"For catcher Bob Geren, it comes down to putting it all together. In 1989 Geren opened some eyes by hitting .288 in 65 games with the Yankees. Last season, while his offense dropped into the .220s, he continued to be one the league's best defensive catchers.
Geren gunned down about 40 percent of the runners attempting to steal on him, a main reason why the Yankees were among the major league leaders in that category. Geren would like nothing better than to combine those two seasons into a stellar 1991.
'Defensively, I know that I have a strong arm and that I call a good game,' says Geren. 'I've shown at the plate that I can hit on this level, and I feel I learned a lot last year."
-The New York Yankees Official 1991 Yearbook
"In his first full major league season, Geren hit .213 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs while playing solid defense. It was his first complete season anywhere since 1983 when he played 124 games for Springfield of the Midwest League.
Geren opened with a bang, going 3-for-4 on Opening Day against Cleveland on his way to hitting .346 for the month of April. He made seven starts during the month and threw out three of five baserunners. From April 26-May 6, Bob hit in a season best eight straight games at .370 (10-for-27), bringing his season average to .364; included was his first home run of the season, a solo shot off Oakland's Mike Moore in New York on May 1.
The end of the month was disastrous as he managed just five hits in 53 at-bats to drop his average to .216, although he had two home runs in that span: on May 22 against Chicago (Melido Perez) and on May 24 at Minnesota (Allan Anderson). Bob ended the month going 0-for-17. He made 20 starts in May.
Bob broke a 0-for-19 hitless streak on June 2 against Baltimore with a single off Mark Williamson. He hit in four straight from June 14-19 (4-for-12) and then closed out the month by hitting five straight (5-16); included was a solo homer off John Cerutti at Toronto on June 24. On June 28 against Milwaukee, Bob had the game-winning RBI single with two out in the ninth inning to give the Yankees a 3-2 win. He made 13 starts in June and hit .244.
He started July by catching Andy Hawkins' no-hitter at Chicago on July 1 while also breaking up Greg Hibbard's no-hit bid with a 6th inning single. On July 4 at Kansas City, Geren hit a three-run homer off Steve Crawford. At the break he was hitting .230 with five home runs and 16 RBIs.
Geren made 16 starts in July, hitting .226. On July 25 at Texas, he hit an 8th inning two-run homer off Nolan Ryan who was going for win No. 300. August was Geren's best month offensively (.256 batting average) since April and he made 14 starts. On August 9 at Seattle he drove in the only run with a 2nd inning single in a 1-0 Yankee victory. Then on August 19 against Seattle, he hit a three-run homer off Matt Young. September/October was a tough month with the bat for Bob (2-for-30) while making 11 starts.
He started exactly half of the Yankee games in 1990 and the Yankees were 37-44 (.457 winning percentage) when he started, including 17-13 over his final 30 starts. The staff had a 3.88 ERA with Bob catching.
Geren threw out 37 of 92 (40%) of potential base stealers, slightly better than the 13 of 33 (39%) he threw out in 1989. Combined in 1989-90 he threw out 50 of 125 (40%) and the Yanks were 66-73 with Geren behind the plate over the two seasons. In 1990 he ranked seventh in the American League (.993) in fielding.
He hit .280 (21-for-75) in day games. He played in 110 games, his most in any season since 1983 (Springfield, Class-A Midwest League). He was 2-for-10 with four RBIs with the bases loaded, and 18 of his 31 RBIs came with two outs.
He signed a contract for the 1991 season.
Geren enjoyed a fine 1989 season both behind the plate and with the bat. He hit .288 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs in 205 at-bats.
He was recalled from Columbus on May 16 and stayed with the Yankees for good; Geren had hit .253 with two home runs and 13 RBIs over 27 games for the Clippers. He made an immediate impact with the Yankees, going 5-for-12 in his first three games with two homers and four RBIs. On May 20 at Seattle he hit his first major league home run, a solo blast off Mike Dunne, and the following night had a career-high three-hit game (one of three in '89), again homering in the Kingdome (off Mike Jackson), the first of two back-to-back games with a homer in '89. On May 24 against the Angels in New York, Bob slightly pulled an abdominal muscle and was removed in the sixth inning; listed as day-to-day he did not appear again until June 3.
Bob ended May going 6-for-14 (.417) and continued to swing the bat well through June, going 6-for-21 (.286). He caught 12 games in May and June, throwing out five of nine runners (56%) with the club going 7-5 in his starts.
July was his best month offensively, hitting .444 (16-for-36), raising his average from .343 to .394. After hitting in four straight from July 1-4 (5-for-11), Bob went hitless in a pinch at-bat (July 7) before hitting in seven straight to close out the month (10-for-24, .417). Included in that streak was a 3-for-3 effort on July 29 against the Blue Jays. The club was 6-4 in July when he started, 13-9 through his first three months with the Yanks. At the break he was hitting .389; from July 8-August 3 he hit in a season-best 10 straight games, going 14-for-37 (.378).
