Dedicated to Craig Biggio and his (probably unintentional) Quest to break the all time major league career record for getting hit by pitches.
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.
Labels: Byung-Hyun Kim, modern record, plunks
| Hughie Jennings | 287 |
| Craig Biggio | |
| Tommy Tucker | 272 |
| Don Baylor | 267 |
Games left =
Updated to include games through
Last Plunk:
| Reader | Date |
| Softball Chic | May 25 |
| DM | June 20 |
| Deputy Marshall | July 3 |
| Justin | July 8 |
| Kenny | July 18 |
| RETED | July 21 |
| Lionstone | July 29 |
| Lord Elicani | August 2 |
| Dave | August 6 |
| Ted | August 10 |
| Kate | August 12 |
| Matt | August 18 |
| Cletus | August 20 |
| Two Dogs | August 29 |
| Blue Genie | Sept 1 |
| Wesley | Sept 8 |
| Cat | Sept 11 |
| Cletus's Mama | Sept 30 |
| Reader | Date |
| Lionstone | June 17 |
| Robert | June 19 |
| DM | June 20 |
| RETED | June 21 |
| Kate | June 23 |
| Matt | June 26 |
| ACTUAL! | June 28 |
| Kim | June 30 |
| Lord Elicani | July 1 |
| Cletus's Mama | July 2 |
| Dave | July 4 |
| Ted | July 6 |
| Wesley | July 7 |
| Justin | July 8 |
| Cletus | July 10 |
| Softball Chic | July 14 |
| Kenny | July 18 |
| Deputy Marshall | July 22 |
| Cat | Sept 11 |
| Two Dogs | Sept 16 |
Email PlunkBiggio at PlunkBiggio%AT%gmail%DOT%com
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57 Comments:
Yes!!! Way to go Craig!!
I HATE being at work! I can't believe I missed it!! Sportscenter better show him some love!
They should...I am at work too, but I got to see it on FSN Houston...lol Plunked on the elbow in typical Biggio fashion!
And a celebratory homer in the 6th!
Grats to Biggio for the fun record. Also grats to you for being noted on astros.com :)
Congrats, Craig; congrats PBR. Next stop -- all-time record.
hell yeah. around the horn!
Hey,good stuff getting on ESPN fellays. Way to go. Keep this site rolling.
Dan Benton
http://mostvaluablenetwork.com/
Biggio is a Hall of Famer, this just adds to it. When you look up baseball player in the dictionary...(do people do that?), his picture is there.
I misssed it too by 5 mn, connecting on MLB TV from France a little too late.
Thanks Craig, you're the 1st baseball player I ever heard about 13 yrs ago!
Astros biggest French Fan
I hope you all know Jason Kendall will re-break this record in seven years.
Way to go Craig, glad that "THe Hall" will be getting a few things of your in there early. It will be there to save a spot for you when you are ready to hit the rocking chair.... :-) Hugs and kisses
good job Craig... u deserve it to break some kind of record being what i think as one of baseball's greatest players, next stop. Hall of Fame.
I have the same birthday as Biggio, what an honor! I'm surprised you get such few comments when your website is being mentioned on astros.com
Here's a link: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050629&content_id=1108628&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
Now if you ask me, and plenty of folks needing to know about pain do now and again, that plunking must have hurt worse than when you get your tongue caught between the heating elements of an old electric toaster. Ouch! Kim Byung Hyun obviously used the tried and true traditional 5,000-year-old Korean frozen cabbage leaf under the hat trick. The elbow pad goes to Cooperstown.
Twenty more plunkings and he has the record.
watch out, Hughie...
huge achievement!
I emailed Allyson Footer at Astros.com and suggested they cut together video of all 268 plunkings into one INCREDIBLE clip. If each plunk took 1 sec, the full video would be almost FIVE minutes!!!
but they did not take me up on it.
Props to Bidge for being an all time gamer. Thanks for the blog. Nice interview on 610.
Congrats to Craig for a great achievement, next stop the real record!
Love the blog....keep it up.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This so-called "record" is ridiculous to the point of laughter. All this means is that Craig Biggio wears armor and thus is not afraid to lean out over the plate and let inside fastballs graze his elbow tampon. Maybe if he didn't wear a diaper on his arm or if he didn't break the rules by failing to even attempt to get out of the way of the pitch, this record would be meaningful.
aaron, take your complaints to the umps.
Go Bidge!
quit whining aaron....baseball has a tradition of "cheating", in fact tends to honor it...kudos to Craig!
By “tradition of cheating” we can assume that anonymous might could be referring to frozen cabbage leaves under caps. I ain’t pointing no fingers at anyone in particular, except maybe the scoundrel Kim Byung Hyun.
