Darrell Porter 'Scored' an Unexpected Final Card
He brought some final Muscle to the Rangers
1988 Score Darrell Porter (#537) - Card of the Day
In some ways, Russell Martin turned out to be the “next Mike Piazza.” After all, both catchers were drafted in the late rounds by the Los Angeles Dodgers (62nd round for Piazza; 17th round for Martin, two years after the Montreal Expos picked him in the 35th).
And both men debuted in the majors four years later, after busting their…uh…chest guards in the minors.
And both turned out to be pretty hefty power threats in the majors. They also both eventually left the Dodgers and continued their success with other teams.
There were differences, of course.
Piazza sort of obliterated our concept of what an All-Star backstop’s offensive profile can look like, similar to what Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez did for shortstops. Even Martin couldn’t touch Piazza with the bat:
Piazza: .308, 427 HR, 1335 RBI, 1048 runs scored, 143 OPS+
Martin: .248, 191 HR, 771 RBI, 803 runs scored, 101 OPS+
But Martin was the superior catcher behind the plate, winning a Gold Glove, racking up 16.5 defensive WAR, and drawing lauds for his pitch framing.
Overall, Piazza has a significant WAR advantage (59.5 to 38.9), which probably doesn’t bode well for Martin’s Hall of Fame chances — it took Piazza four tries to break through.
While the parallels between Martin and Piazza don’t hold up far beneath the surface, there is another catcher from the past who is a closer match for Muscle (Martin, that is).
In fact, according to Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores, Darrell Porter is the most comparable hitter to Martin in baseball history. The likeness is easy to see when you compare their bottom lines:
Porter: .247, 188 HR, 826 RBI, 765 runs scored, 113 OPS+
Martin: .248, 191 HR, 771 RBI, 803 runs scored, 101 OPS+
Fairly uncanny, really, and Porter also contributed significant defensive value (10.6 WAR). Both are four-time All-Stars, but Porter holds a big advantage in terms of postseason play. While Martin played in more postseason series and games, he never made it to the World Series.
Not only did Porter make it to three Fall Classics, but he was the MVP of both the NLCS and World Series as the 1982 Cardinals took the title. He split time behind the plate with Tom Nieto for the 1985 pennant-winning Cards, who let him walk to the Rangers that offseason.
With Don Slaught installed as catcher in Texas, Porter spent much of his time with the Rangers as a designated hitter. Despite posting solid on-base and power numbers (19 homers, .857 OPS in 153 games) in two summers of part-time play, Porter retired after the 1987 season.
The good news for collectors was that upstart cardmaker Score didn’t seem to believe in the prevailing “no career-cappers” motto of the day. Consequently, we got one last shot of Porter swinging through the zone in the Texas sunshine, as well as a full rundown of his career batting stats:
One area where Martin has already bested Porter is the Hall of Fame vote. In his only appearance on the ballot, Porter whiffed — zero votes. As I write this, in late December 2024, Martin has already picked up his first vote (according to the endlessly entertaining BBHOF Tracker).
Only 300 or so more to go.
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