Coming in at #98 on the list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time is Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter. Carter was an 11-time All-Star who starred for the Montreal Expos and New York Mets over a 19-year career. Nicknamed “The Kid,” Carter helped lead the ’86 Mets to 108 wins—tied for the 3^rd highest total since 1969—and a World Series Championship. Carter is 2^nd All-Time in WAR among catchers behind only the great Johnny Bench. No catcher in MLB history has finished in the top-10 in WAR more than Carter (8). Among catchers, Carter is in the top ten all-time in runs, hits, home runs, and RBIs. He finished in the top-6 of the MVP voting four times including a 2^nd place finish for Montreal in 1980 and a 3^rd place finish for the Mets in 1986.

While Carter is unquestionably one of the greatest offensive catchers in MLB history, he was an even better defensive catcher. He led the NL in games played among catchers six times, putouts among catchers eight times, assists among catchers five times, double plays turned as a catcher five times, and thrown out baserunners three times. It is that last fact that summons the old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Yep, that’s Gary Carter with 23 dapper fellas born in the 1800s. Carter threw out 810 stolen base attempts during his career which is by far the highest total for a catcher since the dead-ball era.  Few catchers in the history of the game have matched Carter’s offensive/defensive mix, durability, and longevity.

Coming in at #97, is Ichiro Suzuki, or simply Ichiro. The sweet-swinging savant from Japan got a late start to his Major League career after spending nine seasons tearing up the Japan Pacific League. His career in the U.S. started in earnest in 2001 at the age of 27 when he signed with the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro hit the ground running, literally, as he tallied 242 hits and 56 stolen bases in his rookie season on his way to winning the AL MVP. In only his first season Ichiro became the first player to reach 240 hits and 55 stolen bases in a single season since Ty Cobb in 1911. Three years later in 2004, Ichiro tallied 262 hits breaking George Sisler’s single season hits record that had stood for 84 years. That was just the beginning of Ichiro’s assault on the record books. He holds the record for most consecutive seasons leading the league in hits. He also holds the record for most 200 hit seasons, most consecutive 200 hit seasons, and most 200 hit seasons to start a career. Ichiro was also a standout right fielder as he holds the 3^rd highest fielding percentage of any right fielder in Major league baseball history. Had he started his career in the states, it’s not hard to imagine Ichiro as the Hit King in place of Pete Rose. In addition to his 3089 hits in MLB, he also had 1,278 hits in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 professional hits, puts him 111 ahead of Pete Rose’s historic mark. 

Hitting the list at #99 is Edgar Martinez. In order for a player who spent most of his career NOT playing defense to rate among the top 100 baseball players of all-time, the hitting tool must be something special and Martinez’s was just that. Since 1960, few hitters have been as productive. Over that time frame, he has the 5^th highest on-base percentage, 10^th highest OPS+, and 11th highest batting average. Martinez was truly a jack of all trades with the bat. You name the statistic, he led the league in it including runs, RBIs, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS, OPS+, times on base, Offensive WAR, and runs created. He led the league in on-base percentage three times along with a remarkable 10 top-five finishes. He also picked up two batting crowns and finished among the top 10 in batting average seven times.  Martinez is the only player in MLB history to have back-to-back seasons of 100 RBIs, 100 Runs, 100 BBs, and 50 doubles.  He also accomplished the elusive positive career BB-to-K ratio, becoming only the 19^th player in MLB history to have 1,200 RBIs, 1,200 Runs, and 1,200 Walks with a positive BB-to-K strikeout ratio.