Battery (baseball)

In baseball, the battery is the pitcher and the catcher, who may also be called batterymen, or batterymates in relation to one another.

History

Origins of the term The use of the term battery in baseball was coined by Henry Chadwick in the 1860s in reference to the firepower of a team's pitching staff and inspired by the artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War. Later, the term evolved to indicate the combined effectiveness of pitcher and catcher.

Pitching to a preferred batterymate Throughout the history of baseball, although teams have typically carried multiple catchers, star pitchers have often preferred the familiarity of working consistently with a single batterymate.

In the early 20th century, some prominent pitchers were known to have picked their favorite catchers. Sportswriter Fred Lieb recalls the batteries of Christy Mathewson / Frank Bowerman beginning in 1899 with the New York Giants, Jack Coombs / Jack Lapp beginning in 1908 with the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young / Lou Criger gaining the greatest attention in 1901 with the Boston Americans (later the Red Sox), and Grover Cleveland Alexander / Bill Killefer beginning in 1911 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Other successful batteries were Ed Walsh / Billy Sullivan beginning in 1904, along with Walter Johnson / Muddy Ruel and Dazzy Vance / Hank DeBerry both starting in 1923.*

In 1976, several major league pitchers chose their preferred catchers; a notion that had fallen out of practice for some decades. For instance, catcher Bob Boone of the Philadelphia Phillies, though one of the best catchers of his day, was replaced with Tim McCarver at the request of pitcher Steve Carlton. The Carlton/McCarver combination worked well in 32 out of Carlton's 35 games that season, plus one playoff game. The two had previously been batterymates for four years (1966–69) with the St. Louis Cardinals. Another battery-by-choice was superstitious rookie pitcher Mark Fidrych who was new to the Detroit Tigers in 1976, insisting on rookie catcher Bruce Kimm behind the plate. The Fidrych/Kimm combination started all 29 of Fidrych's 1976 season games. The two continued as a battery through 1977.

Knuckleballers have often preferred pitching to "personal" batterymates due to the difficulty of catching the unusual pitch. One notable example was Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield and his preferred catcher, Doug Mirabelli.

Most starts

The below table shows battery-mates that have appeared in more than 200 starts together since 1914.

Especially notable are the five Hall of Fame batteries below, including Lefty Grove (ranked by Bill James as the second-greatest pitcher of all time) and Mickey Cochrane (ranked by James as the eighth-greatest catcher) of the 1925–1933 Philadelphia Athletics, and Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford, who appeared in multiple World Series together for the New York Yankees between 1950 and 1963.

Games started Pitcher Catcher Years Team 328 Adam Wainwright Yadier Molina 2007–2022 St. Louis Cardinals 324 Mickey Lolich Bill Freehan 1963–1975 Detroit Tigers 316 Warren Spahn Del Crandall 1949–1963 Boston / Milwaukee Braves 306 Red Faber Ray Schalk 1914–1926 Chicago White Sox 283 Don Drysdale John Roseboro 1957–1967 Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers 282 Red RuffingBill Dickey 1930–1946 New York Yankees 270 Steve RogersGary Carter 1975–1984 Montreal Expos 264 Bob Lemon Jim Hegan 1946–1957 Cleveland Indians 250Early Wynn Jim Hegan 1949–1957 Cleveland Indians 248Tom Glavine Javy Lopez 1994–2002 Atlanta Braves 247Lefty Gomez Bill Dickey 1931–1942 New York Yankees 240Bob Feller Jim Hegan 1941–1956 Cleveland Indians 239 Fernando Valenzuela Mike Scioscia 1981–1990 Los Angeles Dodgers 237Stan Coveleski Steve O'Neill 1916–1923 Cleveland Indians 237Tom Seaver Jerry Grote 1967–1977 New York Mets 230 Lew Burdette Del Crandall 1953–1963 Milwaukee Braves 228Steve Carlton Tim McCarver 1965–1969, 1972–1979 St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies 224Lefty Grove Mickey Cochrane 1925–1933 Philadelphia Athletics 221 Paul Derringer Ernie Lombardi 1933–1941 Cincinnati Reds 212Whitey Ford Yogi Berra 1950–1963 New York Yankees 208Sandy Koufax John Roseboro 1957–1966 Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers 208 Mike Flanagan Rick Dempsey 1976–1986 Baltimore Orioles 207Jack Morris Lance Parrish 1978–1986 Detroit Tigers 207 Cole Hamels Carlos Ruiz 2006–2015 Philadelphia Phillies 203 Rube Walberg Mickey Cochrane 1925–1933 Philadelphia Athletics 203 Billy Pierce Sherm Lollar 1952–1961 Chicago White Sox 202 Dave Stieb Ernie Whitt 1980–1989 Toronto Blue Jays

Most no-hitters

The table below lists the battery combinations that share the record for most major league no-hitters (2).

