Unvital statistics

With the modern record in the rearview mirror, and the all time record and title unification a while off, it's time to get down to some hard statistics that you really need to know. The average weight of pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch is 200.22 pounds - 3.64 pounds heavier than the average weight of all players who pitched during the span of Biggio's career. Pitchers drilling Biggio while visiting Houston have weighed slightly less, 198.72 pounds, than plunkers at road parks - 201.86 pounds. In total, Biggio's 268 plunks have had 53,460 pounds of pitchers behind them - about the same weight as 7.5 Cadillac Escalades.

Jeff Juden (265) is listed as the heaviest pitcher who has plunked Biggio, and Miguel Batista the least massive (160)*.

Here's the average weight of the pitchers who have plunked Biggio for each team:
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Yankees	225
Mets	208.59
Twins	208
A's	205
Cubs	204.79
Brewers	204.63
Padres	203.42
Cardinals	203.33
Rockies	202.97
Royals	201.67
Expos	201.5
Pirates	200.05
Indians	200
Giants**	199.37
White Sox	197.5
Marlins	197
Phillies	196.36
D-backs	193.75
Dodgers	193.58
Reds	192.68
Braves	190
Rangers	186.25
Orioles	182.5

*All weights are as listed at some unknown point in time, and may not reflect any actual measurement. For example, that weight listed for the Yankees is supposed to be David Wells. But, perhaps we can assume that all the made up weights listed for players average out to something near reality.

**The original version of this post omited results for the Giants, for no known reason, causing mass confusion on the comment board - or maybe just in this author.

the quest continues

5'9" Byung-Hyun Kim, yesterday afternoon, became the shortest pitcher ever to hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, and the last two plunkings at Coors Field have raised the average altitude of Biggio's HBPs by 36 feet. Kim also jumped into the league lead for hit batters. But Craig Biggio won't have the Rockies to kick him around any more this season, and the Astros move on to Cincinnati.

News sources around the country have picked up the modern record breaking moment. Alyson Footer covers the story nicely for MLB.com, and the Houston Chronicle, as always, provides a great story on the moment. This one from Colorado is worth a look just for the graphic.
The Baltimore Sun defends Hughie Jennings as the real record holder.

Eric Mirlis and Ken Rosenthal take up the cause of Biggio's hall of fame candadicy.

And a seattle paper gave Baylor his say. Baylor tied and broke Ron Hunt's record on back to back days too.

There are many more stories out there and I encourage those with the time to read as many as you can, but the quest for the all time record doesn't end here, and we must be moving on to today's action against Eric Milton and the Reds. Eric Milton has never plunked Biggio but he does appear to be on pace for one of the worst seasons by a starting pitcher in the last 50 years. If no one puts a stop to it and he continues at his current pace, Milton will break Bert Blyleven's single season home runs allowed record (50) and become the first pitcher to give up over 150 earned runs in a season since the 1930s. When Blyleven gave up 50 homers, he was actually having a decent year - he led the league in strikeouts and won 17 games - but Milton has just been awful to an unprecedented degree. He's making Jose Lima look good. Okay, that's going to far. He's not making Jose Lima look good.

June 30th has seen 3 Biggio plunks in the past. Allen Levrault and Mike Buddie teamed up to hit him twice on June 30, 2001, and Jeff McCurry plunked Biggio in 1995.

The day after 268

For the first time since 1901, a Major League player can wake up and say "I got hit by a pitch for the 268th time yesterday". Still think this isn't an accomplishment to be proud of? Nobody's done it for over 100 years for a reason. He's been hit 268 times, never charged the mound, and never been sent to the disabled list by a plunk. In 1997 he got drilled in the eye but stayed in the game because they had a chance to win the division that day. The Astros are 142-106 in games when he's been hit.
It's a testament to Biggio's longevity and "do whatever it takes" attitude, and that's why this blog will continue to track Biggio's plunks at least until he passes the all time record set by Hughie Jennings. I have no fear that Craig Biggio is going to hang a big "Mission Accomplished" sign and start backing off the plate, because it's clear that he was never getting hit to try to set a record. He's at the plate to try to get on base, and he's close to the plate because that's the best place to be if you want to get a base hit in a league where the strikezone sometimes extends into the opposite side batters box. He's not getting hit for contract bonuses or personal glory, things that no doubt influence the professional game for many, he's trying to get on base so he can score a run.
Think he's only at this milestone because of an elbow pad? Maybe. But it's not because he would approach the plate any different if the pad was illegal. Biggio says he started wearing the original pad after a painful plunk from Danny Darwin which would have been his 67th, coming in 1996, the year after he led the league in HBPs for the first time. What the elbow pad did was keep him from throwing his body around for the team so much that it ended his career. Apparently some baseball fans would prefer a sport where its great players routinely get their careers ended by dime a dozen relief pitchers who either can't throw over the plate or can't get a batter out without threatening his life. Complaints have been lodged every time baseball has evolved to protect players, like when batters started wearing helmets. Still think helmets are lame? 19th century catchers used to think protective gear was "unmanly" as well, and there was a time when even the glove was considered a sign of weakness. If the game hadn't changed to protect players the sport would just be an endless string of career ending injuries, so lets lay off whining about protective gear, let the sport regulate what's appropriate, and enjoy guys who play 18 seasons with the same team. (And you think health care costs are high now? Imagine a system that had to deal with all those broken fingers from catchers playing without a glove... and that certainly wouldn't be the worst of it.)
When Jeremi Gonzalez hit him in the face, I'm pretty sure he didn't stay in the game because his elbow pad was making it feel better. Commenters on this site have said they wished there was a stat that measured Biggio's heart and desire to play the game right, but I think this is that stat. There's a reason why nobody since 1901 has done this, so enjoy this moment in history.

268!!! CRAIG BIGGIO BREAKS THE MODERN RECORD!!!

4th inning by Byung-Hyun Kim in another at bat where the pitcher was distracted by a base runner. Kim hit him with a 1-2 count with 2 outs after Tavarez stole second, and follows up by hitting Berkman.

If Moonlight Graham had winked.

