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 |
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 |
Labels: Hughie Jennings, Managers, Ron Hunt, Tommy Tucker
4 Comments:
Of course the home runs might have something to do with the Astros moving into the Juice Box formerly known as the Corporation-who-went-out-of-business-bankrupting-millions-and-causing-me-to-have-to-do-a-lot-more-work-so-my-CEO-doesn't-get-arrested Field and out of the Astrodome.
True, but the Astrodome years ended in 1999 (it wasn't y2k compliant), but Jimy Williams still managed to reduce Biggio's home runs per plate appearance from what it was under Dierker, even though Dierker had 3 seasons in the Astrodome.
But really, who cares about homers when there's plunks to discuss.
That's because Jimy Williams sucks. How many Hits Batsmen did Larry Dierker have? I bet it was a lot, he pitched when men were men.
Dude you rock for not printing you know who's name.
p.s. Your blog rox.
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