Career Statistics
In a 13 year career, Battey played in 1,141 games, accumulating 969 hits in 3,586 at bats for a .270 career batting average along with 104 homeruns and 449 RBI. He led the American League four times in assists and putouts, three times in baserunners caught stealing and twice in caught stealing percentage, with a career fielding percentage of .990. A four-time All-Star, Battey won three Gold Glove Awards. Over his career, he threw out 43.44% of the base runners who tried to steal a base on him, 15th on the all-time list. In 1961, the reigning American League stolen base champion, Luis Aparicio, rated Battey as the toughest catcher on which to attempt a stolen base.
Richard Kendall of the Society for American Baseball Research devised an unscientific study that ranked Battey as the seventh most dominating fielding catcher in major league history. Battey played more games at catcher than any other player in Twins history (831). He was named to the Twins' 40th anniversary team in 2000. Battey was one of the first Major League players to wear an earflap on his batting helmet in 1961 after twice suffering broken cheekbones when hit by pitches.
Read more about this topic: Earl Battey
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