The Greatest Catcher was declared to be Mickey Cochrane. I needed to learn more about him since his name doesn't come up as one of the biggest stars in baseball history.
Wikipedia said he was called Black Mike because of his "fiery, competitive nature". He had a .320 career average, which was the highest for a catcher until 2009 - again according to Wikipedia. Joe Mauer was the new leader at that time. Mauer's average subsequently dropped to .306 so Cochrane is back on top.
It certainly helped that Cochrane played in an era when batting averages were higher than in today's game. Of the top 10 AL season averages, five occurred during his career and the other five were from 1920 - 1924.
His is credited with inspiring his team and working well with the pitching staff.
His career ended after he was hit in the head by a pitch by Bump Hadley in 1937. He was still just 34 years old.
He was a two-time AL MVP although the MVP voting rules were different back then.
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