I have a question: What temas have managed not to plunk Mr., Biggio?
anonymous wrote:
"quit whining aaron....baseball has a tradition of "cheating", in fact tends to honor it"
So you do admit that he's cheating? As long as we're clear on that. I wouldn't mind the cheating so much if he was at least man enough to not wear a Kotex with wings on his elbow.
aaron, that's right up their on the cowardous scale with taking anonymous shots on an internet site, right? If you ever watched baseball you'd know he switched to a smaller elbow guard two years ago. So, as my anonymous namesake wrote, quit whining. You don't get to be an umpire, and the umpires decide if he tried to get out of the way or not. And they do enforce the rules - most of the time.
I didn't get to see it, but I hope it was a memorable Milo call. Something like: "There's a new hit-by-pitch king in baseball... and it's Craig Biggio!"
...but better than that.
Congrats and thanks, Bigg.
His liftime OBP is .372
Need we say more.
It is all about getting on base.
Everybody looks for an edge. pinetar, nail files, frozen cabbage leaves, corked bats...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
"aaron, that's right up their on the cowardous scale with taking anonymous shots on an internet site, right? If you ever watched baseball you'd know he switched to a smaller elbow guard two years ago. So, as my anonymous namesake wrote, quit whining. You don't get to be an umpire, and the umpires decide if he tried to get out of the way or not. And they do enforce the rules - most of the time."
Cowardice?!?! I'm not anonymous, and even if I was I fail to see how pointing on the fact that he uses armor to help him cheat shows any cowardice. Oh, he used a "smaller" elbow guard, so I guess that's OK. So if someone takes fewer steroids than I guess we should forgive them? I find it hilarious that you even pointed that out. So he went from a full size pad with wings down to a tampon. How about taking the armor off, then let's see if he's still willing to throw his elbow out there.
Another Anonymous said...
"His liftime OBP is .372
Need we say more.
It is all about getting on base.
Everybody looks for an edge. pinetar, nail files, frozen cabbage leaves, corked bats... "
Like I said, as long as we are clear that wearing armor and failing to move out of the way is the same as a corked bat or a nail file. You guys are making my point for me.
othing surreptitious about wearing plastic and not getting out of the way fast enough, unlike roids and files. The umps can see the former and sanction it, but have no power of the latter. god how big an idiot do you have to be to make such a spurious comparison?
Not as big an idiot as you'd have to be to completely miss the point. The rules state that a player must attempt to get out of the way, just the same as the rules state you can't scuff the ball with a nail file. I'm not comparing the methods of cheating, nor comparing how easily detectable they are, I'm just stating the FACT that what Biggio does is against the rules of baseball, and getting away with cheating more times than anyone else is not something we should celebrate. What's funny is that the Biggio defenders are the ones who drew a parallel to the other forms of cheating, yet you call me the idiot for making the comparison.
What you've missed, Aaron, is that it is NOT cheating. The umps can clearly see what he's wearing. If they choose to let him play, then by definition it's legal. Presumably if the umps become aware of a player using a nail file or doctoring the ball, they would not allow him to remain in the game. They would remove him for cheating. But if they chose to NOT remove him, then ipso facto it wasn't cheating. The umps define what is cheating and what isn't. So, by the very definition of "cheating", Biggio isn't.
You'll have to try a little harder. So your argument is that cheating is not really cheating if it does not get called? That is a very interesting interpretation. Unfortunately this is a rule that is not enforced properly so Biggio (and others, Jeff Kendall comes to mind) gets away with it.
I can't believe how naive some of you seem to be. Let me ask you this, do you think it is all a huge coincidence that Biggio has been hit by so many pitches? If not, then that must mean he sees the about the same number of pitches as everyone else that could potentially hit him. If more of those pitches are hitting him, that means that either he is too slow to get out of the way, or he is intentionally letting it hit him. I highly doubt the former, and if the latter is true than he is cheating, plain and simple, and the failure of the umpire to call him for it does nothing to diminish this fact.
Aaron, maybe you should start your own blog bout all the big mean cheaters in baseball if youre going to take it so personally
Funny. I am merely pointing out how silly it is to start a website devoted to a meaningless record earned by breaking the rules.
Aaron, am I to understand that your point has changed from Craig wearing feminine protection products to not moving out of the way of the pitch? Which one is it that bothers you? Only one of those can be defined as cheating. The other is allowed as part of the uniform that can be worn by any player in the game.
Why do you care? If you think the website is silly then stop coming back to it. You're obviously not a fan and therefore can't appreciate what Biggio has meant to the franchise. Leave the website for those that can.
