Top 106 Baseball Players: #96 - Bill Dickey

Bill Dickey

Bill Dickey was the catcher for the early Yankees dynasty, playing alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio during his 17-year career, and he was a member of 7 World Series champions, and had an important role in many of those wins.

Dickey took over the starting catcher job in New York in 1929, when he was just 22 years old. He steadily improved over his first several years in the league, until he became a bona fide star in the late 1930's, when he finished the decade with 4 straight seasons with at least 140 hits, 20 doubles, 20 home runs, 100 RBI, and an average of .300, and he finished in the top 6 of the MVP voting in each of those seasons.

He was known as a great batter throughout his career, finishing with a .313 average, and his peak came in 1936, when he hit .362, which was #3 in the league and the best recorded for a catcher up to that point, and has only been surpassed once in the 82 years since.

His durability was also one of his key attributes. He caught over 100 games in 13 straight seasons, which is still a record. The streak survived a month-long suspension in 1932 due to breaking an opponent's jaw with a punch, but a shoulder injury in 1942 finally broke the streak.

Dickey was also important in the World Series. He twice hit over .400 for the Series, twice had 5 RBI, and in 1943 hit the home run that won the World Series for the Yankees over the Cardinals at age 36.

He was another great baseball player who took time away from his career to serve his country, joining the Navy in 1944 and missing two Major League seasons as a result. He returned briefly in 1946, serving as manager and part-time catcher, before retiring after the season.

In all, Dickey reached the World Series 8 times with the Yankees, winning it all 7 times, and was one of the greatest batters ever to play his position, and he was the mentor of the next great Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra, whom he coached for the first decade of his great career. He may not have been the biggest star, but he was an important part of what made the Yankees great for so long.