Plunk Biggio

new, from the makers of plunk biggio

2008-07-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

If you've been noticing that your blog reader has been woefully lacking information about people getting hit by pitches this year, you might want to check out www.plunkeveryone.com. Apparently, to my amazement and in defiance of all the available statistical data last year, people are STILL being hit by pitches even though Craig Biggio retired and it's now been more than a year since his last HBP. Shocking, eh?

While the new site no longer focuses one one player's attempt to reach historic levels of getting hit by pitches, it does feature an all-new nearly-interactive bruise board which will keep track, as daily as I can manage, of a wide variety of HBP statistics, season leaders and records. (We even have radar gun readings for most 2008 plunks). As always though, we do not support or endorse intentionally plunking everyone.

The Record Stands

2007-09-30T21:06:00.001-04:00

Three year ago it seemed like a sure thing. Even in March of this year, it seemed like Craig Biggio couldn't possibly avoid getting hit by six pitches even if he took his elbow pad off and actually started getting out of the way of inside fastballs. Well, like the sportscasters like to say, that's why they play the games - to see who gets hit by pitches.

Hughie Jennings record of 287 plunks may have just withstood the best - or at least most excessively documented - assault it will ever face. It's entirely possible that his record will stand forever, with Craig Biggio's 285 just below it. Jennings got hit 287 times in an age before helmets, and with a pitchers mound closer than the current 60 feet 6 inches, but pitchers may not have thrown quite as hard then. And, while he played before modern painkillers, it was probably more socially acceptable make full use of the popular painkillers of the day (like whiskey). Only 18 players have made it even half way to 287 plunks. Only 7 have passed 200, only 4 have passed 250 and only 2 have reached 285.

So, while we might be disappointed that we didn't get to see someone break the 104 year old record for getting hit by pitches, it's tough to be disappointed by the career of Craig Biggio. 3,060 hits, 668 doubles, 1844 runs scored, 414 steals, 291 homers, 20 seasons for one team. The stats speak for themselves, but they don't exactly tell the story of what Biggio has meant to Houston's fans - for that you might have to look at the attendance line in the box score for those last three games at Minute Maid Park, or take a look at that banner that was hanging in left center field with several thousand notes from fans thanking Craig Biggio for his career. But hey, you probably know all this.

Sometimes, when we watch baseball, we get that feeling that we might see something particularly amazing. We turn on the game, because we think something special might happen that night - and it could, on any night, and we love to hope to see those things even though we know they hardly ever happen. But they do happen sometimes, and most of all we really don't want to miss seeing it. Most of the time we think of those special things as single game records - have you ever seen a pitcher strike out the side in the 2nd inning and started doing the math in your head, counting the number of outs that aren't strikeouts as the game went along until they reached 8 and you know that's not going to be another 20 strikeout game? Maybe that's just me. But you pay special attention when a pitcher gets through a few innings without giving up a hit, or you realize someone has hit a homer, triple and double in the game and is coming up again. We also love streaks, and runs toward single season records - if it's someone on your favorite team you don't want to miss a single game on the way to what you think might be one of those special moments. And sometimes you go into a season thinking this is the year for your team - and you don't want to miss the game that could be the key moment for the season when they finally win it all.

But it's a little harder to spot when the amazing thing is just one guy playing 20 years for the same team. You never feel like you're missing something when you know the guy was there playing yesterday and he'll be their playing again tomorrow if you turn on the game. Then suddenly he's running up on 3,000 hits and announcing his retirement, and there's some weirdo on the internet who's all excited about the prospect of him getting hit by a record number of pitches. And then you look at it that way, you realize you got to see Craig Biggio play - and even if you sat and watched him go 0-4, you saw something particularly amazing, even if you didn't know it at the time.

Thanks for the years of stats, Craig Biggio. Messing around with them the way I have for the past three years probably hasn't entertained me quite as much as you have entertained Houston fans for the past 20 years, but it's been fun. Hopefully I brought a little bit more entertainment to those who had already enjoyed your career, and maybe I helped wake up a few folks from the rest of the country who didn't know what they were missing. I will miss waiting and wondering when you'll next get hit by a pitch. And, while I've considered hanging around until I reach 1000 posts on this site, I'll leave it at this. I have no future plans for another website, but if I think of something, I doubt it will be quite as much fun as this, and I never would have been able to keep this site going this long if Biggio hadn't been the player and the person he is.

Oh, and don't worry about those folks in Chesterfield County... it may look bad, but Cletus will take care of it I'm sure. It's just there way:
(photo by Cletus J. "Bubba" Huckabee Jr.)
It seems the pressure of the plunk chase got the better of some, but hopefully everyone else has survived with their sanity intact.

Thanks again for reading, everybody.

Last Chance to See...

2007-09-30T09:34:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio became the first player with over 3000 career hits to play catcher since 1899 yesterday, and he got past the curse of 666 doubles, bringing his career total to 667, but he didn't get hit by a pitch. Maybe he's happy not to get struck by baseballs anymore. Maybe 285 is as many times as we can reasonably expect any man to get hit by flying baseballs to help his team. Or maybe he's trying to be dramatic, and he'll strap on the elbow-pad and get hit 3 times today.

Many players have been hit by three pitches in the same game, but Craig Biggio has never done it. If he really wanted to go all out, he could get hit 4 times, which would be the single game record. But lets face it, if he goes out and gets hit three times today it will look awfully suspicious.

Chuck James will be starting for the Braves for Biggio's final game, and he was the last pitcher to plunk Biggio in 2006. But, he's only hit one batter since then, and has a career total of just 7 plunks.

Craig Biggio has never before been plunked on September 30th.

Craig Biggio - major league catcher

2007-09-29T07:42:00.000-04:00

As some of you might remember, Craig Biggio used to get hit by pitches a lot - a long time ago. Last night he didn't get hit by any pitches, and the Astros lost 7-2, but tonight he's going to do something he hasn't done in a long time. Play catcher. But, back when Biggio played catcher he didn't really get hit by very many pitches - just 11 in his first 4 seasons in the majors. It wasn't until after Biggio switched to second base that he really started getting hit by pitches, so hopefully his walk down memory lane tonight will be historically accurate enough to include moving back to second base, and then getting hit by a few pitches.

(By the way, Craig Biggio is the only player who was ever a full time catcher to reach 3000 hits, and todays game will be the first time some with over 3000 career hits has played catcher in the major leagues since 1897 when Cap Anson did it. Anson and Biggio are the only 3000 hit club members ever to catch at all, and Anson caught 105 games.)

While Biggio will be catching for Brandon Backe, the Braves will have Jeff Bennett starting for them. This is Bennett's 2nd start this season, after not being in the league since 2004 when he made 60 relief appearances for the Brewers. Bennett walked Biggio the only time the two faced each other, and Bennett has only hit 2 batters ever.

Kerry Wood plunked Biggio on September 29, 2001, and Chuck James threw plunk 282 on September 29th 2006 - the same Chuck James who is expected to start tomorrow - for Biggio 2,849th and final career game.

pointing fingers

2007-09-28T12:47:00.000-04:00

There is still time for Craig Biggio to break the all-time HBP record - but not much of it. He needs 3 plunks in 3 games, and while he has been plunked that many times in a 3 game span 20 times before, he's never done it against the Braves. He's been plunked 3 times in 3 games by the same team 5 times, most recently in 2005 when the Rockies did it (though they only took 2 games to do it).

But, it looks very likely that Biggio will fall short of Hughie Jennings amazing total of 287 HBPs. This will undoubtedly be very disappointing to a large number of fans, and when baseball fans and people in general are disappointed, we like to blame people. Right or wrong, we always find someone to blame. So, lets start throwing the blame around now so that on Sunday, when Craig Biggio's career ends, we can celebrate, knowing we've already thrown all the blame around we wanted to.

Obviously at the top of the list, you can blame me. We've all seen the stories in the news about how the media pressure of the plunk chase has ground it to a halt, and the clear record-setter for most words written about Craig Biggio getting hit by pitches is held by this website. Maybe I cared too much. Maybe if this site had never existed, no one would have noticed how often Biggio was getting hit by pitches and he would have been able to cruise past the record sometime last season. Instead, I had to make a big deal out of it and get everyone thinking about whether or not they WANTED the record broken - particularly the pitchers and umpires who could most effect the record chase. Then people some people got upset about whether or not wearing elbow pads should be allowed - and other people started getting bent out of shape about how hard a batter should try to get out of the way of pitches. Controversy - our largest and most un-productive export.

Blame me if you must, but here are a few others who could have contributed more, or gotten in the way less:

