Darrell Porter                      Elected 1993

Catcher
St. Louis Maroons (LA, BOS, ATL)
1971-1992

When the Commish asked me to do the HOF bio for Porter, I was perplexed as to how best to frame the argument. I mean, it’s self-evident the guy is an elite lefty-mashing dude at a premium position. A position so thin that there are only two backstoppers currently putting up stalls in Beachville. Career achievements? Seasonal peak value? Awards? Postseason wins/value to his teams? Ultimately, I settled on this question—who are his peers? What neighborhood is he shopping for UL historical real estate in? Like, is he in Bill Freehan’s zip code? Freehan’s a really very good lefty-hitting catcher whose teams racked up playoff and World Series success, but never did accumulate enough votes to crack the ‘Ville. Or is he closer to the great Roy Campanella, arguably the greatest catcher in UL history? (Arguably, because Joe Torre’s plaque says “first baseman/catcher” even though he played only 865 of his nearly 3000 UL games behind the dish.)

So I set out to establish the dude’s peer group. First thing I notice is that Porter’s so effin’ good, he was the Catcher of the Decade from 1971-1980! Oh, and also the Catcher of the Decade from 1981-1990. Come on man. That’s nuts! You know how many dudes have made multiple All-Decade Teams? Five. So there are only five repeaters in all of the league’s well-documented history. They’re Dierker and Reuschel, Torre and Winfield. And Porter. That’s it. That is the dude’s peer group. We’re talking 90210 level zip code here.

But just to be sure, I also looked at the career WAR list, where DP ranks eighth. Come to find, six of the seven guys above him are already ensconced in Beachville. The other one is some rando named Alan Trammell. The guys behind him on the list are every other player to ever suit up!!! But let’s just look at the top 20. Here we find six duly elected HoFers plus Yount, Bando, Winfield (!), Horner, Boggs and Ryno—certain future residents of the ‘Ville. 

Back to the real estate/90210 analogy, this dude’s not Nate at the friggin’ Peach Pit or Andrea Zuckerman jockeying that dopey high school paper. I’m talking leading man vibes. Maybe not quite Brandon or Brenda, but definitely Dylan or Kelly level. Darrell Pizzle is that good. 

Without further ado, here’s the rest of his notable career totals:  10th in WRC, and he’s in the top-20 all-time in win probability added, hits, homers, runs, ribs and walks. The guy hit more than 400 dongs, scored nearly 1400 runs and ribbed 1450 times! Each of those totals is more than Ernie freakin’ Banks! And yes, more than Roy Campanella. Speaking of peers, there are precisely three players in UL history that appear above Porter in home runs, RBIs, and runs—their names are Torre, Mantle and Sal Bando. Which tells you how incredibly good Porter is and how underrated Bandolonius has been. 

D-Port was three times All-UL, 15 times an All Star, and at age 38 he was 1991 World Series MVP in virtually the last year of his career.

As for how good his teams, well, he made the playoffs with Boston three consecutive years, from 1978-80, when he won the World Series. He was traded to St. Louis in 1983, and promptly made the playoffs from 1983-90, twice winning the World Series there. Then he was allowed to leave in free agency to Los Angeles, where he won the World Series in 1991 in his last full season. So in 14 UL seasons from 1978 to 1991, Porter’s teams qualified for the postseason 12 times and won four World Series. It’s worth mentioning that he played on the losing side in four other Series, twice with Boston and twice with Maroons. (Cue sad violins for one G. Richard Reed!!!) As of 1993, Porter holds the record for most World Series games (46) and at-bats (174).

Want to know why St. Louis has fallen into a playoff slump, winning just a single postseason game in the last three seasons? One plausible argument is that it’s explained by Porter-shaped hole behind the plate.

Speaking of the dish, Porter started nearly 2500 games in the tools of ignorance. The next catcher on the games played list is Milt “Fuckin’ A!” May at 2100, but roughly 800 of those were late-inning defensive replacement gigs. This guy is a true iron man whose work behind the dish is quite literally unparalleled in league history. 

One odd thing worth pointing out is an interesting connection with Torre. Just like Joe T., DP was originally drafted by LA’s own Peter Vays and traded early in his career. The 18-year old Porter was drafted number seven overall by Vays in 1971. Let’s recap the draft, shall we? Vida Blue (33 career WAR), John Matlack (50), Dave Kingman (17), J.R. Richard (34), George Foster (23), and Darrell Evans (47). Those were the six guys drafted before Darrell Porter and his 97 career WAR. Not bad picks per se, but no one that remotely holds a candle to Darrell. 

D-Rod was traded in 1973 plus a first-round pick(!) to Timothy J. Smithicus’ St. Louis Maroons for then-28-year-old lefty starter Dave Roberts. However, Roberts played only two seasons in L.A. before concluding an indifferent career in Washington at age 35. In another bunk trade, Porter was dealt to Boston in 1978 for at-the-time hot SP 'spect Don Aase, slugging first baseman Jason Thompson and Uncle Milty (May). But we’re not done yet. Porter was shuffled off to the Gateway to the West for a second tour, this time in exchange for eight-contact catcher 'spect Don “Sluggo” Slaught and a pick. But as you’ve no doubt guessed by now, Slaught also failed to develop. The moral of the story? Don’t trade an all-timer for 'spects!!!! 

To summarize, I’m prepared to argue that this dude is the best catcher in UL history. He’s not Torre, but Torre spent the vast majority of his career *not* playing catcher. He’s not Campy, but unfortunately for Roy, the league's inception was his age 28 season, explaining why Porter far outdistances him for career total stats. Having said that, Roy does have a better slash line, putting up an .847 career OPS versus DP’s .822. Nevertheless, if you ask me to pick, I’m going with the lefty-hitting two-time all-decade receiver who all but guarantees you a playoff spot. Enjoy the Beach’, Darrell! (Glen Reed)