the end of Mays

not Willie.

Tonight's game is Craig Biggio's final chance to get hit by a pitch and extend his streak to 15 years with at least 1 HBP in May. Last season, Biggio broke a 15 year streak of getting hit by a pitch in June. He was plunked at least once in every month of June from 1991 to 2005. So, if he doesn't get hit today, April will be the month he's been plunked in for the most consecutive years with 14. If he does get hit today, he'll have two different streaks of 15 consecutive years with an HBP in a particular month. There's only about 150 players who have been hit by a pitch in 15 consecutive years, so there can't be very many who have done it in the same month in 15 consecutive years.

The last season Craig Biggio didn't get hit by a pitch in the month of May was 1992 - back when he played catcher, and was still looking for his 12th career HBP. Biggio's first plunk in '92 was on June 12th, but he still managed to get to 7 for the season.

Even with this years May plunk drought, Craig Biggio has still been hit by a pitch in 11.3% of the games he's played in May - a little more than once every 9 games. He's been hit a total of 60 times in the month, which is one more plunk than the San Diego Padres have ever had in a full season, and 4 more than the career total of every player ever born in Nevada (through last year).

more bad things

An eighth inning double was for Biggio was about the only good thing to come out of last night's game, as Biggio's plunkless streak and the Astros losing streak drags on. The Astros fell 4-3 and Craig Biggio had 2 errors in a game for the first time since March 31, 1998. That second one was Biggio's 195th error, and his 150th as a 2nd baseman. Only Ryne Sandberg has played as many games at 2nd base with fewer errors than Biggio and the list of players with over 1900 games and under 200 errors at 2nd base is limited to just Sandberg, Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Lou Whitaker and Frank White. None of those other guys ever threw out a base-stealer from behind home plate though.

Biggio's last chance to continue his 14 year streak of being plunked at least once in May comes tonight against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo plunked Biggio on April 7, 2001 when he pitched for the Pirates. Arroyo used to plunk everyone when he played for the Red Sox, with a career high of 20 in 2004, but he's only hit 1 batter this year and just 6 since he was traded to the Reds before last season.

Carlos Zambrano plunked Biggio on May 31, 2003.

losing, plunkless streaks continue

Craig Biggio hit the ball a few times last night, once safely for hit number 2,973, but he did not get hit by the ball. He scored the Astros only run of the game, but they lost 2-1, extending the losing streak to 9 games.

Tonight, Aaron Harang will get his chance to fulfill his lifelong dream* of plunking Biggio. He's hit 27 other batters in his career to warm up, but he has not yet hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

Two years ago, Todd Coffey plunked Biggio for the Reds - on May 30, 2005.


*Plunking Biggio is probably not really Aaron Harang's lifelong dream.

How to end a plunkless streak

As you may have noticed, Craig Biggio has gone 33 consecutive games without getting hit by a pitch. That ranks 14th in his career, for most consecutive games without being hit. He's had 144 plate appearances since his last plunk, and that ranks 15th in his career. But, he has snapped out of plunkless streaks of 30 or more games 17 different times in his career, so it's worth looking at the circumstances under which most of those plunk-free streaks were broken.

8 of those 17 streaks were snapped at home, but only 6 plunks that ended 30 game plunkless streaks were recorded in games the Astros won. On April 29, 2000, Biggio broke out of a 35 game plunkless streak with a 2 plunk game in Milwaukee, but that was the only multi-plunk game to end a streak of this length. Biggio has ended long plunkless streaks against ten different teams, but the Mets helped end 4 of them - streaks of 31, 37, 48 and 70 games. Tonight's opponents, the Reds, have broken streaks of 45 and 59 plunkless games for Biggio. The 59 game streak was the first 59 games of Biggio's career, ending when the Reds threw plunk number 1.

Biggio has ended a 30 game plunkless streak by getting hit to lead of the game 3 times. In total, he's ended streaks in the first inning 5 times, but done it 8 times in his first plate appearance of the game. He ended his original plunkless streak, and a 31 game drought in 1993 with a 10th inning plunk, and he ended two other streaks by getting hit in the 9th inning. No pitcher has ended one of these streaks more than once.

Biggio has batterd just 11 for 43 with one home run in the 17 games that ended 30+ game plunkless streaks, which is not the sort of stat that would make anyone root for a streak to end. But, keep in mind that overall, Craig Biggio has batted .297 in games in which he gets hit by at least one pitch, and .281 in plunk-free games. So, a plunkless streak

Craig Biggio's streaks of 30 or more unplunked games:

Games	PA	Streak	Ended by:	Ended on:	Opp
115	479	9/3/89 to 7/21/90	Mark Gardner	7/22/90	Expos
88	387	8/31/91 to 6/10/92	Michael Jackson	6/12/92	Giants
71	290	6/8/91 to 8/29/91	Barry Jones	8/30/91	Expos
70	287	9/3/90 to 6/6/91	Ron Darling	6/7/91	Mets
61	277	9/9/92 to 5/18/93	Jeff Brantley	5/19/93	Giants
59	155	6/26/88 to 4/20/89	Tim Birtsas	4/22/89	Reds
48	212	8/18/04 to 4/11/05	Braden Looper	4/13/05	Mets
45	209	8/25/98 to 4/24/99	Pete Harnisch	4/25/99	Reds
41	193	7/26/99 to 9/8/99	Paul Byrd	9/9/99	Phillies
37	171	6/13/92 to 7/25/92	Jim Bullinger	7/26/92	Cubs
37	140	5/20/89 to 7/3/89	Bob Ojeda	7/4/89	Mets
35	166	9/14/99 to 4/28/00	Everett Stull	4/29/00	Brewers
35	163	6/13/94 to 7/22/94	Steve Cooke	7/23/94	Pirates
33+	144	4/18/07 to ?	?	?	?
32	146	6/28/00 to 4/6/01	Bronson Arroyo	4/7/01	Pirates
32	142	6/9/93 to 7/16/93	Bob Tewksbury	7/17/93	Cardinals
32	133	8/18/06 to 9/27/06	Chuck James	9/29/06	Braves
31	149	8/1/93 to 9/6/93	John Franco	9/7/93	Mets

Are the Reds the cure for a losing streak?

The Astros get back to work in Houston today, trying to snap an 8 game losing streak, and they have the perfect visitors for such a task. Houston is 7-2 against the Reds so far this season.
Craig Biggio will either be trying to get back on the road to plunk 288, or continuing to build the suspense. Matt Belisle pitches for the Reds today, but he has never plunked Craig Biggio. Biggio has been plunked by Matt Wise, Matt Morris, Matt Karchner, Matt Clement and Matt Beech - but not Matt Belisle. Belisle has hit eleven batters in his career, but the only one in an Astros uniform was Aubrey Huff.


Pedro Astacio plunked Biggio twice on May 29, 1998 for the Rockies, and Jason Marquis got him last year on May 29th for the Cardinals.

Memorial day break

The Astros get the day off today, along with most of the rest of the country, and head back home tomorrow, hoping to end their 8 game losing streak by beating the Reds - the only team in the division with a worse record. Craig Biggio didn't get hit by any pitches in Arizona on Saturday and took Sunday off.


