All Star Ballot

The 2007 All Star game ballot is up over at MLB.com, and ready to receive your 25 votes (per email address) for who should participate this year. Like all things in baseball that involve voting, everyone seems to have their own theory about what criteria you should use to pick this team. Some people like to vote for who's having the best season now (which makes voting in April and May a little silly). Some people like to vote for who they think are the best overall players in the game. Others like to vote for whichever players have had the best stats since last year's all star game, and still others vote for the people who have had the best highlights on ESPN or the most TV commercials.

But this year, why not vote for some people who have really earned the right to some recognition? Why not vote for the guys who have the most career HBPs? The ones who have put their team ahead of their own well being for season after season... lets give them the individual recognition they deserve just for being willing to take a fastball in the shoulder and get on base rather dive for cover so they can hack at another pitch for a "hey, look at me" home run or something.

So, here are the players with the top career HBPs by position on this year's All Star ballot (top three in each category are included in case you have a moral objection to voting for players from certain teams like the Yankees, or other assorted suspected steroid users):

National League:

First Base:
Carlos Delgado, NYM - 150
Nomar Garciaparra, LAD - 58
Nick Johnson, WAS - 52
Derrek Lee, CHC - 52

Second Base:
Craig Biggio, HOU - 283
Jeff Kent, LAD - 115
Ray Durham, SF - 68

Short Stop:
David Eckstein, STL - 107
Alex Gonzalez, CIN - 56
Omar Vizquel, SF - 46

Third Base:
Scott Rolen, STL - 91
Aramis Ramirez, CHC - 53
Craig Counsell, MIL - 37

Catcher:
Brad Ausmus, HOU - 61
Paul Lo Duca, NYM - 49
Bengie Molina, SF - 30

Outfield:
Luis Gonzalez, LAD - 108
Barry Bonds, SF - 104
Geoff Jenkins, MIL - 86
Andruw Jones, ATL - 78
Ken Griffey, CIN - 76


American League:

First Base:
Jason Giambi, NYY - 128
Sean Casey, DET - 58
Paul Konerko, CWS - 57

Second Base:
Mark Grudzielanek, KC - 94
Placido Polanco, DET - 55
Mark Ellis, OAK - 27

Short Stop:
Derek Jeter, NYY - 119
Miguel Tejada, BAL - 83
Royce Clayton, TOR - 45

Third Base:
Alex Rodriguez, NYY - 108
Melvin Mora, BAL - 89
Mike Lowell, BOS - 43

Catcher:
Jason Kendall, OAK - 210
AJ Pierzynski, CWS - 71
Jorge Posada, NYY - 55

Outfield:
Gary Sheffield, DET - 123
Jose Guillen, SEA - 98
Rondell White, MIN - 85
Manny Ramirez, BOS - 78
Vlad Guerrero, LAA - 73
Shannon Stewart, OAK - 71
Reed Johnson, TOR - 71


Vote early and vote often. (But not for the Yankees or Team BALCO)

wrapping up April

Craig Biggio didn't get hit by any pitches against the Brewers over the weekend, and the Astros have today off, which means Craig Biggio will have his first 1 plunk month of April since 1999. Biggio finished that season with 11 plunks though, and the 3 others seasons in which he finished April with 1 HBP saw him finish the year with an average of 12 HBPs. His lowest season total after a 1 plunk April was 6 in 1989.

On this day in Biggio plunking history, Juan Acevedo plunked Biggio on April 30, 1995 and Dave Veres hit him on April 30, 1997.

two more with Brewers and the most plunked day of the year

Craig Biggio saw 18 pitches last night, but didn't get hit by any of them, so he'll be back out there trying again to take his 284th for the team tonight against the Brewers' Dave Bush. Bush has never plunked Biggio, but he wears #31 for the Brewers, and Everett Stull wore number 31 for the Brewers when he plunked Biggio on April 29, 2000. That fact would have worked out better if Bush were pitching Sunday instead of Saturday, but you can't have everything.

Biggio has been plunked twice on April 28th, by Brandon Claussen last year, and by Al Leiter in 1998.

April 29th, on the other hand, is the day of the year on which Craig Biggio has been plunked the most times of any calendar date, with 6. Also, the Brewers have hit more batters on Sundays over the past 5 years than any other day of the week. Claudio Vargas will be the one getting the first shot tomorrow to move Biggio's April 29th plunk total to 7. He's never plunked Biggio before but he would be the 3rd Brewer who wore number 46 to do it.

Joey Hamilton plunked Biggio on April 29, 1996 for the Padres, and Roger Bailey plunked him on April 29, 1997 for Colorado. Everett Stull and Curt Leskanic both hit him on April 29, 2000 for the Brewers and Matt Clement hit him twice on April 29, 2001 for the Marlins.

Good things come to those who plunk

First, pitchers should never try to plunk Craig Biggio on purpose. That's just wrong. And while he may not choose to charge the mound himself, he has teammates, and possibly unseen powers to exact revenge in the future.

But the numbers show that good things come to those who have plunked Biggio in the past. 2,413 players have thrown a major league pitch from 1988 to 2006 and 212 of them have plunked Biggio. Pitchers who plunked Biggio have a total combined record of 10,553 wins and 10,134 losses - a .510 win percentage. Those other 2,201 pitchers who never plunked Biggio have a career record of 32,232 wins and 32,651 losses - just a .497 win pct. Pitchers who have plunked Biggio have won 2.7% more games than their counterparts who haven't.

Also, pitchers who have plunked Biggio have accumulated an average of 601 strikeouts each, while the pitchers who haven't done it have thrown just 184 each. Pitchers who hit Biggio with a pitch have had a strikeout to walk ratio of 1.98 while the others have struck out just 1.81 per walk. And, Biggio plunkers have accumulated a 4.22 combined ERA, compared to 4.32 for the guys who haven't bounced one of Biggio's uniform.

Pitchers who have plunked Biggio 2 or 3 times have been the best in terms of career wins and losses. 2 time plunkers have won 52.2% of their decisions, and 3 timers have won 52.1%. 3 time Biggio plunkers have a combined ERA of 4.12. However, if you plunke Biggio more than 3 times, history has shown that your ERA will jump to well above the average earned runs for those who never plunked Biggio.

Wins and losses by number of times plunking Biggio:

HB:BGO	Pitchers	Wins	Losses	Win Pct
0	2201	32232	32651	0.497
1	163	6657	6515	0.505
2	34	2481	2276	0.522
3	12	1120	1028	0.521
4	1	67	98	0.406
5	1	99	93	0.516
7	1	129	124	0.51

ERA, Strikeout to Walk ratio, and Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched by times plunking Biggio:

HB:BGO	Pitchers	ERA	K/BB	WHIP
0	2201	4.32	1.81	1.40
1	163	4.23	1.99	1.36
2	34	4.17	1.99	1.35
3	12	4.12	1.91	1.36
4	1	5.14	1.08	1.60
5	1	4.56	2.00	1.35
7	1	4.67	2.29	1.37

minute maid brewings

The chase for plunk 288 got the day off yesterday, while the Astros lost again to the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3. That was the Astros 6th consecutive loss, and since that streak was preceded by 5 consecutive wins, it's only logical to assume that a 7 game win streak will be begun tonight at home against Milwaukee.
Chris Capuano will be put in charge of throwing at batters to begin the night, having beaten the Astros last Saturday without plunking anyone. Capuano, as you may recall, plunked Biggio on June 12, 2004, but he's thrown 31 pitches that hit other batters, and 9,381 pitches that didn't hit a batter. Tonight will be Capuano's 100th career game.

Biggio's only previous plunk on this date was thrown by Kevin Gryboski on April 27, 2002.

16 innings, no plunks

Craig Biggio drove in the tieing run in the top of the 9th inning last night, and then sat down and watched another 7 innings of baseball before the Pirates finally scored a run in the 16th, winning the game 4-3. But he didn't get hit by a pitch.

Biggio went 3-5 in the game, including his 53rd career triple. Biggio hadn't tripled since May 1, 2005, and when you see him get triple his history shows that he's probably not getting hit by a pitch in the same game. Biggio has only tripled and been plunked in a game 4 times, although one of those was a 2 plunk game. As his 642 career doubles clearly shows, Craig Biggio prefers to stop at 2nd base.

