The 10 Best Catchers In New York Yankees History
10. Jake Gibbs
Jake Gibbs was considered the best quarterback in the history of the University of Mississippi but he chose to throw runners out over heaving touchdown passes and signed with the Yankees as an amateur free-agent in 1961.
When Yogi Berra retired in 1964, Gibbs was in the running to become the starting catcher. Unfortunately, injuries got the better of him as he only played a combined 102 games between 1964 and 1967 but when the Yankees traded away Elston Howard during the 1967 season, Gibbs earned the starting catcher’s role.
He eventually lost his starting role to Thurman Munson. Scouts say it would have been better off if Gibbs had gone to the NFL, but instead, he’s rounding out our Top-10.
Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees and is the Editorial Director for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.