It's been widely reported this week that today is the 100th anniversary of Archibald "Moonlight" Graham's one game in the majors, made famous by W.P Kinsella's book "Shoeless Joe" and its movie adaptation "Field of Dreams" (to everyone except Barry Bonds, who says he's never seen it). Moonlight Graham really did play only one game, and never got to bat, although it wasn't actually the last day of the season. In the movie, he laments not getting to step into the batter's box, stare down the pitcher, and wink at him like he knew something the pitcher didn't. He gets his chance to live that fantasy in the magical Iowa cornfield-turned-ball-field (later renamed John Deere field at Dreamworks park), and the pitcher responds with a knockdown pitch at his head.
Well, nearly 50 years ago, on August 20th, 1955, the Philadelphia Phillies signed an 18 year old amateur from Jackson Heights, New York named Fred Van Dusen. 22 days later, on September 11th, the Phillies were playing a double header against the Milwaukee Braves and Van Dusen finally got in a game. He stepped up to the plate. Whether he gave the pitcher a funny look or not I don't know. The pitcher may have just lost control. Or maybe he just wanted to scare an 18 year old rookie. Van Dusen got hit by a pitch, never got another plate appearance, and never played a major league game again. Worse yet, he never got to play in the field so the only time he touched the ball in a Major League game was when it hit him.
He retired with a 1.000 OBP.
So, I nominate Fred Van Dusen for the next roster at the Field of Dreams. The record books don't even list what position he played, so I don't know if his dream was to prowl the grass in the outfield, or stand on the infield dirt ready to stab his glove at a line drive. Maybe he was a catcher and just wanted to feel the snap of a third strike in his glove, or gun down a runner trying to steal second. But, the record books also don't list a date of death and he'd only be 68 this July, so maybe someone knows him and can tell us. When he finally gets his turn playing the field, and his spot comes around in the batting order, we'll make sure he's wearing a helmet and a sturdy elbow pad.

If Van Dusen continued his prolific plunk rate for as many games as Craig Biggio has played, with as many plate appearances as Biggio has had, he'd have 10,992 plunks.

4 other players recorded only 1 career plate appearance and were hit by a pitch that one time at the plate. However, Charlie Faust pitched 2 innings and appeared in 2 games. Cy Meris pitched 3 and 2/3 innings. Harvey Grubb recorded one put-out at 3rd base, and Abraham Lincoln "Ham" Wade recorded 2 put-outs as an outfielder.

Historic night

Not only did Craig Biggio record the modern record tying 267th plunk last night, not only did he record his 95th run scored after getting on base via the plunk, not only was it the 18th anniversary of Don Baylor breaking the modern record then held by Ron Hunt, not only did Jason Jennings become the first pitcher to record 3 consecutive Biggio plunks, the fastest pitcher to get to 3 Biggio plunks, and the only pitcher to hit Biggio 3 times in the same season... it was Don Baylor's birthday (Thanks to Cletus for pointing that out, and his excellent stat on nickels).
The eighth inning grand slam by the Rockies took some of the festiveness out though.

Alyson Footer at mlb.com has a story about the team's - celebration? - of the record tying moment. Well, it wasn't quite a celebration, and no one seemed sure if congratulations were in order, but at least they saved the ball. To me, that's what makes it a cool record - when no one is really sure you want it, but when you sit back and think about it it's pretty cool.

Biggio will step back in to try to break the record (or try not to break the record) this afternoon against Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim has never hit Biggio with a pitch, but he's only 1 hit batter behind the major league leaders with 8. Kim has also thrown 8 wild pitches, so he's just as likely to hit the Durham Bull as Biggio.
Ben Sheets hit Biggio with a pitch on June 29, 2001, and Anthony Telford got him a year later in 2002. If Biggio manages to get hit again, he will be the first person born after the Ulysses S Grant administration to get hit 268 times.

267!!!!! MODERN RECORD TIED!!!

Jason Jennings does it again, distracted by too many pickoff throws to first, in the 5th inning on a 1-2 count with 1 out!!!

Speaking of elevation

On average, Craig Biggio's 266 plunks have occured at an elevation of 457 feet above sea level. 156 have come within 50 feet of sea level, 42 were between 50 and 500 feet, 49 between 500 and 1000 feet, and 19 have come at altitudes greater than 1000 feet. (Try to guess the 4 parks he's been hit at which are over 1000 feet - none are Mile High Stadium)
11 different pitchers have plunked Biggio exclusively at elevations greater than 1000 feet above sea level, and 6 of those have only hit him above 5000 feet. None of those 11 have plunked Biggio more than once.
12 different pitchers have kept all there Biggio plunking at elevations lower than 40 feet. Of those 12, only AJ Burnett has hit him twice.
2004 was Biggio's highest year, geographically speaking, for average plunks at 945 feet. In 1990, the average elevation of Biggio's HBPs was 33 feet 4 inches, making that his lowest average year.

Year	Elevation*	Plunks
2004	945	15
2001	695.5	28
2003	685.7	27
2000	634.4	16
1998	615.9	23
2002	528.3	17
1996	503.9	27
1992	336.4	7
1997	297.4	34
1989	198.3	6
1995	184.5	22
1999	158.6	11
1994	137.5	8
1993	88	10
2005	79	10
1991	65	2
1990	33.3	3

*in feet above sea level

unplunked at 5,280 ft

The Astros pounded 18 hits last night on their way to an 11-5 win over the Rockies. Jamey Wright was too busy leaving pitches out over the plate to hit Craig Biggio with any, although he did hit Adam Everett once to stay tied with the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox for the Major League lead in hitting batters.
Mark Clark has held the distinction of being the only pitcher to plunk Biggio on June 28th, since he did so in 1996, but that could soon change with Jason Jennings on the mound tonight. Jennings, as I'm sure readers will remember, was responsible for plunks 265 and 266 last Wednesday. Biggio has never taken 3 consecutive plunks from the same pitcher.

Inspirational

It's a sports cliche that some managers can get their players to run through walls for them, but not many can get a player to take over a hundred plunks. Larry Dierker got 112 plunks out of Craig Biggio, and only 6 managers had a player get more HBPs for them (not including Fred Clarke who was hit 125 times as a player/manager).
Most plunks by player/manager combinations:

Manager	Player	Span	Plunks
Ned Hanlon	Hughie Jennings	1893-1903	245
Frank Selee	Tommy Tucker	1890-1897	150
John McGraw	Art Fletcher	1909-1920	132
Fred Clarke	Honus Wagner	1897-1915	116
Joe McCarthy	Frankie Crosetti	1932-1946	114
Gene Mauch	Ron Hunt	1971-1974	114
Larry Dierker	Craig Biggio	1997-2001	112
Connie Mack	Jimmie Dykes	1918-1932	93
Joe Torre	...*	1996-2004	92

*Some overrated Yankee who gets too much press as it is, and I'm not printing his name.

Not only did Larry Dierker manage Biggio for more of his plunks than any other Astros manager, he inspired Biggio to a higher ratio of HBPs per plate appearance than any other - that could have something to do with Dierker's Astros 3 first place finishes. However, current manager Phil Garner has gotten more home run power from Biggio than any previous manager.

