Fully support Sam Thompson, was wanting to post all week, glad Keith beat me to it.
In my opinion, and I am biased, the other guy that should be on far more lists is
Deacon White. As others alluded to and Peter Morris elaborated so well (in his book "Catcher - How the Man Behind the Plate became an American Folk Hero"), a good catcher offered more to a team's success than any other position. It was a position most athletes feared to play. To do it well you had to be extremely skilled and fearless. No one did it better in the 1870s than Deacon White. Deacon caught more games than anyone that decade with innovations that placed him at great risk (such as catching right behind the plate when runners were on base). Catching was brutal, shortened many careers, the wear-and-tear taking toles on offensive production, yet Deacon frequently led or was among the leaders in offense. The value of the catcher would diminish with time, but when it mattered most, Deacon was the best.
Recognizing the tole catching was taking on his hands, Deacon then re-invented himself as a 3rd baseman for the last half of his career and played the position well. In 1888, as the oldest player in baseball, he still was able to hit for average, 6th in the League at .298. Amazing he put up the numbers he did as a catcher, play many short seasons, and still eclipse 2000 hits.
While the following link doesn't provide a lot of stats and analysis, I found it to be an interesting read.
https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/...l-hall-of-fame
And if we are loving on 19th century catchers, need to give a shout out to Charlie Bennett