This afternoon, the Astros wrap up their series in Pittsburgh, facing Tony Armas. Armas has never plunked Biggio, but his father Tony Armas Senior played with Don Baylor on the '86 Red Sox when Baylor got hit by 35 pitches. Armas Jr. has hit 44 batters in his career, but only 1 was an Astro (Adam Everett on July 23, 2005).

Shawn Estes plunked Biggio on April 26, 1997.

32 unplunked games in PA

Craig Biggio played his 32nd consecutive unplunked game in Pennsylvania last night, but he did go 2-4. Unfortunately though, Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm only gave up one other hit while pitching a complete game shutout, and the Astros lost 3-0.

Tonight's starter for the Pirates will be Zach Duke, who has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but he did hit Brad Ausmus on April 2nd this year. That was the only batter he's hit this season, but that also means he has now plunked more Astros than any other team's batters. 3 of Duke's 10 career plunks have been thrown at Astros.

If Biggio were to get plunked today, Pennsylvania would be the 4th different state he's been plunked in on April 25th. He was hit in Ohio by the Reds on April 25, 1999, plunked twice in Florida on April 25, 2002, and one more time in Colorado on April 25, 2004. Biggio has only been plunked in 4 different states on May 4th (Texas, Illinois, Missouri and New York).

more attempts at getting hit in Pennsylvania

Craig Biggio hit his 51st career leadoff homer yesterday, but he didn't collect his 284th HBP, and the Astros got beat up 11-4 by the Phillies. Tonight the Astros mover to the other end of Pennsylvania to face the Pirates who will hand the ball to Paul Maholm. He's been hitting about one batter per every 64.3 he's faced but he has never plunked Craig Biggio. Biggio hasn't been hit by a pitch at Pittsburgh since May 6, 2004 and he hasn't been plunked in the state of Pennsylvania since August 17, 2004.

Craig Biggio didn't get hit by a pitch until on April 24th until 2003 - he'd already been plunked 217 times by then. 218 came at Shea Stadium on April 24, 2003, thrown by Pedro Astacio. Biggio also recorded plunk number 243 on April 24, 2004. That one was thrown by Steve Reed in Colorado.

1 game series plunks

Since Craig Biggio joined the Major Leagues with the Astros in June of 1988, the team has had to travel back to a city for a 1 game makeup series 8 times. Craig Biggio was hit by a pitch in just one of those games - on June 8, 2000 against the Dodgers.
The prior day, they were in Houston playing the twins, and the day after they were in San Diego, but on the 8th, they were in LA and Biggio got hit by Alan Mills. Since the Astros have played in domes during all of Biggio's years, all 8 of those 1 game makeups were on the road.

To answer Anonymous's question regarding double headers, Biggio has only been hit twice on days the Astros have played a double header, but he's never been hit in both games of a twin bill. Steve Woodard plunked him in game 1 on May 22, 2000 at County Stadium in Milwaukee, and Jimmy Anderson of the Pirates plunked Biggio in the 2nd game of the day, on July 28, 2001.

plunk free in Milwaukee

The Astros wrapped up their series in Milwaukee with another close loss yesterday, 4-3. They made yet another late inning attempt at a comeback, but Craig Biggio fouled out to end the game pinch hitting in the top of the 9th, instead of getting hit by a pitch. These things happen - you can't win the game or get hit by a pitch ever. He didn't get hit by a pitch Saturday either, so the Quest for 288 is still waiting for number 284.

Tonight, the Astros will go back to Philadelphia to make up the game that was supposed to by played on the 15th. Adam Eaton will be pitching for the Phillies, but he has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. He might want to consider it though, since Biggio has batted .462 against him in 13 at-bats. Eaton has hit two batters so far this season, bringing his career total to 37.

First plunk day weekend!

Craig Biggio rallied the Astros with a 9th inning grand slam last night, and they needed all 4 of those runs in the bottom of the 9th to hold off the Brewers for a 6-5 win. It was Biggio's 3rd career grand slam, and unfortunately the 3rd game in which he hit a grand slam and didn't get hit by a pitch. (His other grand slams came on September 14, 1989 off the Dodgers' John Wetteland, and July 24, 1994 off the the Pirates John Lieber - who plunked Biggio the following year).

Tonight the Astros face Chris Capuano. He hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 12, 2004 at Miller Park. Biggio's only prior plunk on April 21st was also against Milwaukee - thrown by Matt Wise in 2005.

Sunday is first plunk day! April 22nd is the 18th anniversary of Craig Biggio's first plunk, thrown by Tim Birtsas of the Reds in 1989. Biggio has also been plunked on April 22nd by Steve Bourgeois of the Giants in 1996, and by Al Reyes of the Cardinals in 2005.

NBA playoff preview

The NBA playoffs start tomorrow, but that has nothing to do with Craig Biggio getting hit by pitches. Or does it?

Since 1989, the first year Craig Biggio got hit by a pitch, there have been 670 Astros games on dates when there have been NBA playoff games, and Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 82 times in 76 of those games. 29% of Biggio plunks have come on days when the NBA playoffs were being played. On days of NBA playoff games, Craig Biggio has been plunked once per 35 plate appearances, but only once per 45.4 plate appearances on days when there are no playoff games. That is, he gets hit 29.7% more often on days when there's an NBA playoff game.

Biggio has been hit by a pitch 14 times on days when Houston's NBA team, the Rockets, have had a playoff game, but he's been hit the most times - 28 - on days of Lakers playoff games. Unfortunately, the Rockets are only 6-8 in playoff games on days when Biggio has been plunked, so while his ability to get plunked helps the Astros win, it doesn't appear to help the Rockets. The Rockets are 3-3 in the first round when Biggio gets hit by a pitch, 1-4 in the 2nd round, and 0-1 in the conference finals. But when they make it to the NBA Finals, they are 2-0 in games on days when Biggio has been hit. The Sacramento Kings have the best record in the playoffs on Biggio's plunk days, going 7-1, while Biggio seems to have jinxed the Milwaukee Bucks to an 0-7 record on dates of his HBPs.

Perhaps most amazingly, of the 30 current NBA franchises, all but 2 of them have played at least 1 playoff game on a day when Craig Biggio was plunked. The only two who haven't are the most recently added - the Charlotte Bobcats, and the Golden State Warriors who are returning to the playoffs for the first time since 1994 this year.

Here are the playoff records of every NBA team on days when Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch:

Team	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.
Kings	7	1	0.875
Suns	9	4	0.692
Pacers	13	7	0.650
Lakers	16	9	0.640
Celtics	5	3	0.625
76ers	5	3	0.625
Bulls	12	8	0.600
Pistons	6	4	0.600
Nets	4	3	0.571
Hornets	6	5	0.545
Heat	6	6	0.500
T-wolves	4	4	0.500
Magic	4	4	0.500
Cavs	1	1	0.500
Raptors	1	1	0.500
Blazers	5	6	0.455
Spurs	9	12	0.429
Rockets	6	8	0.429
Hawks	3	4	0.429
Sonics	7	10	0.412
Jazz	6	10	0.375
Mavericks	2	4	0.333
Nuggets	1	2	0.333
Knicks	5	12	0.294
Clippers	0	1	0
Grizzlies	0	1	0
Wizards/Bullets	0	3	0
Bucks	0	7	0
Warriors	0	0	n/a
Bobcats	0	0	n/a
Total	143	143

the 8th inning - where 5 runs are scored.

The Astros made a 5 run rally in the 8th inning for the 2nd straight night last night, and pulled out an 8-6 win in Cincinnati. Craig Biggio got the night off, but found a convenient time to draw his first walk of the season - pinch hitting to lead off that big 8th inning. But, he didn't get hit by any pitch.

Tonight the Astros move on to Milwaukee where Ben Sheets will be there to meet them, and throw baseballs at them (which is the way pitchers greet people). Sheets "greeted" Biggio with a plunk on August 17th last season and on June 29, 2001. Both plunks were thrown in Milwaukee. Biggio has been hit twice on April 20th, but he got them both in one game in 2001. Rick Ankiel and Andy Benes of the Cardinals shared the plunking that day.