Bob became a regular in August, starting 23 of 31 games during the month. He hit .244 (21-for-86) with five home runs and 16 RBIs, his monthly best for homers and RBIs. On August 26 and 27, Geren had his second back-to-back homer nights, off Baltimore's Dave Johnson and Bob Milacki.
September was his slowest month with the bat (10-for-48, .208) as Bob's average dropped from .312 to a season-ending .288. On September 6, he hit a two-run homer off Brian Holton in the 7th inning to tie the score at 4-4 after the Yankees had trailed 4-0. He hit safely in eight of 16 games over September/October and ended the season striking out in eight of sixteen at-bats. Geren hit .252 after the break.
The club was 29-29 when he started behind the plate. He threw out 13 of 33 runners (39%), committed three errors and allowed three passed balls. In his 58 starts, Bob caught three shutouts, eight games with one run allowed and five when two runs were allowed.
Geren had a .454 slugging percentage, third on the club for those appearing in at least 50 games. He hit .324 (23-for-71) in day games and .269 (36-for-134) in night games. He hit .284 (19-for-67) with two homers against left-handed pitching and .290 (40-for-138) with seven homers against righties. He hit .311 (33-for-106) at home and .263 (26-for-99) on the road. Geren hit .244 (11-for-45) with runners in scoring position.
Geren was selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round (24th choice overall) in the regular phase of the June 1979 free agent draft. That choice was awarded to the Padres as compensation for the Los Angeles Dodgers' signing of [free agent] Derrel Thomas. In his first professional season, Bob hit .172 in 54 games at Walla Walla.
He split his time in 1980 between Reno, where he hit .159 in 48 games with four homers and 23 RBIs, and Walla Walla, where he hit .254 in 51 games. Geren was acquired by the Cardinals organization in December 1980 along with pitchers Rollie Fingers and Bob Shirley and catcher Gene Tenace for catchers Terry Kennedy and Steve Swisher, infielder Mike Phillips, and pitchers Al Olmstead, John Urrea, Kim Seaman and John Littlefield. Geren hit .222 in 64 games at St. Petersburg in 1981.
In 1982, his second consecutive season at St. Petersburgh, he batted .244 in 110 games. He led Florida State League catchers in games (96) and assists (72). Bob spent the entire 1983 season at Springfield, where he tied for third in the Midwest League in home runs with 24, his professional high. He batted .265 and set another personal pro best with 73 runs batted in. Bob led Midwest League catchers in total chances (939), putouts (826) and assists (102).
He spent most of 1984 at Arkansas, batting .247 with 15 home runs and 40 RBIs, and in 15 games at Louisville hit .175. In 1985, Bob's final year as a member of the Cardinals organization, he hit .225 at Arkansas, where he spent most of the season and led Texas League catchers in fielding percentage (.998), and in five games at Louisville batted .357. Recommended to New York by scout Stan Saleski, he signed with the Yankees in November of 1985 as a six-year minor league free agent. In 1986, his first year in the Yankee organization, he batted .254 at Columbus, with seven homers and 25 RBIs, and .148 [in 11 games] at Albany-Colonie.
Geren began the 1987 season at AA Albany-Colonie and was hitting .219 in 31 games with three home runs and 11 runs batted in when he was promoted to AAA Columbus on May 29. He played in five games with the Clippers, hitting .150 with a home run and three RBIs, before being outrighted back to Albany on June 12.
He finished the season with Albany, and in the 47 games he played there, following his return, batted .222 with eight home runs and 20 RBIs. Overall in his two stints with Albany, Bob hit a combined .221 with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs; his 11 homers ranked second on the club, and his five game-winning RBIs ranked fourth. He led all Eastern League catchers in fielding with a .994 percentage (two errors in 358 chances).
Geren began the 1988 season with the Columbus Clippers and had his contract purchased by the Yankees on May 15 when Don Slaught was placed on the 15-day disabled list with an injured left groin. At the time his contract was purchased, he was hitting .366 (41-for-112) in 32 games for the Clippers with two home runs, 13 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .464.
He made his major league debut on May 17 against Seattle, appearing as a defensive replacement at catcher. His first major league at-bat came on May 20 against Oakland, striking out against Eric Plunk. Bob appeared in a total of four games, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout, before being optioned back to Columbus on June 20.
Bob was recalled by the Yankees on September 2. At that point, he was hitting .271 with the Clippers with eight home runs and 35 RBIs in 95 games; he was named as the catcher on the postseason International League All-Star team. He made his first major league start on October 1 at Detroit and recorded his first major league hit, a single off Doyle Alexander in the 2nd inning, going 1-for-4 in that game. He made another start the next day in the season finale at Detroit, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
Overall in his two stints with the Yankees, Geren played in 10 games and batted .100 (1-for-10) with two walks and three strikeouts. He was 0-for-2 throwing out baserunners, giving up stolen bases to Jose Canseco (May 20 against Oakland) and Jim Walewander (October 2 at Detroit)."
-1991 New York Yankees Information Guide
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