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List of Major League Baseball career assists as a catcher leaders

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Deacon McGuire, the all-time leader in assists by a catcher

In baseball, an assist (denoted by A) is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is credited to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball (after it has been hit by the batter) prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional. For example, if a ball strikes a player's leg and bounces off him to another fielder, who tags the baserunner, the first player is credited with an assist. A fielder can receive a maximum of one assist per out recorded. An assist is also credited if a putout would have occurred, had another fielder not committed an error. For example, a shortstop might field a ground ball cleanly, but the first baseman might drop his throw. In this case, an error would be charged to the first baseman, and the shortstop would be credited with an assist. The catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his/her turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to these primary duties, the catcher is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field the position well. The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket-keeper in cricket. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the catcher is assigned the number 2.

Catchers are most frequently credited with an assist when they throw out a runner attempting a stolen base, but other situations leading to an assist include bunts where the catcher fields the batted ball near home plate and throws out the batter at first base (or another runner), an uncaught third strike after which the catcher throws out the batter trying to reach first base, rundown plays in which a runner is stranded between bases, and throwing out runners who fail to tag up after a fly ball out. As the frequency of strikeouts has risen in baseball, the number of other fielding outs has declined; the rise of power hitting has also led to a decline in more daring baserunning. Consequently, the list of career assist leaders is dominated by catchers from the dead-ball era prior to 1920, when runners made more aggressive attempts to advance around the bases in risky situations; none of the top 20 players were active after 1931, and only three players since 1950 have reached even 60% of the record. None of the top 65 single-season totals were recorded after 1920, and none of the top 340 were recorded after 1928; only 13 seasons of 100 assists have been recorded since 1945, peaking at 108, far short of the record of 238. As a result, both the career and single-season records are likely among Major League Baseball's most unbreakable records.

Deacon McGuire[1][2] is the all-time leader with 1,860 career assists. Only 48 catchers have recorded 1,000 or more career assists.

Key

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Rank Rank amongst leaders in career assists. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 As) Number of recorded assists during the 2024 Major League Baseball season
MLB Total career assists as a catcher in Major League Baseball
* Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
Bold Denotes active player.[a]

