Time to add all-time catching great Roy Campanella to my "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game's rich history:
Once
Campanella began his Major League career after a brilliant run in the
Negro Leagues that started when he was a teenager, he would certainly
NOT
disappoint the Brooklyn Dodger faithful: three times he was M.V.P.
(1951, 1953,
1955) and an important part
of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie
Robinson, and Gil Hodges.
Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because
of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a
high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year
career.
During his second M.V.P. season, Campy led the Brooklyn offense by
driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103
runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.
Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with
the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was
driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home,
flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process,
rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.
The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.
In
my opinion, considering his delayed MLB action, "Campy" would be my
pick as the greatest catcher in MLB history, even in front of Johnny
Bench, though Josh Gibson would top them all.