[ehoffmaster]

I got in a debate with friends about this the other day. I say Yogi Berra or Pudge... One of my pals thinks its Benito Santiago since he could throw people out from his knees.

What do you guys think?

[aprirr]

My kid would say Jonathan Lucroy, but I would have to say Johnny Bench. Without question.

[Haze28]

Mike Piazza

[ehoffmaster]

Johnny Bench was pretty great. I didnt even think of him. He was kind of vanilla though. Berra had a little soemthing that made you love him.

[jacobystealshome]

Mike Piazza

piazza was a HORRIBLE defensive catcher and his stats were inflated by steroid use

for that era, ivan rodriguez was better (though his numbers way have been tainted as well. but he is one of the best defensive catchers of all-time)

to the OP: are we talking just defensively, or all-around?

[kelbysdaddy]

which pudge are you guys talking about- fisk or rodriguez? i'm a rodriguez guy.
also, you know one catcher that was terribly underrated? Ted Simmons!!!!
he had a higher career batting average and more rbi than fisk and just about as good a fielding percentage as bench (bench- .990 simmons- .987)
i'm not saying simba is better then either but i think he deserves to be in the hall.

[yankeescop]

I say Josh Gibson.
My 8yr old son says Rob Brantly.

[zeprock]

If we're talking all around greatness then I'd rank them #1 Johnny Bench, #2 Yogi Berra, #3 Ivan Rodriguez.

Honorable mention to Bill Dickey, Roy Campanella, Carlton Fisk and Josh Gibson.

And as previously mentioned, Ted Simmons was underrated.

[ricelynnevans75]

to the OP: are we talking just defensively, or all-around?

This was my first thought about this thread.

[lilgman]

I'd have to say Johnny Bench was probably the best catcher all-around. He was great defensively and really made it the norm for catchers to use one hand and he had a cannon behind the dish. I played professional baseball and was a catcher myself and I used to watch them closely on Tv when I was watching a game and Piazza was a good reciever, but really had a terrible arm and terrible footwork. Ivan Rodriguez I believe was the best defensive catcher of all-time. Another catcher nobody mentioned was Bob Boone who was also a superb defensive catcher and would have been a hall of famer if his offensive numbers were better. I think when Yadier Molina's career is over baseball people will refer to him as one of the best of all-time and he has really developed into a good offesive catcher in addition to being a great defensive catcher. Just my opinion....