Jorge Posada: Why the New York Yankees Great Deserves to Be in the Hall of Fame

Earlier today, New York Yankees now-former catcher Jorge Posada announced that he would be retiring from baseball after 17 seasons in pinstripes. Posada announced that he would not rejoin the Yankees at the end of the season, and when nobody seemed interested in picking him up, he decided it was time to retire.

When a man like Posada, who had success in baseball, retires, the question arises: Is he a Hall of Fame catcher? In my mind, I believe that Posada is a Hall of Fame catcher without a doubt.

One of the main reasons Posada deserves to be in the Hall of Fame is due to his World Series rings. Posada won five World Series with the New York Yankees, the most recent being in 2009 against the Philadelphia Phillies, and participated in seven.

With that much success in the World Series, it's hard to argue against Posada being a Hall of Fame catcher. Granted, he had good teams around him, but rings are rings and a catcher is a big part of a team. Posada was behind the mask for all five.

What's even more impressive than that are his statistics compared to the other 13 catchers in the Hall of Fame already. Posada has better career numbers over many of the other catches that are already in the Hall of Fame.

Posada's .273 career average is better than four (Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk and Ray Schalk) of the Hall of Fame catchers. His 275 home runs are better than nine (Roger Bresnahan, Roy Campanella, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Buck Ewing, Rick Ferrell, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Lombardi and Schalk).

His 1,065 runs batted in are better than seven (Bresnahan, Campanella, Cochrane, Ewing, Ferrell, Lombardi and Schalk), and his .374 on-base percentage better than nine (Bench, Yankee great Yogi Berra, Campanella, Carter, Ewing, Fisk, Hartnett, Lombardi and Schalk). When someone has numbers better than half of those already in the Hall of Fame at their position in multiple categories, that person deserves to be in the Hall of Fame as well.

It might take some time for him to get there, but I think that eventually Posada will be in the Hall of Fame. He certainly will not get in on his first try, but he should certainly be there where he belongs, along with all the other great catchers.