Reds notes

Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 21 times by the Cincinnati Reds, and since the beginning of Biggio's first season in the league, through yesterday, the two teams have plunked each other 206 times. That works out to Craig Biggio accounting for 10.2% of all plunks in Astros/Reds since 1988, and 19.8% of the plunks the Reds have thrown against the Astros. The Reds plunked 106 Astros in that span, and the Astros have hit 100 Reds. Only the Pirates have combined with the Astros for more plunks during there games against each other, with 217.

The most plunked Red in those games was Jason Larue, who collected 12 plunks from the Astros from 1999-2006, before being traded to the Royals. That is the Reds franchise record for being plunked by the Astros, and Larue is 2nd on the Reds all time HBP list with 93, just 25 plunks behind Frank Robinson's 118 for the team record. But, the Reds would have to re-acquire for him to break that record.

Another 12 of those 206 plunks in Astros/Reds games since 1988 landed on Jeff Bagwell, and 10 more hit Barry Larkin. So between those 4 players - Biggio, Bagwell, Larkin and Larue - they have recorded 26.7% of the HBPs in games between the two teams since '88.

one more in Red Ohio

The Astros used a 5 run 8th inning to come from behind and beat the Reds 7-2 last night but Craig Biggio did not add to his career HBP total, or continue his streak of being plunked by the Reds. In case you hadn't head, Biggio has been plunked by a Reds pitcher in the last 15 consecutive years. Bronson Arroyo will probably be trying to continue that streak tonight. Arroyo hasn't hit anyone yet this year, but he has hit 48 batters in his career, including Craig Biggio on April 7, 2001. If Arroyo does plunk Biggio tonight, he'll be only the 2nd pitcher to do so for the Reds after previously hitting Biggio with a pitch for another team. Currently, of the 18 Reds who have plunked Biggio, only Mark Portugal had prior experience bouncing pitches of Craig Biggio with a another team.

Todd Ritchie holds the all time record for plunking Biggio on April 19th, with 1. He set that record in 2003, and it still stands.

Linear projections for plunks

As you may have noticed, this site usually features a Bruise Board in the upper right corner, that lists a projected end of season total for Craig Biggio's HBPs. That end of season total is based on a linear projection of Biggio's season plunk total and the number of games the Astros have played. Reader DM suggested yesterday that now that Biggio has been hit this season, it's time to project from there to predict when he'll record the record breaking Plunk 288.

Last night's game was the 12th of the season - so if Biggio continues to get plunked exactly once every 12 games, he'll record his 288th plunk Friday, June 22nd (which happens to be two days after reader DM's prediction, as listed in the sidebar). If you use the same method to project when he'll reach that popular hits milestone he's chasing, you'll see that he has 14 hits in 12 games so far, and at that rate he'll need 60 games to record 70 hits. 70 hits plus the 2,930 he started the year with equals 3,000 hits on June 8th at Wrigley Field (assuming they actually play all games scheduled between now and then). If you believe in linear projections, you might want to buy tickets to that game and a flight to Chicago, because using the that method, that figures to be the same game he ties Hughie Jennings with 287 career plunks. Enjoy that coincidence while it lasts, because it will only be true until they play their next game - unless he somehow manages to record 1/12th of a plunk and 1.1667 hits.

However, projecting linearly from Biggio's first plunk of the year has never successfully predicted his 5th or 6th plunk. Projections based on his 1st plunk have only been accurate 4 times in his career. In 1997, he was first plunked in the Astros 4th game of the year, and recorded his 11th plunk in game number 44. In 2001, plunk number 1 was in game 5 and plunk his third plunk of the year was in game 15. And, in 2004 he was first plunked in the Astros 9th game, and hit next in game 18. In 2005, he was first plunked in the 7th game of the Astros season, and recorded his 10th of the year in Astros game number 70.

283 in the books, on to Cincinatti

The Astros pulled out a 6-1 win against the Marlins last night, highlighted by a 4 run 4th inning, which was led off by Craig Biggio's 283rd career HBP. It was the 2nd time Biggio has been plunked by Jorge Julio - he threw plunk 263 at Camden Yards in June of 2005. Also, Carlos Lee became 28th player to drive in a Craig Biggio run after he reached base on a plunk. It was the 27th time Biggio scored on a teammates double after being hit by a pitch.

But, baseball never leaves time to celebrate the first plunk of the season, because there's always another game. The Astros hit the road again, traveling to Cincinnati tonight to face Aaron Harang and the Reds. Harang has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but he hit Aubrey Huff last year and 7 other batters last season, bringing him to 25 for his career. Five of the eight plunks he threw last year were in home games, but only 1 was on a Wednesday.

Josias Manzanillo is the only pitcher who has plunked Biggio on April 18th - that was in 2001, for the Pirates.

283!!!

Jorge Julio threw Biggio's 283rd plunk on the first pitch of the bottom of the 5th. Julio joins Jay Witasick as the only pitchers who have plunked Biggio for both an American League and National League team.

Biggio is finally on the board for 2007!


And the 98th run scored off a plunk for his career.

what's so great about 2,942 hits?

It's not a nice memorable round number, like 3000 hits. But Craig Biggio's career began in 1988 and he's played in every season since then, and leaderboard for career hits from 1988 to 2007 now looks like this:

Craig Biggio - 2,942
Rafael Palmeiro - 2,941
Roberto Alomar - 2,724
Barry Bonds - 2,614
Steve Finley - 2,532

Baseball often seems to run on milestones, and 3000 hits is an undeniably important one, but one of the problems with milestones is that baseball changes over the years. Some people like to segment the years into statistical eras, and some of the more hardcore stats people figure you can compare different seasons across the decades and centuries by simply normalizing everything to the averages of the seasons they occurred in. Simply. And then you have to adjust for the various differences in the ballparks everyone played. That sound simple, right? But if you're a baseball player, and you can look at the years you played and see that no one in baseball had more hits than you, that means something no matter what the "park factors" and changes in yearly averages tells you. Everyone who played in the years you did played by more or less the same rules and against more or less the same competition, so if no one else had more hits than you during the sum of the years you played, you've done something special, and joined a pretty amazing list of overlapping careers that spans back to the beginning of baseball.

Again, 3000 hits is 3000 hits. But Rickey Henderson got 3,055 in his years in the majors, while being out hit by 3 different players. Wade Boggs was out hit by Tony Gwynn during his years, and Tony Gwynn was 2nd to Cal Ripken. On the other hand, Kirby Puckett had just 2,304 hits in only 12 seasons - but that was 52 hits more than anyone else had in those 12 seasons. Similarly Bobby Doerr's career total was only 2,042 but that was still 34 more hits than anyone else had in those 14 seasons Doerr played. There's certainly no shame in 2nd place in this category - 22 of the 28 guys who finished 2nd in hits during the years they played are in the Hall of Fame, and Roberto Alomar's odds are pretty good to make it 23. Along with Gwynn, Boggs, and Alomar, that list includes Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Robin Yount, Rod Carew, Nap Lajoie, Willie Mays, Nellie Fox and Tris Speaker.

Unless Palmeiro makes a comeback and retakes the lead from Biggio, Mr. Astro will retire as the 29th player ever to lead the league in hits during the span of his career, and the first to lead the league in both hits and HBPs during the years he played. Of the other 28, only 5 are not in the Hall of Fame - one because he's banned, one because he hasn't been voted on yet (and tested positive for steroids).