John Burkett. Biggio had 77 plate appearances against John Burkett and Burkett didn't contribute a single plunk to Biggio's total. Sure, Tom Glavine and Curt Schilling may have faced Biggio more times and they never hit him either, but Glavine has only hit one out of ever 286 batters he's faced in his career, and Schilling only hits about one out every 255 batters. Burkett, on the other hand, hit one batter in 126, and since he faced Biggio 77 times, he should have plunked him 0.61 times. Okay, it's hard to throw 6 tenths of a plunk, but the point is that if Burkett had plunked Biggio at the same rate he plunked the rest of the league, he probably should have hit Biggio once. But, Biggio has historically been hit nearly three (2.96) times more frequently per plate appearance than the league, so if Burkett had plunked Biggio 2.96 times more often than he plunked the rest of the league, he really should have contributed 1.83 plunks. We can round that up and claim Burkett owes Biggio 2 plunks. Not that we're saying Burkett should have thrown at him twice - it's just that the stats may suggest that Burkett was pitching around Biggio for a net result of two less plunks than he should have had.
Ramon Martinez, Julian Tavarez, Mark Prior and Woody Williams - using the same logic and stats above, they all should have plunked Biggio at least once.
Matt Morris - he hit Biggio once, but based on the same logic above, he probably should have plunked Biggio once more.
Umpire Doug Eddings - He's an easy target. On August 28, 2005, Jeff Weaver hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but Eddings didn't award Biggio first base, claiming Biggio didn't make enough effort to avoid being hit. He's the only umpire to make such a call against Biggio, and it's well within the rules for him to do so, even if it was not the right call in that particular circumstance. That only technically kept 1 plunk out of Biggio's total, but it may have demoralized him and made him less willing to take plunks, knowing the umpires may not react properly, and reward him for taking one for the team.
The 2006 Pirates - Biggio had 65 plate appearance against the 2006 Pirates, and they didn't plunk him once. The Pirates hit 70 batters last year, at a rate of one per 90.8 plate appearances, so they should have hit Biggio 0.72 times if they plunked him at the average rate they plunked the rest of the league. But even last year with his HBPs on the decline, Biggio got hit 50% more often then the league average - so they really should have hit him more than not at all last year. You can throw the '05 Pirates in here too, along with the '04-'06 Cubs, the '99 and '04 Cardinals and the '99 Brewers. All of them should have plunked Biggio more than they did (though a couple of them did contribute 1).
Dave Bush - he hit 18 batters last season, and faced the Astros 4 times, but didn't throw Biggio anything he could get hit by. The only pitcher to hit more batters in season, who face Biggio at least once and didn't hit him that season, was Victor Zambrano in 2003 - he hit 20 batters, but only faced Biggio 4 times. Dave Bush had plenty of opportunities, but probably didn't want to see his name on the list.
Jeff Bagwell's doctors -241 of Biggio's 285 plunks were recorded in games Biggio and Bagwell played together. The pair obviously inspired each other to be better players, and part of that had to be Biggio's desire to get on base in front of Bagwell. The HBP was a weapon for that purpose. The two seasons Biggio has played since Bagwell was forced into retirement but injuries have shown a dramatic decline in Biggio getting hit by pitches, and it can't be a coincidence.
Major League Baseball and the Media - No, not because of the pressure they've put on Biggio, and not because they're not doing enough to celebrate the plunk chase, and not because Bud Selig hasn't been attending Astros games so he can be there for the historic moment, though you can argue those points if you like. No, this is about the "Modern Record" or the "Major League Record" or any other record that isn't the 287 plunks recorded by Hughie Jennings. There is a large number of members of the media who figure Biggio already has the HBP record because MLB liked to call Baylor's 267 plunks the Major League record - meaning the record since 1900 - or since the American League showed up and the two leagues started to be called the Major Leagues. Or something. Anyway, because of this confusion many people don't seem to think there's a record to be broken here, or that it's important and over 100 years old. Is there another stat that you ever hear connected with the phrase "modern record"?
Barry Bonds - C'mon - you know you want to blame him. Just do it. Do we really need a reason?
Roger Clemens - Yeah, I just don't like him either. But if he'd gone away after 2005, maybe the Astros would have rebuilt a bit in 2006, and they would have been better in 2007. Maybe. And maybe Biggio would have felt getting hit this season would have meant more if they hadn't been out of contention all season.
Everyone who pitched to Biggio this season not named Josh Fogg, Joe Smith or Jorge Julio - Thanks for stepping up. Jerks.
The Braves - The Atlanta Braves are last in the NL in all-time plunking of Biggio, behind 4 teams that weren't even in the National League for Biggio's entire career. They're also dead last in Biggio's plunks per plate appearance (among teams that hit him at least once). In 1996, the Braves were the only team Biggio faced who he didn't get hit by - that's the closest he ever came to getting hit by every team he played against (he did get hit by every NL team in '97, but interleague play came in that year). The Braves have shown an uncommon reluctance to hit batters over the last 20 years, and finished dead last in the majors 7 times. From 1988 to 2006, the Braves average 8 fewer plunks per season than the next lowest team, and only the Diamondbacks have hit fewer batters in that span. Oh yeah, the Diamondbacks only hit 79 fewer batters than the Braves from 1988 to 2006, even thought Diamondbacks didn't exist for 10 of those seasons.
Whiners - They're all over the internet, but I'm pretty sure the sentiment exists in the clubhouses too. These are the people who are pretty sure wearing an elbow pad is a crime against humanity and not moving out of the way of a pitch is somehow "cheating". I'm sure this crowd really enjoyed the high-profile plunk related wrist injuries this season, like Chase Utley and Kevin Youkilis - Youk was even wearing an elbow pad when he got hit on the wrist and missed three weeks in September. That one was exactly the kind of pitch everyone gets upset about when Biggio used to take them in the elbow-pad instead of getting his wrist broken. Have we learned nothing from Stephen Colbert's Wrist Strong movement? It's about time baseball players understood this, and learned to wear regulation arm-guards and to use them to protect their wrists. Also, for some reason we have a league where throwing at a batter is acceptable behavior, and charging the mound is acceptable behavior, but standing still in the batters box and refusing to let the pitcher intimidate you is a capital offense. Makes sense to me - keep up that theory. John Lackey clearly stated this last season.
Astros management - They gave Biggio plenty of playing time to reach 3000 hits, but then they started limiting his starts, as though the HBP record wasn't important to anyone. I assume this was the main reason Phil Garner and Tim Purpura were fired, but someone should have done something before it was too late.
Republicans - Biggio got hit 232 times while the Republican Party controlled congress, but only 53 times when the Democrats held the majority. If the Republicans had held the majority in the 2006 elections, Biggio obviously would have been hit by more pitches this year.
Democrats - They obviously have some kind of anti-HBP policy that's kept Biggio from getting hit while they held the majority in Congress.
Voters - See above. All this information was available on the internet before the mid-term elections, but you didn't care. You had to selfishly vote based on how you wanted the country run or something. Didn't someone once say "Ask not what you're country can do for you, ask what you can do to help Craig Biggio break the all time record for getting hit by pitches".
The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Mariners, Tigers, and Angels - you couldn't hit Biggio even once? Any of you? Not that you should have done it on purpose - but everyone else did it so you must have been trying not to. And that's just wrong.
Zeno of Elea - The Greek Mathematician who liked to annoy philosophy students by pointing out that to get from point A to point B you have to go to a point half way between them, but once you get to that half way point you must go to the half way point between there and B. And so you can never get to B because you keeping having to go to all these half way to B points, which are (according to Zeno) infinite or something. Well Craig Biggio is doing a great real life example of that wacky little theory - at the beginning of 2005 he needed 32 plunks to break the record and got 17 - one more than half way. At the beginning of 2006 he needed 15 plunks, and got 9 - one more than half way rounded up. This year he needed 6 and has 3 so far. It seems that Biggio can't reach the record because he keeps having to get half way their first.
The Yankees - Everything that's wrong with baseball that isn't Barry Bonds fault is the Yankees fault, and I'm willing to consider the idea that Barry Bonds is the Yankees fault.

Okay - I feel better now. Feel free to add anyone you think I may have missed, in the comments. Otherwise, on with the last three games of Biggio's career, come what may.

the last choice for the last hope - the Braves

2007-09-28T06:57:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio only had one plate appearance last night, and he didn't get hit by any of the three pitches he saw from Bill Bray. That means that 2007 is the first year since 1991 in which Biggio was not hit by a pitch thrown by the Cincinnati Reds. There's only one player left in the league who played for the Reds in a prior season in which they didn't plunk Biggio - Reggie Sanders, and he only played 9 games for the '91 Reds. There are only 35 guys, including Biggio, playing this season who were in the Major Leagues the last time the Reds went a season without plunking Biggio.

All this means that the final hopes of those of us who want to see the record fall - and the unification of the all time record and the so-called "modern" record - rest on the arms of the Atlanta Braves. If you had to pick one team to plunk Biggio, the Braves would be the last team you'd pick, particularly if you were picking based on Biggio's plunks per plate appearance against each team. The Braves are dead last. Biggio has only been hit 8 times in 770 plate appearances against Atlanta. No National League team has plunked him less, and no team in either league has plunked him less per plate appearance. But that's all we have left, so we'll just have to watch and hope. Maybe Biggio's plan to return to his days as a catcher (tomorrow) will put him in the mood to return to the days when he got hit by as many as 4 pitches in two days.

Jo-Jo Reyes is the starter for Atlanta tonight. He's a rookie, and has only hit one batter ever - but it was Astro Ty Wigginton. Biggio has been hit by Carlos Reyes and Al Reyes, and has been plunked twice in 38 plate appearances against the four pitchers named Reyes he has faced, but he hasn't faced Jo-Jo Reyes yet. Jo-Jo Reyes has faced 202 batters (TBF), while Biggio has been hit by 213 pitchers.

Last of the Reds

2007-09-27T06:48:00.000-04:00

The Astros beat the Reds by a 7-6 score last night, but Craig Biggio's only plate appearance resulted in a walk. The Reds last chance to plunk Biggio may be today, if it hasn't already passed, but after that they won't have Craig Biggio to plunk around any more. They've done it 21 times, and it looks like that number will stand.

Matt Belisle is pitching for the Reds today, but he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. He's hit 17 other batters but none of them are likely to ever have a shot at the all-time HBP record.

Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on September 27th.

no 16th?

2007-09-26T06:38:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch by the Reds last night, which means his 15 year streak of getting plunked by the Reds is likely over, since he's not expected to start either of the next two games, leading up to his return to the other side of the plate on Friday. It's still possible that he could have a pinch hit appearance, but they haven't been using him much in that role with such a deep September bench to choose from.

Tom Shearn pitches for the Reds today, but he's never hit a batter. He's only pitched 32 innings so far, so he'll probably get around to plunking a batter sometime soon.

Craig Biggio has never been plunked on September 26th.

more crazy astrology junk

2007-09-25T12:22:00.000-04:00

The big problem I've always had with horoscopes, whether they're in the newspaper or on a restaurant place mat, is that they never list who's been hit by the most pitches for each sign. Maybe it's just me. But if anyone else was bothered by this, here are the top 5 players in the HBP standings for each astrological sign.

HBP records by Chinese Zodiac sign:

Dog Curt Welch - 173 Nap Lajoie - 134 Dummy Hoy - 134 Honus Wagner - 125 Frankie Crosetti - 114	Dragon Brady Anderson - 154 Steve Brodie - 132 Jose Guillen - 114 Barry Bonds - 106 Mike Macfarlane - 97	Horse Bill Dahlen - 140 Larry Walker - 138 Andre Dawson - 111 Dan Brouthers - 105 Dick Padden - 97
Monkey Fred Clarke - 153 Chuck Knoblauch - 139 Willie Keeler - 129 Jeff Bagwell - 128 Gary Sheffield - 128	Ox Don Baylor - 267 Minnie Minoso - 192 Andres Galarraga - 178 Bill Joyce - 108 Wally Schang - 107	Pig Tommy Tucker - 272 Frank Robinson - 198 Kid Elberfeld - 165 Carlton Fisk - 143 Jason Giambi - 134
Rabbit Nellie Fox - 142 Alex Rodriguez - 126 David Eckstein - 116 Scott Rolen - 95 Jake Stahl - 94	Ram Dan McGann - 230 Chet Lemon - 151 Luis Gonzalez - 111 Mo Vaughn - 108 Dick Bartell - 97	Rat Carlos Delgado - 157 Frank Chance - 137 Sherm Lollar - 115 Tris Speaker - 103 Elmer Flick - 99
Rooster Fernando Vina - 157 Art Fletcher - 141 John McGraw - 134 Damion Easley - 125 Buck Herzog - 120	Snake Hughie Jennings - 287 Craig Biggio - 285 Ron Hunt - 243 Bill Freehan - 114 George Burns - 110	Tiger Jason Kendall - 218 Brian Downing - 129 Derek Jeter - 129 Eddie Yost - 99 Jason LaRue - 97