Years	Manager	Plate Appearances	HBP	HR	HBP/PA	HR/PA
1988	Hal Lanier	131	0	3	0	0.0229
'89-'93	Art Howe	3166	28	48	0.00884	0.01516
'94-'96	Terry Collins	1907	57	43	0.02989	0.02255
'97-'01	Larry Dierker	3414	112	86	0.03281	0.02519
'02-'04	Jimy Williams	1761	55	43	0.03123	0.02442
'04-?	Phil Garner	602	15	20	0.02492	0.03322

rocky plunk count high

After an unplunked weekend, the Astros will pack up the ice packs and pain killers to head to Denver for another series against the Rockies, kicked off by the two pitchers who plunked Biggio 3 times last week. Jamey Wright, who added last Tuesday to his history of plunking Biggio, opens the series tonight.
Pete Harnisch and Omar Daal hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 27th of 1999 and 2000 respectively, and Danny Jackson plunked Biggio on June 27, 1995.

modern record still un-tied

Craig Biggio faced 7 different Ranger's pitchers in 3 games, but didn't get hit by any of them. But, he did find time to break up a no hitter in the bottom of the 6th Saturday, hit a homer off John "way back" Wasdin, and score today's game winning run in the 10th inning. That and the Astros won 2 out of 3 so it wasn't a bad weekend.
Also, Patty Biggio made her husband proud by taking one for the team Saturday in a charity softball game for the Autism Society of America.

In other news, the AP had an article on the record chase which was published on several news sites, and Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News gives a clue why the Rockies might have drilled Biggio 30 times.

interleague weekend preview

(First off, thanks to the guys at Sports Radio 610 in Houston for having me on the drive time show yesterday, and huge thanks to The Man Himself for the mention in an article on mlbplayers.com.)

Craig Biggio sits one plunk short of Don Baylor's modern record as the Astros begin a 3 game weekend series against the Rangers tonight. The Rangers lead American league teams in hitting Biggio with pitches, with a total of 4, but they haven't hit him since June 22, 2003.

Friday, June 24:
The series opens with right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez on the mound for the Rangers. Biggio is 1-3 with no HBPs off Rodriguez, and Rodriguez has hit 12 batters with the 2603 pitches he's thrown in 29 career games. Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on June 24th, but the baseballs tend not to know these things when they fly out of the pitcher's hands.

Saturday, June 25:
Saturday's scheduled starter for the opposition is Chris Young. Young has hit only 4 batters in his 21 career starts, and he has never plunked Biggio. But, being a second year pitcher, he is in the year of his career when pitchers have hit Biggio the most.
Biggio has been hit once on June 25. Miguel Batista hit him in 2001.

Sunday, June 26:
The series wraps up Sunday with 3 time Biggio plunker Chan Ho Park, but Park hasn't plunked Biggio September 12, 1997 when he did it twice. Park has a career total of 110 plunks in 1529 innings.
Biggio was last plunked on June 26th 9 years ago by Tim Worrell in 1996. He was also hit the year before, on June 26th 1995 by Mark Petkovsek. Sunday will also be the 17th anniversary of Biggio's first game in the majors.

improbable

Yesterday, reader dm asked who the most unlikely Biggio plunker was as measured by HBP per batter faced. Lance Davis pitched 20 games for the Reds in 2001 and hit just 1 of the 461 batters he faced. That one batter, of course, was Craig Biggio. Among pitchers with slightly longer careers than 20 games, Bob Ojeda leads this category. He hit 24 of the 7977 batters he faced, but Kirk Rueter has managed to hit Biggio twice even though he's only hit 25 total batters of the 8077 he's faced to date. Two other pitchers have hit Biggio twice with under 25 hit batters in total, Mark Clark and Brian Anderson.
For another perspective on who is the most unlikely pitcher who has hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, take a look back at Mike Carminati's post here. In the table where he lists the pitchers with the fewest HBPs compared with expectations, Kirk Rueter is the only one in the list who has plunked Biggio.

Most unlikely Biggio plunkers by plunks per batter faced:

Name	Plunks per Batter Faced	Batters Faced	Total plunks	Total Biggio Plunks
Lance Davis	0.00217	461	1	1
Bob Ojeda	0.00301	7977	24	1
Kirk Rueter	0.0031	8077	25	2
Yorkis Perez	0.00322	1244	4	1
Barry Jones	0.00324	1850	6	1
John Smoltz	0.00347	11521	40	1
Brian Anderson	0.00352	6532	23	2
Jose Rijo	0.00356	7867	28	1
Calvin Schiraldi	0.00374	2409	9	1
Mike LaCoss	0.00387	7496	29	1
Scott Bankhead	0.00393	3814	15	1
Tom Browning	0.00397	8066	32	1
John Franco	0.00415	5300	22	1
Mark Clark	0.00447	5367	24	2

A day off after 3 plunks.

Craig Biggio and the Astros will get a well deserved day off after Biggio got hit by 3 pitches and the Astros swept the Rockies.

Francisco Cordova's June 23, 1997 Biggio plunk was the only one on this day in Biggio plunking history.

Baseball Tonight Extra reports the following today:

"Craig Biggio has more multi-hit by pitch games (20) than he has multi-homer games (14) in his career. Biggio, who was hit twice on Wednesday, has been hit by a pitch 266 times in his career, one shy of Don Baylor's modern record. Comparatively speaking, Baylor had 15 multi-HBP games.

(Source: Elias Sports Bureau)"

notes on 266

Today's game was the 20th time Craig Biggio has been hit twice in the same game, and Jason Jennings was the 12th pitcher to hit him twice in the same game. He's just the second pitcher to hit Biggio twice in the same game for the Rockies, but Pedro Astacio did it on two separate occasions.
Today also marked the 6th time he's been plunked 3 or more times in 2 days, including these same two days two years ago - June 21st and 22nd of 2003. On May 7th and 8th of 2000 he was hit twice in 2 consecutive games, his only 4 plunk 2 game span. But, today was the first time he was hit twice in a day game following a night game when he was plunked so it's a reasonable guess that the approximately 17 hours between plunk 264 and 266 was the fastest 3 plunk span in Biggio's career. He has never been hit 3 times in the same game, and he has never been hit in both games of a double header.
Also, between the 7th inning last night and the 3rd inning today he was plunked in 3 consecutive plate appearances. That may be the only time he's ever done that but I can't fully rule out August 2nd and 3rd of 1996 and July 20th and 21st in 1995 just from their box scores.

Don Baylor's 266th HBP came on September 25, 1988, 5 days after his 265th on September 20.

Tommy Tucker's 265th and 266th HBPs came sometime during 1899.

Hughie Jennings 265th and 266th HBPs occured sometime during 1901.

266!!!

Unbelievable. Jason Jennings again, and both have been on the second pitch of the at bat after a foul.
I'm starting to think this is no coincidence. Read the disclaimer people!

