Silly Season for Phillies Catchers: The Six Catchers of 1970

On May 2 that year the Phillies lost their two catchers in one fateful inning, which set off a chain reaction of musical catchers that lasted all season.

Since Bob Boone arrived on the scene in 1973, the Phillies have had a pretty good run of competent professional major league catchers: Boone, Daulton, Lieberthal, Ruiz, Realmuto. It was not always that way. In 1970, the Phillies employed six different catchers. None played in more than 47 games. Two were actual major leaguers of some repute. Two were life-long minor leaguers who never again appeared on a major league roster, one was a rookie utility infielder/outfielder, and one was the team's bench coach.

Coming into the 1970 season the Phillies had little reason to think that catching would be a major problem. Veteran backstop Tim McCarver had come over from the St. Louis Cardinals in the ill-fated Dick Allen trade and figured to play most of the games behind the plate. McCarver's offensive production had fallen off slightly in his last two years with the Cardinals, but he could be counted on as a solid .270 hitter with adequate defensive skills.

Mike Ryan, who was the Phillies starting catcher during the 1969 campaign, would back up McCarver. Ryan was a superior defensive catcher who didn't hit much although he displayed occasional power. Ryan had slugged 12 home runs in 1969 to go along with an anemic .204 average. Both catchers were only 28 years old. The catching situation seemed set.

All that changed on May 2 in the sixth inning of a game against the San Francisco Giants on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Candlestick Park. The starting catcher that day was McCarver. In the bottom of the sixth inning with the Giants leading 3-0, Willie Mays foul tipped a Lowell Palmer pitch and broke a finger on McCarver's right hand. In came Ryan to replace him. Mays singled to right. Willie McCovey doubled scoring Mays. Ken Henderson then singled to right. Right-fielder Byron Brown's throw was in time to catch McCovey at the plate, but the sliding McCovey's foot caught Ryan's gloved hand and broke one of his fingers. One inning, two catchers, two broken fingers.

The unusual back-to-back injuries caused some confusion as McCarver told Sport Illustrated's William Legget.

"When I got to the hospital," McCarver recalled, "the nurse said, 'We've been waiting for you Mr. Ryan.' I said, 'No, I'm McCarver. Ryan is catching at Candlestick.' 'No,' she said, 'Ryan is supposed to be on his way here with a broken hand.' I just stood there and looked at her."

Ryan was able to finish the inning wincing all the way, but he could not grip a bat. Rookie utility man and emergency catcher Jim Hutto was sent up to pinch hit for Ryan. He singled, was stranded on base, and then donned the tools of ignorance to catch the seventh inning. Hutto had never caught so much as one inning in the major leagues. He had caught in a total of 11 games in the minor leagues. Hutto acquitted himself reasonably well, but he could not keep the Phillies from losing the game, 7-1.

With both McCarver and Ryan headed to the disabled list for at least five weeks, the Phillies recalled catcher Mike Compton from their Triple-A affiliate in Eugene, Oregon. Fortunately, Compton did not have far to travel, and he was in the starting line up on Sunday, May 3, catching both games of a double header against the Giants. The Phillies won both games.

Compton proved to be a competent defensive receiver, throwing out 32% of base runners and generally handling catching duties efficiently. What he did not do was contribute much to the offense. After a decent start, which saw him hitting .268 by the end of May, his average fell to .164 by August. He hit his only major league home run on May 5 in San Diego. He injured his back in batting practice and was on the shelf himself in early June. When Ryan returned from his broken finger in July, Compton was sent back to the minors. His stay there was short-lived, however, as he was recalled in August when a foul tip split Ryan's finger and he went back on the disabled list. Compton played his last game of the season on August 30. He went 1 for 4 as the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2. McCarver returned to active duty in September and Compton went to the bench never to see major league action again.

Back in May though, even with Compton in place, the Phillies still needed a backup catcher. They again went to the Eugene roster to pluck Del Bates, a 30-year-old minor league journeyman who the Phillies acquired in a deal with the Pirates over the winter. Bates was recalled on May 3rd and joined the Phillies in San Diego. Bates played in 22 games for the Phillies, made a name for himself by dropping as many pitches as he caught and hit .133. He injured his hand on June 5. By June 6th he had been outrighted back to Eugene.

With Bates gone and Compton still recovering from his sore back, the Phillies turned to the coaching staff for their next entry in the catching sweepstakes. Doc Edwards, the 33-year-old Phillies bench coach on manager Frank Lucchesi's staff, had spent four years in the major leagues as a back-up catcher with Cleveland, Kansas City, and the New York Yankees. He had not caught a game in the majors in five years, but he had been a part-time catcher while coaching in the minor leagues from 1966-69. Doc was activated and asked to go back behind the plate. There he performed better than Compton offensively and better in all ways than Bates. Altogether, Doc appeared in 35 games, including 25 starts and hit a respectable .269. After the season, Doc hung up the spikes again and returned to his position as bench coach.

Emergency catcher Jim Hutto made five appearances behind the dish for the Phillies. He spent almost the entirety of the rest of his career in the minor leagues, save for appearing in 5 games, three as a catcher, for the Baltimore Orioles in 1975. He later became a minor league coach. Mike Compton became a manager in the Phillies minor league system. Del Bates quit baseball and became a longshoreman in the Port of Seattle in his native Washington. Doc Edwards eventually became the manager of the Cleveland Indians for two years in the 80s and also coached for the New York Mets.

Mike Ryan beat the injury bug and continued for four more years as the Phillies backup catcher. After he retired, he served as a coach for the Phillies for many years. Tim McCarver played 10 more years in the major leagues, including stints with Montreal and Boston, before returning to the Phillies as Steve Carlton's personal catcher from 1975-1980. After his retirement, of course, he became a noted national baseball broadcaster.