Now, now, we mustn't scold Aaron for having a different opinion from us. Differences of opinion are what make the world interesting, after all. Instead, I'll just point out that, yes, indeed, "cheating" is not cheating if it is clearly observed by the official arbiters of the game and deemed in their opinion to be legal. You have to admit that there is a distinction between using a nail file (which is not in any way a judgement call - either he used one or he didn't) and not getting out of the way of a pitch fast enough (which is clearly a judgement call - could he have dodged quicker? Was he crowding the plate just a little bit more than the typical batter? All open to interpretation and differences of opinion). Obviously it is difficult to compare these two offenses, since the latter one is in the judgement of the umpire, and is therefore not in any way quantifiable. In a situation like that, I would maintain absolutely that the judgement of the individual ump at the moment of the call is indeed the definition of what constitutes a violation of the rules (and what does not). Unlike the case of a nail file or doctoring the ball with a foreign substance - those are verifiable offenses, which cannot be defended as fair play because there is no argument (based on anybody's judgement) as to whether or not the player actually did what he is accused of. Now, you may choose to disagree with the judgement of the umpires (268 times...), but since they are (a) trained for many years to make the right decisions and (b) paid to do so, and you are not, I'd side with the judgement of the professionals in this case. I'm just guessing that the umps know more about how to make a judgement call based on the written rules than you do. Or than I do, for that matter. So I'll go with them. Sorry, but I think you lose.
What a silly thing to argue about anyway. Entertaining, but very silly.
Aaron,
I can't help but notice your harping on the elbow pad, calling it "armor" and the like...
What I wonder is this---do you realize that many of the pitches that hit Biggio did NOT hit him on the elbow? If he were really using his "armor" to protect him from the pitches when he "intentionally" put himself in the way of them, you would think that he is smart enough to not let himself get hit in the chest, back, head, ankle, foot, hand, and many other places. The fact of the matter is that whether you like his record or not, the fact that he has the record is not a de facto argument for him "cheating," NOR does it mean that he put himself in the way of every pitch. Also, many of the "plunkings" took place later in his career, so it is very much a possibility that he couldn't get out of the way of pitches that average around 90 mph (which, by the way, leaves you a little less than a second to react, and it takes a person around that amount of time to BEGIN moving out of the way...).
Also---you do realize that the pad was put there so that there would be less damage to his elbow, which had already been hurt by such incidents?
My point from the very beginning was that he breaks the rules and the armor allows him to do so, I don't see why you think it has changed. I never implied that wearing the feminine products was cheating, as that is clearly allowed under the rules. What is cheating is failing to move out of the way of a pitch. The reason the armor is important is because it allows him to crowd the plate and let a pitch hit him. If he did this without the armor it would still be cheating, but at least it would be somewhat admirable.
Personally I don't think hitters should wear the armor but since it is allowed I normally don't have a problem with it. When it becomes a problem is when players use it to their advantage like Biggio does. It's allowed because it can protect from injury, not to enable guys to cheat. It's interesting that most of you have admitted that he doesn't move out of the way and that to do so is cheating, yet you still seem to be enamored with his so-called record.
You say that I can't appreciate what he's done for the franchise, and that is untrue. Biggio is a great player and he'll probably be in the hall of fame. Why not celebrate the good things he's done instead of the rules he's broken? I don't see Cardinals fans starting a website to honor Mark McGwire for his steroid use.
My point (from the post above yours) still stands. If he was really using the elbow pad to his advantage, you would think he would let himself be hit THERE more...instad of other, unarmored places. Many times, a person can find himself unable to move out of the way of such fast pitches. A 90 mph fastball is nothing to sneeze at...
To anonymous two posts above:
Yes, I realize that not every pitch hit him in the elbow, but when he wears the pad he's more willing to lean out over the plate than he would be without it. If he knew that a 95 mph fastball could hit him right on his unprotected elbow, I can assure you he would approach an at-bat differently than he does now.
I also know that not every one of the hbp's was avoidable, obviously it's a normal part of the game for a batter to be hit, but like I said before, do you think it is just a lucky coincidence that he's been hit so many times? Anyone that has watched him play over the years knows that he does not try to get out of the way of inside pitches.