And he scores on the Ensberg homer!

265!!!

First inning by Jason Jennings, plunk #265. Colorado really seems to be trying to build a big lead in the all time franchise Biggio plunk count.

Astrolometrics

Today's Horoscope: You will get good news from an old friend. Money matters will not trouble you. You will hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, be cautious of his attempts to steal second.

For you fans of both Bill James and Madam Cleo, it seems that Craig Biggio is hit most often by pitchers with the zodiac sign Sagittarius, but has been hit by more Leos than any other sign.

Biggio Plunks by Pitcher's sign:

Sign	Pitchers	Total Biggio Plunks
Sagittarius	18	29
Leo	24	28
Capricorn	18	25
Aries	17	24
Taurus	18	22
Pisces	14	22
Scorpio	19	22
Virgo	16	22
Libra	16	20
Gemini	15	19
Cancer	14	16
Aquarius	12	15

And for those who prefer the Chinese zodiac, pitchers born in the year of the snake hit Biggio most often.

Biggio Plunks by Pitcher's Chinese zodiac sign:

Year	Pitchers	Total Biggio Plunks
Snake	23	35
Rat	23	28
Tiger	16	26
Dog	18	25
Rooster	15	24
Ram	21	24
Rabbit	15	19
Ox	14	18
Horse	12	18
Monkey	16	17
Pig	15	16
Dragon	13	14

264 and looking for more

It was a historic night in Texas last night. Craig Biggio inched closer to the modern and all time HBP records, and Jamey Wright became the third pitcher to hit Biggio with a pitch 4 times. Also, since Pedro Astacio was released by the Rangers last night, Wright became the active leader in Biggio plunkings at least until some other team gives Astacio a job.
Making it even sweeter for fans of the Houston Astros from Texas to Nepal, Biggio came around to score what turned out to be the winning run after getting on base via the HBP.
Jason Jennings pitches for the Rockies today with a chance to add to Colorado's total of 28 Biggio plunks. He has never hit Biggio with a pitch. I have no proof of any relation between Jason Jennings and Hughie Jennings, but we can always pretend.
Tonight is also a full moon. The Rockies haven't hit Biggio with a pitch on the night of a full moon since June 6, 2001.
Joaquin Benoit and Mike Trombley are the official Biggio plunkers of June 22nd. Trombley plunked Biggio on June 22, 1998 and Benoit did it on June 22, 2003. Both of Biggio's June 22nd HBPs came against American League teams.

264!!!

7th inning by Jamey Wright on the first pitch to Biggio (after a pickoff). Wright has now hit Biggio 4 different times. And Biggio came around to score.

more rockies pitching

5 of the pitchers currently on the Rockies roster have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. Of the 153 pitchers who have thrown a pitch for Colorado in franchise history, 21.6% of them have plunked Biggio at some point in thier career. 16 did it while with the Rockies while 17 others pitched for the Rockies but only hit Biggio with a pitch for another team. Andy Ashby, Manny Aybar, Willie Blair, Frank Castillo, Shawn Estes, Scott Karl, Darryl Kile, Curt Leskanic, Jeff McCurry, Lance Painter, Tim Scott, John Thomson, Dave Veres, Ron Villone, Turk Wendell, Gabe White, Jay Witasick hit Biggio with a pitch while playing for another team, and Juan Acevedo, Rolando Arrojo, Pedro Astacio, Roger Bailey, Brian Bohanon, Mark Brownson, Shawn Chacon, Aaron Cook, Jose Jimenez, Joe Kennedy, Steve Reed, Armando Reynoso, Kevin Ritz, Mark Thompson, Chin-hui Tsao, Jamey Wright all have plunked Biggio at least once for the Rockies. (current Rockies in bold)

rocky pitching

The Astros got plenty of offense last night without needing Biggio to get on base via the plunk, so he stayed out of the way and kept himself unbruised while going 2-5 with an rbi and a run scored. Jamey Wright pitches tonight for the Rockies. He plunked Biggio on August 24th and September 9th in 1997 for Colorado, and on July 23, 2002 while pitching for the Brewers.

Pete Harnisch hit Biggio with a pitch on June 21, 1998, Carlos Perez hit him on June 21, 2000 and on June 21, 2003 Biggio got hit by both Ismael Valdez and Erasmo Ramirez.

ESPN's Baseball Tonight had a piece last night discussing Biggio's record run, and Baseball Tonight Extra continues the discussion on espn.com today. Thanks again to Plunk Biggio supporter Mark Simon for the mention. Check out his other work too at metswalkoffs.blogspot.com which is still pretty interesting even if you're not a Mets fan.

more connections

The Colorado Rockies have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch 27 times, but 13 of those occurred between 1993 and 1998 while the Rockies were managed by Don Baylor. Baylor also watched the team he was managing plunk Biggio 4 more times with the Cubs, so his 17 rank 3rd among managers. Dusty Baker (20) and Tony LaRussa (17) are the only managers whose teams have hit Biggio with a pitch more often than Baylor.

Top ten Biggio plunking managers (including ties):

Dusty Baker	20
Tony LaRussa	18
Don Baylor	17
Jim Leyland	13
Davey Johnson	11
Bruce Bochy	11
Lloyd McClendon	11
Jim Riggleman	10
Felipe Alou	9
Terry Francona	8
Buddy Bell	8
Jack McKeon	8

Rockies start

The Royals went the whole weekend without throwing at Craig Biggio, but the record chase continues as the Colorado Rockies begin a three game set in Houston tonight. Colorado leads all teams in Biggio plunking with 27, 3 ahead of the Cardinals despite only joining the league in 1993.
Joe Kennedy starts the series for the Rockies. He hit Biggio with a pitch last season on April 25.

Bobby Ayala, Rick Krivda and Kevin Brown have all pelted Biggio on June 20th, and they did it in three consecutive years. Krivda started the streak in 1998, Bobby Ayala got him in 1999, and Kevin Brown did it in 2000. Scott Garrelts, Craig Lefferts, Ramon Martinez, Jim Poole, Tim Crews, Jay Howell, Danny Cox, Bruce Ruffin, Roger McDowell, Mitch Williams, Jimmy Jones, Doug Jones, Pete Harnisch, Brian Williams, Al Osuna, Xavier Hernandez, Tom Edens, Greg Harris, Steve Reed, Willie Blair, Bruce Ruffin (again), Pedro Martinez, Gabe White, Jeff Shaw, Gil Heredia, Greg Harris (again), Hideo Nomo, Antonio Osuna, Scott Radinsky, Steve Trachsel, Kent Bottenfield, Turk Wendell, Mel Rojas, Brett Tomko, Danny Graves, Scott Sullivan, Dan Smith, Steve Kline, Guillermo Mota, Ugueth Urbina, Terry Adams, Jeff Shaw (again), Matt Herges, Mike Fetters, Ron Villone, Kane Davis, Justin Speier, Craig Dingman, John Thomson, Rosman Garcia, Aaron Fultz, and Victor Santos have all pitched to Craig Biggio on June 20th and NOT hit him, so it can be done.

