I've never understood this use of the word "humbling." Having your name associated with big names is the exact opposite of humbling.

Congratulations, Kid. Long strange road, eh?

He's tough as dirt.

Still the active leader in Hit By Pitches at 253.

Players with 1500 games at C

2351 Ivan Rodriguez (38)
2226 Carlton Fisk+ 
2225 Bob Boone 
2056 Gary Carter+ 
2000 Jason Kendall (36)
1950 Tony Pena 
1927 Jim Sundberg 
1919 Brad Ausmus (41)
1918 Al Lopez+ 
1917 Benito Santiago 
1818 Lance Parrish 
1806 Rick Ferrell+ 
1793 Gabby Hartnett+ 
1771 Ted Simmons 
1742 Johnny Bench+ 
1727 Ray Schalk+ 
1708 Bill Dickey+ 
1699 Yogi Berra+ 
1633 Rick Dempsey 
1630 Mike Piazza 
1629 Jim Hegan 
1612 Deacon McGuire 
1581 Bill Freehan 
1571 Sherm Lollar 
1562 Luke Sewell 
1544 Ernie Lombardi+ 
1532 Steve O'Neill 
1532 Jorge Posada (38)
1506 Darrell Porter 

Think how cool it would be if you were the only catcher to retire with exactly 2,000 games caught! Make it happen.

Humbling....like Rod Stewarts kid ####### your wife?

#1: It reminds you of everything you've worked for, how hard it was to get there, it makes you question whether your name really belongs with the names of the people you've admired your whole career.

When someone tells you, "You're one of the best at your job of all-time," any reasonable person's reaction is going to be, "Nah."

Geez, I caught my 5,000th game the other night down at the pub.


What? Oh.

Players with 1500 games at C

...

1919 Brad Ausmus (41)

Wow. I never would have thought Ausmus was so close.

Think how cool it would be if you were the only catcher to retire with exactly 2,000 games caught! Make it happen.

Kendall's holding out for 5,000.

Kendall strikes me as a better version of Pat Borders - a guy who will only retire once every organization in baseball (including minors and independent leagues) passes on him. I could definitely see him trying to catch on to some A-ball club at the age of 50.

Cool list.

My wife is related to one of those guys, and her maiden name was the same last name.

No, not "Hartnett," lol.

@ Ryan Jones - seconded. Jason Kendall is the sort of player that I like to think most people would be if they were good enough to make the majors. They will have to tear the uniform off of him.

Good for Kendall reaching this milestone. Were it not for his particularly gruesome ankle injury, Kendall would likely be headed to the Hall of Fame once he finally retires. The fact that Kendall has come back from that injury to reach this milestone makes it even more impressive. I wonder if it was that injury - and close brush with premature retirement - that has spurred on Kendall's determination to play for as long as he possibly can.

Is it wrong to question the importance of the ankle injury? He came back in 2000 and played a full year, hit well within his estbalished range, and set career highs in homeruns, triples and stolen base attempts. His neverending collapse happened the following year.

I thought it was the thumb injury that he played through in 2001 that was supposed to be the cause of his collapse.

I thought it was the thumb injury that he played through in 2001 that was supposed to be the cause of his collapse

It probably was. He came back from the leg injury in 2000, and performed at basically the same level as always. The thumb injury, in 2001, seems to match up much better with the massive dropoff in his power (from about an ISO of 0.150 to an ISO of about 0.80).

Is it wrong to question the importance of the ankle injury? He came back in 2000 and played a full year, hit well within his estbalished range, and set career highs in homeruns, triples and stolen base attempts. His neverending collapse happened the following year.

I noticed that too. I've always suspected that Kendall's role as the Cal Ripken Jr of modern catchers was the real culprit. As noted in the excerpt, Kendall's the fastest to 2,000 by two years, I don't know of many successful catchers who have caught 140+ games season after season like Kendall has.

Interesting how the top eight are players in modern times...when players are usually described as not tough enough, not dedicated to the game. Senor Lopez must have thought his record would last forever and it did for about 50 years. Now it's frequently passed.

I don't know of many successful catchers who have caught 140+ games season after season like Kendall has.

There aren't any catchers who have done that, period. Kendall has caught 140 games in a season nine times, and is on track to do it again this year. Gary Carter comes the closest of anybody else--he did it seven times. Bob Boone, Tony Pena and Jim Sundberg did it six times. Only ten catchers in history have had more than three seasons like that.

Kendall strikes me as a better version of Pat Borders - a guy who will only retire once every organization in baseball (including minors and independent leagues) passes on him. I could definitely see him trying to catch on to some A-ball club at the age of 50.

I didn't realize how many different franchises Borders played for (in the majors and/or minors).
Nine of them in the majors (TOR, SEA, CLE, MIN, KCR, STL, ANA/CAL, HOU, CHW), and three others where he signed but only played in the minors (TBR, MIL, LAD), and one where he signed but didn't play anything but spring training games (TEX).

That's more franchises than Bruce Chen (10 + 1 + 0).