HBP records by astrological sign:

Aquarius Curt Welch - 173 Chet Lemon - 151 David Eckstein - 116 Steve Evans - 111 George Burns - 110	Aries Hughie Jennings - 287 Kid Elberfeld - 165 Fernando Vina - 157 John McGraw - 134 Pete Rose - 107	Cancer Don Baylor - 267 Dan McGann - 230 Jason Kendall - 218 Carlos Delgado - 157 Chuck Knoblauch - 139
Capricorn Brady Anderson - 154 Carlton Fisk - 143 Nellie Fox - 142 Art Fletcher - 141 Bill Dahlen - 140	Gemini Andres Galarraga - 178 Dummy Hoy - 134 Jeff Bagwell - 128 Jim Delahanty - 92 Miguel Tejada - 89	Leo Jake Beckley - 183 Alex Rodriguez - 126 Sherry Magee - 109 Wally Schang - 107 Barry Bonds - 106
Libra Fred Clarke - 153 Brian Downing - 129 Frankie Crosetti - 114 Eddie Yost - 99 John Reilly - 94	Pisces Ron Hunt - 243 Willie Keeler - 129 Honus Wagner - 125 Jeff Kent - 118 Jason LaRue - 97	Sagittarius Craig Biggio - 285 Minnie Minoso - 192 Larry Walker - 138 Bill Freehan - 114 Mo Vaughn - 108
Scorpio Tommy Tucker - 272 Gary Sheffield - 128 Damion Easley - 125 Jimmie Dykes - 115 Bucky Harris - 99	Taurus Jose Guillen - 114 Dan Brouthers - 105 Reggie Jackson - 96 Eric Young - 89 Andruw Jones - 83	Virgo Frank Robinson - 198 Frank Chance - 137 Nap Lajoie - 134 Steve Brodie - 132 Sherm Lollar - 115

D'oh!

2007-09-25T06:42:00.000-04:00

The Astros are in Cincinnati tonight for the 6th to last game of Craig Biggio's career, and facing them will be Reds rookie Homer Bailey. Craig Biggio has never been plunked by Homer Bailey or any other Homer, nor has he been plunked by a Marge, Lisa, Bart, or Maggie. And he's never been hit by any Lenny, Karl, Moe or Barney, or anyone named Burns or Smithers. He has been plunked by Sideshows Bob Wickman, Walk, Ojeda and Tewksbury, Groundskeepers Willie Blair, Fraser, Banks, and Roberts and an assortment or Rods and Todds (Beck, Ritchee and Coffee). But no Homers. Homer Bailey has hit two batters so far in his career, but he's only thrown 151 pitches so far, and that's 132 short of the number of pitches Craig Biggio has been hit by.

If Biggio gets hit by a pitch sometime in the next three games, it will be the 16th consecutive season in which Biggio has been plunked at least once by the Reds. That may or may not be a record, but we can be sure no one has done it in at least 62 years.

Geremi Gonzalez plunked Biggio on September 25, 1997, but don't expect a historic re-enactment of that plunk in tonights game. Biggio got hit in the face by that one, but still stayed in the game.

it's the final off day

2007-09-24T06:52:00.000-04:00

The Astros lost two more to the Cardinals on Saturday and Sunday, and Craig Biggio was not awarded first base for getting struck by any pitches, but he did collect his 3,055th hit, which ties him with Ricky Henderson for 20th on the all time list.

Today is the last off-day Craig Biggio's career which at least means the rest of us don't have to spend another day sitting around without an Astros game to watch wondering if Craig Biggio will get hit by a pitch tomorrow. After today. Not that we'd spend an entire day just wondering if Biggio was going to get hit by a pitch the next day... well, not very often anyway. The Astros are back in action tomorrow at Cincinnati, where the Reds have plunked Biggio at least once in 15 consecutive seasons - they'll have three games to extend that streak to 16.

Mark Clark is the only pitcher to plunk Biggio on September 24th, doing so in 1997.

last two in St. Louis

2007-09-22T07:49:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio sat around and watched the Astros beat the Cardinals 6-3 last night, and he might take today's game off too. Brad Thompson is pitching for the Cardinals today, but he's never plunked Biggio, not has any other pitcher named Brad. Thompson has hit 11 batters this year, which leads all guys named Brad, but that only brings him to 20 in his career - 4th among Brads all time behind Radke (62), Penny (35) and Lidge (25). The entire list of guys named Brad ever to pitch in the Majors has only accumulated 251 hit-batters, which of course is 34 less plunks than Biggio has received.

Gabe White plunked Biggio on September 22, 1997 - 10 years ago today.

Todd Wellemeyer is pitching for the Cardinals tomorrow, and Biggio is planning to play in that one. He's never plunked Biggio, and only hit 3 batters this year and 7 in his career. Pitchers named Todd have only hit 238 batters ever, but at least they've plunked Biggio 3 times.

If Biggio wanted to do something he's never done before on September 23rd, he could get hit by a pitch. He's never had a sacrifice fly or a sacrifice bunt on September 23rd, or reached base on an error or on catchers interference, but I'd still vote for the getting hit by a pitch option.

the outfielder who plunked Biggio?

2007-09-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

As you may have seen or hear, Rick Ankiel is now playing outfield for the St. Louis Cardinals, after several years in the minors attempting to revive his career as a pitcher. This would seem to make Rick Ankiel the only outfielder who has ever plunked Craig Biggio.

Ankiel has only played 41 games as an outfielder so far, but that's still 37 more appearances at non-pitching positions than all the players who have plunked Biggio had up until this year. Only one pitcher who plunked Biggio had ever recorded an out at another position - Jose Deleon (who also recorded that out in the outfield for the Cardinals).

If Ankiel continues to play well, he should have a chance at breaking most of the batting records among pitchers who have plunked Biggio. He's just one homer behind Carlos Zambrano, among Biggio plunkers - Zambrano has 12 to Ankiel's 11. He's only got 1 triple so far, but he only needs to get to 4 to pass Brian Anderson and AJ Burnett among those who have contributed to Biggio's plunks.

In the doubles category, Ankiel has 8 this year and 9 for his career, but if he keeps hitting them about once every 5 games, like he has this year, he won't get to Greg Maddux's career total of 35 until sometime next August. Ankiel will also need to come up with 211 more hits to catch Maddux in that category - Maddux has 265. (Yes, the record for hits among pitchers who have plunked Biggio is 20 less than the number of times they've plunked Biggio.)

But most importantly - Rick Ankiel has never been hit by a pitch. Time to stop thinking like a pitcher and take a few for the team Rick! Andy Benes and Bob Walk hold that record among those who have plunked Biggio, with just 6 each. Bob Walk does not, however, hold a share of the walks record for Biggio plunkers - John Smoltz has that, with 78 (61 ahead of Ankiel).

they saved all the offense for this game?

2007-09-21T06:20:00.000-04:00

Hughie Jennings played excellent defense from beyond the grave again yesterday, somehow preventing Craig Biggio from being hit by any pitches, but the Astros won 18-1, suddenly deciding to score all those runs they've been saving all year. Biggio did get a hit - his 3,053rd - tying him with Rod Carew on the all time list. He's now two hits behind Ricky Henderson at 3,055 but that's the last rung on that ladder he'll be able to reach. (Barring a surprise 2008 comeback).

Joel Piniero is pitching for the Cardinals tonight. He's never hit Biggio with a pitch, and he's probably not going to get the chance today because Biggio is expected to be out of the lineup until Sunday. But, maybe if they score another 18 runs tonight, they'll use him to pinch hit somewhere along the way.

Salomon Torres hit Biggio with a pitch on September 21, 1993, but Biggio hs not been plunked on this date since then.

In other news, the Astros named Ed Wade their new general manager, which is nice and all, but they could have been a real MLB trend setter if they had gone in a different direction. Why not take the plunge and become the first team to promote someone directly from "lunatic blogger" to General Manager? Isn't it the next logical step after the wave of stat focused GMs that have been getting jobs around the league for the past few years? It's time someone got into the front office who knew what the most important batting stat is, and it's initials are not OBP.

plunk primes

2007-09-20T11:57:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago, Craig Biggio was 31 years old and setting his career high in getting hit by pitches with 34 (assuming he doesn't break that high mark by getting hit 32 times in the next 10 games - that would be several records). Biggio was the 2nd oldest player ever to reach 30 HBPs, behind only Don Baylor who reached his rather late career plunk-peak at age 37, when he got hit 35 times for the '86 Red Sox (the AL single season record).

Here's breakdown of everyone who ever had a career high of 10 plunks or more, by the age at which they reached their get-hitting peak:

Age	Players who set their career high in HBPs at that age
20	1
21	3
22	7
23	21
24	38
25	49
26	46
27	76
28	63
29	56
30	57
31	42
32	26
33	22
34	11
35	10
36	8
37	7
38	2
39	6
40	2
42	1
43	1

(players who tied their own career high in different seasons are counted multiple times, and ages are based on season - year of birth rather than the frequently used convention of age at july 1st of the season, just because my way is slightly easier)

Deacon White was 42 through the entire 1890 season, when he set his career high of 19, but is in the 43 bucket because he turned 43 in December of that year. He's still the player who was the oldest when he recorded his career high though (among players who don't have a lame career high under 10), because the next oldest was chemically enhanced active senior-citizen Barry Bonds. He turned 42 in the middle of 2006, and he only tied his career high with 10 that year.

For most players, their best getting-hit years will be between the ages of 27 and 30. The largest numbers of 15+ and 20+ plunk seasons can be found at those ages as well as shown below.

Numbers of 15+ and 20+ plunk seasons in years players turned each age:

Age	15+ HBP seasons	20+ HBP seasons
20	1	0
21	2	1
22	5	0
23	3	1
24	14	4
25	19	5
26	26	9
27	33	12
28	38	12
29	38	11
30	34	10
31	24	11
32	17	7
33	14	2
34	7	1
35	6	2
36	7	3
37	5	2
38	3	2
39	3	0
40	1	0
43	1	0

Don Baylor narrowly edged Biggio for the highest age during a season with over 20 plunks, because he turned 38 during his final season over 20 plunks, and Biggio turned 38 in the December following his last season with over 20. Frank Robinson was the youngest player ever to reach 20 plunks, in 1956, the year he turned 21.

Brewers leave, Astros to St. Louis

2007-09-20T06:48:00.000-04:00

The Brewers left town last night without leaving Craig Biggio with the lovely parting gift of an HBP, but they did leave the Astros with a 5-4 10th inning victory.

