[G1911]

In his 9 seasons he played 100 games or more, he was significantly below league average for 3 of them.

He won 3 MVP’s. If one is a fan of WAR, he was not even really close to the most valuable player on his team in any of them. He performs better by the traditional stats but I have a hard time seeing him deserving these 3 MVP’s when looking at the other candidates performance, even though I like Campanella.

Bench has a similar issue with weak seasons mixed among brilliant ones. A lot of catchers do. I rate Berra as the #1 catcher but he doesn’t really deserved his 3 MVP’s either, the voters really liked Yogi and Campy.

He’s a lower tier hall of famer, excellent peak but his excellence was very brief. That everyone is now accounting negro league stats the same as the leagues everyone considered the majors until a couple years ago boosts his career figures somewhat, but I don’t think really changes his general tier but can bump him up a slot or two if all the catchers are ranked in order

Campy’s 52 Bowman is one of my favorite cards. Fellow had some great card poses. His 59 Topps is a special card for non aesthetic reasons. I grew up in Giants country, but having read most of the 50’s dodger hagiography and his teammates comments on him, it kind of hurts to rate him overrated.