No-HitGames Pitcher Catcher Date Team Ref 2* Larry Corcoran Silver Flint August 19, 1880 Chicago White Stockings September 20, 1882 2* Larry Corcoran King Kelly August 19, 1880 Chicago White Stockings June 27, 1884 2Pud Galvin Jack Rowe August 20, 1880 Buffalo Bisons August 4, 1884 2 Adonis Terry Jimmy Peoples July 24, 1886 Brooklyn Grays May 27, 1888 Brooklyn Bridegrooms 2 Cy Young Lou Criger May 5, 1904 Boston Americans June 30, 1908 Boston Red Sox 2 Addie Joss Nig Clarke October 2, 1908 Cleveland Naps April 20, 1910 2 Johnny Vander Meer Ernie Lombardi June 11, 1938 Cincinnati Reds June 15, 1938 2 Allie Reynolds Yogi Berra July 12, 1951 New York Yankees September 28, 1951 2 Carl Erskine Roy Campanella June 19, 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers May 12, 1956 2 Sandy Koufax John Roseboro June 30, 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers May 11, 1963 2 Steve Busby Fran Healy April 27, 1973 Kansas City Royals June 19, 1974 2 Roy Halladay Carlos Ruiz May 29, 2010 Philadelphia Phillies October 6, 2010 2 Homer Bailey Ryan Hanigan September 28, 2012 Cincinnati Reds July 2, 2013 2 Max Scherzer Wilson Ramos June 20, 2015 Washington Nationals October 3, 2015 (*) Catchers Silver Flint and King Kelly shared catching duties for Corcoran's August 19, 1880 no-hitter.

Sibling batteries The following chart of major league sibling batteries lists pitcher/catcher siblings who played on the same major league team during a single major league season. The pair may or may not have performed as a battery in an actual major league game.

Unique among those listed below are Mort and Walker Cooper, who formed the National League's starting battery at both the 1942 and 1943 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, and also appeared as a battery in the 1942, 1943, and 1944 World Series, the only sibling battery to achieve either feat.

Team(s) Pitcher Catcher1877 Boston Red Caps1878 Cincinnati Reds1879 Cincinnati Reds Will White Deacon White 1884 Richmond Virginians Ed Dugan Bill Dugan 1885 Buffalo Bisons Pete Wood Fred Wood 1886 Baltimore Orioles Dick Conway Bill Conway 1890 New York Giants (PL)1891 New York Giants John Ewing Buck Ewing 1902 St. Louis Cardinals1903 St. Louis Cardinals Mike O'Neill Jack O'Neill 1912 New York Highlanders Tommy Thompson Homer Thompson 1914 Boston Braves Lefty Tyler Fred Tyler 1924 St. Louis Stars George Mitchell Robert Mitchell 1927 Kansas City Monarchs Maurice Young Tom Young 1929 Boston Red Sox Milt Gaston Alex Gaston 1932 Cuban Stars (East)1933 Cuban Stars (East)1934 Cuban Stars (East)1939 New York Cubans1944 New York Cubans Rudy Fernández José Fernández 1934 Boston Red Sox1935 Boston Red Sox1936 Boston Red Sox1937 Boston Red Sox1937 Washington Senators1938 Washington Senators Wes Ferrell Rick Ferrell 1940 St. Louis Cardinals1941 St. Louis Cardinals1942 St. Louis Cardinals1943 St. Louis Cardinals1944 St. Louis Cardinals1945 St. Louis Cardinals1947 New York Giants Mort Cooper Walker Cooper 1941 Cincinnati Reds1944 Cincinnati Reds1945 Cincinnati Reds1948 Pittsburgh Pirates Elmer Riddle Johnny Riddle 1954 Philadelphia Athletics1955 Kansas City Athletics1960 New York Yankees Bobby Shantz Billy Shantz 1959 Cincinnati Reds Jim Bailey Ed Bailey 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers1960 Los Angeles Dodgers1961 Los Angeles Dodgers1962 Los Angeles Dodgers Larry Sherry Norm Sherry 2021 Chicago Cubs Andrew Romine Austin Romine

Other records and firsts

Most games The battery that appeared in the most games together was Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, with 598 games together for the New York Yankees between 1995 and 2011.

Most wins The record for most team wins by a starting battery is 213 by Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina.

Most innings Red Faber and Ray Schalk, who played together for the Chicago White Sox between 1914 and 1928, recorded the most total innings as a battery (2553.2).

Single-game records Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants became the major league's first battery to hit grand slams in the same game when they accomplished the feat on July 13, 2014 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The home run was pitcher Bumgarner's second grand slam of the season (April 11).

First Black battery Pitcher George Stovey and catcher Moses Fleetwood Walker formed the first Black battery in professional baseball history when they teamed up for the 1887 Newark Little Giants of the International Association. The tandem recorded ten consecutive wins to begin the season before the Chicago White Stockings refused to take the field on July 15, leading to the league's implementation of the color line.

Father-son batteries Frank Duncan, Jr. and his son, Frank Duncan III, of the 1941 Kansas City Monarchs are thought to be the only father-son battery in major league history.

In a game on September 7, 2012, former major leaguer Roger Clemens came out of retirement to pitch for the minor league Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and formed a battery with his son Koby Clemens.

First battery composed of 1st overall selections Paul Skenes and Henry Davis of the Pittsburgh Pirates formed the first major league battery where both the pitcher and catcher were selected first overall in their respective draft years, 2023 and 2021.

See also

Glossary of baseball terms

References

Further reading Batteries with 3,000 or more outs (1893–2017).