Tonight, the Astros begin Biggio's final series in St. Louis. He's been hit 14 times in St. Louis, including his first game at the new Busch Stadium, which is just 1 plunk behind Colorado for the road city where Biggio has been most often plunked. If the Cardinals could plunk Biggio 6 more times, they'd tie the Rockies for the most plunkings of Biggio thrown by any team. Braden Looper will be throwing for the Cardinals tonight, and he plunked Biggio on April 13, 2005 - a plunk which Biggio counts among the most painful of his career (a near-arm breaker, but Biggio still didn't leave the game). That plunk ended a 48 game plunkless streak by Biggio, so maybe Looper can work some streak-ending magic again today (but not the arm-breaking magic -we can't see the record broken if Biggio is on the DL).

Craig Biggio has never been plunked on September 20th.

who CAN get hit 288 times?

2007-09-19T19:37:00.000-04:00

Anyone? Bueller?

Craig Biggio only needs to get hit 3 more times to get there, but if he doesn't, who can? Here's a look at the possible candidates using a (small) number of projection methods, in order of how soon they could possibly reach 288 plunks.

2011

Jason Kendall - He's the next most obvious choice with 218 career HBPs to date. He's averaging a little over 18 plunks per season, so if he could keep up that pace he'd be there in 2011. Unfortunately his pace has been slowing - 18 HBPs per year for his career, but only 17 per season for the past 5 years, 13.7 per season for the past 3, and only 9 HBPs this season. If this years total becomes his average for the rest of his career he'd have to play until age 41 - 20 seasons - to reach 288.

2015

Alex Rodriguez - He's only 7th on the active list, but if there is anyone in the league (not named Bonds) that the fans could really root for to get hit by a lot of pitches, he's the guy. He's got just 126, for a career average of just 8.2 per season, but he's got a career high of 20 this year. If he could keep getting hit at this year's pace, he could be in the 288 neighborhood in late 2015 or early 2016. He'll be over 40 then, but he is probably the sort of player who will still be playing then. Of course, projecting 9 years in the future based on one year isn't exactly science.

2017

Carlos Delgado - He's third among actives, with 157, and if he were to continue at the pace of his last 5 seasons, he could be at 288 in 2017. Unfortunately he'll also turn 45 in 2017. Betting on Delgado to break the record would be optimistic on a number of levels.

Jose Guillen - Guillen has been hit 19 times this year bringing his three year average to 15, and his 5 year average is 14.8 plunks per season. Those averages would be plenty to reach 288 if he could keep them up over 20 seasons, but he's already played 11, at only 10.4 plunks per year. If he can continue getting hit 19 times a year like he has this year, though, he could break the record in 2017, but he too will have to play until he's 41 to do that.

2018

David Eckstein - Along with Kendall and Reed Johnson, Eckstein is the only active player sporting a career plunks per season average that would get him to 288 in a 20 year career. He's been hit 16.6 times per season so far, and at that rate he could reach 288 in 2018. The downside there is that he'll be 43 in 2018, and his averages for the past 5 and the past 3 years are only around 13 a year. That won't get it done, but he could be the sort of player to roll off a few 20+ HBP seasons any time now. Then again he hasn't been the picture of health recently, and he's already 32.

Jason Giambi - He's 4th on the active list with 134, and he's been getting hit at about 14 plunks per season for the last 5 and the last 3 years, and he could reach 288 if he kept that up until 2018, but he'd also be 47 by then, and everyone knows that 87% of people who take human growth hormone have all their limbs fall off within the next ten years. I read that someplace. It might just be a rumor though.

Aaron Rowand - He's only been hit 81 times in 7 seasons, but in his last three he's been hit 21, 18, and 19 times this year. If he keeps up the pace of the last 3 years, he could reach 288 in 2018. He'll turn 41 at the end of August that year. It's not out of the question that he'll still be playing then, if he cuts down on his wall collisions a bit, and he could conceivably pick up his HBP pace a bit. Or he might end up like that guy in the bloopers real they show on the center field scoreboard in the Naked Gun where the outfielder crashes into a wall and his head falls off.

2019

Derek Jeter - Jeter is 5th among actives right now, and if keeps going at his career high rate of 14 plunks per season (his total so far this year), he could reach 288 b 2019. He'll be 45 by then, but probably still be playing short stop with fans defending his every error and un-reached ground ball on the basis that he's even more intangible at age 45 then ever. He may be so intabgible by then he'll actually become invisible, which might make it hard to know when he had been hit by a pitch. Anyway, he's got 129 so far, but he's never broken 14 in a year, and it takes 14.4 a year for 20 years to get to 288.

David DeJesus - He's only in his 5th season but he's go 51 HBPs, and he's up to 20 this season. If he can get get hit another 20 times every season for the next 12, he could break the record in 2019, and do it before his 40th birthday. But he's only played 5 seasons, so it might be a little early to start his HBP blog now. Maybe wait and see if he feels like having another 20 plunk season. If you're wondering who David DeJesus is, he plays for the Royals. If you're wondering who the Royals are, they're the American League team in Kansas City. Remember them? George Brett used to play there.

Chase Utley - Utley is in his 5th season too, and he's been hit 52 times already, but he's leading the league with 21 this year and he's already got a plunk blog about him (though the author kind of seems like she's more interested in... him... then his HBP stats). If he can take 21 pitches per year for his team every year he could reach 288 in 2019. He'd be in his 17th season, and 40 years old, so he could even get hit less than 21 times a year if he wants to play 20 seasons, and keep going to 43.

2021

Reed Johnson - Reed is the last of the 3 active players other than Biggio who's career average is high enough to make it to 288 in under 20 seasons. He's been hit 15.4 times per year in his 5 years so far, including just 8 this season, which he's missed most of due to injury. He's also been hit 3 times in a game three different times. He could get to 288 in his 19 season, which would be 2021, but he'll be 44 at that point.

So in summary, Craig Biggio really needs to break this record, because no one else is going to any time soon.

last call for Milwaukee to brew up a plunk

2007-09-19T06:44:00.000-04:00

Criag Biggio hit his 100th career sacrifice bunt last night, but he didn't sacrifice his body by getting hit by a pitch. However, maybe this was another of those milestones he wanted to cross off his list and now he can go back to chasing Hughie Jennings - sort of like how he got plunked twice in under 10 games after he passed 3000 hits. The Astros lost the game 9-1, but they get one more shot at the Brewers tonight.

Dave Bush will have a chance to become the 214th pitcher to plunk Biggio when he starts for the Brewers tonight. Bush has hit 9 batters this season, which is still 9 behind his total of 18 plunks in 2006. He'll need to do some serious work if he's going to meet his quota for this season.

Matt Morris plunked Biggio on September 19, 2003, but he didn't have the courtesy to do it again when I was at the game last Saturday.

Things left to do

2007-09-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

Aside from getting those last 3 plunks he needs to get to 288, breaking the all-time record, there are also a few demographic holes Craig Biggio could fill in among the list of pitchers who have hit him with pitches, though there won't be very many opportunities.

Biggio has been hit by a pitch by someone born in nearly every calendar year between 1953 and 1984 - missing only 1954, 1959, and 1961. The oldest pitchers currently in the league are Roger Clemens and Jamie Moyer, and they were both born in '62. There hasn't been a pitcher in the league born before '62 since John Franco retired after the '05 season. Yovani Gallardo missed his chance last night to become the only pitcher born in 1986 ever to plunk Biggio, but Biggio could still get hit by Jose Ascanio of the Braves, who was born in 1985.

Craig Biggio has also been hit by pitchers wearing 53 different uniform numbers, but there are 5 pitchers on the rosters of the teams left on the Astros schedule who wear numbers not on that list. Biggio has already been plunked by pitchers wearing numbers 14 to 19, 21 to 23, 25 to 62, 66, 67, 69, 71, 75 and 99. Carlos Villenueva wears #12 for the Brewers but he won't pitch against the Astros (barring a really long game in which he'd be forced into a relief appears). The Brewers also have Seth McClung though, wearing #73. The Cardinals have a #63 in Andy Cavazos, and the Reds have #81 Eddie Guardado and #64 Tom Shearn.

Also, Biggio has only been plunked by pitchers born in 37 of the 50 US States. For some reason, he's never been plunked by any pitcher born in the 4 states which have postal abbreviations ending in the letter T - Vermont, Connecticut, Utah and Montana or any of the 3 states with abbreviations ending in E - Maine, Nebraska or Delaware. He's also been left unplunked by pitchers born in Oregon, Tennessee and New Mexico, as well as three states who have teams who have plunked him - Minnesota, Arizona and Colorado - the team that's plunked him the most.
There hasn't been a pitcher born in Vermont working in the majors since 1985, so Biggio never had a chance at a plunk from all 50 states, but there have been 35 pitchers from Tennessee, 25 from Colorado, 22 from Oregon, 21 from Arizona, 20 from Minnesota, 15 from Connecticut, 10 from Nebraska, 8 from Utah, 6 from New Mexico, 5 from Delaware, 4 from Maine, and 4 from Montana pitching in the Majors between 1988 and 2006. But he didn't get hit by a pitch thrown by any of them. Meanwhile, he got hit by 50% of the pitchers born in Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming who threw in the Majors between '88 and '06, and a third of the pitchers from both Hawaii and Idaho.

There are only two states, among those who haven't produced a Biggio plunker, represented on the rosters of the teams left on the Astros schedule. Derrick Turnbow of the Brewers and David Weathers of the Reds were both born in Tennessee, and Buddy Carlyle of the Braves is from Nebraska. Any of them could become the first pitcher from their state to plunk Biggio.

Also, Manny Acosta of the Braves could be the only pitcher born in Panama to plunk Biggio, and Peter Moylan could be the first Australian to do so. A plunk from Moylan would not only add Australia to the list of countries which have produced a plunked of Biggio, but it would mean that Biggio would have been plunked by pitchers from 5 different continents, and all 4 of earths hemispheres. Currently, Biggio has not been plunked by a pitcher born on the southern half of the planet. Venezuela, South Vietnam and Aruba are the southern most places of birth for those who have plunked Biggio.

More Brewers,

2007-09-18T06:32:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch last night, making it the 50th consecutive game he's played in without being hit. That makes this just the 8th plunkless streak of 50 games or longer of his career, and 2007 is the first season he's ever had two 50 game plunkless streaks in the same season (most of them have straddled two seasons). And, the Astros lost 6-0.

Tonight, Ben Sheets will have a chance to become the 16th pitcher ever to plunk Biggio three different times. He'd be the first to join the 3-timers club since Jason Jennings threw plunk 267 in 2005. Sheets has only hit one batter this season, but he only hit one batter other than Biggio last season. He plunked Biggio on August 17, 2006, and June 29, 2001, but both of those plunks occurred in Milwaukee.

Biggio has only been plunked once on September 18th - in 2003 by Jose Jimenez.

