Results: The Best National League Baseball Catchers Of All Time

1. Johnny Bench – There are great catchers, and then there is the Cincinnati Reds' Johnny Bench. A good hitter, Bench's truly legendary acumen was behind the plate. He won 10 Gold Gloves and had the greatest throwing arm ever. I can't stress this enough: you did not run Johnny Bench.

2. Gary Carter – There might not be a catcher more historically underrated than Gary Carter. Though he got some of his due after helping to lead the 1986 New York Mets, most of his career was spent with the Montreal Expos ... which is possibly why people forget he made seven All-Star teams and won three Gold Gloves.

3. Mike Piazza – Mike Piazza was a 62nd-round draft pick, only taken as a favor to his father (who was friends with the manager who drafted him). The fact he became a Hall of Famer and the best-hitting catcher of all time is miraculous. If he didn't have the throwing arm of a 90-year-old grandma, he might have been #1.

4. Roy Campanella – Jackie Robinson wasn't the only black player for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940s and early 1950s ... Roy Campanella showed up right after him. And while Robinson won an MVP award, "Campy" outdid him by winning three. He was especially noted for a skill that doesn't show up in statistics: nobody called a game better than Roy Campanella.

5. Buster Posey – Sure, he is my personal favorite, but as the best catcher the game has seen in decades, Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants has to be on here. A great defensive player and an even better offensive one, he's one of only two catchers to win the MVP since the turn of the millennium.

6. Ted Simmons – Ted Simmons of the St. Louis Cardinals is remembered more for his signature flowing locks (how many catchers have even tried to get away with that look?) than anything else, but he's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. He hit .285 for his career with 248 home runs and nearly 2500 hits.

7. Gabby Hartnett – Gabby Hartnett has one of the best careers for longevity of not just any catcher in baseball history, but any position player, period. The longtime Chicago Cubs batteryman won an MVP at age 34 and nearly won another two years later. There wasn't anything Hartnett wasn't good at on a baseball field.

8. Joe Torre – Joe Torre is well-deserving as a Hall of Fame manager. Everybody knows that. What's less-remembered is this: he has a pretty good case to make the Hall as a player, too. Torre is the only person with 2000 games won as a manager and 2000 hits as a player, and made nine All-Star teams with the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Mets, winning an MVP award in 1971.

9. Jason Kendall – Catchers who can hit for average are rare. Catchers who can hit for average and steal bases like Jason Kendall are like sighting Bigfoot in the wild. His body ultimately betrayed him in his 30s, but for a time, Kendall was – if somewhat anonymously, since nobody notices guys who play for the Pittsburgh Pirates – one of the very best players in baseball.

10. Ernie Lombardi – Why don't we remember Chicago Cubs catcher Ernie Lombardi? He was a fascinatingly weird guy. He held his bat with interlocking hands like a golfer. There's a picture of him holding seven baseballs at once in one enormous hand. He once ate an entire bag of peanuts in the on-deck circle. How do we not remember Ernie Lombardi?!

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