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