passing

Barring a miraculous 7 plunks in the last weeks of this season, Craig Biggio will finish the 2006 season without passing anyone on the all time HBP list. This will be the first season he hasn't passed anyone on the plunk list since 1988. Obviously, there is only 1 person left to pass since Biggio is #2 on the all time list, and as Biggio has moved higher up the ladder, the passings have became less frequent. But, the number of days between Biggio passing Tommy Tucker, and whenever he passes Hughie Jennings will be the longest time he's spent on any rung of the HBP ladder since his first plunk. Biggio spent 480 days at #6 on the all time list after passing Frank Robinson on April 13, 2002 on plunk #199, until he passed Dan McGann on plunk #231 on August 6, 2003. It was a year ago yesterday that Biggio passed Tucker for #2 on the list, and by April 1st of next season, it will have been 566 days and counting.

Biggio hasn't passed an active player on the HBP list since August 30, 1997 when he recorded plunk 109 tying him with Sherry MaGee and Andres Galarraga and August 31st when he moved into sole possession of 33rd place on the all time list with plunk 110. Galarraga got his 110th plunk on September 10th that year, but by that time Biggio had 113. Biggio has been #1 on the active list ever since. Galarraga would eventually climb to 10th on the list with 178 career HBPs when he retired after the 2004 season, but Jason Kendall has since knocked him down to 11th. Kendall passed Galarraga on May 6, 2005.

Here is Biggio's rank on the all time plunk list as of the end of each season since 1988:
1988 - 5,635th (tied)
1989 - 2,276th (tied)
1990 - 1,850th (tied)
1991 - 1,624th (tied)
1992 - 1,092nd (tied)
1993 - 675th (tied)
1994 - 447th (tied)
1995 - 170th (tied)
1996 - 68th (tied)
1997 - 26th
1998 - 14th (tied)
1999 - 11th (tied)
2000 - 10th
2001 - 7th
2002 - 6th
2003 - 5th
2004 - 4th
2005 - 2nd
2006 - 2nd?


Here are the last 40 players Biggio has passed on his way up the plunk list, with the rank they held before Biggio came along, and the dates Biggio tied and passed them - with links to the retrosheet.org boxscores:

Player	HBPs	Rank	Tied	Passed
Tommy Tucker	272	2	09/03/2005	09/12/2005
Don Baylor	267	3	06/28/2005	06/29/2005
Ron Hunt	243	4	04/24/2004	04/25/2004
Dan McGann	230	5	07/12/2003	08/06/2003
Frank Robinson	198	6	04/10/2002	04/13/2002
Minnie Minoso	192	7	07/28/2001	08/18/2001
Jake Beckley	183	8	06/29/2001	06/30/2001
Curt Welch	173	9	04/20/2001	04/29/2001
Kid Elberfeld	165	10	06/09/2000	06/13/2000
Fred Clarke	153	11	09/13/1999	04/29/2000
Chet Lemon	151	12	07/25/1999	09/09/1999
Carlton Fisk	143	13	04/25/1999	05/04/1999
Nellie Fox	142	14	08/24/1998	04/25/1999
Art Fletcher	141	15	08/20/1998	08/24/1998
Bill Dahlen	140	16	08/11/1998	08/20/1998
Frank Chance	137	17	07/21/1998	07/27/1998
John McGraw	134	18	07/04/1998	07/11/1998
Dummy Hoy	134	18	07/04/1998	07/11/1998
Nap Lajoie	134	18	07/04/1998	07/11/1998
Steve Brodie	132	21	06/22/1998	07/04/1998
Brian Downing	129	22	06/17/1998	06/20/1998
Willie Keeler	129	22	06/17/1998	06/20/1998
Honus Wagner	125	24	05/20/1998	05/23/1998
Buck Herzog	120	25	04/01/1998	04/28/1998
Jimmie Dykes	115	26	09/12/1997	09/17/1997
Sherm Lollar	115	26	09/12/1997	09/17/1997
Bill Freehan	114	28	09/12/1997	09/12/1997
Frankie Crosetti	114	28	09/12/1997	09/12/1997
Steve Evans	111	30	09/01/1997	09/07/1997
Andre Dawson	111	30	09/01/1997	09/07/1997
George Burns	110	32	08/31/1997	09/01/1997
Sherry Magee	109	33	08/30/1997	08/31/1997
Andres Galarraga	109*	33	08/30/1997	08/31/1997
Bill Joyce	108	35	08/27/1997	08/30/1997
Pete Rose	107	36	08/24/1997	08/27/1997
Wally Schang	107	36	08/24/1997	08/27/1997
Dan Brouthers	105	37	08/17/1997	08/23/1997
Tris Speaker	103	38	08/12/1997	08/17/1997
Orlando Cepeda	102	40	08/12/1997	08/12/1997
Henry Larkin	100	41	07/25/1997	08/09/1997

*Andres Galarraga, as noted above, had 178 career plunks, but he was at 109 when Biggio passed him.

27 of the above named players did not live long enough to see Craig Biggio pass them on the all time HBP list.