Biggio has only been hit by a pitch once on May 28 - in 2003 by Jason Simontacchi.

snakes on a weekend

Astros' manager Phil Garner shuffled the lineup last night, in an obvious attempt to get Craig Biggio's HBP production jump-started, but it didn't go well on the first attempt. The Astros lost big by a score of 13-3 and Biggio is still looking for that elusive 284th plunk.

Tonight the Astros will get thrown at by Brandon Webb. He's hit Biggio with a pitch once before - on July 26, 2004 - but he's only hit 2 batters so far this season. If he plunks Biggio tonight he'd join Frank Castillo as the only 2 pitchers who have done so on May 26th. Castillo plunked Biggio on May 26, 1996. Webb would also become the first pitcher to plunk Biggio on the same day of two different months.

On Sunday, Livan Hernadez pitches for the Diamondbacks. He plunked Biggio on April 8th last season. But, Sunday will likely be a day off from the starting lineup, if they don't decide to rest him Saturday.

Darren Dreifort plunked Biggio on May 27, 2001.

Randy Johnson

As noted yesterday, Randy Johnson was originally scheduled to pitch tonight, but is skipping the start due to tendinitis. Assuming he doesn't decide to jump back into the rotation Saturday or Sunday, and he doesn't get traded by the end of the year, and assuming this will be Craig Biggio's final season, this means that Randy Johnson will never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. But, it seems like it's worth it to take this opportunity to see how exactly someone can go through a major league career and hit 181 batters. Perhaps by looking at who he's plunked, and when, we can determine if these 181 plunks are the result of wildness, menace, bruise lust, a compulsion to throw things at people, or maybe just the side effect of a long career based on throwing pitches that move fast for batters to react effectively - either to hit the ball or avoid being hit by it. Or failing that, at least consider this post a tribute to those who have been drilled by Johnson and survived.

For the most part, Randy Johnson has hit 181 batters one at a time. He's only had 23 games in which he hit more than 1 batter, and only hit 3 batters in a game once. 133 of his plunks where thrown in 1 plunk games. He's hit 114 American League batters to just 67 National Leaguers. He hit 89 batters for the Mariners, 67 so far for the Diamondbacks, 22 for the Yankees and 3 during his brief stay with the Astros. He's hit 4 American League batters in interleague play with an NL team, but just 1 NL batter while pitching for the American League. He's hit 18 batters in a season twice - in 1992, and 2001, and led the league in plunks twice - in 1992 and 1993.

Johnson has been remarkably consistent spreading his plunks out over the first 4 months of the season - 32 in April, 33 in May, 32 in June and 33 in July - but he drops off in the final two months, plunking only 27 batters in August and 19 in September. He also had 4 October plunks and a March plunk in regular season play, but he never hit a batter in any of his 8 trips to the post season.

Johnson has only plunked back to back batters on 4 occasions and he only hit the same batter twice in a game once - last season on April 26th. He hit Toronto's Reed Johnson twice in that game, but just to show he hadn't learned anything from the experience, Reed Johnson went and got hit a third time in the game, by Tanyon Sturtze. Reed Johnson is tied with Jim Leyritz as Randy Johnson's favorite target - they've both been plunked 4 times by him. From August 6, 2005 to April 29, 2006, Randy Johnson threw 5 plunks, and 4 of them landed on Reed Johnson.

There are 9 batters who have been plunked 3 times by Randy Johnson, but only Darin Erstad is the only one Johnson managed to hit while pitching for 3 different teams.

Here's the complete history of batters plunked by Randy Johnson:

