Team hit-batsmen totals

At the moment, tonight's opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, are 2nd in the majors in hitting batters with 76, behind the Washington Nationals 84 plunks. This looks like it's going to be the first season since 2000 in which a National League team wins the major league plunking title. In 2000, the LA Dodgers carried the season, hitting 75 batters, and the National League held 4 of the top 5 spots on the batter plunking leader board. All 4 of those NL teams plunked Craig Biggio that season, and the Dodgers led all teams plunking Biggio 5 times that year.
This season, the National League is in position to sweep the top 5 spots on the hitting batters leader board (only 3 of those top 5 teams have plunked Biggio). The NL has only swept the top 5 spots in hitting batters once since the American League began play - in 1940 the Boston Bees (Braves) led the majors with 35. That's only 1 more plunk than Biggio's best season.
Here are the HBP leaders among 1940 pitching staffs:
Boston Bees - NL - 35
Pittsburgh Pirates - NL - 32
Brooklyn Dodgers - NL - 31
St. Louis Cardinals - NL - 27
Philadelphia Phillies - NL - 26
Cleveland Indians - AL - 25
Boston Red Sox - AL - 23
Washington Senators - AL - 21
St. Louis Browns - AL - 20
Cincinnati Reds - NL - 18
New York Giants - NL - 18
Detroit Tigers - AL - 17
New York Yankees - AL - 16
Chicago Cubs - NL - 16
Philadelphia Athletics - AL - 15
Chicago White Sox - AL - 14

None of those teams plunked Biggio in 1940.

The American League has shut the NL out of the top 5 on the team plunking list 6 times since its formation. 5 of those times have been since the DH rule was installed, most recently in 1989 and 1990.