Batters with the most total hits in the seasons they played:

Player	Seasons	Top 5 in those years
Cal McVey 869	1871-1879	Cal McVey 869, Deacon White 845, George Wright 831, Cap Anson 780, Ross Barnes 779
Cap Anson* 3418	1871-1897	Cap Anson 3418, Jim O'Rourke 2642, Roger Conner 2467, Dan Brouthers 2296, Paul Hines 2134
Jimmy Ryan 2502	1885-1900, 1902-1903	Jimmy Ryan 2502, Ed Delahanty 2404, George Van Haltren 2350, Jake Beckley 2323, Jesse Burkett 2321
Ed Delahanty* 2596	1888-1903	Ed Delahanty 2596, Jesse Burkett 2547, Jake Beckley 2501, George Van Haltren 2497, Hugh Duffy 2257
Jake Beckley* 2930	1888-1907	Jake Beckley 2930, Jesse Burkett 2850, Willie Keeler 2749, Ed Delahanty 2596, Lave Cross 2591
Jesse Burkett* 2850	1890-1905	Jesse Burkett 2850, Jake Beckley 2573, Willie Keeler 2470, Ed Delahanty 2458, Lave Cross 2344
Willie Keeler* 2932	1892-1910	Willie Keeler 2932, Jesse Burkett 2681, Fred Clarke 2543, Honus Wagner 2473, Nap Lajoie 2456
Honus Wagner* 3415	1897-1917	Honus Wagner 3415, Nap Lajoie 3185, Sam Crawford 2961, Ty Cobb 2361, Willie Keeler 2240
Ty Cobb* 4189	1905-1928	Ty Cobb 4189, Tris Speaker 3514, Eddie Collins 3314, Zack Wheat 2884, Max Carey 2658
George Sisler* 2812	1915-1922, 1924-1930	George Sisler 2812, Rogers Hornsby 2574, Sam Rice 2455, Harry Heilmann 2400, Ty Cobb 2273
Sam Rice* 2987	1915-1934	Sam Rice 2987, Rogers Hornsby 2905, Babe Ruth 2858, George Sisler 2812, Frankie Frisch 2686
Frankie Frisch* 2880	1919-1937	Frankie Frisch 2880, Sam Rice 2740, Goose Goslin 2726, Babe Ruth 2670, Al Simmons 2631
Paul Waner* 3152	1926-1945	Paul Waner 3152, Mel Ott 2871, Charlie Gehringer 2830, Jimmie Foxx 2640, Doc Cramer 2603
Doc Cramer 2705	1929-1948	Doc Cramer 2705, Mel Ott 2667, Luke Appling 2571, Paul Waner 2512, Joe Medwick 2471
Luke Appling* 2749	1930-1943, 1945-1950	Luke Appling 2749, Doc Cramer 2536, Mel Ott 2373, Billy Herman 2345, Joe Medwick 2306
Joe DiMaggio* 2214	1936-1942, 1946-1951	Joe DiMaggio 2214, Johnny Mize 1949, Luke Appling 1830, Enos Slaughter 1768, Ted Williams 1763
Bobby Doerr* 2042	1937-1944, 1946-1951	Bobby Doerr 2042, Joe DiMaggio 2008, Stan Musial 1829, Luke Appling 1818, Johnny Mize 1813
Stan Musial* 3630	1941-1944, 1946-1963	Stan Musial 3630, Richie Ashburn 2574, Nellie Fox 2535, Mickey Vernon 2421, Red Schoendienst 2292
Richie Ashburn* 2574	1948-1962	Richie Ashburn 2574, Stan Musial 2549, Nellie Fox 2395, Alvin Dark 2086, Yogi Berra 2015
Hank Aaron* 3771	1954-1976	Hank Aaron 3771, Willie Mays 3126, Al Kaline 3000, Roberto Clemente 3000, Frank Robinson 2943
Pete Rose 4256	1963-1986	Pete Rose 4256, Carl Yastrzemski 3073, Rod Carew 3053, Lou Brock 2908, Al Oliver 2743
George Brett* 3154	1973-1993	George Brett 3154, Robin Yount 3142, Dave Winfield 3014, Eddie Murray 2820, Dave Parker 2712
Dave Winfield* 3110	1973-88, 1990-95	Dave Winfield 3110, George Brett 3025, Robin Yount 2947, Eddie Murray 2924, Andre Dawson 2653
Eddie Murray* 3255	1977-1997	Eddie Murray 3255, Paul Molitor 3178, Wade Boggs 2800, Tony Gwynn 2780, Andre Dawson 2754
Paul Molitor* 3319	1978-1998	Paul Molitor 3319, Eddie Murray 3082, Tony Gwynn 2928, Wade Boggs 2922, Cal Ripken 2878
Cal Ripken* 3184	1981-2001	Cal Ripken 3184, Tony Gwynn 3141, Wade Boggs 3010, Paul Molitor 2852, Harold Baines 2741
Kirby Puckett* 2304	1984-1995	Kirby Puckett 2304, Tony Gwynn 2252, Wade Boggs 2213, Don Mattingly 2072, Brett Butler 2005
Rafael Palmeiro 3020	1986-2005	Rafael Palmeiro 3020, Craig Biggio 2795, Barry Bonds 2742, Roberto Alomar 2724, Tony Gwynn 2582
Craig Biggio 2942+	1988-	Craig Biggio 2942, Rafael Palmeiro 2941, Robero Alomar 2724, Barry Bonds 2614, Steve Finley 2532

*- Hall of Fame

Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki would join this list if their careers' ended after last season, but either of them could lose their lead by the time they hang it up.

The years HBPs have been tracked are spanned by only 17 players who led the years they played in getting hit. Only 2 of them are Hall of Famers, but that's just because great get-hitters have been consistently under-apreciated.


Batters with the most total HBPs in the seasons they played

Player	Seasons	Top 5
Fred Mann 43	1882-1887	Fred Mann 43, Bill Gleason 42, John Reilly, 41, Yank Robinson 39, Curt Welch 36
Tommy Tucker 272	1887-1899	Tommy Tucker 272, Hughie Jennings 243, Curt Welch 148, Jake Beckley 146, Steve Brodie 118
Hughie Jennings* 287	1891-1903, 1907, 1909-10, 1912, 1918	Hughie Jennings 287, Tommy Tucker 167, Dan McGann 161, Jake Beckley 151, John McGraw 134
Dan McGann 230	1896, 1898-1908	Dan McGann 230, Hughie Jennings 160, Frank Chance 118, Kid Elberfeld 108, Fred Clarke 103
Jake Stahl 94	1903-06, 1908-10, 1912-13	Jake Stahl 94, Kid Elberfeld 86, John Titus 84, Dan McGann 81, Frank Chance 77
Steve Evans 111	1908-1915	Steve Evans 111, Art Fletcher 72, Bert Daniels 72, Buck Herzog 70, Sherry Magee 66
Art Fletcher 141	1909-1920, 1922	Art Fletcher 141, Buck Herzog 113, Steve Evans 11, Tris Speaker 81, Sherry Magee 79
George Burns 110	1914-1929	George Burns 110, Bucky Harris 99, Wally Schang 97, Art Fletcher 96, Jack Fournier 84
Jimmie Dykes 115	1918-1939	Jimmie Dykes 115, Bucky Harris 99, Kiki Cuyler 85, George Burns 80, Bing Miller 80, Joe Sewell 80
Bucky Harris* 99	1919-29, 1931	Bucky Harris 99, Jimmie Dykes 78, George Burns 72, Bing Miller 71, Johnny Mostil 70
Jimmy Welsh 47	1925-1930	Jimmy Welsh 47, Kiki Cuyler 47, Jimmie Dykes 42, Joe Sewell 40, Bing Miller 39
George Watkins 44	1930-1936	George Watkins 44, Jimmie Dykes 42, Dick Bartell 39, Kiki Cuyler 36, Tony Piet
Frank Crosetti 114	1932-1948	Frank Crosetti 114, Dick Bartell 81, Mel Ott 52, Billy Jurges 51, Ival Goodman 49
Minnie Minoso 192	1949, 1951-64, 1976, 1980	Minnie Minoso 192, Nellie Fox 139, Sherm Lollar 107, Frank Robinson 100, Eddie Yost 85
Ron Hunt 243	1963-1974	Ron Hunt 243, Frank Robinson 121, Bill Freehan 107, Cesar Tovar 82, Joe Torre 72
Don Baylor 267	1970-1988	Don Baylor 267, Ron Hunt 142, Chet Lemon 139, Carlton Fisk 124, Brian Downing 101
Craig Biggio 282	1988-	Craig Biggio 282, Jason Kendall 209, Andres Galarraga 164, Fernando Vina 157, Brady Anderson 154

Jason Kendall is probably going to be the next to join this list, but he still needs to gain 16 plunks on Biggio to be the HBP leader of the Jason Kendall era. But once again, Biggio is the only player on both lists - the only one to lead his era in both hits and getting hit.