Brewers - that might be a good idea

2007-09-17T06:25:00.000-04:00

The Pirates came and went over the weekend, and didn't leave any HBPs for Craig Biggio, despite our efforts Friday and Saturday to will a plunk from the Minute Maid Park stands. Craig Biggio's career total will finish up at 0 for plunks in games attended by the guy who's written 867 blog posts about him getting hit by pitches.

The Astros will be hosting the Brewers for the next three games, and their malty beverage could add fuel to the final hopes of the quest for 288 plunks. Or, it may douse the final few flickering embers of the dream of seeing the HBP record broken in our lifetimes. Either way, Yovani Gallardo is pitching for the Brewers tonight, and he's never plunked Biggio. Gallardo has only hit 2 batters in his 90.1 inning career. Of cours, it only takes one pitch to plunk Biggio.

Today is the 10th anniversary of Biggio's only plunk on September 17th - thrown in 1997 by Jason Schmidt.

By the way, reader Brad wins the award for being the only fan in attendance in either Friday or Saturday's game to spot us and say hi. Unfortunately it's one of those metaphorical awards, not the kind where you get anything, except perhaps the knowledge that the guy who writes this site is a lot more interesting on the internet than in person. But thanks for saying hi, Brad. Nice meeting you.

they only have to play the Pirates twice more

2007-09-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

Visiting Minute Maid Park last night, it seems, did not help Craig Biggio get hit by a pitch - but if this was the Craig Biggio sacrifice bunt website, or the Chad Qualls blown save website, we could have taken all the credit. The Astros lost 4-3 and Craig Biggio is still stuck on 285. Also, while Biggio's 3050 hits are clearly displayed on an electronic counter in left center, I was unable to spot the HBP counter. I'm sure it's there someplace, right?

We'll be back at the park tonight to see Matt Morris throw toward the Astros. He's shown the ability to plunk Biggio in the past - on September 19, 2003 he threw Biggio's 241st plunk. Morris has hit 8 batters so far this year.

Mark Thompson plunked Biggio on September 15, 1996 for plunk 84.

Tomorrow, Tony Armas will attempt to add his name to the list of pitchers who have plunked Biggio, unless Biggio gets the day off. He's hit 8 batters this season, but none so far in September. Armas could become only the 2nd pitcher to plunk Biggio on September 16th, joining Chin-hui Tsao who plunked Biggio on this date in 2003.

Pirates of the Monongahela 5, near season's end

2007-09-14T06:44:00.000-04:00

The Cubs finished off there final series against Craig Biggio for his career and the Astros for the season, but they didn't leave any plunks to remember them by. The Cubs won the game 6-2, and Biggio will have to settle for only having been hit by the Cubs 19 times in his career.

Tonight, the Pirates come to Houston for their final visit, and what could be the battle for last place in the NL Central. Houston is currently 2 games behind the Pittsburgh squad, but they could pull out of the basement with a couple of wins. If we're lucky, Craig Biggio might add to his 22 career HBPs against the Pirates, and Ian Snell will have the first opportunity to contribute in tonight's game. Snell has never plunked Biggio, but he has hit a career high 8 batters this season, bringing his career total to 11.

Also, in a nearly-last ditch effort to get Biggio out of this extended plunking streak, the Plunk Biggio team (all two of us) will be in attendances at Minute Maid Park for the games tonight and tomorrow. Once again, please refrain from throwing baseballs at us. While I enjoy the history and statistics of major league players being hit by pitches, my enjoyment of plunks does not extend to personally receiving them - and my getting hit by baseballs doesn't help any major league team. But you can say hi if you want to. Also, since I'll be at the park, there may be some delay in the documenting of plunks on this site, since I'll be at the game as a spectator. (maybe I should have asked for a press pass? or an interview for the GM job?)

Dan Haren hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on September 14, 2003.

to plunk and get plunked

2007-09-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

You probably already knew that Craig Biggio has been hit by 285 pitches thrown by 213 different pitchers. But did you know that those 213 pitchers have been hit a total of 131 times themselves, by only 111 different pitchers? And of the 131 plunks that landed on a pitcher who has plunked Biggio, 57 were thrown by another pitcher who also plunked Biggio. 41 pitchers have both hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, and plunked at least one other pitcher who plunked Biggio. So, 43.5% of the plunks that hit pitchers who plunked Biggio were thrown by pitchers who plunked Biggio, but in the National League, between 1988 and 2006, only (only?) 37.1% of all the HBPs thrown were thrown by pitchers who have plunked Biggio.

Andy Benes and Bob Walk were each hit by 6 pitches in their careers, making them the leaders in the getting hit category among those who have hit Craig Biggio with pitches. Greg Maddux, Kevin Brown, Pedro Astacio and Oral Hershiser all have 5 career plunks to their credit, and Livan Hernanez, Mark Gardner, Matt Clement and Darryl Kile have 4 each. Biggio has been hit by Pedro Astacio more times than any of those guys have been hit, and none of them has been hit more times in their career than Biggio has on April 29th alone. All 4 of Darryl Kile's career plunks came while batting for the Astros, and Mark Portugal, Pete Harnisch and Ron Villone all recorded their only career plunks (1 each) while playing for Houston.

All 6 of the times Andy Benes was plunked, the pitch was thrown by someone who has plunked Craig Biggio, but none of Bob Walk's 6 plunks were thrown by Biggio plunkers. Matt Clement was also plunked exclusively by pitchers who have plunked Biggio.

Of those 213 pitchers who have plunked Biggio, only 54 have as many career plunks as they've inflicted on Biggio alone.

Darryl Kile and Greg Maddux are tied for the record for hitting other pitchers who plunked Biggio, with 4 plunks each. Maddux hit Steve Cooke, Jason Jennings, Dustin Hermanson and Dontrelle Willis, while Daryl Kile hit Scott Karl, Andy Benes and Kevin Ritz twice. DK plunked Ritz twice in the same game, making Ritz the only pitchers who has plunked Biggio and been hit twice himself in one game. Coincidently, Ritz had plunked Kile in their previous meeting. Kile also plunked Ritz before either had plunked Biggio, and Kile was pitching for the Astros at the time.

Of the 131 times pitchers who have plunked Biggio have been plunked themselves, only 10 of those HBPs were thrown by the Astros (including the 2 Kile threw at Ritz), and only 2 were cases where the pitcher had plunked Biggio before getting plunked by the Astros. Willie Banks is the only pitcher to plunk Biggio and get plunked in the same game, but Banks got hit first. Jason Marquis is the only pitcher to plunk Biggio and then get hit by the Astros in the same season. Only 77 of the 131 plunks recorded by pitchers who plunked Biggio were actually recorded after each pitcher hit Biggio for the first time.

Here's the complete (to date) history of pitchers who have plunked Biggio plunking each other:
Tom Browning hit Mike LaCoss on 6/8/1987, John Smiley hit Greg Maddux on 9/16/1989, Ryan Bowen (of the Astros) hit Andy Benes on 8/8/1991, Mark Portugal (of the Astros) hit Andy Benes on 9/9/1991, Jose DeLeon hit Andy Benes on 7/2/1993, Greg Maddux hit Steve Cooke on 7/16/1993, Ryan Bowen hit Pete Harnisch on 8/26/1993, Kevin Ritz hit Darryl Kile (of the Astros) on 8/4/1994, Darryl Kile (of the Astros) hit Kevin Ritz twice on 4/28/1995, Jaime Navarro hit Pedro Martinez on 7/25/1995, Mark Thompson hit John Smoltz on 6/9/1996, Mark Thompson hit Tom Candiotti on 7/6/1996, John Smiley hit Paul Wilson on 7/26/1996, Mark Leiter hit Mark Gardner on 8/23/1996, Steve Cooke hit Shawn Estes on 5/1/1997, Tim Worrell hit Jeff Juden on 5/14/1997, Danny Jackson hit Shawn Estes on 6/24/1997, John Franco hit Rob Stanifer on 7/3/1997, Pedro Astacio hit Andy Benes on 7/7/1997, Tom Candiotti hit Darryl Kile on 9/13/1997, Joel Adamson hit Danny Darwin on 4/4/1998, Pete Harnisch hit Garrett Stephenson on 4/23/1998, Jeff Juden hit Pedro Astacio on 5/18/1998, Darryl Kile hit Andy Benes on 6/1/1998, Chan Ho Park hit Livan Hernandez on 8/21/1998, Stan Spencer hit Paul Byrd on 8/27/1998, Stan Spencer hit Shawn Estes on 4/8/1999, Donovan Osborne hit Jason Bere on 4/11/1999, Chan Ho Park hit Andy Benes on 8/1/1999, Paul Byrd hit Stan Spencer on 8/24/1999, Kevin Brown hit Livan Hernandez on 9/29/1999, Darryl Kile hit Scott Karl on 4/13/2000, Todd Ritchie hit Rick Reed on 5/10/2000, Jimmy Anderson hit Paul Byrd on 7/21/2000, Brian Bohanon hit Kevin Brown on 9/8/2000, Brian Bohanon hit Kevin Brown on 5/29/2001, Shawn Estes hit Kevin Brown on 6/26/2001, Randy Wolf hit Greg Maddux on 10/2/2001, Al Leiter hit Brian Anderson on 4/30/2002, Kevin Brown hit Matt Clement on 5/5/2002, Everett Stull hit Matt Clement on 5/10/2002, Kris Benson hit Matt Clement on 5/28/2002, Greg Maddux hit Jason Jennings on 8/18/2002, Matt Clement hit Rick Helling on 8/18/2002, AJ Burnett hit Vicente Padilla on 4/14/2003, Juan Cruz hit Salomon Torres on 4/20/2003, Brandon Webb hit Ron Villone on 6/23/2003, Matt Clement and Danny Haren plunked each other on 9/3/2003, Greg Maddux hit Dustin Hermanson on 5/20/2004, Shawn Estes hit Chris Capuano on 6/23/2004, Jason Marquis hit Russ Ortiz on 8/14/2004, Brandon Webb hit Brian Moehler on 8/11/2005, Greg Maddux hit Dontrelle Willis on 8/27/2005, Matt Morris hit Glendon Rusch on 9/16/2005 and Matt Morris hit Aaron Cook on 5/26/2007.

Only 3 pairs of Biggio plunkers have plunked each other - Darryl Kile and Kevin Ritz, Matt Clement and Dan Haren, and Stan Spencer and Paul Byrd - but only Clement and Haren did it in the same game.

last game against the Cubs

2007-09-13T06:27:00.000-04:00

The Astros lost another one last night, 3-2, and Craig Biggio went plunkless for the 47th consecutive game. Tonight the Cubs will have Steve Trachsel pitching for them, and he's one of 4 active pitchers with over 2000 innings pitched in the National League without ever hitting Craig Biggio. Only Tom Glavine and Curt Schilling have thrown more innings in the NL without plunking Biggio, among pitchers who are still active. Trachsel has hit two batters this season, bringing his career total to 51.