Saturday, NPR's "Only a game" interviewed this reporter about Craig Biggio historic record chase. The interview can be heard here. I think it's important to give and do what we can for NPR because if they ever stopped being funded and Garrison Keiller decided to start swindling the elderly, he'd rake in more money than every TV preacher and the Canadian Lottery scam combined.

KC weekend

Craig Biggio went 1 for 5 with two runs scored last night, but managed to stay undented. But, he's not out of Dodge... I mean Kansas City yet.
Two more pitchers who have never faced Biggio are scheduled to take the mound this weekend for the Royals, DJ Carrasco today and Runelvyz Hernandez on Sunday. Carrasco and Hernandez have combined to plunk 5 in 20 starts this year. Four years ago June 18th and 19th of 2001, Pedro Astacio and Shawn Chacon hit Biggio with pitches on back to back nights.

Royals

The Astros interleague tour picks up again tonight in Kansas City, where Craig Biggio has 3 career HBPs. Rookie J.P. Howell will be hurling the cowhide covered ball of yarn in Biggio's direction, trying his best to miss both Biggio and the sweet spot of his bat. Howell has only pitched one major league game before today, but in his 5 inning s of work starting that game, he did hit one batter. The Royals have won 11 of 15 since Buddy Bell took over as manager.

Oscar Villareal and Jeff Brantley have hit Biggio with a pitch on June 17th; Brantley in 1998 and Villareal in 2003.

MLB.com picked up the record chase story yesterday, and got an answer to one of the questions I haven't been able to collect. Alyson Footer reports, courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau, that 92 of Biggio's plunks have resulted in a run scored. Biggio also discusses the elbow pad, and gives fans a tip on how you can tell if the plunk actually hurt him or not. The Chicago Daily Herald also has a short piece on the quest today.

By the way, with the news recently alleging that Angel's pitcher Brandon Donnelly was loading up the ball with pine tar, is it possible that some pitcher over the past few years has seen the mess on top of Biggio's helmet and decided he could brush a pitch across the top of that and get an extra 2 inches on his curveball for the next batter? Okay, probably not. Forget I mentioned it. And if any pitchers are reading this, don't get any bright ideas.

Late swing

In non-plunk related Biggio milestone news, last Tuesday, in the top of the 7th, Craig Biggio recorded his 1500th career strikeout when Pedro Martinez sent him down swinging on 7 pitches. 1500 strikeouts might not be a milestone you really want to reach (like 263 HBPs), but only 6 players in the 1500 strikeout club have fewer strikeouts per at bat: Eddie Murray, Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Frank Robinson, Dave Winfield, and Ricky Henderson.

Edit: Biggio is currently 36th on the all time strikeouts list.

Lowest 11* strikeouts per at bat among players with 1500 or more strikeouts:

Eddie Murray	0.134
Willie Mays	0.140
Andre Dawson	0.152
Frank Robinson	0.153
Dave Winfield	0.153
Rickey Henderson	0.155
Craig Biggio	0.159
Dave Parker	0.164
Lou Brock	0.167
Gary Gaetti	0.179
Dwight Evans	0.189

*This is a convention defying top 11 list only because I didn't want to leave out Dwight Evans, who I feel is left out all too often.

Baltimore wrapup

Orlando Palmeiro got plunked in the 6th, and Jason Lane took a home run payback pitch in the 7th last night, but Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch, going 1-4 in the loss. Over the 3 game series, Baltimore hit 5 Astros batters while the Astros only plunked one Oriole. The Astros are off today, traveling to their weekend series in Kansas City.

On June 16, 1999 Rudy Seanez of the Braves hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

Biggio's record chase media tour continued on Washingtonpost.com yesterday with a well done article by Les Carpenter. And, just to counter Carpenter's statement that nobody pays attention to Biggio's approach to 3000 hits, I'll point out that in my book Biggio is just 36 away from 3000 at 2964 (hits + times hit).

Battery Mates

An anonymous commenter last week asked how many of the pitchers Craig Biggio caught for, during his early seasons as a catcher, went on to hit him with a pitch after they left the Astros for other clubs. There were 7. Ryan Bowen, Danny Darwin, Pete Harnisch, Xavier Hernandez, Jeff Juden, Darryl Kile and Mark Portugal all hit Biggio with a pitch after he had caught for them in Houston, although Danny Darwin and Xavier Hernandez came back to Houston for a second stint after hitting Biggio with a pitch. Darwin and Pedro Astacio are the only pitchers who hit Biggio, and played for the Astros in the same year, in 1996 and 2001 respectively.

On September 9th, 1991 Andy Benes got hit by a pitch while Craig Biggio was catching, making him the only pitcher who has plunked Biggio and been hit by a pitch with Biggio behind the plate. The pitcher who drilled Benes was Mark Portugal, another Biggio plunker. Benes also got hit a month earlier by the Astros' Ryan Bowen (another of Biggio's battery mates who also plunked him) but Biggio's only appearance in that game was to pinch hit in the ninth inning for catcher Tony Eusebio. Andy Benes never paid back Bowen or Portugal, but he hit Biggio 3 times.

Including Astacio, 11 other pitchers have hit Biggio with a pitch and been his teammate. Willie Blair, Brian Moehler and Dave Veres plunked Biggio after leaving Houston. Sid Fernandez, Reggie Harris, Mike Jackson, Jeff McCurry, Yorkis Perez, and Marc Valdes all came to Houston after drilling Biggio. Ron Villone had stints with the Astros before and after he hit Biggio, and Pedro Astacio has plunked Biggio both before and after his 2001 stint in Houston.

Designated get hitter

Plunk number 263 last night was Biggio's 3rd as a designated hitter. The other two both came against the Royals on July 8, 2001.
Camden Yards is the 29th major league park he's been hit in, and last night's plunk was the first Biggio has ever received on Flag Day.

The Astros close the series with Baltimore tonight facing Rodrigo Lopez, who has never plunked Biggio. Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on June 15th.

263!!!

Jorge Julio plunked Biggio leading off the 8th to become Biggio plunker #201.