And, just because they shouldn't be left out, here are the players who finished 2nd in career hits for the years they played, with the player who out hit them during their years:

Player Hits	Seasons	Leader Hits
Ross Barnes 859	1871-77, 1879, 1881	Deacon White 863
Jim O'rourke* 2643	1872-1893, 1904	Cap Anson 2834
Roger Connor* 2467	1880-1897	Cap Anson 2638
Bid McPhee* 2250	1882-1899	Cap Anson 2381
Sam Thompson* 1979	1885-1898, 1906	Ed McKean 2011
Ed McKean 2083	1887-1899	Hugh Duffy 2116
Nap Lajoie* 3242	1896-1916	Honus Wagner 3354
Sam Crawford* 2961	1899-1917	Honus Wagner 3159
Hal Chase 2158	1905-1919	Ty Cobb 2713
Tris Speaker* 3514	1907-1928	Ty Cobb 4040
Rogers Hornsby* 2930	1915-1937	Sam Rice 2987
Goose Goslin* 2735	1921-1938	Al Simmons 2773
Al Simmons* 2927	1924-41, 1943-44	Paul Waner 3066
Mel Ott* 2876	1926-1947	Paul Waner 3152
Bob Elliot 2061	1939-1953	Stan Musial 2223
Ted Williams* 2654	1939-42, 1946-1960	Stan Musial 2877
Nellie Fox* 2663	1947-1965	Stan Musial 2818
Willie Mays* 3283	1951-52, 1954-73	Hank Aaron 3509
Roberto Clemente* 3000	1955-1972	Hank Aaron 3260
Frank Robinson* 2943	1956-1976	Hank Aaron 3451
Vada Pinson 2757	1958-1975	Hank Aaron 2991
Lou Brock* 3023	1961-1979	Pete Rose 3372
Carl Yastrzemski* 3419	1961-1983	Pete Rose 3990
Rod Carew* 3053	1967-1985	Pete Rose 3481
Robin Yount* 3142	1974-1993	George Brett 3149
Wade Boggs* 3010	1982-1999	Tony Gwynn 3067
Tony Gwynn* 3141	1982-2001	Cal Ripken 3179
Roberto Alomar 2724	1988-2004	Raphael Palmeiro 2843

Marlins miss 21 times

Craig Biggio saw 21 pitches last night, but none of them hit him, leaving him stuck - still - at 282 career plunks. But he did pick up two more hits, breaking the Craig Biggio era record for career hits, and the Astros won 4-3.

Tonight the Marlins will send out Sergio Mitre to throw near the Astros. He has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but he's up to 15 hit batters for his career, including one in each of his two starts this year.

Biggio has been hit twice on April 17th, but never in Houston. Paul Wilson hit him on April 17, 1996 at Shea Stadium, and Jimmy Haynes threw plunk #200 on April 17, 2002 at Cinergy Field.

2,942!!!

Craig Biggio just recorded his 2,942nd hit, which makes him the Craig Biggio era leader. Rafael Palmeiro had 2,941 hits between 1988 and today, but now Craig Biggio can say that no one had more hits in the years he played.

More tomorrow.

Marlins notes

The Florida Marlins did not hit Craig Biggio with a pitch in 2006, but they did set a franchise record by hitting 74 batters in the season. Previously the team's single season record was 70 batters plunked, in 2001. That year, they plunked Biggio twice, but last year's team was able to break the franchise record without plunking Biggio. The most batters they'd hit in a season before that without one of them being Craig Biggio was 54 in 1999.

Season	Hit Batters	HBP:BGO
1993	32	0
1994	39	1
1995	46	2
1996	57	1
1997	63	3
1998	57	2
1999	54	0
2000	43	0
2001	70	2
2002	58	2
2003	40	0
2004	51	1
2005	65	2
2006	74	0
2007	5
total	754	16

Dontrelle Willis hit 19 batters last year, which was also a franchise record breaking Kevin Brown's 16 plunk year in 1996. And, Willis broke the Marlins career record in 2006. Ryan Dempster held the franchise mark since 2002 with 37 hit batters, but Willis finished last season with 38 for his career. The Marlins current pitching staff has only hit 109 batters ever.


On the batting end of plunks, the Marlins franchise leader is Alex Gonzalez, who got hit 51 times for the team. Their active leader is Miguel Cabrera, who has been hit just 21 times. At the rate he's been getting hit, he should be able to get to the 280+ plunks neighbor in another 53 seasons or so.
The entire Marlins roster, as it currently stands, has only been hit by 166 pitches to date, and that includes all their career HBPs, not just those recorded with the Marlins. If they get hit 74 times this year, like they did last year (another franchise record), they'll still be about 50 plunks short of Biggio's total, unless they add pick up a couple of veterans during the season.

If you were reading carefully, you may have noticed that the Marlins both threw and received 74 plunks last season. They were one of 3 teams in 2006 to match bruises with there opponents. The Mets threw and received 62, and the White Sox matched at 58. The league has had 3 teams match plunks thrown and received in a season 6 different times, but there have never been more than 3 teams in a year to do it. The Marlins 74 is the highest matching total.

Sunday rainy Sunday... Monday under Dome

The Astros were weathered-out on the road yet again yesterday, further delaying Craig Biggio's quest for his 288th plunk... or even his quest for his 283rd plunk. On Saturday, he got one more hit, bringing him to 2,940 hits - just two short of 2,942. (Yes, 2,942 is significant... I'll explain when we get there).

Pigpen and the Astros will look for some better weather in Houston tonight (or make their own), where they're scheduled to face sophomore starter Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez hit 4 batters in his rookie campaign last year, including Chris Burke, but he has not plunked Craig Biggio.

Biggio recorded his first April 16th plunk last season, in Arizona against Juan Cruz.

Phily in April

Craig Biggio picked up one hit last night in the Astros 9-6 win over the Phillies but he didn't get hit by any of the 17 pitches thrown to him. Also, Biggio seems to have decided that he only hits doubles from now on. So that should an interesting way to get the rest of the way to 3000.

Cole Hamels is scheduled to pitch for the Phillies today. Hamels hasn't hit anybody this season, but he hit Willy Taveras last year, along with Ramon Hernandez and that guy who plays 3rd base for the Yankees, bringing his career total to... three. Or, about 1 batter plunked of every 203 he's faced.

Biggio has been hit once on April 14th... in 2004 by Chris Carpenter.


For Sunday's game, the Phillies seem to be planning to have Freddy Garcia back from the disabled list and starting the game. He's never hit Biggio either, but his career total is up to 51, after plunking 7 batters last season. Garcia's has only face the Astros once in the regular season - on June 9, 2004 when he gave up Biggio's 535th career double. But he also pitched game 4 of the 2005 World Series against the Astros, and shut them out through 7 innings, earning the series clinching win.

None of Biggio's 282 career HBPs have been recorded on April 15th.

first plunked

So far this year, the Astros have been hit by 6 pitches, and thrown another 3 plunks themselves, which means that 9 batters have been plunked in Astros games this year without any of them being Craig Biggio. That ties with the 2002 season for 13th on the year by year list of how many people got plunked in Astros games before Biggio.

In the past 18 seasons, Biggio has been one of the first 10 batters plunked in Astros games in 13 of them. Although he's never been plunked on opening day, he was the first batter hit (for either team) in Astros games in 1997, 1998 and 2003.

The 6 Astros plunks so far is the most since 2000 when Biggio watched 16 teammates get plunked before he took one for the team that year. The Astros have not had more than 18 batters get hit before Biggio joined them in any year since 1988 - when was Biggio was a rookie and did not get plunked.

