The first Red Sox catcher to catch 1,000 games and 4th team captain in history since 1923, Jason won two World Series with the Red Sox in 2004, and 2007. and led the Sox to the playoffs in 5 other years (1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008). Bill Carrigan (1906-1916) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 13.2 709 1970 194 506 67 14 6 235 37 14 206 187 .257 .334 .314 .648 94 .322 97 Bill played 11 years for the Red Sox and was a player manager for the last 4 seasons and won 3 World Series championships (1912, 1915, 1916), the last two as a player manager. He holds the record for the highest post-season winning percentage (.800) of any manager with multiple postseason appearances and was the first Red Sox manager to win two world championships. Rick Ferrell (1933-1937) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 11.9 522 1791 221 541 111 17 16 240 7 11 269 75 .302 .394 .410 .804 103 .376 107 Rick was a 4-time All-Star with the Red Sox and 7-time All-Star overall in an 18 year playing career, holding the AL record for games caught at 1,806 for over 40 years and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984. Together with his brother, Wes Ferrell, Rick was one of the top brother catcher/pitcher combinations in MLB history. Rich Gedman (1980-1990) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 11.7 906 2856 315 741 164 12 83 356 3 3 206 448 .259 .310 .412 .723 95 .327 90 Rich Gedman was the primary backstop for three Red Sox post-season teams, the 1986 AL Pennant winners, and the 1988 and 1990 division champs. A two time All-Star, he was one of only 5 catchers to register 2 All-Star selections in the 1980s. He set the record for put-outs by a catcher when he caught Roger Clemens' 20 strikeout performance on April 29, 1986. Subsequently on the next day, he registered 16 putouts and set the record for catcher putouts in consecutive starts at 36. Sammy White (1951-1959) WAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ 2.0 981 3342 316 881 162 20 63 404 14 15 214 356 .264 .308 .381 .689 81 .321 73 Sammy was third place for Rookie of the Year in 1952 and, on June 18, 1953, became the only player after the 19th century to score 3 runs in one inning. Between 1953 to 1955, he appeared in over 90% of the Red Sox games, averaging 138.7 games over that three year span, and starting 142 of 154 games in 1955. Known for his excellence at framing pitches and getting strike calls, Sammy caught lefty Mel Parnell's no-hitter on July 14, 1956. Do you agree with this list of top Red Sox catchers? Anyone else who should be considered? Real players only. In this article though, the writer did pick Carlton Fisk as the Red Sox's top catcher, he couldn't find a great catcher for the San Diego Padres and just made up a player's career. The actual Rene Rivera was a journeyman catcher who did play for the Padres in 2013-15 but was in junior high school in 1998 when the Padres made the World Series. No one Padres catcher played from 1992-2009. There should be no way an article like this should have been published with such a glaring error. This story was picked up and copied to several sites without checking. Some of the sites have removed it, but others still have it up. The Greatest Catcher in Each MLB Franchise's History https://living.alot.com/entertainment/the-greatest-catcher-in-each-mlb-franchises-history--22296

How about giving Rob Refsnyder time at 1st base? He played there last in 2020 and his splits this year are more even than in the past. He seems a bit better than Sogard right now.

Thanks Brock! One other question. My first blog entry asked for a category, but didn't have any pre-existing choices so I created Great Sox. Hope that's ok.