HB#	Team	Game	Batter (career HBP vs Johnson)
1	SEA	6/4/1989 VS TEX	Pete Incaviglia (1)
2	SEA	8/8/1989 AT CAL	Wally Joyner (1)
3	SEA	9/10/1989 VS MIL	Charlie O'Brien (1)
4	SEA	5/11/1990 VS NYA	Steve Balboni (1)
5	SEA	5/22/1990 AT MIL	Glenn Braggs (1)
6	SEA	6/17/1990 VS TEX	Pete Incaviglia (2)
7	SEA	7/4/1990 AT CLE	Mitch Webster (1)
8	SEA	10/3/1990 AT MIN	Junior Ortiz (1)
9	SEA	5/12/1991 VS BAL	Tim Hulett (1)
10	SEA	5/22/1991 AT KCA	Jim Eisenreich (1)
11	SEA	5/27/1991 VS KCA	Terry Shumpert (1)
12	SEA	6/1/1991 AT TEX	Brian Downing (1)
13	SEA	6/26/1991 AT CHA	Scott Fletcher (1)
14	SEA	7/23/1991 AT NYA	Hensley Meulens (1)
15	SEA	7/28/1991 AT CLE	Jerry Browne (1)
16	SEA	8/9/1991 VS MIN	Chuck Knoblauch (1)
17	SEA	8/19/1991 VS CAL	Dave Gallagher (1)
18	SEA	9/13/1991 AT KCA	Terry Shumpert (2)
19	SEA	9/18/1991 VS TOR	Candy Maldonado (1)
20	SEA	9/18/1991 VS TOR	Rene Gonzales (1)
21	SEA	5/6/1992 VS TOR	Roberto Alomar (1)
22	SEA	5/6/1992 VS TOR	Joe Carter (1)
23	SEA	5/12/1992 AT NYA	Roberto Kelly (1)
24	SEA	5/12/1992 AT NYA	Pat Kelly (1)
25	SEA	5/22/1992 VS CLE	Mark Lewis (1)
26	SEA	5/22/1992 VS CLE	Sandy Alomar (1)
27	SEA	6/10/1992 AT TEX	John Russell (1)
28	SEA	6/10/1992 AT TEX	Al Newman (1)
29	SEA	6/27/1992 VS CAL	Rene Gonzales (2)
30	SEA	6/27/1992 VS CAL	Lee Stevens (1)
31	SEA	6/27/1992 VS CAL	Rene Gonzales (3)
32	SEA	7/9/1992 AT NYA	Charlie Hayes (1)
33	SEA	7/9/1992 AT NYA	Jim Leyritz (1)
34	SEA	7/26/1992 VS NYA	Jim Leyritz (2)
35	SEA	7/31/1992 AT CHA	Craig Grebeck (1)
36	SEA	8/5/1992 AT MIL	Pat Listach (1)
37	SEA	9/10/1992 AT OAK	Carney Lansford (1)
38	SEA	10/3/1992 VS CHA	Shawn Abner (1)
39	SEA	4/11/1993 VS BAL	Leo Gomez (1)
40	SEA	4/11/1993 VS BAL	Chris Hoiles (1)
41	SEA	4/26/1993 VS CLE	Albert Belle (1)
42	SEA	5/1/1993 AT NYA	Mike Gallego (1)
43	SEA	5/6/1993 AT CLE	Carlos Baerga (1)
44	SEA	6/9/1993 AT MIL	Kevin Reimer (1)
45	SEA	6/14/1993 VS KCA	Mike Macfarlane (1)
46	SEA	6/14/1993 VS KCA	Wally Joyner (2)
47	SEA	7/5/1993 VS NYA	Gerald Williams (1)
48	SEA	7/10/1993 VS CLE	Felix Fermin (1)
49	SEA	7/18/1993 AT BOS	Mike Greenwell (1)
50	SEA	8/8/1993 AT TEX	Julio Franco (1)
51	SEA	8/14/1993 VS CAL	Rod Correia (1)
52	SEA	8/20/1993 AT TOR	Darnell Coles (1)
53	SEA	9/16/1993 VS KCA	Rico Rossy (1)
54	SEA	9/26/1993 VS OAK	Scott Brosius (1)
55	SEA	4/15/1994 VS MIL	Matt Mieske (1)
56	SEA	4/20/1994 AT NYA	Luis Polonia (1)
57	SEA	4/30/1994 VS BAL	Brady Anderson (1)
58	SEA	6/15/1994 AT TEX	Juan Gonzalez (1)
59	SEA	7/22/1994 AT BOS	John Valentin (1)
60	SEA	8/11/1994 AT OAK	Scott Brosius (2)
61	SEA	5/21/1995 AT MIN	Marty Cordova (1)
62	SEA	5/31/1995 VS NYA	Jim Leyritz (3)
63	SEA	6/28/1995 VS OAK	Scott Brosius (3)
64	SEA	7/2/1995 VS TEX	Mark McLemore (1)
65	SEA	7/20/1995 AT MIL	Fernando Vina (1)
66	SEA	8/21/1995 VS BAL	Jeff Manto (1)
67	SEA	4/16/1996 VS CAL	Jim Edmonds (1)
68	SEA	8/13/1996 VS KCA	Mike Sweeney (1)
69	SEA	4/11/1997 AT BOS	Mo Vaughn (1)
70	SEA	4/16/1997 AT DET	Damion Easley (1)
71	SEA	5/13/1997 AT MIL	Chuck Carr (1)
72	SEA	5/13/1997 AT MIL	Jeff Cirillo (1)
73	SEA	5/23/1997 AT KCA	Shane Halter (1)
74	SEA	6/29/1997 VS ANA	Luis Alicea (1)
75	SEA	7/13/1997 VS TEX	Will Clark (1)
76	SEA	7/29/1997 AT BOS	Mo Vaughn (2)
77	SEA	7/29/1997 AT BOS	Shane Mack (1)
78	SEA	8/15/1997 AT BAL	Cal Ripken (1)
79	SEA	4/5/1998 VS BOS	Mike Benjamin (1)
80	SEA	4/10/1998 AT BOS	Mo Vaughn (3)
81	SEA	4/10/1998 AT BOS	Jim Leyritz (4)
82	SEA	4/10/1998 AT BOS	Nomar Garciaparra (1)
83	SEA	4/28/1998 AT KCA	Jose Offerman (1)
84	SEA	5/3/1998 VS DET	Damion Easley (2)
85	SEA	5/14/1998 AT CHA	Ray Durham (1)
86	SEA	5/19/1998 AT TEX	Mike Simms (1)
87	SEA	5/19/1998 AT TEX	Kevin Elster (1)
88	SEA	6/3/1998 VS ANA	Tim Salmon (1)
89	SEA	6/3/1998 VS ANA	Darin Erstad (1)
90	HOU	8/2/1998 AT PIT	Lou Collier (1)
91	HOU	8/22/1998 AT CHN	Gary Gaetti (1)
92	HOU	9/18/1998 AT PIT	Aramis Ramirez (1)
93	ARI	4/5/1999 AT LAN	Eric Young (1)
94	ARI	5/10/1999 VS MON	Wilton Guerrero (1)
95	ARI	5/20/1999 AT COL	Todd Helton (1)
96	ARI	5/30/1999 AT NYN	John Olerud (1)
97	ARI	6/9/1999 VS CHN	Jeff Blauser (1)
98	ARI	7/20/1999 AT SEA	Ken Griffey (1)
99	ARI	7/25/1999 VS LAN	Devon White (1)
100	ARI	8/6/1999 AT PHI	Scott Rolen (1)
101	ARI	8/16/1999 VS CHN	Chad Meyers (1)
102	ARI	6/9/2000 VS ANA	Darin Erstad (2)
103	ARI	6/14/2000 AT LAN	Jose Vizcaino (1)
104	ARI	6/24/2000 VS COL	Terry Shumpert (3)
105	ARI	6/29/2000 VS HOU	Richard Hidalgo (1)
106	ARI	8/20/2000 VS CHN	Mark Grace (1)
107	ARI	10/1/2000 VS SFN	Marvin Benard (1)
108	ARI	4/3/2001 AT LAN	Jeff Reboulet (1)
109	ARI	4/8/2001 VS SLN	Fernando Vina (2)
110	ARI	4/8/2001 VS SLN	J.D. Drew (1)
111	ARI	4/13/2001 AT COL	Juan Pierre (1)
112	ARI	5/13/2001 VS PHI	Scott Rolen (2)
113	ARI	5/18/2001 AT CHN	Julio Zuleta (1)
114	ARI	6/3/2001 VS SDN	Kevin Jarvis (1)
115	ARI	6/19/2001 AT LAN	Paul Lo Duca (1)
116	ARI	6/24/2001 AT COL	Ben Petrick (1)
117	ARI	7/4/2001 AT HOU	Moises Alou (1)
118	ARI	7/29/2001 VS SFN	Andres Galarraga (1)
119	ARI	7/29/2001 VS SFN	Shawon Dunston (1)
120	ARI	8/13/2001 VS PIT	Pat Meares (1)
121	ARI	8/18/2001 VS CHN	Corey Patterson (1)
122	ARI	9/7/2001 VS SDN	Bubba Trammell (1)
123	ARI	9/17/2001 AT COL	Larry Walker (1)
124	ARI	9/22/2001 AT LAN	Shawn Green (1)
125	ARI	10/2/2001 VS COL	Larry Walker (2)
126	ARI	4/11/2002 AT COL	Juan Pierre (2)
127	ARI	5/21/2002 VS SFN	Reggie Sanders (1)
128	ARI	5/21/2002 VS SFN	J.T. Snow (1)
129	ARI	6/10/2002 AT NYA	Jason Giambi (1)
130	ARI	6/15/2002 VS DET	Robert Fick (1)
131	ARI	7/16/2002 AT SFN	Benito Santiago (1)
132	ARI	7/26/2002 VS SDN	Brian Buchanan (1)
133	ARI	8/15/2002 AT CIN	Adam Dunn (1)
134	ARI	8/15/2002 AT CIN	Brandon Larson (1)
135	ARI	8/20/2002 VS CIN	Ruben Mateo (1)
136	ARI	8/30/2002 VS SFN	Kenny Lofton (1)
137	ARI	9/4/2002 VS LAN	Mike Kinkade (1)
138	ARI	9/26/2002 VS COL	Juan Pierre (3)
139	ARI	3/31/2003 VS LAN	Dave Roberts (1)
140	ARI	4/5/2003 AT COL	Chris Stynes (1)
141	ARI	4/11/2003 VS MIL	Richie Sexson (1)
142	ARI	7/20/2003 AT SDN	Rondell White (1)
143	ARI	7/20/2003 AT SDN	Ramon Vazquez (1)
144	ARI	7/25/2003 VS LAN	Mike Kinkade (2)
145	ARI	9/9/2003 VS LAN	Mike Kinkade (3)
146	ARI	9/24/2003 AT COL	Larry Walker (3)
147	ARI	4/6/2004 VS COL	Jeromy Burnitz (1)
148	ARI	4/21/2004 AT MIL	Brady Clark (1)
149	ARI	4/26/2004 VS CHN	Derrek Lee (1)
150	ARI	5/23/2004 AT FLO	Damion Easley (3)
151	ARI	6/2/2004 VS SFN	Barry Bonds (1)
152	ARI	6/23/2004 AT SDN	Sean Burroughs (1)
153	ARI	6/23/2004 AT SDN	David Wells (1)
154	ARI	7/15/2004 VS LAN	Alex Cora (1)
155	ARI	8/10/2004 AT MON	Brad Wilkerson (1)
156	ARI	9/10/2004 VS SFN	Barry Bonds (2)
157	NYA	4/9/2005 VS BAL	Luis Matos (1)
158	NYA	4/19/2005 VS TBA	Aubrey Huff (1)
159	NYA	4/19/2005 VS TBA	Josh Phelps (1)
160	NYA	5/15/2005 AT OAK	Charles Thomas (1)
161	NYA	6/1/2005 AT KCA	David DeJesus (1)
162	NYA	6/6/2005 AT MIL	Geoff Jenkins (1)
163	NYA	7/21/2005 AT ANA	Darin Erstad (3)
164	NYA	7/26/2005 VS MIN	Shannon Stewart (1)
165	NYA	7/31/2005 VS ANA	Adam Kennedy (1)
166	NYA	8/6/2005 AT TOR	Reed Johnson (1)
167	NYA	9/6/2005 VS TBA	Nick Green (1)
168	NYA	9/16/2005 AT TOR	Reed Johnson (2)
169	NYA	4/29/2006 VS TOR	Reed Johnson (3)
170	NYA	4/29/2006 VS TOR	Reed Johnson (4)
171	NYA	5/4/2006 AT TBA	Joey Gathright (1)
172	NYA	7/14/2006 VS CHA	Joe Crede (1)
173	NYA	7/19/2006 VS SEA	Jose Lopez (1)
174	NYA	7/29/2006 VS TBA	Carl Crawford (1)
175	NYA	8/14/2006 VS ANA	Howie Kendrick (1)
176	NYA	8/19/2006 AT BOS	Alex Cora (2)
177	NYA	8/31/2006 VS DET	Brandon Inge (1)
178	NYA	9/11/2006 AT BAL	David Newhan (1)
179	ARI	4/24/2007 VS SDN	Adrian Gonzalez (1)
180	ARI	4/24/2007 VS SDN	Mike Cameron (1)
181	ARI	5/9/2007 VS PHI	Chase Utley (1)