Here's the total HBPs for the Astros and their opponents before Biggio's first plunk of each season. These totals include batters hit in the same game, but still before, Biggio's first HBP of the year:

Season	Astros HBPs	Opponents HBPs	Total HBPs	First plunk date
1989	4	3	7	April 22
1990	13	22	35	July 22
1991	7	6	13	June 7
1992	18	10	28	June 12
1993	12	5	17	May 19
1994	1	4	5	April 12
1995	1	2	3	April 30
1996	1	1	2	April 3
1997	0	0	0	April 4
1998	0	0	0	April 1
1999	2	3	5	April 25
2000	16	9	25	April 29
2001	3	4	7	April 7
2002	5	4	9	April 10
2003	0	0	0	April 2
2004	5	3	8	April 14
2005	1	2	3	April 13
2006	2	2	4	April 8

Friday the 13th in Phily

The Astros are in Philadelphia today, where they'll try to play the first of three games, outside, without being interrupted by rain, snow, or meteor showers. Craig Biggio will hope to use those games to move closer to the record 288 career HBPs, and possibly to get the 4 hits he needs to reach the 2,942 career hits milestone. But, today is friday the 13th. Craig Biggio has never been hit by pitch on Friday the 13th by anyone not named Jason. The Phillies don't have anyone named Jason, so Biggio's chances of getting his 283rd HBP tonight look bleak.

On the other hand, there have been dozens of movies inspired by the Friday the 13th franchise and the Jason character, so maybe someone could throw a plunk inspired by Jason Simontacchi's Friday the 13th plunk of 2002. The Phillies have a pitcher named Freddy, but it's not Freddy Kruger... it's Freddy Garcia, and he's on the disabled list. They also have Tom Gordon, who had a Steven King book written about him... but that book wasn't particularly scary, unless you're afraid of having the Giant Glass radio ad jingle stuck in your head while lost in the woods (1-800-54-Giant). They have another pitcher name Myers, but it's not Michael Myers from the Halloween movies, it's Brett Myers. He's pitching tonight, and he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. Myers only hit 3 batters last year, but he hit 11 the year before that.

Biggio has been plunked twice on April 13th. In 2005, Braden Looper nearly broke Biggio's arm with plunk 257, but Biggio stayed in the game. On April 13, 2002, the late, great, Darryl Kile threw plunk 199.

more geographical plunk records

Obviously we couldn't just look at which batters have been hit by the most pitches from each state and foreign country without also looking at which pitchers hold the records from each place - for total hit batters as well as plunking Biggio.

Here's the records for each location for all time hit batters, as well as the active leader at the end of 2006 - those who have plunked Biggio are in bold:

State/Country	All Time Leader	HBP	Active Leader	HBP
Afghanistan	Jeff Bronkey	1
Alabama	Frank Lary	97	Jake Peavy	33
Alaska	Shawn Chacon	57	Shawn Chacon	57
Arizona	John Denny	54	Bobby Howry	23
Arkansas	Bill Bailey	44	Ryan Franklin	40
Aruba	Sidney Ponson	33	Sidney Ponson	33
Australia	Graeme Lloyd	23	Peter Moylan	0
Bahamas	Wenty Ford	1
California	Randy Johnson	178	Randy Johnson	178
Canada	Fergie Jenkins	84	Ryan Dempster	54
Colombia	Emiliano Fruto	2	Emiliano Fruto	2
Colorado	Rich Gossage	47	Scott Elarton	37
Connecticut	Red Donahue	101	Craig Breslow	2
Cuba	Pedro Ramos	68	Orlando Hernandez	62
Czechoslovakia	Joe Hovlik	2
DC	Doc White	119	Kris Wilson	15
Delaware	Bert Cunningham	66	Wayne Franklin	18
Dominican Republic	Pedro Martinez	129	Pedro Martinez	129
England	Danny Cox	19	Phil Stockman	0
Florida	Tim Wakefield	146	Tim Wakefield	146
France	Charlie Lea	12
Georgia	Kevin Brown	139	Kenny Rogers	117
Germany	Gus Shallix	39
Hawaii	Charlie Hough	174	Jerome Williams	35
Idaho	Larry Jackson	68	Jason Schmidt	48
Illinois	Joe McGinnity	182	Mark Mulder	48
Indiana	Hooks Dauss	121	Kent Mercker	32
Indonesia	Tom Mastny	1	Tom Mastny	1
Iowa	Red Faber	103	Jon Lieber	44
Ireland	Tony Mullane	82
Italy	Marino Pieretti	5
Jamaica	Chili Davis	1
Japan	Hideo Nomo	38	Tomokazu Ohka	30
Kansas	Walter Johnson	203	Nate Robertson	21
Kentucky	Jim Bunning	160	Paul Byrd	49
Louisiana	Chuck Finley	76	Andy Pettitte	36
Maine	Kid Madden	57	Tim Stauffer	2
Maryland	Vic Willis	157	Jeff Nelson 1	64
Massachusetts	Jack Chesbro	113	Tom Glavine	61
Mexico	Esteban Loaiza	73	Esteban Loaiza	73
Michigan	Frank Tanana	129	Derek Lowe	60
Minnesota	Aaron Sele	110	Aaron Sele	110
Missouri	Willie Sudhoff	126	Darren Oliver	77
Mississippi	Willie Mitchell	75	Roy Oswalt	41
Montana	Dave McNally	72	Taylor Tankersley	1
Nebraska	Bob Gibson	102	Scott Munter	3
Netherlands	Bert Blyleven	155	2
Nevada	Barry Zito	65	Barry Zito	65
New Hampshire	Stan Williams	71	Chris Carpenter	56
New Jersey	Al Leiter	117	Ron Villone	61
New Mexico	Wade Blasingame	30
New York	Howard Ehmke	137	Matt Morris	63
Nicaragua	Dennis Martinez	122	Vicente Padilla	67
North Carolina	Gaylord Perry	108	Kevin Millwood	40
North Dakota	Rick Helling	48	Rick Helling	48
Norway	Jimmy Wiggs	4
Ohio	Cy Young	163	Roger Clemens	154
Oklahoma	Jamey Wright	114	Jamey Wright	114
Oregon	Mickey Lolich	92	Alan Embree	17
Panama	Ramiro Mendoza	35	Mariano Rivera	29
Pennsylvania	Eddie Plank	196	Jamie Moyer	112
Philippines	Bobby Chouinard	4
Poland	Moe Drabowsky	63
Puerto Rico	Omar Olivares	80	Javier Vazquez	62
Rhode Island	Frank Corridon	61	Dan Wheeler	9
Russia	Rube Schauer	7
Scotland	George Chalmers	15
South Carolina	Bobo Newsom	61	Tom Martin	12
South Dakota	Jim Scott	53	Keith Foulke 3	43
South Korea	Chan Ho Park	126	Chan Ho Park	126
South Vietnam	Danny Graves	26	Danny Graves 4	26
Spain	Bryan Oelkers	6
Sweden	Eric Erickson	35
Switzerland	Otto Hess	83
Taiwan	Chien-Ming Wang	8	Chien-Ming Wang	8
Tennessee	Mike Smithson	73	Dave Weathers	47
Texas	Nolan Ryan	158	Greg Maddux	125
Ukraine	Bill Cristall	4
Utah	Brandon Duckworth	30	Brandon Duckworth	30
Venezuela	Victor Zambrano	58	Victor Zambrano	58
Vermont	Ed Doheny	132
Virgin Islands	Al McBean	30
Virginia	Ed Willett	106	John Wasdin	29
W.Germany	Craig Lefferts	11	Will Ohman	8
Wales	Ted Lewis	40
Washington	Todd Stottlemyre	83	Glendon Rusch	40
West Virginia	Jack Warhop	114	Seth McClung	13
Wisconsin	Kid Nichols	133	Brad Radke 5	62
Wyoming	Dick Ellsworth	45

^{1-Jeff Nelson doesn't appear to be playing this year, so that leaves Jay Witasick (who has plunked Biggio) as the Maryland active leader.
2-Marlins Rookie Rick Vanden Hurk will be the active leader from the Netherlands as soon as he hits someone.
3-Keith Foulke has retired, leaving Brandon Claussen (another Biggio plunker) as the active leader from South Dakota
4-Danny Graves doesn't appear to be playing this year, leaving no active players born in Vietnam
5-Brad Radke retired after 2006, leaving Jarrod Washburn (45) as the active leader - although Kris Benson has plunked Biggio and is only 4 behind Washburn.}


Of course some of the HBP totals for those who pitched over a hundred years ago may not match what you'll see on other sites, because those records are a little wacky from back then.