This is Biggio's last chance to make the Cubs the 5th against whom he has 20 or more plunks.

Steve Schrenk hit Biggio with a pitch on September 13, 1999, and Jason Simontacchi plunked Biggio on Friday, September 13, 2002.

like night and day

2007-09-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

So far this season, there have been 672 day games played in the major leagues, and with about 150 remaining on the schedules of the 30 major league teams, it looks like we're on pace for 822 day games this season, which would be the most day games played in any of the past 20 seasons. If you had known this at the beginning of the season you might have said "That's great - I know that Biggio gets hit by a pitch about once every 8.4 day games compared to about once every 10.7 night games - he'll break the record for sure!".

But it hasn't quite worked out that way - due to his reduced schedule Biggio has played in just 31 day games this season and started only 15 of them. With only 2 day games left on the schedule, this might be the first time season since 1991 in which Biggio was not plunked in a day game.

Even if he was playing every day game this season though, the league-wide rate of plunks per game is down 4% from last season, and down 9.3% in day games. Only 470 batters have been hit by pitches in day games this season, and an optimistic projection would bring the total to 575 by the end of the season. (I'll leave it up to you to determine whose idea of "optimism" that is). This looks like it will be the first year since 2002 in which plunks per night game will exceed day plunks per day game. There have only been 4 such seasons during the span of Biggio's career.

Overall, from 1988 through yesterday, batters have been plunked 0.64 times per game in day games and 0.61 times per game in night games. This years numbers are 0.70 for day games and 0.73 for night games, which are still above the 20 year average but well below the 2006 rate of 0.77 batters plunked per day game, and slightly below the 0.74 night game hbppg rate.

Hill takes the hill

2007-09-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

The Astros managed to knock the Cubs out of first place last night with a 5-4 win in 11 innings, but Craig Biggio once again was not hit by any pitches. He's got just 18 games left to get hit 3 more times to break the all time record, but he might be taking his time knowing that he's been hit that many times in just 2 games several times in the past. Biggio also got his 666th double of his career last night - lets hope he hits a couple more so he doesn't scare off hall of fame voters with that number.

Rich Hill will take the hill for the Cubs tonight - the pitchers mound, not the one in center field - that would make it difficult to throw strikes fi he were on that other hill. Rich Hill has hit 11 batters this season and 14 in his career, but never plunked Biggio. He has also hit a batter in each of his last 3 games.

Chan Ho Park plunked Biggio twice ten years ago today, on September 12, 1997, and Dontrelle Willis hit Biggio with a pitch on September 12, 2005.

streak plunking

2007-09-11T12:54:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio has been hit by 285 pitches in his major league career (plus twice in the post season and once in the all-star game), but only 47 of those plunks were thrown by a pitcher who had hit a batter in his previous outing. Also, 44 of the pitchers who hit him hit a batter in their next appearance.

On August 18, 2001, Jimmy Anderson plunked Biggio and then hit at least one batter in his next 5 games, for a six games streak with at least one hit-batter. That is the longest streak of consecutive games with a plunk to include at least one plunking of Craig Biggio. Rolando Arrojo hit Biggio with a pitch on June 13, 2000 and then hit batters in his next 4 outings for a 5 game streak, but Shawn Chacon had a slightly better 5 game streak. He hit a batter in each of 5 games between June 1 and June 25, 2001, but he plunked Biggio in both the 2nd and 4th game of that streak.

The longest streak of consecutive games with a hit-batter any pitcher has had entering a game in which they plunked Biggio was 3. Shawn Chacon had 3 games with a plunk before hitting Biggio in the 4th game of the 5 game streak mentioned above, but Jamey Wright and Matt Clement also plunked Biggio to extend a streak to 4 games (Clement hit him twice, just to be sure). Neither of them hit a batter in their next outing though.

Cubs visit - will they bring some plunks?

2007-09-11T06:32:00.000-04:00

The Chicago Cubs make there last visit of the season to Houston, for the next 3 games, beginning tonight with Jason Marquis throwing toward the Astros. Marquis has hit 12 batters this season including 1 batter in 6 of his last 10 outings. 12 plunks ranks just 2 behind the National League lead. Marquis plunked Biggio on May 29, 2006 when he pitched for the Cardinals.

Biggio has been hit by one pitch on September 11th - in 1996 by Matt Beech.

2nd to last off-day

2007-09-10T07:05:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio said goodbye to Shea stadium and the Mets yesterday, but he didn't get hit by any retirement plunks, leaving his career total at 7 for Shea Stadium plunks and 78 for career hits there. His final totals against the Mets are 19 plunks and 151 hits. But, the Astros didn't manage to get a win during their trip to New York, losing yesterday, 4-1.

The Astros are off today, but tomorrow they begin a 9 game home-stand. There are only 12 home games and 7 road games left for Craig Biggio to get hit by pitches, and for us to discuss and test any remaining theories on plunkology. Friday and Saturday we'll be running the important test of whether or not Biggio gets hit by pitches more or less often when I'm actually in attendance Minute Maid Park - hopefully Biggio will participate by playing in those games.

By the way, with only 19 games left, it appears that Biggio will fall just short of Ryne Sandberg on the all time list for games played at 2nd Base. Sandberg played 1994 games at 2B, and Biggio currently has 1974. So, Biggio will remain 8th on the all time list in games played at 2nd Base, which is still pretty good when you remember he played over 400 games at catcher and over 300 in the outfield.

Biggio has been hit just once on September 10th - by Leo Estralla of the Brewers in 2003.

Two more games to Shea goodbye

2007-09-08T07:45:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio nearly had a memorable moment in the first game of his last trip to Shea Stadium last night - but instead of having a 2-out RBI single in the 6th inning that could have been the start of a comeback, he gave Lastings Milledge a highlight real diving catch for the third out of the inning. Then the Mets broke the game open in the bottom of the inning and won 11-3. It would have been a lot easier if he just got hit by a pitch, but he didn't.

This afternoon and tomorrow the Astros will face Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez - two of the 12 active pitchers with over 2500 career innings pitched. Pedro has almost exactly twice as many hit-batters as Glavine 129 to 64, but Glavine his pitched nearly 1700 more innings. Pedro is 5th among active pitchers in hit-batters while Glavine is 30th. And, Pedro plunked Biggio on May 1, 1997, but Glavine has never plunked Biggio in 116 attempts.

Scott Bankhead and Paul Fletcher have both plunked Bigio on September 8th - Bankhead in 1992 for the Reds and Fletcher in 1995 for the Phillies.

Biggio has been hit 3 times on September 9th - in 1996 by Kevin Ritz, in 1997 by Jamey Wright, and in 1999 by Paul Byrd.

Mets notes

2007-09-07T12:54:00.000-04:00

If Pedro Martinez hits someone other than Craig Biggio with a pitch on Sunday, he'll be the only active pitcher who has hit 100 other batters since last plunking Biggio - unless the Astros call up Chan Ho Park.

If Pedro hits Biggio on Sunday, he will shatter Jamey Wright's record for most other batters plunked between plunkings of Biggio - Wright hit Biggio with his 17th and 67th plunks (among others), but Pedro could throw his 130th plunk to Biggio to go with his 30th. Pedro has hit 99 batters since last plunking Craig Biggio.

Among those who have plunked Biggio, only Kevin Brown (139) and Greg Maddux (13) have more career hit-batters than Pedro Martinez (129). But, Maddux and Martinez have both hit 128 batters not named Craig Biggio

Of the 10 pitchers with over 100 career hit-batters who count Craig Biggio among those they've plunked, only Pedro Martinez and Darryl Kile haven't plunked Biggio more than once.

Their are 16 active pitchers with more than 1500 innings pitched in the National League, and only 7 of them have not hit Craig Biggio with a pitch - led by Tom Glavine. Glavine (4325) and Curt Schilling (2516.2) are only ones with over 2500 NL innings without hitting Biggio with a pitch.

Glavine has faced Biggio 116 times, but never hit him with a pitch. Four pitchers have faced Biggio over 100 times, but only Glavine has failed to hit him with a pitch. Curt Schilling is next on that list, failing to plunk Biggio in 78 plate appearances.

The Mets franchise record for getting hit by pitches is held by Ron Hunt, who got hit 41 times with the team, between 1963 and 1966. Then he got hit 50 times in 1971 with the Expos.

Only two franchises - the Devil Rays and the Padres - have a lower franchise record career plunks than the Mets

On the pitching side, Al Leiter holds the Mets franchise record for career plunks with 63. Only 7 other teams have a franchise record lower than that.

Shea goodbye

2007-09-07T06:59:00.000-04:00

The Astros were off yesterday, but tonight they'll be in action at Shea Stadium in New York against the Mets, and hopefully Craig Biggio will be in the lineup. Mike Pelfrey is starting for the Mets and he's hit a batter in each of his last 3 pitching appearances. The last time he didn't hit a batter, though, was July 6th against the Astros, which was the day before Biggio was last hit by a pitch. Pelfrey has hit 7 batters this season in just 54 and 2/3 innings - only three other pitchers have hit as many batters in fewer innings this season. Tonight will be Pelfrey's 16th pitching appearance and he's already hit 10 batters in his career. Biggio has been hit 13 times by pitchers with 16 career appearances or less.

If Biggio does get hit by a pitch tonight, it will be his 20th thrown by the Mets, on the anniversary of his 5th plunk against the Mets. John Franco became the 5th Met to plunk Biggio on September 7, 1993. Biggio was also plunked by Rod Beck of the Giants 10 years ago today.

musical plunks

2007-09-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

The Astros have only 22 games left this season, which leaves very little time for Craig Biggio to get hit 3 more times and become the all time leader in getting hit by pitches, and very little time for this website to answer every question about the 285 times he's already been hit by pitches, and to fully analyze those 285 plunks from every possible perspective. With no time to waste, it's finally time to answer one of the most import questions on the subject - which songs have been number 1 on the UK pop charts the most times when Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch?

Craig Biggio was hit by 12 pitches between August 16th and September 12th of 1997, all while "Men in Black" by Will Smith was the number 1 song in Britain. Oddly, Will Smith's movie of the same name spent 3 weeks at the top of the US box office charts that summer - in Biggio's most plunk productive season - but Biggio didn't get hit by any pitches while it was number 1.

No other artist has held the top spot for as many of Biggio's plunks as Will Smith did with that one song, although if you want to combine the efforts of the Spice Girls, and the solo projects of its members you get 12 plunks during their number 1 reigns as well. In 1996, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls spent 7 weeks in the number 1 spot on the UK charts, but Biggio was only hit 8 times while that was number 1.