Baltimore

Baltimore holds an important place in plunk history. Don Baylor recorded 46 of his 267 HBPs while playing with the Orioles, and Hughie Jennings recorded 205 of his 287 plunks with the Orioles... but not the same Orioles. The current Orioles franchise began life in the American League as the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901 but grew out of that by 1902 and became the St Louis Browns. They moved to Baltimore in 1954 and took over the name Orioles which had been unused since 1900. Hughie Jenning's Orioles played in the National League from 1892-1899 and the American Association before Jenning's got there. They were reportedly an impressive and pretty funny bunch of cheaters. Maybe the problem with modern day cheating is the lack of crowd participation. In 1900 the National League contracted, dropping four teams, and Baltimore wouldn't have Orioles* for another 54 years.

*See comments for correction.

Happy Flag Day

Craig Biggio made 5 trips to the plate last night, but was not hit by a pitch during any of them. The Astros pitchers weren't so lucky, getting roughed up a bit as the Baltimore offense put an end to the Astros winning streak. Morgan Ensberg got hit by a pitch, bringing his career total to 11.
Bruce Chen will go tonight for the Orioles, giving him a chance to be the first pitcher ever to hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 14th of any year. Chen has never plunked Biggio.

switch hitting

Craig Biggio has been hit 210 times by right handed pitchers, and only 52 times by lefties. This makes sense given that the majority of pitchers are right handed, and it would seem logical that right handed pitchers who lose control are more likely to lose control in the direction of the right handed batters. Over Major League history (through 2004), right handed batters have been hit 0.0063 times per plate appearance, left handers have been hit 0.0058 times per plate appearance, and switch hitters have been hit on 0.0055 times per plate appearance. Presumably by batting with the opposite hand the pitcher is throwing with, the switch hitters get out of the way of more pitches. But, Tommy Tucker, number 2 on the all-time HBP list with 272, and Dan McGann, number 6 on the list with 230, were both switch hitters. Which leads to the question, which I have no answer for: Were they switch hitting right vs righty and lefty vs lefty so they could get hit more? Pete Rose is third on the HBP list among switch hitters, tied with Wally Schang at 107. Carl Everett is the active leader.

Top 10 career HBPs among switch hitters:

	Plunks	Career
Tommy Tucker	272	1887-1899
Dan McGann	230	1896-1908
Pete Rose	107	1963-1986
Wally Schang	107	1913-1931
Devon White	87	1985-2001
F.P. Santangelo	83	1995-2001
Carl Everett	79	1993-2004
Max Carey	77	1910-1929
George Davis	75	1890-1909
Claude Ritchey	72	1897-1909

Top 10 career HBPs among left handed hitters:

	Plunks	Career
Jake Beckley	183	1888-1907
Fernando Vina	157	1993-2004
Brady Anderson	154	1988-2002
Fred Clarke	153	1894-1915
Nellie Fox	142	1947-1965
Dummy Hoy	134	1888-1902
John McGraw	134	1891-1906
Steve Brodie	132	1890-1902
Willie Keeler	129	1892-1910
Larry Walker	129	1989-2004

streaks

Craig Biggio made it through the weekend without getting hit by a pitch. Shea Hillenbrand got hit Friday to tie Lew Ford for the Major League lead at 10, but Biggio doesn't seem to have taken that as a personal challenge. Despite not getting hit, Biggio is on a 5 game hit streak and the Astros are on a 5 game win streak. Biggio's longest getting hit streak was 3 games, most recently in 1998 from June 20 - 22. He also had 3 game plunk streaks from April 29 - May 1 1997 and August 30 -September 1 1997.

The Astros travel to Camden Yards today, to face Hayden Penn and the AL East leading Orioles. Penn has started only 3 games and never hit anyone with a pitch yet, but he has walked 10 and has 1 wild pitch, so the potential is there in the 20 year old Righty. He'll have a shot today to become the youngest pitcher ever to hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

Rolando Arrojo hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 13th, 2000.

Yesterday's Baltimore Sun discussed Biggio's record chase in it's Flip Side column, although mostly it's about this site, but it's worth reading just for the odd story (unrelated to Biggio) the author ended the article with.
And Mike Carminati at Baseball Toaster had another good study of HBP stats, this time focusing on pitchers, and crossing a lot of things of my to do list. Among the list of most above average plunkers he posted, 8 pitchers have Plunked biggio a combined 24 times. Among the list of least plunk happy pitchers, only Kirk Rueter has hit Biggio, but he did it twice while only hitting 22 other batters.

weekend notes for Canadians

The Astros won their first ever meeting with the Blue Jays last night, and Toronto became the newest of seven teams Biggio has played but not been plunked by, and the only Canadian entry on that list. They have two more chances this weekend to get off that list.
Gustavo Chacin pitches for the Jays today. He has never faced the Astros in his young career, but has already plunked 6 batters in his 14 career starts.
Kevin Ritz is the lone pitcher credited with hitting Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 11th, doing so in 1996.
Sunday, Josh Towers starts for the opposition. He too has never faced the Astros. Towers has only hit one batter this year but had a respectable 9 plunks on the season last year.
Mike Jackson (in 1992), Greg Maddux (in 1994), David Wells (in 2003), and Chris Capuano (in 2004) have all hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 12th.

Stan Spencer is the only Canadian born pitcher who had hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

The month of June ranks 3rd in weekend Biggio plunkings with 15 Saturday and Sunday plunks. July leads the way with 20, and May, the month with the most Biggio plunks overall, has 19.


MLB.com has an article on Don Baylor regarding the HBP record today.

average guys

A lot has been written (mostly here) about who's been hit by the most pitches, and who's been hit be the fewest pitches, but what about the guys in the middle? Baseball rewards the extremes, but what about the majority between those extremes? Someday, as a companion to the All Star Game, maybe MLB could put on an Average Guys game featuring all those utility infielders and journeymen with solid middle of the road stats that become fan favorites.
Until then, here's the top 5 players whose career HBPs per season come the closest to the Major League average for the seasons they played. Darryl Motley is the most average, getting hit 0.7143 times per season from 1981 to 1987. The league average for that time frame was 0.7149 (including every player with at least 1 plate appearance).

	HBP per season	League Average	Career
Darryl Motley	0.7143	0.7149	1981-1987
Rich Chiles	0.8333	0.8327	1971-1978
Tommy Neill	0.5000	0.5008	1946-1947
Goody Rosen	0.5714	0.5703	1937-1946
Nelson Santovenia	0.8571	0.8558	1987-1993

Top 5 most average get-hitters among active players (stats through '04):

	HBP per season	League Average	Career
Jose Offerman*	1.1333	1.1250	1990-2004
Todd Walker	1.2727	1.2626	1996-2004
Randall Simon	1.3333	1.3149	1997-2004
Jayson Werth	1.3333	1.3572	2002-2004
Marcus Thames	1.3333	1.3572	2002-2004
Jamey Carroll	1.3333	1.3572	2002-2004

*Offerman might not actually be active at this point.