Hopefully, Roger Clemens knows that he needs to hit 10 more batters to pass Cy Young on the all time hit-batters list for pitchers born in Ohio, because that should have a big effect on when and where he decides to pitch this season. Also, someone needs to inform Curt Schilling that he lost the Alaskan plunk record to Shawn Chacon two years ago.

As you can see above, Biggio has been hit by the career plunk leaders from 9 states or foreign countries, and at the end of last year he had been hit by the active leaders of 16. In all, he's been hit by pitchers from 37 US States and 12 other countries. Below are the records for plunking Biggio by players born in each state/country:

State/Country	HBP:BGO	Pitchers
Alabama	2	Jeff Brantley, Steve Woodard
Alaska	3	Shawn Chacon
Arkansas	2	A.J. Burnett
Aruba	1	Calvin Maduro
California	5	Mark Gardner
Cuba	1	Rolando Arrojo, Livan Hernandez
Dominican Republic	7	Pedro Astacio
England	1	Lance Painter
Florida	1	Rick Ankiel, Bronson Arroyo, Roger Bailey, Chris Brock, Mark Brownson, Jeff D'Amico, Lance Davis, John Hope, Alan Mills, Carlos Reyes, Gabe White, Paul Wilson
Georgia	3	Joey Hamilton
Hawaii	1	Steve Cooke, Ron Darling, Scott Feldman, Sid Fernandez
Idaho	1	Jason Schmidt
Illinois	3	Mark Leiter
Indiana	3	Andy Benes
Iowa	1	Jon Lieber
Japan	2	Jeff McCurry
Kansas	1	Darren Dreifort, Kyle Farnsworth, Everett Stull
Kentucky	2	Willie Blair, Paul Byrd
Louisiana	2	Jim Bullinger, Ben Sheets
Maryland	2	Jay Witasick
Massachusetts	1	Jason Bere, Chris Capuano, Josh Fogg, Tim Fortugno, Kenny Greer, Jeff Juden, Allen Levrault, Mike Trombley, Turk Wendell
Mexico	2	Armando Reynoso
Michigan	1	Tim Birtsas, John Smoltz, Frank Tanana
Mississippi	1	Chad Bradford, John Thomson
Missouri	1	Andy Ashby
Nevada	1	Rocky Biddle
New Hampshire	2	Chris Carpenter
New Jersey	3	Al Leiter
New York	3	Pete Harnisch, Orel Hershiser
Nicaragua	1	Vicente Padilla
North Carolina	1	James Baldwin, Scott Bankhead, Todd Coffey, Brian Moehler
North Dakota	1	Rick Helling
Ohio	2	Dustin Hermanson
Oklahoma	4	Jamey Wright
Pennsylvania	2	Matt Clement
Puerto Rico	2	Jaime Navarro
Rhode Island	1	Ken Ryan
South Carolina	1	Rich Batchelor, Britt Reames, Rob Stanifer
South Dakota	1	Brandon Claussen
South Korea	3	Chan Ho Park
South Vietnam	1	Danny Graves
Taiwan	1	Chin-hui Tsao
Texas	3	Frank Castillo, Jason Jennings, Kerry Wood
Venezuela	2	Carlos Zambrano
Virginia	2	Jimmy Anderson, Brian Anderson, Todd Ritchie
Washington	1	Andy Larkin, Glendon Rusch, Stan Spencer
West Virginia	1	Rick Reed
Wisconsin	1	Kris Benson, Bob Wickman
Wyoming	1	Tom Browning

snowed out?

Look, I went along with the ridiculous idea to set the calendars forward a month as part of the "new and improved daylight savings time", because it meant one less month of offseason, but I think we can all agree now that it was a bad idea. As a result, the Astros game at Chicago was snowed out yesterday, no doubt throwing off everyone's calculations for when Craig Biggio will reach plunk 288. (Though I'm sure some of the more elaborate models figured in the weather).

The Astros are off today, and they'll travel to Philadelphia for the weekend, where they'll try to play 3 games at another park without a dome. So, it looks like Ryan Bowen will remain the only pitcher who has plunked Biggio on April 12th. He did it in 1994 for the Marlins.

geographical plunk records

You probably already knew that Craig Biggio is only 6 HBPs away from the all time record for being hit by pitches, and you probably could figure out that he currently holds the record for being hit by pitches for people born in the state of New York. But, did you know that Jason Varitek entered this season 9 HBPs away from the all time record for people born in Minnesota? Or that Scott Rolen (90 HBPs) broke the Indiana record last year passing Cy Williams (86 HBPs)? Also, Shea Hillenbrand broke the record for people from Arizona previously held by Solly Hemus. Hemus had 62, but Hillenbrand had 68 by the end of '06. Gary Sheffield (119) broke Andre Dawson's (111) record for Florida born players in 2005, but Luis Gonzalez (107) and David Eckstein (104) are right behind him.
Also, Edgar Renteria needs just 1 more plunk to break the Columbian record, and Orlando Cabrera was just 8 behind him at the beginning of this year. Geoff Jenkins needs only 3 more HBPs to become the leader for those born in the state of Washington.


Here are the all time and active leaders for HBPs by state or country of birth, as of the end of the 2006 season:

State/Country	All time leader	HBPs	Active Leader*	HBPs
Alabama	Joe Sewell	80	Juan Pierre	50
Alaska	Josh Phelps	31	Shawn Chacon	1
American Samoa	Tony Solaita	3
Arizona	Shea Hillenbrand	68	Shea Hillenbrand	68
Arkansas	Sherm Lollar	115	Torii Hunter	44
Aruba	Gene Kingsale	6
Australia	Joe Quinn	39	Justin Huber	1
Bahamas	Andre Rodgers	18
Belgium	Brian Lesher	1
British Honduras	Chito Martinez	2
California	Jason Kendall	209	Jason Kendall	209
Canada	Larry Walker	138	Corey Koskie	56
Colombia	Jolbert Cabrera	28	Edgar Renteria	28
Colorado	Roy Hartzell	49	Scott Elarton	5
Connecticut	Mo Vaughn	108	Brad Ausmus	58
Cuba	Minnie Minoso	192	Eli Marrero	8
Curacao	Andruw Jones	75	Andruw Jones	75
Czechoslovakia	Elmer Valo	38
DC	Art Devlin	84	Curtis Pride	7
Delaware	Randy Bush	49	Kevin Mench	26
Denmark	Olaf Henriksen	2
Dominican Republic	Jose Guillen	95	Jose Guillen	95
England	Tom Brown	46
Florida	Gary Sheffield	119	Gary Sheffield	119
France	Steve Jeltz	3
Georgia	Ty Cobb	94	Rondell White	85
Germany	Fritz Buelow	12
Hawaii	Mike Lum	28	Shane Victorino	15
Holland	John Houseman	8
Honduras	Gerald Young	6
Idaho	Harmon Killebrew	48	Jason Schmidt	2
Illinois	Art Fletcher	141	Cliff Floyd	81
Indiana	Scott Rolen	90	Scott Rolen	90
Iowa	Fred Clarke	153	Jerry Hairston	57
Ireland	Patsy Donovan	83
Italy	Reno Bertoia	16
Jamaica	Devon White	87
Japan	Ichiro Suzuki	32	Ichiro Suzuki	32
Kansas	Pat Meares	57	Johnny Damon	36
Kentucky	Dan McGann	230	Austin Kearns	30
Louisiana	Rusty Staub	79	David Dellucci	31
Maine	Freddy Parent	51
Maryland	Brady Anderson	154	Brian Jordan	74
Massachusetts	Tommy Tucker	272	Mark Bellhorn, Lou Merloni	17
Mexico	Vinny Castilla	60	Vinny Castilla	60
Michigan	Bill Freehan	114	Jay Gibbons	13
Minnesota	Terry Steinbach	48	Jason Varitek	40
Mississippi	Chet Lemon	151	Matt Lawton	94
Missouri	Ron Hunt	243	Bill Mueller	35
Montana	Ed Bouchee	27
Nebraska	Richie Ashburn	43	Todd Pratt	28
Nevada	Marty Cordova	50	Justin Leone	3
New Hampshire	Arlie Latham	85
New Jersey	Derek Jeter	115	Derek Jeter	115
New Mexico	Ralph Kiner	24	Cody Ross	5
New York	Craig Biggio	282	Craig Biggio	282
Nicaragua	Marvin Benard	25	Vicente Padilla	2
North Carolina	Ray Durham	68	Ray Durham	68
North Dakota	Travis Hafner	43	Travis Hafner	43
Norway	John Anderson	53
Ohio	Curt Welch	173	Shannon Stewart	70
Oklahoma	Joe Carter	90	Kelly Stinnett	42
Oregon	Aaron Rowand	62	Aaron Rowand	62
Panama	Olmedo Saenz	54	Olmedo Saenz	54
Pennsylvania	Hughie Jennings	287	Ken Griffey	76
Poland	Moe Drabowsky	1
Puerto Rico	Carlos Delgado	149	Carlos Delgado	149
Rhode Island	Nap Lajoie	134	Paul Konerko	56
Russia	Eddie Ainsmith	12
Scotland	Bobby Thomson	34
Singapore	Robin Jennings	1
South Carolina	Reggie Sanders	70	Reggie Sanders	70
South Dakota	Dave Collins	38	Mark Ellis	23
South Korea	Hee Seop Choi	16	Shin-Soo Choo	2
Switzerland	Otto Hess	4
Tennessee	Clyde Milan	80	Steve Finley	53
Texas	Don Baylor	267	Jason LaRue	93
Utah	Duke Sims	35	Chris Shelton	9
Venezuela	Andres Galarraga	178	Melvin Mora	88
Vermont	Carlton Fisk	143	Chris Duffy	12
Virgin Islands	Joe Christopher	19
Virginia	Steve Brodie	132	Michael Tucker	39
W.Germany	Glenn Hubbard	33
Wales	Jimmy Austin	44
Washington	John Olerud	88	Geoff Jenkins	86
West Virginia	Dick Padden	97
Wisconsin	Mark Grudzielanek	91	Mark Grudzielanek	91
Wyoming	Mike Lansing	37	John Buck	10