List

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Salvador Pérez, the active leader in assists by a catcher and is 120th all-time.
Ray Schalk, holder of the American League career record
Red Dooin, holder of the National League career record
Bill Rariden posted the two highest assist totals in history in the short-lived Federal League.
Iván Rodríguez has the most assists of any catcher since 1950.
Jim Sundberg led the American League in assists a record six times.
  • Stats updated as of July 22, 2024.
Rank Player (2024 As) Assists as catcher Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
1 Deacon McGuire 1,860 370 1,176 Includes 314 in American Association
2 Ray Schalk* 1,811 1,811 0
3 Steve O'Neill 1,698 1,698 0
4 Red Dooin 1,590 0 1,590
5 Charles Zimmer 1,580 0 1,439 Includes 141 in American Association; held NL record, 1898-1911; held single-season record, 1890-1903
6 Johnny Kling 1,554 0 1,554 Held National League record, 1912-1915
7 Ivey Wingo 1,487 0 1,487
8 Wilbert Robinson* 1,454 136 629 Includes 689 in American Association
9 Bill Bergen 1,444 0 1,444 Held National League record, 1911-1912
Pop Snyder 1,444 0 566 Includes 713 in American Association, 149 in National Association, 16 in Players' League; held major league record, 1877-1901; held NL record, 1876-1883; held single-season record, 1876-1886
11 Wally Schang 1,420 1,420 0
12 Duke Farrell 1,418 97 1,120 Includes 132 in Players' League, 69 in American Association
13 George Gibson 1,386 0 1,386
14 Oscar Stanage 1,381 1,381 0 Held American League record, 1918-1922; holds AL single-season record
15 Malachi Kittridge 1,363 306 1,057
16 Lou Criger 1,342 1,004 338 Held American League record, 1903-1907, 1908-1909; held AL single-season record, 1903-1908
17 Frank Snyder 1,332 0 1,332
18 Bill Killefer 1,319 145 1,174
19 Billy Sullivan 1,314 1,217 97 Held American League record, 1909–1918
20 Jack Warner 1,309 359 950
21 Gabby Hartnett* 1,254 0 1,254
22 Bill Rariden 1,231 0 778 Includes 453 in Federal League; holds the single-season record of 238 (set in 1915)
23 Iván Rodríguez* 1,227 1,066 161
24 Gary Carter* 1,203 0 1,203
25 Roger Bresnahan* 1,195 85 1,110
26 Bob Boone 1,174 601 573
27 Muddy Ruel 1,136 1,136 0
28 Rick Ferrell* 1,127 1,127 0
29 Al López* 1,115 28 1,087
30 Hank Severeid 1,112 1,086 26
31 Heinie Peitz 1,095 0 1,095
32 Eddie Ainsmith 1,088 914 174
33 Luke Sewell 1,084 1,084 0
34 Jack Clements 1,082 0 1,050 Includes 32 in Union Association
35 Frank Bowerman 1,077 0 1,077
36 Silver Flint 1,071 0 1,052 Includes 19 in National Association; held National League record, 1883-1898
37 Yadier Molina 1,062 0 1,062
38 Otto Miller 1,053 0 1,053
39 Charlie Bennett 1,048 0 1,048
Carlton Fisk* 1,048 1,048 0
41 Tony Peña 1,045 332 713
42 Cy Perkins 1,037 1,037 0
43 Ed McFarland 1,024 338 686
44 Buck Ewing* 1,017 0 910 Includes 107 in Players' League
45 Bill Holbert 1,013 588 425
46 Jim Sundberg 1,007 966 41
47 Doc Bushong 1,001 0 506 Includes 495 in American Association
48 Hank Gowdy 1,000 0 1,000
49 Chief Meyers 996 0 996
50 Pat Moran 990 0 990 Held single-season record, 1903-1914; holds NL single-season record
51 Jason Kendall 989 207 782
52 Jack O'Connor 987 160 503 Includes 324 in American Association
53 Bob O'Farrell 980 0 980
Lance Parrish 980 826 154
55 Jimmy Archer 979 16 963
56 Ossee Schreckengost 969 858 111 Held American League record, 1907-1908
57 Benito Santiago 960 60 900
58 Brad Ausmus 956 159 797
59 Bill Dickey* 954 954 0
60 Russell Martin 941 361 580
61 Jimmie Wilson 931 0 931
62 Ted Simmons* 915 144 771
63 Larry McLean 905 0 905
64 Rollie Hemsley 897 634 263
65 Connie Mack* 864 0 724 Includes 140 in Players' League; held NL single-season record, 1888-1890
66 Joe Sugden 861 401 460
67 Walter Schmidt 858 0 858
68 King Kelly* 857 0 692 Includes 105 in American Association, 60 in the Players' League
69 Bill Carrigan 854 854 0
70 Ed Sweeney 852 835 17
71 Johnny Bench* 850 0 850
72 Ernie Lombardi* 845 0 845
73 Mickey Cochrane* 840 840 0
74 Mike González 838 0 838
75 John Henry 826 38 788
76 Jocko Milligan 825 0 154 Includes 605 in American Association, 66 in the Players' League
77 A. J. Pierzynski 823 694 129
78 Boileryard Clarke 806 337 469
79 Gus Mancuso 803 0 803
80 Yogi Berra* 798 797 1
81 Art Wilson 796 1 487 Includes 308 in Federal League
82 Admiral Schlei 792 0 792
83 Sam Agnew 773 773 0
84 Rick Dempsey 768 677 91
85 Pop Schriver 764 0 760 Includes 4 in American Association
86 Del Crandall 759 15 744
87 Darrell Porter 754 505 249
88 Zack Taylor 752 2 750
89 Les Nunamaker 745 745 0
90 Gabby Street 744 673 71 Held AL single-season record, 1909-1911
91 Thurman Munson 742 742 0
92 Mike Scioscia 737 0 737
93 Mike Piazza* 733 0 733
94 Val Picinich 732 496 236
95 Brian McCann 729 242 487
96 Doc Powers 724 668 56 Held American League record, 1901-1903; held AL single-season record, 1901-1903
97 Bill Freehan 721 721 0
98 Johnny Bassler 708 708 0
99 Johnny Edwards 703 0 703
100 John Grim 696 0 658 Includes 38 in American Association
Jorge Posada 696 696 0

Other Hall of Famers

[edit]
Player Assists as catcher Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
Roy Campanella* 605 0 550 Includes 55 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Deacon White* 502 0 297 Includes 205 in National Association
Biz Mackey* 467 0 0 Includes 160 in Negro National League (first), 146 in Negro National League (second),
128 in Eastern Colored League, 33 in American Negro League (incomplete)
Joe Torre* 428 0 428
Joe Mauer* 323 323 0
Josh Gibson* 319 0 0 Includes 319 in Negro National League (incomplete)
Jim O'Rourke* 312 0 300 Includes 12 in National Association
Craig Biggio* 202 0 202
Jimmie Foxx* 60 60 0
Louis Santop* 25 0 0 Includes 25 in Eastern Colored League (incomplete)

Notes

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  1. ^ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.

References

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  1. ^ "Deacon McGuire Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  2. ^ Bigelow, Robert W. "Deacon Mcguire Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
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