And just for comparison, and to mention Craig Biggio, here are the Top 5 most above average get-hitters among active players (through '04):

	HBP per season	League Average	Career
Jason Kendall	19.6667	1.2603	1996-2004
David Eckstein	19.0000	1.3708	2001-2004
Craig Wilson	17.7500	1.3708	2001-2004
Reed Johnson	16.0000	1.3736	2003-2004
Craig Biggio	15.0588	1.0969	1988-2004

Blue Jay Friday

First, I'd like to wish a safe and speedy recovery to Retrosheet.org which seems to be having trouble. Get well soon Retrosheet! There's so much more about Craig Biggio getting hit by pitches we can learn from you.

The Blue Jay's Ted Lilly will be throwing in Biggio's general direction today. He has never faced the Astros (and obviously never hit Biggio), and has only hit 29 out of 2985 batters faced. That's pretty frequent compared to Glavine (EDIT: removed brain dead math, thanks John), but Lilly isn't going to be among the league leaders in plunks. He's never hit more than 7 in a season. So, if I can assume that Biggio's day off yesterday was due to his inability to get hit by Glavine, I should think he'll be back in the starting lineup today.

Craig Biggio has never been plunked on June 10th.

There's some good working on HBP stats by Mike Carminati over at Baseball Toaster today.

I guess...

Biggio getting a pinch hit rbi that was the go ahead run at the time, and the Astros eventually winning the game after an offensive explosion in the 11th is better than Biggio getting plunk 263.
I guess.
If you want to look at it that way.
It will have to do until tomorrow, when the Astros are back home against the second most plunked team in the Majors, the Toronto Bluejays - a team that is not impressed by a retractable roof.

Glavine today

Tom Glavine faces the Astros today. He'll be their second opposing pitcher this week to have won a Cy Young award. Glavine has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, having played most of his career with the non-plunking Braves. Glavine hits a batter slightly less than once every 10 starts - 54 hit batsmen in 582 starts. Only 7 pitchers with 500 or more starts have hit fewer batters than Glavine.

Craig Biggio was hit by a pitch on June 9, 2000 by Stan Spencer, and on this day in 1996 by Ken Ryan.

Also, today's New York Times has an excellent article about Biggio and the record, and I'd like to thank Jack Curry for mentioning Plunk Biggio. Although, I'm a little confused about what the Elias Sports Bureau had to say. The box score for the game Biggio has been mentioning when Jeremi Gonzalez hit him in the face is here. Biggio went 1-1 with 3 walks and 2 stolen bases in the game, and while I don't know what inning he got beaned, it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that it wasn't his last plate appearance of the game. The Astros clinched the division that day.

not bad

Biggio went 2-4 with an RBI, the Astros won another road game, how much more could we ask? Plunk 263 would have been nice but it will come along when the time is right.

victor z is theirs

Victor Zambrano takes the hill for the Mets today. He has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but has hit 6 batters this year. That puts him in a 13 way tie for 4th in the majors, 1 plunk behind the three leaders. In 2003, Zambrano hit 20 batters as part of the Devil Rays team which set the modern record for hit batters in a season. That was the first team since 1899 to hit 95 batters.

Biggio has been hit twice on June 8th, first in 1993 by Jose Deleon, and more recently in 2000 by Alan Mills.

Reader Rastronomicals emailed Plunk Biggio to point out that Craig Biggio's HBPs contribute more of his on base percentage than any other player with more than 10,000 plate appearances. Through 2004, Biggio's HBPs contributed 6.47% of his OBP, and his ratio of times reaching base to HBPs was 15.45. This means that for every 15.45 times he reaches base, 1 of those is going to be via the plunk. Taking a look at the other end of this stat, Harold Baines only got hit by a pitch once out of every 281.57 times he reached base. And, just to prove that it's not always about extremes, Fred McGriff got hit once per 98.31 times reaching base, making him the player closest to the category average. Ted Williams, the all time leader in On Base Percentage, got hit by a pitch only once every 120.87 times he reached base, but he took time off to defend the country in 2 wars so he only had 9789 plate appearances.

Rastronomicals' email also asked how Biggio ranked if the plate appearance cut off were dropped to 5000, so here it is. Hughie Jennings is the all time leader with 1 plunk in every 7.53 times reaching base. Sandy Alomar Jr has reach base 491 times for every HBP.
Top ten OBP to HBP% ratios among players with 5000 plate appearances

Hughie Jennings	7.53
Ron Hunt	9.16
Jason Kendall	11.53
Don Baylor	12.01
Damion Easley	15.09
Craig Biggio	15.45
Minnie Minoso	15.46
Andres Galarraga	17.38
Brady Anderson	18.02
Chet Lemon	18.38

And the bottom ten:

Sandy Alomar Sr.	491
Jerry Mumphrey	481
Jose Cruz	450.86
Vern Stephens	426.17
Garret Anderson	410.2
Otis Nixon	393.8
Ruben Sierra	387.43
Jim Hegan	386.75
Mickey Mantle	320.08
Granny Hamner	314.33

In case you hadn't heard...

Pedro Martinez is really good. 15 of his 110 pitches went to Craig Biggio, none hit him. Only 4 of the 30 pitches he threw outside the strikezone were to Biggio, and only 3 of the 80 strikes Pedro threw made it past Biggio to the catcher (he fouled of 6 and put 2 in play for outs). 110 pitches, 80 strikes, 2 hits, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts, 9 innings, no hit batters.

more Pedro.

Pedro Martinez is 6th among active pitchers in hit batsmen, but he is also 6th all time among pitchers who have plunked Biggio. Kevin Brown has hit more total batters than any other Biggio plunker with 138. Pedro Martinez is one hit batter away from both Orel Hershiser and Darryl Kile. Al Leiter is right behind Pedro with 111.

Pitcher	Total hit batters	Biggio plunks
Kevin Brown	138	2
Frank Tanana	129	1
Greg Maddux	120	2
Orel Hershiser	117	3
Darryl Kile	117	1
Pedro Martinez	116	1
Al Leiter	111	3

to new york

The Astros begin a three game series with the Mets today facing 3 time Cy Young award winner Pedro Martinez. Pedro plunked Biggio on May 1, 1997 and has a bit of a reputation for throwing at batters. But, he's only 6th among active pitchers in career hit batsmen, with 116. And, 16 of those were Yankees, so who could blame him? Pedro and Greg Maddux are the only pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch and gone on to win the Cy Young award in the same year (but Maddux did it twice, in '93 and '94).
June 7th is one HBP away from tying for Biggio's most plunked day of the year, with 5 currently. Only April 29th has had 6. Ron Darling of the Mets hit him on June 7, 1991, Yorkis Perez got him in 1995, Heath Murray did it in 1997, Shawn Chacon in 2001, and Chad Bradford committed Biggio plunkery in 2002.