Biggio has been hit by pitches while 111 different artists had 131 different number 1 songs in the UK. Oasis holds the record for the most different number 1 singles on dates when Biggio got hit by pitches, with 5, followed by Take That with 4 different songs, and the Spice Girls, McFly and Elton John with 3 each. Oasis is also the only band or artist to have the number 1 song on the UK charts while Biggio was hit by a pitch in 4 different seasons.

Elton John scored number one singles in the UK on dates when Biggio was plunked 13 years apart, making him the record holder in that category, followed closely by Kylie Minogue, who had number 1 hits on Biggio plunk dates 12 years apart.

Here's the complete list of songs that were number 1 on the UK charts, with the number of times Biggio was plunked during their reign in parenthesis:

1989 - "Back To Life (How Ever Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler (2), "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles (1), "You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You" by Sonia (1), "Swing The Mood" by Jive Bunny (1), "Hand On Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue (1)

1990 - "Sacrifice / Healing Hands" by Elton John (1), "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" by Bombalurina (1), "Turtle Power" by Partners In Kryme (1)

1991 - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams (1), "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" by Cher (1)

1992 - "Rhythm Is A Dancer" by Snap (3), "Ain't No Doubt" by Jimmy Nail (3), "Please Don't Go/Game Boy" by K.W.S. (1)

1993 - "Pray" by Take That (4), "Five Live EP" by George Michael & Queen with Lisa Stansfield (2), "Mr Vain" by Culture Beat (2), "All That She Wants" by Ace Of Base (2)

1994 - "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet (5), "The Real Thing" by Tony Di Bart (1), "Everything Changes" by Take That (1), "Inside" by Stiltskin (1)

1995 - "Boom Boom Boom" by The Outhere Brothers (6), "Unchained Melody / The White Cliffs Of Dover" by Robson & Jerome (5), "Country House" by Blur (4), "Some Might Say" by Oasis (3), "Back For Good" by Take That (3), "Never Forget" by Take That (1)

1996 - "Wannabe" by Spice Girls (8), "Firestarter" by The Prodigy (4), "Killing Me Softly" by Fugees (4), "Fastlove" by George Michael (4), "Return Of The Mack" by Mark Morrison (2), "Flava" by Peter Andre (1), "Ready Or Not" by The Fugees (1), "Forever Love" by Gary Barlow (1), "Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit" by Gina G (1), "Three Lions" by Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds (1)

1997 - "Men In Black" by Will Smith (12), "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly (4), "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans (3), "Candle In The Wind '97 / Something About The Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (3), "Love Won't Wait" by Gary Barlow (2), "Mmm Bop" by Hanson (2), "You're Not Alone" by Olive (2), "Blood On The Dance Floor" by Michael Jackson (2), "D'You Know What I Mean?" by Oasis (1), "The Drugs Don't Work" by The Verve (1), "Who Do You Think You Are / Mama" by Spice Girls (1), "I Wanna Be The Only One" by Eternal featuring Bebe Winans (1).

1998 - "Three Lions 98" by Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds (5), "Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade" by All Saints (5), "Because We Want To" by Billie (2), "No Matter What" by Boyzone (2), "Viva Forever" by Spice Girls (2), "It's Like That" by Run DMC vs Jason Nevins (2), "All I Need" by Boyzone (1), "C'Est La Vie" by B*witched (1), "Freak Me" by Another Level (1), "Turn Back Time" by Aqua (1), "Deeper Underground" by Jamiroquai (1)

1999 - "Mambo No5 (A Little Bit Of...)" by Lou Bega (2), "Swear It Again" by Westlife (2), "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by The Vengaboys (1), "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys (1), "Bring It All Back" by S Club 7 (1), "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin (1), "Perfect Moment" by Martine McCutcheon (1), "9pm (Till I Come)" by A.T.B. (1), "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" by Baz Luhrmann (1)

2000 - "It Feels So Good" by Sonique (5), "Bound 4 Da reload (Casualty)" by Oxide & Neutrino (4), "Toca's Miracle" by Fragma (3), "Don't Call Me Baby" by Madison Avenue (2), "You See The Trouble With Me" by Black Legend (1), "Oops!...I Did It Again" by Britney Spears (1)

2001 - "Angel" by Shaggy feat. Rayvon (4), "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez (3), "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera / Lil' Kim / Mya / Pink (3), "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" by Kylie Minogue (3), "What Took You So Long" by Emma Bunton (3), "The Way To Your Love" by Hear'Say (2), "Survivor" by Destiny's Child (2), "Do You Really Like It" by DJ Pied Piper (2), "Let's Dance" by 5ive (1), "Pure And Simple" by Hear'Say (1), "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell (1), "21 Seconds" by So Solid Crew (1), "Eternity/The Road To Mandalay" by Robbie Williams (1), "Don't Stop Movin'" by S Club 7 (1)

2002 - "Unchained Melody" by Gareth Gates (5), "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis vs JXL (2), "Kiss Kiss" by Holly Valance (2), "The Hindu Times" by Oasis (2), "Freak Like Me" by Sugababes (1), "Just A Little" by Liberty X (1), "Without Me" by Eminem (1), "Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)" by Gareth Gates (1), "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)" by Atomic Kitten (1), "Colourblind" by Darius (1)

2003 - "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence (5), "Breathe" by Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul (4), "Where Is The Love?" by Black Eyed Peas (4), "Ignition" by R Kelly (4), "Make Luv" by Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham (2), "Loneliness" by Tomcraft (2), "Never Gonna Leave Your Side" by Daniel Bedingfield (2), "Spirit In The Sky" by Gareth Gates featuring The Kumars (2), "Are You Ready For Love" by Elton John (1), "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce (1),

2004 - "F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon (6), "Thunderbirds / 3AM" by Busted (2), "F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)" by Frankee (2), "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans featuring Enya & P Diddy (1), "Lola's Theme" by Shapeshifters (1), "Dry Your Eyes" by Streets (1), "Five Colours In Her Hair" by McFly (1), "Obviously" by McFly (1)

2005 - "Axel F" by Crazy Frog (6), "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo" by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay (4), "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt (3), "Dare" by Gorillaz (1), "Lonely" by Akon (1), "Lyla" by Oasis (1), "The Importance Of Being Idle" by Oasis (1)

2006 - "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (4), "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean (2), "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado (1), "Don't Stop Me Now / Please Please" by McFly (1), "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" by Scissor Sisters (1)

2007 - "Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z (2), "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles" by The Proclaimers featuring Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin (1)

Unfortunately, Biggio was never plunked by the same pitcher during the number 1 reigns of two different songs by the same artist. Jason Jennings hit Biggio 3 times while Crazy Frog had the number 1 song in the UK, but no one else has plunked Biggio 3 times while any 1 artist had the number 1 song.

Also of note, Biggio was plunked by Al Leiter and Rick Reed while Michael Jackson had the number 1 song on the UK Charts, but when Michael Jackson plunked Biggio, K.W.S. had held the number one spot.

And, because I know someone will ask this, Craig Biggio was never hit by a pitch while Britney Spear's "Hit me baby one more time" was number 1 in either the UK or the US. That song peaked in popularity in February of '99, before the season started but it's entirely possible that it was so annoying that it caused Biggio to only be hit 11 times that season, breaking his streak of 4 consecutive years with over 20 HBPs. (So if Biggio doesn't break the record, blame Britney). The only songs I spotted in the list that might have something to do with getting hit by pitches "mmm bop" by Hanson and "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by The Vengaboys but I'm denying ever having heard either one of them.

Data for this post came from http://www.everyhit.com - please direct any questions regarding "who are these people" and "I've never heard of that song" to that site or to wikipedia.

done at Miller, on to Shea, but off today

2007-09-06T06:47:00.000-04:00

The Astros wrapped up their final visit to Milwaukee for this season with a 14-2 loss, but Craig Biggio was away from the team for personal reasons, so he couldn't get hit by a pitch. They're off today, but Biggio will be back with the team in New York tomorrow for the final visit to Shea Stadium of his career. In New York, the Astros are scheduled to face a guy who's hit 10 batters in only 15 career games, followed by the only player who has pitched over 3000 innings in the National League over the last 19 seasons without hitting Biggio with a pitch, followed by a pitcher who has hit 99 other batters since he last plunked Biggio.

Craig Biggio has never been hit by a a major league pitch on September 6th, and it's a safe bet he never will be.

wednesdays and other notes.

2007-09-05T17:49:00.000-04:00

Brewers 2nd-baseman Rickie Weeks got hit by 4 pitches in 3 games against the Cubs last week, which brings him to 43 career HBPs - as many as Craig Biggio has on Wednesdays. That makes Weeks the 99th active player, and the 503rd all time with as many career HBPs as Biggio has on Wednesdays. But, Wednesdays rank only 4th on Biggio's list of most plunked-on days of the week.

If Biggio had only been hit on one day of the week through his career, he'd still be in the top 150 of active players, unless that day were Thursday. And, 4 of the 7 days of the week are still in the top 100. Only 62 active players have been hit more times in their career than Biggio has been hit on Saturdays, and only 12 active players have more plunks than Biggio has had just on weekends. Only 60 players in major league history have more career plunks than Biggio's combined total for Saturdays and Sundays (99).

In othere news, Jose Reyes of the Mets was hit by a pitch for the first time this season on September 1, which leaves Brian Roberts as the only threat to Sandy Alomar's record of 739 plate appearances in a season with 0 HBPs. Roberts is on pace for about 732 at the moment.

144 sausages?

2007-09-05T06:44:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio had 1 hit but no HBPs last night as the Astros lost to the Brewers 5-3, but more interestingly, the Brewers presented Biggio with the retirement gift of 144 sausages. They claimed they were giving him one sausage for every hit he has against the franchise, and he did have 144 going into the game, but they must have known he'd have a few more hits against them by the end of the year - the Brewers still have to visit Houston once more. No - the 144 sausages clearly represent half a sausage for each of the 288 plunks the Brewers hope Biggio will finish his career with! (Either that or they come in packages of a dozen, and handing out a gross of them was just easier than having to wrap up 1 or 2 extra sausages in their own packages).

Brewers rookie Yovani Gallardo is set to throw in tonight's game - Biggio's last at Miller Park. Gallardo has never faced Craig Biggio, and has only hit 2 batters in his brief career.

Biggio has been hit just once on September 5th - in 1995 by Xavier Hernandez. Since he's already been hit on this date by a pitcher whose name starts with X, maybe Yovani Gallardo is a good candidate for Biggio's 2nd plunk on September 5th.

winners

2007-09-04T18:02:00.000-04:00

Overall, Craig Biggio has been plunked most often by pitchers who entered the game with more wins on the season than loses. 121 of his 285 plunks have been thrown by pitchers who entered the game with a winning record on the season, to just 98 from pitchers with losing season records and 66 from pitchers with even records. But, in the month of September, the pitchers who plunk Biggio are even more likely to have a winning record than those who plunk him in other months. 22 of Biggio's 35 September HBPs were thrown by pitchers with winning records - about 63% of them. If you throw in his 2 October plunks, both thrown by a pitcher over .500 for the season, then 24 of his 37 plunks thrown after September 1 came from the hand of a pitcher with a winning record.

