Tuesday, May 1, 2012

no. 44 - johnny edwards


Who is the man: Johnny Edwards was 33 years old in 1971 and had been in the league since 1961. That's a lot of crouching. So 1970 was Edwards' last season of more than 500 at-bats and 110 games. His playing time started to decline after 1970.

Can ya dig it: Edwards is shown in batting stances in his early cards, but is in a catcher's crouch in his later cards. I'm thinking that Edwards' reputation as an excellent defensive catcher led to more "defensive" poses as the years went on.

Right on: Edwards is known for catching no-hit performances, although his first attempt, with the Reds' Jim Maloney, didn't pan out. Edwards caught 10 innings of no-hit ball from Maloney, but Maloney gave up a hit, a run and the game in the 11th. But Edwards and Maloney combined again a couple of months later for a actual 10-inning no-hitter. Edwards also caught a no-hitter by the Cardinals' Ray Washburn in 1968.

You see this cat Edwards is a bad mother: Edwards holds the record for most putouts in a season by a catcher with 1,135 in 1969. Of course, it helped that the Astros had three starters that struck out at least 200 batters that season -- Larry Dierker, Don Wilson and Tom Griffin. The other starter, Denny Lemaster, struck out 173.

Shut your mouth: Edwards wasn't around to see Maloney lose that no-hitter the first time. He was removed in extra innings for a pinch-hitter. "Boy, was I mad," he said.

No one understands him but his woman: Richard Kendall, for SABR's research journal, named Edwards as the second most dominant defensive catcher in MLB history.


(A word about the back): "Was with Reds & Cardinals" is kind of an odd, out-of-the-blue sentence. The Astros aren't good enough for Edwards?

2 comments:

  1. I'd be impressed, but Kendall's list doesn't even put Bench in the top 10.

    I read Bill James years ago and have a newfound interest in him since I'm currently reading Moneyball which champions James. It's reminded me how upside down defensive appraisal has been through the years.

    Give a team a backstop who's average behind the plate and above average when holding a bat and the team will do well. (Or in Bench's case: great and great, the stuff dynsasties are made of.)

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  2. This card...well, another copy of it, made an appearance on my blog the day after this one posted. Great minds? Great mind is more like it.

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