• Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson & Austin Romine?

    Posted by on December 20th, 2012 · Comments (8)

    According to my research, Bill Dickey and Thurman Munson are the only players in Yankees history to play at least 120 games in a season, where they played catcher at least 80% of the time, in a season where they were age 24 or younger:

    Rk Player Year G Age Tm PA HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
    1 Thurman Munson 1971 125 24 NYY 517 10 42 52 65 .251 .335 .368
    2 Thurman Munson 1970 132 23 NYY 526 6 53 57 56 .302 .386 .415
    3 Bill Dickey 1931 130 24 NYY 524 6 78 39 20 .327 .378 .442
    4 Bill Dickey 1929 130 22 NYY 474 10 65 14 16 .324 .346 .485
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 12/20/2012.

    .
    Seeing this, I cannot believe that the Yankees are expecting to go with Austin Romine as their starting catcher in 2013.

    For the record, Yogi just missed this list.  Here’s the result if you drop the games played filter down to 100:

    Rk Player Year G Age Tm PA HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
    1 Thurman Munson 1971 125 24 NYY 517 10 42 52 65 .251 .335 .368
    2 Thurman Munson 1970 132 23 NYY 526 6 53 57 56 .302 .386 .415
    3 Yogi Berra 1949 116 24 NYY 443 20 91 22 25 .277 .323 .480
    4 Bill Dickey 1931 130 24 NYY 524 6 78 39 20 .327 .378 .442
    5 Bill Dickey 1930 109 23 NYY 396 5 65 21 14 .339 .375 .486
    6 Bill Dickey 1929 130 22 NYY 474 10 65 14 16 .324 .346 .485
    7 Jeff Sweeney 1913 117 24 NYY 405 2 40 37 41 .265 .348 .322
    8 Jeff Sweeney 1912 110 23 NYY 388 0 30 27 16 .268 .325 .308
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 12/20/2012.

    .
    It’s also the same guys if you move the age line to 25 or younger.

    Filed under Yankees History · ·

    Comments on Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson & Austin Romine?

    1. MJ Recanati
      December 20th, 2012 | 8:16 am

      I don’t think Romine will be the team’s primary catcher either, but not based on a coincidental historical survey. Romine has only logged 86 plate appearances over two years at Triple-A so I find it hard to imagine that the team would promote someone to an everyday role without further testing at the highest level of the minor leagues.
    2. Steve L.
      December 20th, 2012 | 8:32 am

      FWIW, Heyman recently tweeted that the Yankees had no interest in A.J. Hair Highlights since they were more inclined to go with Romine.
    3. Steve L.
      December 20th, 2012 | 8:34 am

      here is the link: https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/281490403566424064
    4. MJ Recanati
      December 20th, 2012 | 9:01 am

      @ Steve L.:
      Between signing Pierzynski and starting Romine exists a larger universe of possibilities. I don’t think one has much to do with the other in the context of 2013.
    5. BOHAN
      December 20th, 2012 | 8:25 pm

      Pierzynski signed with the Rangers… If Romine looks ok in Spring Training I’d have no problem with him starting… I’d actually prefer it
    6. McMillan
      December 20th, 2012 | 9:12 pm

      BOHAN wrote:

      Pierzynski signed with the Rangers… If Romine looks ok in Spring Training I’d have no problem with him starting… I’d actually prefer it

      Pierzynski was not a good fit for this team: he’s 36 yrs. old and signed a 1-yr. contract coming off a season with a .278 avg., 27 HRs, and 77 RBIs, and has a career postseason avg. of .300 – not a good fit.
    7. BOHAN
      December 21st, 2012 | 4:53 am

      @ McMillan:
      Wasnt saying he was a good fit just stating that he had signed with Rangers. But I wouldnt have minded those numbers in the 7 or 8 hole. But he’s not coming here no big deal.
    8. McMillan
      December 21st, 2012 | 8:57 pm

      @ BOHAN:
      I was kidding…

    Leave a reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.