Sanchez holds HR mark for catchers

When Gary Sanchez put his 31st homer of the season into the orbital path of Saturn on Thursday, he moved to the top of a very — very — illustrious list of Yankees catchers.

Hall of Famer Yogi Berra twice hit 30 homers in a season. Jorge Posada hit 30 in 2003. Hall of Famer Bill Dickey slugged 29 in 1937 and 12-time All-Star Elston Howard hit 28 in his 1963 MVP season.

Now Sanchez has outdone them all.

“I knew I was there tied with them,” Sanchez, through an interpreter, said of the two whose team mark he broke while noting he knew of and followed Posada “because the previous catchers, I wasn’t even born.”

That’s as good a reason as any to not follow them.

Sanchez, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI in Friday’s 8-2 win over the Orioles, has produced 25 of his 31 homers while playing as a catcher. Five homers came as a DH and another as a first baseman. The American League record for most homers in a season by a catcher while playing the position is 35 by Ivan Rodriguez for Texas in 1999.

That will be tough to catch and pass — even if Sanchez has a history for homers in bunches. Last season as a rookie, he became the fastest player ever to hit 11, 18 and 19 homers. But he’s happy with holding the top mark for the Yankees. And he did so while missing a month with a strained biceps.

“It’s really pretty incredible. You think about the guys that have played here before him, going back a long time,” manager Joe Girardi said. “For him to be able to do that just shows you how talented he is. And with all that, he missed four weeks. Not sure where he’d be if he had those four weeks. But he’s got a lot of talent.”