close call in Arizona

Micah Owings got a little over-enthusiastic last night, with the idea of joining the long list of pitchers who have plunked Biggio clearly in his mind. In the 5th inning he sent a fastball toward Biggio at about head level, and slightly behind him. It could have been Biggio's 284th plunk, had he not hit the dirt, but it also could have been his last. As Craig Biggio well knows, there's no point in taking 284 if it means your not going to get to 288. Biggio did collect career hit number 2,972, but the Astros didn't show many other signs of offense, losing 9-1, and leaving pitcher Wandy Rodriguez to drive in his only run support of the game.

Tonight the quest for 288 continues in Arizona against Edgar Gonzalez. He's never plunked Biggio, but 10 of the 647 batters he's faced in his career, all with the Diamondbacks. Biggio has been plunked once before on May 25th - in 2002 by Kerry Wood.



In the news, over at ESPN.com, they have an excerpt from Jason Stark's book "The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History". Stark argues, in the excerpt, that Craig Biggio is the most underrated 2nd-baseman of all time. It's an excellent summary of Biggio's accomplishments and why they may have been overlooked by much of the baseball world, but for some reason he claims Biggio has been hit by more pitches than anyone in history. I'm not sure if he just doesn't want to admit Hughie Jennings existence, or - since it's from a book - he wrote it assuming Biggio would break the record before the book was published. Stark also says that the only people who noticed what Biggio was up to for the first 19 years of his career are "Barbara Bush, Lyle Lovett, several million other Texans, and a few off-kilter hit-by-pitch junkies".

Off-kilter hit-by-pitch junkies?

I assume he's talking about you.

Biggio vs active leaders

The news from Phoenix tells us that Randy Johnson will miss tomorrow's start against the Astros, denying Craig Biggio a chance to be plunked by the Major League's active plunk leader for the first time in his career, and denying the fans a chance to see a pitcher vs batter matchup in which the pitcher's plunks thrown and the batters plunks received add up to 464.

Randy Johnson has never plunked Biggio, and they haven't faced each other since June 26, 2002. At that point, Johnson was 3 hit-batters behind Roger Clemens for the lead among active pitchers. Johnson would take the lead before the end of the season, but hasn't faced Biggio since. Roger Clemens faced, and plunked Biggio in the '98 all star game, but that was before Clemens took the active lead in plunks, and all-star game plunks don't really count anyway. The last time Biggio faced the active leader in hit-batters in a regular season game was August 25, 1993 against Charlie Hough, who had hit 162 batters at that point. Biggio had been plunked just 26 times, but he never got hit by Hough.

The closest Biggio has come to being plunked by the active plunk leader was on May 20, 2000. Oral Hershiser plunked Biggio twice, tallying his (Hershiser's) 113th and 114th hit-batter, but Roger Clemens was sitting just ahead with 117 batters plunked. Kevin Brown, who would plunk Biggio later that year for his 110th hit-batter, was in 3rd place on the active list at the time, but would tie Hershiser by the end of the year. Brown would record his 129th hit-batter against Biggio on September 3, 2003, making that the highest plunk total achieved by any pitcher on a plunking of Biggio, but he was behind Clemens and Johnson on the active plunk list by then.

The last time any active leader in hitting batters hit the active leader in getting hit was on June 16, 1989 when Bert Blyleven plunked Chet Lemon. That was Blyleven's 138th hit-batter and Lemon's 143rd hit-by-pitch.


As mentioned above, Johnson's hit-batter total and Biggio's HBP total add up to 464 plunks. Their has been only one time in baseball history when an active batter and active pitcher finished a season with that many plunks between them - in 1909, Hughie Jennings played 2 games while his record sat at 287 plunks, and Chick Fraser pitched his one final game, with a career total of 177 plunks - for a total of 464. They didn't face each other though, because Jennings was in the AL and Fraser the NL. Cy Young may have faced Jennings that year, with as many as 155 plunks under his belt, for a total of 442 between them. The highest plunk total for a batter/pitcher matchup that we actually know for sure happened was last season, on August 11, 2006 when Biggio, with 280 plunks, faced Chan Ho Park who had hit 126 batters, for a total of 408.