I've always suspected that Kendall's role as the Cal Ripken Jr of modern catchers was the real culprit.

Thumb injury seems more likely to me. Kendall was a hell of a good hitter, but it all fell apart very quickly. I don't remember what he looked like in his last Pittsburgh years, but I remember watching him when he arrived at Oakland and just being amazed at his approach at the plate. It seemed clear that he had no interest in even trying to hit line drives, let alone homeruns. He changed from Craig Biggio to Luis Castillo. Doesn't seem like a durability / fatigue / accumulated minor injuries type of issue.

As Vlad has pointed out multiple times Kendall played through the hand injury at the team's request and it never healed properly.

It is very likely that he would have retained some of his line drive power and not have evolved into a complete offensive cipher.

Interesting how the top eight are players in modern times...when players are usually described as not tough enough, not dedicated to the game. Senor Lopez must have thought his record would last forever and it did for about 50 years. Now it's frequently passed.

Bigger leagues, longer seasons, better medical treatment, and much better equipment. While that doesn't explain everything, it does explain a decent amount - especially the better equipment. If you strapped on the early 20th century gear, most catchers would be lucky to be able to handle 80 games a year.

I would contend that Jason Kendall is the best conditioned baseball player in the major leagues.

That and he's crazy.

That and he's crazy.

His Yahoo Sports picture looks like that of a somewhat unbalanced individual.

Ryan:

You need to see him in person. He has no body fat. He has veins showing all over the place and extreme even for a highly conditioned athlete. His eyes smolder. He always carry himself in 'tense' mode.

He's the b*stard great-grandson of Johnny Evers.

His Yahoo Sports picture looks like that of a somewhat unbalanced individual.

He loooks like one of Colin Farrell's cro-magnon ancestors.

As others have noted, the thumb injury is responsible for his loss of power. Overnight, he went from a guy with good gap power to a guy who could hardly get the ball out of the infield. It was totally inexplicable, until the team revealed that offseason that he'd torn a thumb tendon in the first series of the year and then played hurt all season in secret, at their behest. And then that offseason, he had three different operations on the thumb - none of which really fixed the problem.

Prior to the injury, he was basically Joe Mauer. It's just an appalling, tragic waste.

Prior to the injury, he was basically Joe Mauer. It's just an appalling, tragic waste.

Criminal, almost. Jason Kendall has been, and will forever be my favorite player. No matter how much his career disintegrates, the guy always played hard, always wanted to win, would do ANYTHING to win. He has the reddest ass of any modern day player that I can think of, basically The Gamer of his generation.

It's hard to point out a single thing as being the worst thing that happened during the last 20 years of Pirate baseball, but the mishandling of Kendall's injury is pretty much one of the major candidates. For example, the Aramis Ramirez trade was freaking ridiculous, but it didn't ruin anyone's career (hell, it probably saved Ramirez's). But Kendall was a special player who was on a borderline HOF path and the organization did not step in and sit him down when it was obvious to everyone that he was hurting.

As others have noted, the thumb injury is responsible for his loss of power. Overnight, he went from a guy with good gap power to a guy who could hardly get the ball out of the infield.

Wasn't this about the same time Pit made Aramis Ramirez play through a foot injury?

Wasn't this about the same time Pit made Aramis Ramirez play through a foot injury?

Yep. He would've been back to full health with two weeks of rest, but instead he played hurt all year because his backups were Mike Benjamin and Keith Osik, and the front office didn't think they could afford to lose him.

You also had Pat Meares playing an entire season where he was unable to make his previously-broken hand close around the handle of the bat (for insurance reasons). And Armando Rios starting in the outfield when he couldn't even walk without a limp. And J.R. House playing with a torn cuff/labrum for so long (2+ years) that he wore a groove into the bone of his shoulder socket. And Clayton Hamilton pitching for an entire season with an undiagnosed broken rib, which ultimately had to be surgically removed, resulting in permanent disability. Etc.

Under Bonifay/Littlefield, the medical staff was like something out of medieval times, with bone saws and poultices of cow dung. Mercifully, though, those days are finally past - the current team is top-drawer.

...I had no idea the Pirates were actually this inept. Or that it was a totally preventable thumb injury, and not the ankle, which cost Kendall his shot at the Hall. I can't imagine a catcher (a tough sort of breed to begin with) pulling himself voluntarily. This really was a case where the team needed to save Kendall from himself. The negligence displayed by the Pirates' FO is criminal. Well, not literally. Maybe? I got a B in Torts, and I can't think of anything that would survive.

Ahhhhh, he's not even the best player born on his birthday.

Or that it was a totally preventable thumb injury

We don't really know this.

I'm definitely getting old. When I saw

Pudge Rodriguez (2,351), Cartlon Fisk (2,226)

my immediate reaction was, "Don't they mean Ivan Rodriguez and Pudge Fisk?"

As for Kendall, it's been so long that he's been dreadful that it's sometimes difficult to remember just how good the young Kendall was. He was a great young catcher.