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.