On September 28, 1988, the active leader in hitting batters, Bert Blyleven recorded his 133rd career plunk, which landed on Don Baylor for his 267th plunk. Obviously, Baylor was the active leader, but that plunk also gave the two of them a combined 400 plunks thrown or received (not counting the two times Blyleven was hit by pitches). None of the possible matchups lifted in the previous paragraph resulted in plunks. The only matchups that might have produced a plunk where the batter and pitcher had collected more plunks are nearly 100 years ago. Dan McGann may have been hit by Chick Fraser in 1908 when the two of them ended the season with a combined total of 407 plunks, or McGann could have been hit that year by Joe McGinnity for a maximum total of 412 if they recorded their last plunk of the season against each other. Hughie Jennings record his final plunk in 1903, and only 1 that year. It might have been thrown by Chick Fraser, who finished the season with 149 hit-batters, or Ed Doheny who got up to 132 plunks. But the highest total Jennings last plunk could have created, when added with the pitcher's total who hit him, would have been 436. Biggio and Johnson could have hooked up for Biggio's 284th and Johnson's 182nd, for a total of 466, or more if Johnson hit someone else before Biggio, or plunked Biggio more than once.

But, Johnson had to go and miss the game because he's got tendinitis, denying the opportunity for a truely unique moment in baseball history.

I guess Biggio probably won't be too sad about it though...

No At&t plunks

Last night was, in all likelyhood, Craig Biggio's last chance to get hit by a pitch at At&t park in San Francisco, but the night passed without a pitch striking the Astros' number 7. Biggio didn't get hit or hit safely in the game, and the Astros lost 9-1, so maybe the best idea is to leave At&t park behind and move on to Arizona.

Tonight the Astros face the Arizona Diamondbacks, and rookie starter Micah Owings. Owings pitched 5 outs worth of relief against the Astros on May 13th, and only plunked Brad Ausmus, so he could get to Berkman and Biggio tonight if he's trying to plunk the Astros in alphabetical order. He might not be trying to do that. Maybe. Owings has hit 3 batters in all, in 32.2 career innings, all this season.

Chris Brock plunked Biggio on May 24th once. Once.
It was in the 6th inning, on May 24, 2000.

Because I know something you don't know...

Barry Zito IS left handed. And, if he plunks Biggio tonight, he'll be the 49th left-handed pitcher to do so.

Biggio's first career HBP was thrown by left-handed Tim Birtsas on April 22, 1989, but in all, Biggio has been hit by only 57 pitches thrown by left hands. He's been hit about once every 40 plate appearances against right-handers, but only once per 53 plate appearance against lefties.

Al Leiter holds the left-handed record for plunking Biggio with 3, and Brian Anderson is the only lefty to plunk Biggio twice in a game (on July 4, 1998).

The Mets hold the team record for left-handed plunking of Craig Biggio, with 8, followed by Cincinatti with 7. The overall leader in hitting Biggio with pitches, Colorado, has only had lefties throw 2 of their 32 plunks against him. He's been hit by a left-handed pitch by 17 different teams, including all the National League franchises, but the Nationals haven't had a lefty plunk him since they were the Expos. One might think that the recent takeover of Congress by the Left might change that, but Biggio has been plunked 48 times while the Republicans controlled the house and 9 times while the Democrats have had control. On the other hand, Biggio was plunked 32 times from the left during Clinton's administration, and 25 times during the various Bush administrations.

Biggio has been plunked by left handed pitchers born in 6 countries, but 13 of his plunks were thrown by 11 left-handers from California, making that the most productive US State in terms of left-handed pitchers who plunk Craig Biggio.

Tuesday has been Biggio's favorite day of the week to get hit by left-handers, with 15. Saturday is the runner-up with 14, followed by Wednesday's 8 left-handed HBPs.
July leads months of the year with 13 left-handed plunks, and 3 of his 12 plunks on the date of a full moon were thrown by lefties.

Craig Biggio has been hit by left-handed pitchers more often on even numbered days of the month than odd, by a 33-24 margin, but right-handed pitchers have hit him more often on odd numbered days by a 119-107 margin.

Obviously, Biggio has never been plunked while batting left-handed, and it's probably a little to late for him to pull the reverse-Montoya Gambit, suddenly proclaiming that he's actually left-handed and has only been playing right-handed to make it a fair contest. Jake Beckley is the all time HBP leader for left handers with 183, but Tommy Tucker (272) and Dan McGann (230) both switch-hit, so it's possible that they were hit more as left handers. Carlos Delgado (151) could make a run at that lefty record for getting hit if he plays a few more years.

Last Giants game

Craig Biggio got the night off last night, to rest his body and perhaps renew his mental focus on the important task of being hit by 5 more pitches this season. He should be back in the lineup tonight against Barry Zito of the Giants, who has hit 65 batters in his career, though none of them were this year. Zito hit 13 batters in each of his last two seasons with Oakland, but he has never plunked Biggio. If he does so tonight, he will replace Carlos Zambrano as the last pitcher in the alphabetical list of pitchers who have plunked Biggio.

Carlos Reyes plunked Biggio on May 23, 1998 for the Padres, and the late Cory Lidle threw Biggio's 249th HBP for the Reds on May 23, 2004.

Greatest Giants

If you're a Giants fan, or just another baseball fan who somehow got involved in a discussion about the greatest Giant of all time, chances are you didn't bring up Art Fletcher. But if you didn't, that's probably because you, like much of the baseball establishment, overlooked the most important stat in the sport - the HBP. Art Fletcher was hit by 132 pitches for the Giants, staying in the way of more pitches for the sake of the team than any other player.

Since 1883, or 1887 when someone first started counting plunks for them, the Giants have been hit by 4,769 pitches. That's more than any other franchise, with the Pirates in second at 4,582. The Giants are in last place in HBPs this year with only 9, but still, in 4 to 6 years, they should be the first franchise to be hit by 5,000 pitches. No word yet on whether the commissioner plans to attend that historic event. 2,899 of the Giants plunks were recorded while they were the New York Giants, and 1,870 have come since they relocated to San Francisco.

The Giants have had 16 players on their roster at some point who accumulated over 100 career HBPs, including 2 of the 7 members of the 200 plunk club - Ron Hunt and Dan McGann. Only the Yankees have had as many 100 plunk club members pass through their club house, matching the Giants 16. But, Art Fletcher was the only player to record over 100 plunks while playing for the Giants. Barry Bonds could become the 2nd such player, but he still needs 16 more. Many people seem to be watching Bonds closely for various reasons, but few seem to be interested in his attempt to become the second player to reach 100 plunks with the franchise. He had another 20 plunks with the Pirates before he became Giant, for a career total of 104, but he's still no Art Fletcher.

