Scuffed Balls

Jorge Posada retired from baseball today after 17 seasons all with the New York Yankees. The question being asked now is he a Hall Of Famer? His career numbers are comparable and in some cases better than the 15 catchers that reside in the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The era's are different and Jorge was not the best of defensive catchers but he definitely held is own for 17 seasons, 16 of which spent behind the plate of 5 World Series Champions and in the playoffs for all but one season 2008 in which Posada only played in 51 games due to a shoulder injury. Posada was part of the Core Four (Jeter, Rivera and Pettitte) who all came up through the Yankees farm system helping win 5 titles in 96,98,99,00,09. In the media's eye Posada's role would be considered less than the others but ask baseball people and those in the Yankee organization, Jorge Posada was the steady rock behind all those great teams. Jeter may be the captain but when someone needed to know the pulse of the team they always went to Posada. Yankee fans beloved Posada and know how important he was to the team as demonstrated that by the ovations and show of support he was given during last season. Basically the backup DH/pinch hitter in 2010 the extremely prideful Posada did not handle the situation well at times ,with a blowup in May where he took himself out of the lineup against the Red Sox. After that issue Posada seemed to handle his role and play better especially down the stretch and in the Division Series versus the Tigers where he was pretty much the only guy getting hits batting 429 with 6 hits. Posada probably won't make the Hall Of Fame but below you can see his stats compared to his contemporaries and judge for yourself. That being said he will go down as one of the greatest and admired Yankees of all time and someday very soon have his #20 retired at Monument Park in Yankee Stadium. Jorge Posada  - G- 1829,  R- 900, H- 1664, 2B- 379, HR- 275, RBI- 1065.  Mike Piazza - G-1912, R- 1048, H- 2127, 2B- 344, HR- 427, RBI- 1335 . Johnny Bench - G- 2158, R- 1091, H- 2048, 2B- 381, HR- 389, RBI- 1376. Yogi Berra - G- 2116, R- 1175, H- 2150, 2B- 321, HR- 358, RBI- 1430.  Bill Dickey - G- 1789, R- 930, H- 1969, 2B- 343, HR- 202, RBI- 1209.  Elston Howard - G- 1605, R- 619, H- 1471, 2B- 218, HR- 167, RBI- 762.  Carlton Fisk - G- 2499, R- 1276, H- 2356, 2B- 421, HR- 376, RBI- 1330.  Pudge Rodriquez - G- 2543, R- 1354, H- 2844, 2B- 572, HR- 311, RBI- 1332.  Gary Carter - G- 2296, R- 1025, H- 2092, 2B- 371, HR- 324, RBI- 1225.