Witnesses

The average reported attendance for games when Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch is 27,957 - slightly higher than the average attendance for all Astros games from 1988 through yesterday (26,909). Road plunks have had slightly higher attendance than home plunks, 28,263 to 27,673.
The largest reported crowd to witness a Biggio plunking was 52,806 at Dodger Stadium on May 7, 2000, and they saw 2 that day, handed out by Orel Hershiser. Just 15 days later, on May 22, 2000, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, only 3,913 people showed up to watch Biggio get drilled in the first game of a double header, making that the smallest crowd to view a Biggio HBP.

slow weekend, off monday

Craig Biggio went 0-8 over the weekend with no HBPs, but he did pitch in with one RBI sac fly and helped on defense turning 3 double plays. Biggio is 16 double plays away from 1000, for those who like stats with round numbers.
Chris Burke picked up his first career HBP Saturday, showing once again that he might one day be able to fill Biggio's shoes (hopefully not for a few more years).

The Astros are off today, so Biggio won't add to the list of pitchers who have drilled him on June 6th. Joey Hamilton hit Biggio on June 6, 1997, and in 2001 Brian Bohanon brashly beaned Biggio.

In the news, Ben McGrath of the New Yorker has an article on the Quest today, and included Plunk Biggio in the story. I apologize in advance to Astros fans in case monocle wearing long necked New Yorkers in top hats start flocking to Minute Maid Park in response. I certainly wouldn't want to sit behind one of those guys.
Also, Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel responded to my shameless self promotion with a follow up to his excellent article to week before last. Of course I'm only linking to the result of my shameless self promotion because I enjoy Berardino's columns, not because I'm committing more shameless acts of self promotion.

weekend with Cards notes

Craig Biggio stayed out of the way of 11 pitches last night, but only 2 were outside the strikezone. We can only hope that today and tomorrow the Cardinals pitchers will stop pitching around him and throw him something he can get hit by.

Today:
Biggio hasn't been plunked on June 4th since 1993 when Frank Tanana got him. That was also Biggio's first June 4th plunking. St. Louis starter Jason Marquis has never hit him with a pitch.

Sunday:
Scheduled opposing starter Mark Mulder has never plunked Biggio.
Willis Roberts is the only pitcher who has hit Biggio on June 5th, doing so in 2003 in an interleague game with Baltimore.

Cardinals notes

The Cardinals have hit 4,065 opposing batters in franchise history, which ranks them 3rd all time. However, only 3,842 of those have come since the formation of the National League so even though they're 3rd in Major League history, they're 4th in National League history.

Top 5 plunking franchises in majors:

Phillies	4,224
Tigers	4,125
Cards	4,065
Reds	4,062
Pirates	4,022

Top 5 plunking franchises in NL:

Phillies	4,224
Pirates	3,896
Cubs	3,879
Cards	3,842
Reds	3,805

Friday with the NL champs

The defending National League champions will visit Biggio's yard starting today, and Chris Carpenter will lead off the series pitching for St. Louis. Carpenter plunked Biggio last year on April 14th to become the second pitcher born in New Hampshire to do so. New Hampshire may sound like a place much to small to have produced 2 of the 200 pitchers to have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but they are actually only 5th in Biggio plunkers produced per capita. With a population of nearly 1.3 million as of last year, New Hampshire has produced 1 Biggio plunker per 650,000 of current population. Alaska has produced Biggio plunkers at nearly twice that per capita rate.

State	Biggio Plunkers	Pop.(July 04)	per capita
Alaska	2	655435	0.0000030
Hawaii	3	1262840	0.0000024
Wyoming	1	506529	0.0000020
North Dakota	1	634366	0.0000016
New Hampshire	2	1299500	0.0000015

Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on June 3rd.

location, location, paint color... I mean location

Craig Biggio has been plunked in 28 different major league ball parks. There are only 8 parks he's played in where he's never been hit by a pitch. As of 2004, the Oakland (Network Associates) Coliseum and PetCo Park hold the top spot for Craig Biggio's plunks per plate appearance at .2 while The Ballpark at Arlington is third at .19. Limited to parks where Biggio has played 10 or more games, Arlington is first, followed by Coors Field at .13 HBP/PA, and PNC Park at .122.

win streak?

Craig Biggio didn't get hit by a pitch last night, but went 1-3 with a walk, and the Astros have now won 5 of their last 7 games. Adam Everett recorded his 23rd career HBP. He may not look like he's on a track to catch Biggio, but Biggio didn't get to 23 HBPs until his 6th season in the majors, so there is still hope if you're an Adam Everett fan (maybe you should start a blog about it).

In other news, here's a nice article from Don Baylor's perspective about the modern HBP record. Baylor says "I could have been hit another 100 times if I hadn't gotten out of the way". So true in all parts of life. Once again, people seem to dismiss the 19th century players, and I probably would too if Biggio didn't have a shot at breaking the all time record, but I still point to the MLB stats site which lists Hughie Jennings as the all time record holder.

The Astros are off today, so Biggio won't have a chance to chip into Don Baylor's modern record for HBPs on June 2nd. Biggio has never been plunked on the 2nd day of June, but Baylor had 2.

rookies

When Todd Coffey plunked Biggio on Monday, he became the 29th rookie pitcher to hit Biggio with a pitch, and it was Biggio's 31st plunk from a rookie. Biggio has been hit most often by 2nd and 3rd year pitchers, and by more 2nd year pitchers than any other experience level. Frank Tanana was the longest serving pitcher to hit Biggio with a pitch, drilling Biggio in his 21st season (1993).

Biggio plunks by Pitcher's experience:

Seasons	Plunks	Pitchers
1	31	29
2	34	33
3	34	31
4	29	26
5	19	19
6	17	15
7	28	23
8	19	17
9	12	11
10	7	7
11	9	9
12	9	8
13	6	4
14	1	1
16	1	1
17	2	2
18	2	1
19	1	1
21	1	1

another lack of hits

Craig Biggio failed to get hit by a pitch last night and didn't do much better hitting pitches himself, going 0-4. But, the Astros got the win, which is the important thing to everyone who isn't patiently tracking Craig Biggio's progress toward one particular obscure goal.

Today's pitcher for Cincinnati is Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz plunks just about 1% of the batters he faces, but none of his 39 hit batsmen was Craig Biggio.

Glendon Rusch hit Biggio with a pitch on June 1, 2004, and Andy Benes hit Biggio on June 1, 1996.