Rick Ferrell, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1984 and the catching half of one of the game's more famous pitcher-catcher brother combinations, died on Thursday. He was 89.

Ferrell, who lived in Troy, Mich., for the past 18 years, died of arrhythmia, according to a statement from the Woodward Hills Nursing Home in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills.

A native of Durham, N.C., Ferrell played in the major leagues from 1929 through 1947 for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators, batting .281 in a career noted for durability and excellence behind the plate. When he retired, his total of 1,806 games caught stood as the American League record for 41 years, until Carlton Fisk surpassed it in 1988.

Ferrell and his younger brother, Wes, a pitcher, were teammates with the Red Sox for more than three years starting in May 1934, before both were traded to the Senators on June 11, 1937, spending another year together as batterymates in Washington. But it was as opponents that their careers intersected more dramatically.

On April 29, 1931, Rick, playing for the Browns, nearly spoiled the only no-hitter Wes ever pitched by grounding the ball sharply into the hole in the eighth inning against the Cleveland right-hander. Shortstop Bill Hunnefield gloved the ball, but his strong throw pulled first baseman Lew Fonseca off the base, just enough to make Rick safe. On a play that could have gone either way, the official scorer ruled it an error; both the no-hitter and the fraternal bond remained intact.

Three years later, the Red Sox had to replace their pitcher and catcher in the second inning after both Ferrells were ejected from a game with St. Louis when Wes argued a third-strike call while batting and Rick went to his kid brother's defense. That day, Bobo Newsom pitched nine no-hit innings for the Browns, but lost the game in the 10th.

Long before Rick was voted into the Hall of Fame by the veterans' committee, he often argued on his brother's behalf for Wes's election to Cooperstown. No wonder: Wes Farrell, who died in 1976, was a 20-game winner six times in a career in which he won 193 games and batted .280 with 38 home runs, hitting 10 more than his catcher-brother in 1,336 fewer times at bat.

After his playing days, Rick Ferrell was an executive with the Detroit Tigers from 1950 to 1992, serving as a coach, general manager, farm director, vice president and consultant.

He was the last surviving American League player from the first All-Star Game in 1933, when Manager Connie Mack used him to catch all nine innings, even though Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane, both in the Hall of Fame, were on the squad.

He is survived by two sons, Rick Ferrell Jr., and Tom Ferrell, both of Grand Rapids, Mich., and two daughters, Maureen Ferrell and Kerrie Ferrell, both of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Richard B Ferrell