Prior to Tuesday’s dramatic game-winning blast, Jorge Posada’s good start wasn’t getting a lot of play. This is in dramatic contrast to last year, when Posada’s early-season struggles prompted a great deal of nervous chatter about how it is the fate of all catchers to suddenly and irrevocably decline in their early 30s. The Yankees, it was argued, had to get free from Posada’s contract before it vested for 2007, which it will when Posada catches his 63rd game this year.

During the off-season, this anxiety took the form of a clamor for free agent Bengie Molina, a player inferior to Posada in nearly every respect. Yet, this is nothing new; Posada has been taken for granted for most of his career, and at this late stage it seems unlikely that he will ever receive his just due as the second-best catcher in Yankees history after Yogi Berra.

Yankees fans learned their disregard for Posada from Joe Torre. Perhaps because Posada was a converted infielder, the Yankee organization didn’t expect much from him, so there was never a strong push for him to get a solid audition to catch for the team when he was truly young.Then again, even in the early days of the Torre regime, the Yankees rarely deviated from their traditional hostility to young players. Even Derek Jeter, the rookie star of Torre’s 1996 team, only got the call because incumbent shortstop Tony Fernandez suffered a season-ending injury in spring training.Though the Yankees would like us to forget about it now, at the time, Torre expressed his reluctance to go into battle with a rookie shortstop.

Posada endured the same skepticism, but he never got the break Jeter did.Torre and his consigliore Don Zimmer were heavily, publicly invested in Joe Girardi, the glove-only catcher they brought in over popular, hard-hitting backstop Mike Stanley. Girardi was a knowledgeable ballplayer, but he couldn’t hit at all. Indeed, his primary skill at the plate was hitting into double plays – in 379 games with the Yankees, he hit into 52, more than any other player in baseball with his amount of playing time.

When Posada finally forced his way onto the roster in 1997, it was clear that he would easily out-hit Girardi, so a kind of myth was created: Girardi was teaching Posada, tutoring him. Unlike every other young player in baseball, who learned by playing, Posada would learn by watching. No doubt he became an expert on running hard down the line after tapping a ball to shortstop with a runner on first and less than two outs.

Posada’s so-called apprenticeship lasted three years, taking him to the doorstep of his 30s. Girardi finally departed after the 1999 season. The following year, Posada had his first season of more than 400 at-bats. He was 28 years old. Since then, Posada has given the Yankees the best production at catcher in the American League, at times even exceeding more celebrated rivals Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza. Though Posada could not rival them on batting average in their prime, his combination of patience and power made him a potent hitter even when his batting average was only .270 or .280.

Even in 2005, when he had his worst season since becoming a regular, Posada was a key part of the success of the Torre years. The secret of these teams has always been strength up the middle. In earlier years, the combination of Jeter, Chuck Knoblauch before he lost it, Bernie Williams in his prime, and Posada (when he played) allowed the Yankees to offset their lack of a regular left fielder and the declining years of Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez, and some truly horrific seasons from Scott Brosius.The Yankees neglected the traditional power positions in those days, just as they’re neglecting some of them now. Posada was one reason they got away with it.

Ironically, Posada’s long term as Girardi’s dutiful understudy may be what has allowed him to bounce back this year and prove those that predicted his decline wrong.Between his late conversion to catcher and his light usage from 1997 to 1999, Posada hasn’t carried the heavy load that some other star catchers have. From 1997 to 2005, Posada caught 733 games. During the same period, Jason Kendall caught 1,223, Ivan Rodriguez 1,102, Mike Piazza 1,007, and Mike Lieberthal 1,000. Even Javy Lopez, who sat in Atlanta every time Greg Maddux even looked at him, caught 994 games. Unlike these other catchers, Posada has quite some time to go before his backstop’s odometer rolls over.

Posada has some flaws that frustrate the casual observer. Tuesday night’s plate-blocking exhibition was an aberration; Posada has shied away from contact in the past. This may actually be a wise choice, as it has saved his body from the concussions and broken bones that have put many catchers on the shelf in the past, but it doesn’t look good to the paying customers.

At the plate, his ablity to worl deep counts means he strikes out quite a bit, and though generally speaking he has been a good hitter in clutch situations, he seems to be particularly challenged by the pressure of sacrifice fly situations. In his career, he’s batted .414 AVG/.481 OBA/.700 SLG in those situations, which is exemplary, but he’s also struck out 44 times, which somehow sticks in the mind more than the hits do.

In most cases, though, a strikeout is just one kind of out.The runs lost to an offense because of lost sacrifice flies or runners not moved up on the bases are greatly exaggerated. In Posada’s case, the damage done by the strikeouts pales in comparison to the home runs and the superior ability to reach base. There are many career leadoff men in baseball who don’t have Posada’s .376 career on-base average.

The Yankees have never had that kind of ability at catcher before. The other greats – Berra, Bill Dickey, Elston Howard, and Thurman Munson – had different strengths. Among those, apparently, was the ability to generate appreciation for their play, something that eludes Posada.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for www.yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.