Jorge Posada by the Numbers

Long-time Yankees catcher Jorge Posada will according to reports retire on Tuesday. The member of the "Core Four" along with Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera helped the Bronx Bombers to a dynasty at the turn of the millenium. Even more underrated is Posada's charitable work. The Jorge Posada Foundation has become one of the leading charities for craniosynostosis, a disease that harmed his son. The debate among Yankee fans for the next five years will be is Jorge Posada a Hall of Famer, if you ask any fan in the Bronx, they will overwhelmingly say yes. If you ask any Yankee hater, they answer will be overwhelmingly no. Where does the truth lie? Let's take a look at the numbers and find out.

13
The current number of catchers in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Adding Posada in here is where he would rank among catchers in the Hall of Fame in major statistical categories.

Batting Average: .273-10th
Home Runs: 275-5th
Runs: 900-6th
Runs Batted In: 1065-7th
Slugging %: .474-7th
On Base %: .374-5th
Hits: 1664-9th

176
The number of games Posada got to play at designated hitter in his career, just over a full season of games. Only Carlton Fisk played games at DH in his Hall of Fame career, with 158, Fisk played seven more seasons than Posada.

5
The number of World Series rings Posada won in his career. This number is probably the best ammunition for Posada to be enshrined. Five is also the number of All-Star appearances and Silver Slugger awards for Posada during his tenure.

0
The number of Gold Gloves in his career. Partly, because he ran into Ivan Rodriguez for most of his career, but Posada was not a great, or at times even a good defensive catcher. He led the league in errors by a backstop twice and was in the top 5 in the category seven times. He also had a defensive WAR (wins above replacement) of -2.9 over his career.

984
The number of stolen bases allowed in his career. He was among the worst 5 in stolen bases allowed in 11 of his 16 seasons as a full-time catcher.

44.7
Posada's total WAR for his career. For comparison, the last catcher to get into the Hall of Fame (Gary Carter) had a career war of 52.6, while the presumed next catcher in the Hall of Fame (Mike Piazza) had a career WAR of 59.1. Posada never finished higher than 10th in the ML in single season WAR in his career.

9.6
The percentage of votes that former Yankee teammate Bernie Williams received in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2012. Williams has similar if not better offensive numbers than Posada, but didn't come remotely close to the 75% of the vote needed to enter the Hall of Fame. This is the most telling number against Posada ever getting in.

Jorge Posada has earned every right to be revered by Yankee fans. He helped them win five World Series titles and was a career Yankee, which is quite the feat in today's game of free agency and trades. Posada, Rivera, Jeter, Chipper Jones, and possibly Todd Helton may be the only players baseball fans see that length of time in one uniform for a while. In the future, Posada will probably join Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson, and Elston Howard as Yankee catchers with their numbers hanging from the rafters of Yankee Stadium. Looking at the numbers though, that's all that Posada will be. A Yankees great, not an all-time one.