Re: the comment above about it being a judgement call
Yes it is up to the umpire to decide, but unfortunately this is almost never called, and Biggio (to his credit) takes advantage of that. But you would be fooling yourself if you really said that he tries to avoid inside pitches. The failure of the umpires to call it does not make it any less obvious that he doesn't try to avoid them, as the rule dictates he must.
re: letting himself get hit in the elbow
It's not as if it is so easy to decide exactly where the ball will hit you. The reason the pad gives an advantage is because your elbow is both vulnerable and also quite susceptible to injury should you get hit there. Typically a ball will hit you in the side of the leg, the back, or the arm near the elbow. Which of those three is most likely to be injured by getting hit? Which of those three would you most likely need to protect if you're going to lean out over the plate? Which of those three are you allowed to wear protection on? Your elbow. If you could not protect the elbow like Biggio does, you would be much less likely to allow pitches to hit you like he does.
It's a common strategy to crowd the plate---puts pressure on the pitcher, and usually causes him to throw outside. Of course, though, there is risk involved. My point about hbp's being unavoidable sometimes is the fact that, yes, it COULD be an unlucky coincidence that he was hit that many times. Statistics and probabilities don't care about how unlikely something is---if there's a possibility of it happening, then there's a possibility, no matter how slim. In any case, though, how do you know that it was intentional of him? At the very most, you could rightfully claim that he is guilty of crowding the plate---however, that is something MANY other players are guilty of, and I sure am not ready to claim that all of them are cheaters for duplicating the "sins" of Biggio.
What about the all-time leader in plunkings? Was he cheating too? All Biggio did was break the modern record...
Yes, it is common to crowd the plate, and it can be very effective. I don't question whether or not someone should crowd the plate. But if you're going to do so, then don't wear the armor. That gives the batter an unfair advantage. Crowding the plate brings with it the risk of being hit, the sissies wearing armor want reward with no risk.
re: the all time leader. I don't know, I never saw him play. He probably crowded the plate, a lot of guys do. Chances are he was cheating and not moving out of the way. But I can assure you one thing, he was not wearing a diaper on his arm like Biggio, Bonds, and so many of the players today.
If you have watched Craig Biggio play and you still say that he does not intentionally allow himself to be hit, you are either blind or you're not being honest with yourself.
One last thing: look at how far ahead of everyone Biggio is. There's no need to lecture me about statistics and probability, this is not a random occurence.
RE: Hughie Jennings cheating
Take a look back at some of the posts a couple of weeks ago - at some point I posted a link to a story about Hughie Jennings and the original Orioles, and how they were completely ruthless in their cheating! They burried cement blocks in the dirt in front of home plate to get high choppers they could beat out, and they handed out dead(er) balls to the fans to throw back when a foul was hit into the stands. One of the links I posted today mentions that Jennings routinely tried to get hit in the head on purpose, long before anyone wore helmets. Then again he also fractured his skull diving into an empty swimming pool once.
Todays players have a little more of an obligation to keep themselves healthy through their multimillion dollar contracts - at least the ones who care about honoring their contract. Aaron, I understand your point about Biggio's plate approach being facilitated by his protective gear, but I still don't believe it. As I mentioned in today's post, I'm pretty sure from comments Biggio has made that he started wearing the guard after the first season he led the league in plunks. I choose to believe that the impact of the armor on the record is only that it has prevented a career ending injury this long. Personally, I'm in favor of more protection and longer careers having grown up watching Larry Bird and Cam Neely have careers cut short by injuries from hard nosed play. If Nomar had an arm guard he might not have taken the pitch to the wrist a couple of years ago that seems to have seriously altered his career.
As Forest (and maybe Cletus) might say, that's all I got to say about that.
I think you boys are all missing the point. What about them frozen cabbage leaves?!
OK this site is fun! Will the author also run a blog for Biggio's run for 3000 hits?
Two replies to two posts...
a) Aaron said:
"One last thing: look at how far ahead of everyone Biggio is. There's no need to lecture me about statistics and probability, this is not a random occurence."
My point about probabilities is that it is possible for individuals to come out with higher numbers than others. The bigger the number, the more improbable it will be...but there's still a possibility. My entire point is that there is really no evidence that he intends to be hit, and there are reasons AGAINST doing such a thing (not the least of which being that he could injure himself in such a way as to end his career). As such, it isn't the fairest thing to unequivocally call him a cheater.
b) As to the possibility of a 3000-hit record blog...I think that would be great! I think that this particular record is a better thing to harp on, anyways.
As to my post above...
I meant that the 3000-hit record would be better to harp on, just to clear up the possible confusion.
I can just see him do a vitory lap
and everyone will cheer.
Then a moment of silence for 10 minutes!
Break it craig biggio break the hit by pitch record!
Stop picking on good old bidge.
He's my favorite player.
I don't see why macjerko gets so much cheers ether.
Thanks nameless one.
Go Bidge!
I wonder if dm and aron will get back. They always had the best comments.
Go bidge!
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