Behold: the price of catching competency. This is the gnarled hand of Wally Schang, one of the greatest catchers of all time. (See below) One thing that is especially troubling about this vintage photograph is that the seller gives the approximate date of its origin as 1914. If this is so, Schang was only 24 at the time. What unholy mutation did his hand look like 17 years later when he was still catching in the big leagues? (His playing didn't even stop there - he was still taking a few turns as late as World War II when he was well into his fifties.)

What follows are the all-time rankings of catchers by career WAR according to Baseball-Reference along with their overall rankings. These were predominantly catchers, although a few, such as Joe Torre and Gene Tenace, spent fairly significant time at other positions. Bold indicates Hall of Famer.

WAR Catcher (All-time rank)

72.3 Johnny Bench (45^th)

66.4 Gary Carter (66^th)

63.7 Carlton Fisk (77^th tie)

63.7 Ivan Rodriguez (77^th tie)

56.1 Yogi Berra (117^th tie)

56.1 Mike Piazza (117^th tie)

54.2 Joe Torre (129^th tie)

52.4 Bill Dickey (138^th tie)

50.7 Gabby Hartnett (150^th tie)

48.9 Mickey Cochrane (166^th)

46.7 Ted Simmons (184^th)

45.7 Buck Ewing (196^th)

44.3 Gene Tenace (204^th)

43.6 Ernie Lombardi (213^th)

43.3 Thurman Munson (217^th)

41.4 Wally Schang (244^th)

41.3 Bill Freehan (245^th tie)

39.1 Roger Bresnahan (282^nd tie)

39.0 Jorge Posada (284^th tie)

38.3 Jason Kendall (296^th tie)

37.8 Darrell Porter (303^rd tie)

37.3 Jim Sundberg (311^th tie)

37.0 Joe Mauer (317^th)

31.6 Roy Campanella (405^th)

31.2 Smoky Burgess (415^th tie)

27.5 Tom Haller (499^th)

27.2 Walker Cooper (508^th tie)

27.2 Javy Lopez (508^th tie)

26.6 Mickey Tettleton (517^th tie)

26.3 Rick Ferrell (523^rd tie)

26.2 Tim McCarver (525^th tie)

25.4 Del Crandall (550^th tie)

25.4 Terry Steinbach (550^th tie)

25.3 Manny Sanguillen (555^th tie)

25.1 Ed Bailey (561^st tie)

25.0 Ray Schalk (566^th tie)

24.5 Elston Howard (583^rd tie)

24.5 Benito Santiago (583^rd tie)

24.4 Bob Boone (589^th tie)

24.0 Mike Scioscia (601^st)

23.9 Butch Wynegar (602^nd tie)

23.1 Rick Dempsey (627^th tie)

23.1 Chief Meyers (627^th tie)