*as of 2006 year end

2 straight wins in Chicago

The Astros picked up another win in Chicago yesterday, 4-2, but the Craig Biggio did not contribute to the offense either by getting hit by pitches or getting hits. He did reach base on an error and score a run though, so I'm sure that website that's all about Craig Biggio reaching base on errors is very excited today (173!).

Biggio and the Astros will try to complete a sweep at Wrigley Field against Cubs starter Rich Hill. Rich Hill has only hit 3 batters ever, and they all played for red teams (Wily Mo Pena, and Royce Clayton of the Reds and David Eckstein of the Cardinals). We'll see if he can break out of the trend and plunk Craig Biggio today. But Biggio will need to break a streak of his own... he's never been plunked on April 11th. (He's never reached base on an error on April 11th either.)

more plunk management

Yesterday's discussion of managers may have left you, the reader, with a number of questions like "Yeah, but which managers has Craig Biggio played against and been hit by a pitch against the most?" or "How many different managers has Biggio played against and how many hit him?" or "Who cares about any of this?". Well, some of those questions will be answered today. But not the last one.

Biggio has faced 76 opposing managers in his 2,717 career games, and he's been hit by a pitch against 58 of them. He hasn't played more than 26 games against any manager without getting plunked at least once - Don Zimmer holds that record. 11 different managers have overseen Biggio's plunkings for more than one team, but Davey Johnson is the only manager to watch his team plunk Biggio from three different teams dugouts (Reds, Mets, and Dodgers). Biggio has been hit the most in games against Tony LaRussa's Cardinals - 21 times, but he's also played more games against LaRussa than any other manager (156). Not surprisingly, Biggio has had more hits against LaRussa than any other manager (170).

Here's the full list of managers Biggio has played against, with HBPs and Hits against each one, and the teams they've each managed. The number in parenthesis is the breakdown of plunks by team, where applicable.

Opp. Manager	Games	HBP	Hits	Team (HBP)
Tony LaRussa	156	21	170	Cardinals
Dusty Baker	148	20	165	Giants (17), Cubs (3)
Don Baylor	97	17	128	Rockies (13), Cubs (4)
Jim Leyland	126	13	158	Pirates (8), Marlins (5), Rockies (0), Tigers (0)
Bruce Bochy	97	12	106	Padres
Lloyd McClendon	72	11	77	Pirates
Davey Johnson	69	11	55	Dodgers (5), Reds (4), Mets (2)
Clint Hurdle	27	11	39	Rockies
Jim Riggleman	88	10	96	Cubs (8), Padres (2)
Felipe Alou	113	9	125	Expos (9), Giants (0)
Jack McKeon	80	9	64	Reds (6), Marlins (3), Padres (0)
Bobby Cox	154	8	155	Braves
Terry Francona	33	8	33	Phillies
Buddy Bell	27	8	31	Rockies (8), Tigers, Royals
Buck Showalter	48	7	58	Rangers (4), D-backs (3)
Bobby Valentine	43	6	40	Mets
Davey Lopes	25	6	30	Brewers
Ned Yost	57	5	60	Brewers
Phil Garner	23	5	30	Brewers (5, 1 in AL), Tigers (0)
Jim Fregosi	66	4	75	Phillies
Joe Torre	58	4	82	Cardinals (3), Yankees (1)
Dallas Green	34	4	39	Mets
Dave Miley	31	4	40	Reds
Frank Robinson	30	4	28	Expos (3), Nationals (1)
Bob Melvin	18	4	17	D-backs (4), Mariners (0)
Art Howe	15	4	11	Mets (3), A's (1)
Tom Lasorda	107	3	116	Dodgers
Gene Lamont	37	3	31	Pirates
Rene Lachemann	32	3	40	Marlins
Jim Lefebvre	31	3	31	Cubs (3), Brewers (0)
John Boles	22	3	20	Marlins
Bob Brenly	17	3	13	D-backs
Tony Muser	12	3	14	Royals
Roger Craig	74	2	84	Giants
Lou Piniella	58	2	57	Reds (2), Mariners (0), Devil Rays (0), Cubs (0)
Bob Boone	46	2	54	Reds (2), Royals (0)
Jim Tracy	47	2	54	Dodgers (2), Pirates (0)
Jerry Narron	32	2	38	Rangers (1), Reds (1)
Jeff Torborg	25	2	22	Marlins (2), Expos (0), Mets (0)
Larry Bowa	24	2	29	Phillies
Bill Russell	21	2	21	Dodgers
Willie Randolph	16	2	14	Mets
Mike Jorgensen	9	2	8	Cardinals
Terry Bevington	3	2	4	White Sox
Greg Riddoch	41	1	43	Padres
Buck Rodgers	27	1	19	Expos
Ray Knight	21	1	22	Reds
Charlie Manuel	18	1	18	Indians (1), Phillies (0)
Whitey Herzog	17	1	15	Cardinals
Bud Harrelson	17	1	17	Mets
Tom Kelly	14	1	19	Twins
Jerry Royster	13	1	13	Brewers
Pete Rose	12	1	6	Reds
Mike Hargrove	12	1	15	Baltimore (1), Indians (0)
Tom Runnells	10	1	10	Expos
Bruce Kimm	9	1	10	Cubs
Al Pedrique	6	1	7	D-backs
Lee Mazzilli	3	1	2	Baltimore
Don Zimmer	26	0	25	Cubs
Russ Nixon	23	0	19	Braves
Nick Leyva	19	0	20	Phillies
Tom Trebelhorn	12	0	20	Cubs
Jerry Manuel	9	0	12	White Sox
Grady Little	8	0	7	Red Sox, Dodgers
Jim Essian	7	0	9	Cubs
Lee Elia	7	0	7	Phillies
Tony Perez	7	0	9	Reds, Marlins
Joe Girardi	6	0	4	Marlins
Tommy Helms	6	0	7	Reds
Ron Gardenhire	3	0	2	Twins
Pete Mackanin	3	0	1	Pirates
Larry Parrish	3	0	6	Tigers
John Gibbons	3	0	3	Blue Jays
Ozzie Guillen	2	0	3	White Sox
Mike Scioscia	2	0	3	Angels
Glenn Hoffman	2	0	3	Dodgers