Here are the greatest Giants in the field of getting hit by pitches (Giants franchise hbp leaders):
Art Fletcher - 132
Barry Bonds - 84
Art Devlin - 79
Dan McGann - 77
Ron Hunt - 76
Robby Thompson - 66
Willie McCovey - 64
Mel Ott - 64
John Warner - 60
Fred Snodgrass - 58

Astros lose in land of Giants

Craig Biggio saw 11 pitches last night, all thrown by Noah Lowry, but none of them struck him for plunk 284. One was turned into hit number 2,971, but the Astros could have used a few more hits. They failed to score against Lowry or the Giants bullpen, and the Astros fell 4-0.

Tonight, Giants rookie starter Tim Lincecum gets another crack at the Astros, after throwing 7 effective innings against them last week. Lincecum only allowed 1 run, but he also failed to plunk Biggio or otherwise record the first hit-batter of his career.

Alan Benes plunked Biggio right in the Astrodome on May 22, 1996, and Steve Woodward threw Biggio's 162nd career plunk on May 22, 2000 in Milwaukee.

missing teams

As this site mentioned this morning, there have been 9 teams so far this year who have faced Craig Biggio but not hit him with a pitch. The Astros have faced 10, and only the Marlins plunked Biggio. But, every one of those teams will get another chance at some point this season so the question remains open regarding how many teams will fail to plunk Biggio in the 2007 season.

Last year, Biggio faced, but was not plunked by 13 different teams, which was a career high. In 1988, when Biggio first joined the league (and Hunter Pence turned 5), he didn't get hit by any pitches, but their were only 11 teams in the NL that year. 11 teams throwing toward, but missing Biggio all season remained the record until last year, although that mark was tied in 1999 and 2000.

Biggio has never been plunked by every team he faced in a season, but in 1996 only the Braves failed to plunk him. In 1997, he was hit by every team in the National League, but that was also the first year of interleague play, so the Indians, Twins and Royals were all on the schedule and failed to plunk Biggio. He did get hit by the White Sox and the still-in-the-AL Milwaukee Brewers that year, for his first interleague plunks.

Rangers win first half of Silver Boot

The Texas Rangers took 2 out of 3 games over the weekend, taking the lead in the race for the Silver Boot, but they also became the 9th team this season to fail to plunk Biggio. Tonight, the Astros travel to AT&T Park in San Francisco to face the Giants again, to give them another chance to plunk Biggio. Noah Lowry will face them tonight, after losing last week despite giving up just 2 runs. Noah has not yet plunked Biggio once, so if he's planning to plunk 2 of every batter, he'll need to hurry up. The Giants ballpark is the only one in the National League in which Biggio has never been plunked, so this series could be his last chance.

Craig Biggio recorded his 20th career plunk in San Diego on May 21, 1993 against Tim Scott.

Also, reader Jordan from Denton, Texas sent this picture along from the Minute Maid Park scoreboard - but I'm sure everyone at the park knew that whoever is in charge of scoreboard trivia meant to write "active leader".

1800 runs

Craig Biggio broke up Robinson Tejeda's attempted no-hitter in the 6th inning last night, and doubled in the the 8th for his 2,967th and 2,968th hits. The 8th inning double led to his 1800th career run scored. He's the 16th player ever to reach that mark in runs scored and the first to do so after playing 400 games as a catcher. Cap Anson is the only other player to reach 1800 runs scored and play catcher at all, and he only spent 105 games behind the plate.

Unfortunately though, the Astros spotted the Rangers a 7 run lead early, and could only get half the runs they would have needed to come back from that deficit. They lost 7-4, and Craig Biggio was left still searching for plunk number 284.


18 years ago today, Craig Biggio recorded his second career plunk. That one was thrown by Bob Walk of the Pirates. Since then he's been plunked by Jeff Brantley of the Giants and Calvin Maduro of the Phillies on May 19th of 1993 and 1997. John Koronka will have the opportunity to join that exclusive club tonight, if he can throw Craig Biggio's 284th plunk. Koronka hit 5 batters for the Rangers last year but none of them were Craig Biggio.

Tomorrow, Brandon McCarthy is scheduled to throw for the Rangers. He's never plunked Biggio either, but he has hit 3 batters this season. Unfortunately, Craig Biggio's only career plunk on May 20th was thrown in by Trey Moore in 1998, in Montreal so it's possible that Biggio only gets plunked in Canada on May 20th.

plunk report, 1st quarter

We're about a quarter of the way throught the 2007 season, and through 602 games there have been 428 HBPs recorded. If batters continue to get hit at this rate, and everyone plays their full 162 game schedule, that should work out to about 1,728 plunks for the season - the lowest total since the 2000 season. As of the end of the games played on May 17th last year, there had been 482 batters hit by pitches - 54 more than this year - in 7 fewer games. That's a little more of a dropoff than you'd expect to be caused solely by Biggio's relative lack of HBPs this season, but in past years, we have seen that the rest of the players in the league get hit more often on days when Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch. So, the effect of Biggio on HBP rates league wide is broader than just his own plunks. Or so statistics say.

One area that has seen an increase in plunks this season, though, is extra innings. Through May 17th last season, no one had been hit by a pitch in extra-innings, but this year there have already been 10 extra-innings plunks. In all, 33 batters were plunked in extra innings in 2006, but the 2007 season is ahead of that pace.

So far this year, 60 of the 428 HBPs recorded were thrown in the 6th inning, making it the most popular inning for plunks. Last year, the 1st inning saw the most plunks, but as of May 17th, the 6th inning had the lead, just like this year.

Here are the league wide plunk totals by inning:

Inning	2007 HBPs (as of 5/17/07)	2006 HBPS (as of 5/17/06)	2006 HBPs (total)
1	53	62	225
2	47	55	209
3	49	59	211
4	32	44	199
5	47	48	193
6	60	63	195
7	55	59	206
8	49	59	219
9	26	33	127
10	4	0	14
11	3	0	9
12	1	0	6
13	1	0	1
14	1	0	1
15	0	0	0
16	0	0	2

Astros lose in 12, Rangers visit tonight

Despite playing 12 innings, Craig Biggio remained unplunked by the Giants last night, and he was not one of the 3 Astros to get a hit in the pitchers duel. The Giants didn't show much offense either though, and had to resort to the old bank shot off the first base bag to get the 2-1 win and snap the Astros 4 game winning streak.

Tonight, the Astros play the first game of their inteleague rivalry series with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have plunked Biggio 5 times, but they've never done it while visiting Houston. This might be because AL pitchers have to bat when they visit Houston, and they might think plunking Biggio would get them plunked when they next came to the plate. But, only one pitcher has been plunked in the same game he plunked Biggio - Willie Banks on July 17, 1995 - and Banks was actually hit by a pitch before he hit Biggio in the game.

Robinson Tejeda is the scheduled starter for the Rangers tonight. He has never plunked Biggio, but he's found three batters to plunk this year bringing his career total to 14. Tejeda is in his 3rd season.

Craig Biggio has been hit 5 times on May 18th - by Mark Portugal in 1994, Danny Darwin in 1996, Garrett Stephenson in 1997, Dontrelle Willis in 2004 and Russ Ortiz in 2005. But, the Astros only won 2 of those 5 games.