Hall of Famer Jim Rice set a record that may never be broken. As a rookie in 1975, Rice, together with Fred Lynn, shared the nickname the "Gold Dust Twins" for their great performance and future potential. Jim Rice fulfilled that promise with consecutive spectacular seasons from 1977 to 1979, achieving a feat that had not been done before or duplicated since. During 3 consecutive years, 1977, 1978, and 1979, Jim Rice is the only player in MLB history to achieve these 5 statistical accomplishments: 39+ home runs ( 39, 46, 39 ) 200+ hits ( 206, 213, 201 ) 100+ Runs scored ( 104, 121, 117 ) 100+ RBIs ( 114, 139, 130 ) .300+ Batting Average ( .320, .315, .325 ) The only players who had the same number or more such seasons, though nonconsecutively were Lou Gehrig with 5 and Rogers Hornsby and Babe Ruth also with 3. Only Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and Chuck Klein had even two such seasons back to back, with others achieving these totals twice over their career, but never consecutively, Only Jim Rice has done this 3 seasons in a row. Achieving each of these stats is an achievement itself, but hitting all 5 in one season is extraordinary. A player has to be able to hit for average and power while also being part of a strong offense who can get on base in front of him and drive him in afterwards. Will anyone ever tie or break this record? Here's a list of all the players who have hit these numbers in the same season. NAME YEAR LEAGUE TEAM AVG H HR R RBI Babe Ruth 1921 AL NYA .378 204 59 177 171 Rogers Hornsby 1922 NL SLN .401 250 42 141 152 Babe Ruth 1923 AL NYA .393 205 41 151 131 Babe Ruth 1924 AL NYA .378 200 46 143 121 Rogers Hornsby 1925 NL SLN .403 203 39 133 143 Lou Gehrig 1927 AL NYA .373 218 47 149 175 Chuck Klein 1929 NL PHI .356 219 43 126 145 Chuck Klein 1930 NL PHI .386 250 40 158 170 Rogers Hornsby 1929 NL CHN .380 229 39 156 149 Hack Wilson 1930 NL CHN .356 208 56 146 191 Lou Gehrig 1930 AL NYA .379 220 41 143 174 Lou Gehrig 1931 AL NYA .341 211 46 163 184 Jimmie Foxx 1932 AL PHA .364 213 58 151 169 Jimmie Foxx 1933 AL PHA .356 204 48 125 163 Lou Gehrig 1934 AL NYA .363 210 49 128 165 Hal Trosky 1936 AL CLE .343 216 42 124 162 Lou Gehrig 1936 AL NYA .354 205 49 167 152 Hank Greenberg 1937 AL DET .337 200 40 137 183 Joe DiMaggio 1937 AL NYA .346 215 46 151 167 Stan Musial 1948 NL SLN .376 230 39 135 131 Al Rosen 1953 AL CLE .336 201 43 115 145 Hank Aaron 1959 NL MLN .355 223 39 116 123 Frank Robinson 1962 NL CN5 .342 208 39 134 136 Hank Aaron 1963 NL MLN .319 201 44 121 130 Billy Williams 1970 NL CHN .322 205 42 137 129 Jim Rice 1977 AL BOS .320 206 39 104 114 Jim Rice 1978 AL BOS .315 213 46 121 139 Jim Rice 1979 AL BOS .325 201 39 117 130 Ellis Burks 1996 NL COL .344 211 40 142 128 Mo Vaughn 1996 AL BOS .326 207 44 118 143 Larry Walker 1997 NL COL .366 208 49 143 130 Mike Piazza 1997 NL LAN .362 201 40 104 124 Albert Belle 1998 AL CHA .328 200 49 113 152 Alex Rodriguez 1998 AL SEA .310 213 42 123 124 Mo Vaughn 1998 AL BOS .337 205 40 107 115 Vinny Castilla 1998 NL COL .319 206 46 108 144 Todd Helton 2000 NL COL .372 216 42 138 147 Alex Rodriguez 2001 AL TEX .318 201 52 133 135 Alfonso Soriano 2002 AL NYA .300 209 39 128 102 Vladimir Guerrero 2002 NL MON .336 206 39 106 111 Albert Pujols 2003 NL SLN .359 212 43 137 124 Adrián Beltré 2004 NL LAN .334 200 48 104 121 Vladimir Guerrero 2004 AL ANA .337 206 39 124 126 Miguel Cabrera 2012 AL DET .330 205 44 109 139 Ronald Acuña Jr. 2023 NL ATL .337 217 41 149 106 Source: https://BaseballAlmanac.com

HI! I read the article and tried to follow the instructions, but when I click on the Blogs section, I don't see a "Create a Blog" button. I do see a + button that goes to Creating a Topic. Let me know how to create a blog. Thanks! Screenshot below is what I see.