Game 3 of 3

Tonight's Astros game is the third and final game of a three game series with the Giants. 191 of Craig Biggio's 283 career plunks have been recorded in a 3 games series, and 64 of them have come in the 3rd game of a 3 game set. He's been hit most often though, in the second game of a three game series - 69 times. Biggio has been hit 29 times in 2 game series and 61 times in 4 game series. He's also been hit once in a 1 game series, and once in a 5 game series, but the Astros don't play 1 or 5 game series very often. His only plunk in a 5 game series came in the 4th game of that series.

Biggio has been plunked 87 times in the first game of a series of any length, and 11 of those were leadoff plunks - as the first Astros batter of the first game of the series. He's scored 29 runs off plunks in the first game of a series, and the Astros are 49-31 when Biggio gets plunked at least once in the first game of a series.

He's been hit 90 times in the last game of a series, but only scored after 27 of those. The Astros are 49-34 when Biggio gets hit by at least one pitch in the last game of a series. Oddly enough, the Astros have won 49 times when Biggio was plunked in the first game of a series, 49 times when he was plunked in the last game of the series, and 49 times when he was plunked during a mid-series game.

Here's a chart of Biggio plunks by series length, and game number within the series:

Game/Series HBP:BGO Runs off Plunks Wins-Losses Game 1 of 1 1 0 0-1 Game 1 of 2 16 5 9-5 Game 2 of 2 13 5 9-4 Game 1 of 3 58 22 33-20 Game 2 of 3 69 27 31-34 Game 3 of 3 64 20 35-23 Game 1 of 4 12 2 7-5 Game 2 of 4 17 7 10-4 Game 3 of 4 20 7 7-13 Game 4 of 4 12 2 5-7 Game 4 of 5 1 1 1-0

Giants stay predictable

The Giants stubbornly refused, once again, to contribute to Craig Biggio's quest for 288 plunks, and they didn't give him any help toward 3000 hits either. But, the Astros pitchers gave a nice group effort to hold of the Giants for a 2-1 win. That win moves the team one game over the .500 mark for the first time since April 22nd.

The Giants will get one more chance to plunk Biggio in Houston tonight, and they'll be sending Tim Lincecum out to start the game. This will be Lincecum's third game in the majors, and so far he's thrown fewer pitches in his career (212) than Biggio has been hit by. Lincecum has yet to face the Astros, so as we like to say around here, he's never thrown a pitch to Biggio that didn't hit him.


Biggio has been plunked just once on May 17th - in 2002 by David Williams of the Pirates. The Astros are 1-0 on May 17th when Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch.

Favorite Targets

The Giants haven't plunked Biggio since 1999, and in the 7 seasons since then, they've only plunked Astros batters 12 times, but even though the Astros rank 11th in HBPs against the Giants since 2000, they're still the Giants top target for the span of Biggio's career (1988 on).

Here's the list of plunks thrown by the Giants at each team (1988 to yesterday):
Astros - 76
Padres - 75
Rockies - 70
Dodgers - 68
Braves - 53
Expos - 51
Reds - 49
Cardinals - 49
Phillies - 47
Pirates - 46
Cubs - 45
Mets - 45
D-backs - 42
Marlins - 34
Brewers - 31
A's - 12
Orioles - 6
Mariners - 6
Rangers - 6
Angels - 4
Royals - 2
Devil Rays - 1
Yankees - 1
Tigers - 1
Red Sox - 0
Indians - 0
Blue Jays - 0
White Sox - 0
Twins - 0

The Giants are one of 3 teams who have chosen the Astros as their favorite targets for plunks during the Biggio era. The Reds and the Pirates have also plunked the Astros more than they've drilled any other team's batters. The only team which has become the favorite targets of more other teams during the 1988-2006 period is the Pirates who have been the most plunked team for the Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs and Astros. The Giants and Phillies have been the most plunked team of 3 other teams as well. The Giants have been the favorite targets of Rockies, Dodgers and Padres, although the Rockies hit the Dodgers as many times as they've plunked the Giants. The Phillies have been the most frequent victims of plunks thrown by the Braves, Mets and Marlins during the 1988-2006 seasons. But the Giants, having plunked the Astros more than they've plunked anyone else, are the only team to have a favorite target who is not currently in their own division. The Astros will have to pick up their get-hitting in the rest of the season series to keep that distinction though.

Here are the favorite targets of every team in the league from 1988 through 2006:
National League:

Team	Favorite Target	HBPs
Cardinals	Pirates	116
Pirates	Astros	110
Expos/Nats	Mets	107
Reds	Astros	105
Astros	Pirates	103
Cubs	Pirates	97
Phillies	Mets	94
Rockies	Dodgers/Giants	89
Marlins	Phillies	88
Mets	Phillies	83
Brewers	Pirates	82
Padres	Giants	80
Giants	Astros	76
Dodgers	Giants	74
D-backs	Dodgers	62
Braves	Phillies	57

American League:

Team	Favorite Target	HBPs
Red Sox	Blue Jays	137
Yankees	Blue Jays	112
Tigers	Indians	105
Indians	Twins	103
Rangers	Mariners	103
Blue Jays	Red Sox	102
Mariners	A's	100
Orioles	Yankees	97
Angels	A's	91
Royals	Tigers	90
White Sox	Twins	88
Devil Rays	Red Sox	84
A's	Rangers	79
Twins	Indians	77

(as you can see, the much hyped Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is really all about which team can plunk more Blue Jays)

Astros win in 10, no progress for Biggio

The Astros had to wait until the 10th inning before Carlos Lee homered to beat the Giants 6-5, but Craig Biggio didn't make any progress toward the all time HBP record, or the 3000 hits milestone. Tonight they face Giants started Noah Lowry, who has only hit 15 batters in his 87 career pitching appearances. None of those 15 batters was Craig Biggio. If Lowry, or any other pitcher plunks Biggio tonight, he will be the first to do so on May 16th.

They're not so big.

They're not very Giant at all. In fact, the pitchers from the San Francisco Giants who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch have the third shortest average height of any team that has plunked Biggio. 15 pitchers have plunked Biggio for the Giants (a total of 19 times), and the average height of those 15 is 6 feet 1.53 inches. Only two teams have had a smaller average height for Biggio plunkers - the Braves at 6 feet 1.43 inches and the Reds at 6 feet 1.39 inches. The Giants pitchers haven't been particularly massive either, with an average weight 198.9 pounds, which ranks in the 14th among the 23 teams in the club.

If the Giants could combine every pitcher who ever plunked Biggio into an actual Giant, with a height and weight equal to the total combined height and weight of those pitchers, their Giant would stand 91 feet 11 inches tall and weigh 2,983 pounds - about a ton and a half. But, that giant pitcher made of Giants pitchers would be looking up to the the giant pitchers formed by the pitchers who have plunked Biggio from 7 other teams. The Cardinals giant pitcher would be the largest, standing 130 feet 3 inches and weighing 4,195 pounds. He'd be made of 21 different pitchers.

Here are the average heights and weights of all the pitchers who have plunked Biggio, broken out by team:

Team	Pitchers	Avg. Ht	Avg. Wt	Combined Ht	Combined Wt
A's	1	6' 5"	205	6' 5"	205
Yankees	1	6' 4"	225	6' 4"	225
Cubs	12	6' 3.25"	207.17	75' 3"	2,486
Indians	1	6' 3"	200	6' 3"	200
White Sox	2	6' 3"	197.5	12' 6"	395
Royals	2	6' 3"	202.5	12' 6"	405
Pirates	20	6' 2.85"	199.2	124' 9"	3,984
Brewers	15	6' 2.73"	203.27	93' 5"	3,049
Padres	12	6' 2.58"	201.5	74' 7"	2,418
Cardinals	21	6' 2.43"	199.76	130' 3"	4,195
Marlins	14	6' 2.43"	196.07	86' 10"	2,745
Rockies	18	6' 2.39"	202.06	111' 7"	3,637
Dodgers	8	6' 2.25"	195.75	49' 6"	1,566
Mets	17	6' 2.24"	207.12	105' 2"	3,521
Rangers	5	6' 2.2"	191.00	30' 11"	955
Twins	1	6' 2"	208.00	6' 2"	208
Orioles	2	6' 2"	182.5.0	12' 4"	365
Diamondbacks	9	6' 2"	196.56	55' 6"	1,769
Phillies	14	6' 1.93"	198.86	86' 3"	2,784
Expos/Nats	14	6' 1.86"	202.57	80' 0"	2,836
Giants	15	6' 1.53"	198.87	91' 11"	2,983
Braves	7	6' 1.43"	190	42' 10"	1,330
Reds	18	6' 1.39"	193.17	110' 1"	3,477

Please note that I have no proof that the Giants are trying to create a 92 foot pitcher, or ever have, and I'm not suggesting they would. But, I think there is reason to believe that if some laboratory, perhaps in the Bay Area, were to help create such a genetic mutant, the Giants would be happy to employ it and see what records it broke. I'm sure the league has no rules against such a thing, and the players association would oppose the creation of any such rules.

Giant anniversary

The Astros get back to work in Houston tonight, and Craig Biggio will hopefully be resuming his march toward the all time HBP record with another plunk. The San Francisco Giants are visiting on the 8th anniversary of the date when they last plunked Biggio. He hasn't been plunked by a Giants pitcher since May 15, 1999 when Mark Gardner became the first pitcher to hit Biggio 5 times (not all in the same game). At the time, he held the record for plunking Biggio, but was eventually passed in that category by Pedro Astacio.

Matt Morris will be pitching for the Giants today, but he'll have to plunk Biggio 4 more times to reach 5 plunks like Gardner did. Morris plunked Biggio on September 19, 2003, but only once. Morris led the Giants with 14 plunks last season, but he's only hit 1 batter so far this year. But, he might be saving those plunks up for a special occasion like the 8th anniversary of the last time the Giants plunked Biggio. You never know.

Biggio has also been hit on May 15, 2000 and May 15, 2001 by Danny Graves of the Reds and Manny Aybar of the Cubs.

Out of reach?

The all time record? No. Despite what the linear projection on the side bar shows on this site, there is still every reason to believe Craig Biggio will break the all time HBP record this season. All the linear projection says is that he won't make it at a pace of 1 plunk every 37 games. There's no real reason to believe that the next 37 games will only yield one HBP, or the 37 games after that will only see Biggio plunked once. But, there's another 125 games to be played this season, and Biggio hasn't gone 125 Astros games without getting hit at least 5 times since the '91/'92 seasons - getting from plunk 10 to 15 took him 134 games. He's been hit 5 times in 10 games or less 28 times. So 288 plunks is no stretch this year.

What may be out of reach, though it's not out of the question, is the all time record for any TWO players in a franchise's history. There is only one currently active MLB franchise and one defunct 19th century franchis whose top 2 players combined for more HBPs than Biggio has collected alone. Jason Kendall was hit 177 times while he played for the Pirates, breaking Honus Wagner's team record of 107 career plunks, so the two of them have 284 HBPs for their Pittsburgh careers. That ranks 2nd among active franchise for two player plunks totals, behind the combination of Craig Biggio and - anyone else whose been plunked more than twice for the Astros. Biggio has combined with YOU for only 1 less HBP than that (although I'm assuming you didn't play for the Astros). The Astros top pair in most every category, Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, have a combined total of 411 plunks for their team, but Biggio is 2 plunks away from being ahead of any two players for any other active franchise. He should be able to get by that mark this season.

The longer shot is the all time two-person record for a franchise. Hughie Jennings had 205 of his 287 career plunks for the National League Baltimore Orioles, which folded in 1899. The old time Orioles 2nd place plunk victim was John McGraw who was hit 88 times, so their combined total is 293. That's only 10 plunks away, but Biggio only got hit 9 times last season. Biggio could be the best 2 players at getting hit by a pitch for a single franchise by the end of the season, but it will take run of get-hitting like he hasn't shown since 2005.

Here's the list of the top franchise duos in HBPs.

Franchise	HBPs	Top 2
Astros	411	Craig Biggio - 283 Jeff Bagwell -128
Orioles (1882-1899)	293	Hughie Jennings - 205 John McGraw - 88
Pirates	284	Jason Kendall - 177 Honus Wagner - 107
Astros	283	Craig Biggio - 283 Matt Albers - 0
White Sox	270	Minnie Minoso - 145 Nellie Fox - 125
Orioles (current)	234	Brady Anderson - 148 Melvin Mora - 86
Yankees	233	Derek Jeter - 119 Frankie Crosetti 114
Braves	228	Tommy Tucker 150 Andruw Jones 78
Giants	216	Art Fletcher 132 Barry Bonds 84
Reds	212	Frank Robinson 118 John Reilly 94
Cubs	207	Frank Chance 137 Ernie Banks 70
Tigers	201	Bill Freehan 114 Chet Lemon/Damion Easley 87

The teams on that list, excluding the Cubs, are also the only franchises that can come up with 3 players whose combined plunk total is higher than Biggio's.

2 wins vs Arizona, off today

The Astros took two games from the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, bringing their record to 18-19 for the season, and Craig Biggio increased his career hits total to 2,966. But, the Diamondbacks attempts to contribute to his chase for 288 plunks were misdirected - they hit Carlos Lee and Brad Ausmus yesterday.

The Astros are off today, awaiting the arrival of the San Fransisco Giants. Tomorrow is the 8th anniversary of the last time the Giants plunked Biggio. That, along with Omar Vizquel breaking the all-time record for double plays by a shortstop, are the only interesting things happening with the Giants, regarding statistics and milestones. Vizquel has participated in 1,597 double plays, which broke Ozzie Smith's 1,590 last week. Biggio has only 1,127 double plays to his credit, but that is more than anyone else who ever had 20 double plays as a catcher, and more than anyone who recorded a double play as a catcher, center fielder and second baseman (with the possible exception of Cap Anson - the first member of the 3000 hit club).

Biggio has been plunked once on May 14th - in 1996 by Jaime Navarro.