In April, Biggio has been hit most often by pitchers with even records - mostly ones who haven't recorded a decision yet. In May and June he's been hit most often by over .500 pitchers, but in July and August he's been plunked most by pitchers with losing records.

Month	over .500	under .500	even
April	9	12	23
May	29	18	13
June	26	17	12
July	17	26	6
August	16	18	6
September	22	7	6
October	2	0	0

The positive side of this is that among the 38 starting pitchers currently listed on the rosters of the teams the Astros still have to play this season, 22 of them have a winning record.

Biggio has been plunked most in September (6 times) by pitchers who are 6 games over .500 - and Tom Glavine is facing the Astros on Saturday with a 12-6 record - 6 games over .500. There are a number of other pitchers who could face Biggio while 6 games over .500 coming up as well - Ted Lilly for the Cubs and Tom Gorzelanny for the Pirates if their records stay even, Ben Sheets if he loses 1 more than he wins before they meet again, Adam Wainwright if he picks up two wins, John Smoltz if he wins 1 more, and Tim Hudson if he loses 2.

The most popular win totals for pitchers who plunk Biggio in September are 13 and 2 - he's been hit 4 times by pitchers who entered the game with 13 wins and another 4 times by pitchers coming in with 2 wins. Tom Gorzelanny, Ted Lilly and Adam Wainwright all have 13 wins at the moment, and John Smoltz, Braden Looper, Dave Bush, Ben Sheets and Jason Marquis all could conceivable face the Astros with 13 wins later this year.

In the loss column, Biggio has been hit 7 times in September by pitchers with 2 losses on the season, but the only starter on the Astros remaining schedule with 2 losses is Jo-jo Reyes. Tom Shearn could potentially reach 2 losses and face the Astros the last week of the season, but other than that, we'll have to look for a relief pitcher or a roster-addition if Biggio is going to get hit again by a pitcher with 2 losses this month.

more chances to find HBPs in Milwaukee

2007-09-04T06:36:00.000-04:00

The Astros beat the Brewers 9-7 yesterday, and Craig Biggio hit his 80th career sacrifice fly, but he didn't get hit by a pitch, which means we're down to just 24 game for him to get hit by three more pitches and break the all time record - or perhaps conclusively prove that it's impossible to get hit by 288 pitches in the current century.

Tonight, the Brewers 23 year old right-hander Carlos Villanueva will get a shot at throwing baseballs in Biggio's direction. He's hit 7 batters in his 2 year career, but he's never plunked Biggio. Brandon Backe will be starting for the Astros - his first game back since having one of Tommy John's ligaments installed in his arm. (Where does Tommy John get all these ligaments he keeps donating anyway?)

Biggio has been hit only once on September 4th - in 1995 by Mark Portugal.

Labor day in Milwaukee

2007-09-03T08:04:00.000-04:00

Barring a surprise 2008 comeback to take care of unfinished business and unbroken records, Craig Biggio played his last game at Wrigely Field yesterday, but he didn't get hit by any pitches, and the Astros ended up losing the game 6-5.

This afternoon, the Astros kick off a three game series in Milwaukee, and the Brewers will send Ben Sheets to the mound to throw things at the visitors. Sheets threw his 4th career plunk at Biggio on June 29, 2001 and the 29th of his career landed on Biggio on August 17, 2006 - both at Miller Park. Those were Biggio's 183rd and 281st career plunks.

Biggio has been hit twice on September 3rd - by Kevin Brown in 2003 and Chris Carpenter in 2005. Biggio has also been plunked twice in games played on Labor Day - on September 4, 1995 by Mark Portugal and on September 1, 1997 by Joel Adamson of the Brewers.

last 2 in Chicago

2007-09-01T09:50:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio was missed by all 27 pitches thrown his way in yesterday's 6-1 win over the Cubs, but the Astros have two more to play at Wrigley this weekend and the Cubs will have a few more chances to plunk Biggio. Also, Biggio recorded his 127th and 128th career hits at Wrigley yesterday, tying that park for the most hits he's had at any ballpark outside Houston.

Today, Jason Marquis is expected to start for the Cubs, but Biggio might not be starting for the Astros. Marquis plunked Biggio on May 29, 2006, and he's hit 11 batters this year, which is good for 3rd in the National League.

It's been ten years since the last time Biggio got hit by a pitch on September 1st. Joel Adamson hit him on September 1, 1997 for the Brewers, back when they were in the American League. Biggio was also plunked by John Costello on September 1, 1989.

Tomorrow Rich Hill is scheduled to pitch for the Cubs, and Biggio is expected to start that one as well. Hill has hit 9 batters this season, but he's never plunked Biggio.

John Smiley threw Biggio's 9th career plunk on September 2, 1990, and Marc Valdes threw plunk number 55 on September 2, 1995.

Biggio and Wrigley

2007-08-31T12:36:00.000-04:00

If you've read any of the previews for this weekend's Astros series at Wrigley Field (here or here) you may have noticed that Wrigley Field is one of Biggio's favorite road parks in the league. There's a number of reasons he might enjoy playing there, and having been hit by 12 pitches there is probably not high on the list.

He's played more games at Wrigley than any road ball park - 116 so far (he's played more games in Cincinnati but they built a new park). Biggio has also scored more runs (98), and and hit more homeruns (20) at Wrigley than any other park outside Houston.

He also hit his first career homer over the wall in left-center at Wrigley - on August 22, 1988 in the 10th inning off Goose Gossage.

Biggio has won more games at Wrigley than at any other road park as well - his career record there is 63-53 (6-6 when he gets hit by a pitch).

If Biggio gets 3 more hits, he'll have had more at Wrigley than any road park - he currently has 126 there, and 128 at old Busch Stadium. He can also make Wrigley his most doubled-at road park if he hits 2 more - he has 29 there, and 30 at old Busch. And, there's only one road park where Biggio has stolen more bases, but he'd have to swipe 14 this weekend to beat his total at Montreal's Stade Olympique where he stole 31.

If Biggio could get one more HBP at Wrigley, and make it in the 9th inning, it would be the first road park in which he's been hit at least once in 9 different innings. Biggio's been plunked at least once in each inning from 1 to 8 at Wrigley, but never the 9th or later. There isn't another road park where he's been hit in more than 6 different innings.

spoiling pennant chases

2007-08-31T06:54:00.000-04:00

The Astros knocked off the Cardinals again yesterday, 2-1, dropping St. Louis to 3 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central standings, but today they'll be traveling to Chicago to see if they can mess with the Cubs playoff hopes a little. Also, this will be Biggio's final opportunity to get hit by a pitch at Wrigley Field, where he's been hit 12 times before. Wrigley Field sounds like an excellent place to end his current 38 game plunkless streak.

Today, Sean Marshall pitches for the Cubs. He's in his 2nd season in the league, which is a popular time for young pitchers to plunk Biggio, but at 6'7" he's slightly taller than the average plunker of Biggio, and he's also more left-handed than the average plunked of Biggio. Marshall has hit 8 batters in his career, but just one this season.

Ten years ago, James Baldwin plunked Biggio in Chicago on August 31, 1997 but that was at Comiskey Park (II) for the White Sox. Jake Peavy plunked Biggio for the Padres on August 31, 2003.

If Biggio does not get hit by a pitch today, this will be his first August with 0 HBPs since 2000. He only played one game that month, but he didn't get plunked in August 1999 either.

unforeseen consequences

2007-08-30T13:09:00.000-04:00

The obvious point this site has made over and over is that when Craig Biggio gets hit by pitches, he helps the Astros win. Less obvious consequences of his plunks which have been illustrated here are increased plunk rates in other games around the league, decreases in California earthquakes, changes in the stock market, and and a high frequency of New York Knicks losses in playoff games. But it turns out, when Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch, he might somehow be helping the Atlanta Braves win too.

The Braves have hit Craig Biggio with pitches 8 times, and are 4-4 against the Astros when they plunk Biggio, but on the 265 days on which Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch, they Braves have 157 wins and 99 losses, for a .613 win pct. If you take out the times they plunked Biggio themselves, the Braves are .617 when someone else plunks Biggio. No team has a higher winning percentage on days on which Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch, but only 1 other team has won more frequently than the Astros on those days - the Yankees with a .563 win pct.

The Braves and Yankees have been consistently very good during the span of Craig Biggio's career, but from 1998 through yesterday the Yankees had a .562 win pct. overall, and a .563 win pct when Biggio gets hit by a pitch. The Braves have a .561 win pct since the 1988 season, but it jumps up to .613 when Biggio gets plunked. The only team with a greater increase in win percentage on days when Biggio gets hit by pitches is the Orioles - they've had a losing record in total since 1988, at .475, but on day when Biggio gets plunked they win a .520 clip - even though, like Atlanta, they are only .500 on days when they plunk Biggio themselves.

On the reverse side, the biggest downward change in winning percent on days when Biggio gets plunked is experienced by the Reds. They've won 49.6% of their games since 1988, but on days when Biggio gets plunked they are 108-148 for a .422 winning pct. However, they're slightly better when they plunk him themselves, at .428.

This season, the Mets are an impressive 4-0 on days when Craig Biggio has been plunked, including July 7th when Biggio was hit by the Mets. The Phillies are 0-4 on days when Biggio has been plunked this season, and in fact the Mets are 3-0 against the Phillies on days when Biggio has been hit by a pitch this year. So, Craig Biggio could hold the key to the NL East pennant race this year, or even today.

Here is a table showing each team's win/loss record on days when Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch, and their total win/loss record from 1988 to August 29, 2007.

	On Biggio plunk days		Overall, 1988 to 8/29/07
Teams	Record	Win Pct	Record	Win Pct	diff	pct diff
Braves	157-99	0.613	1762-1380	0.561	0.052	9.27%
Yankees	139-108	0.563	1764-1376	0.562	0.001	0.18%
Astros	148-119	0.554	1640-1508	0.521	0.033	6.33%
A's	136-113	0.546	1706-1440	0.542	0.004	0.74%
Giants	136-114	0.544	1651-1496	0.525	0.019	3.62%
Red Sox	135-117	0.536	1700-1445	0.541	-0.005	-0.92%
Mets	136-122	0.527	1595-1544	0.508	0.019	3.74%
White Sox	126-115	0.523	1631-1511	0.519	0.004	0.77%
Angels	128-117	0.522	1592-1554	0.506	0.016	3.16%
Orioles	128-118	0.52	1491-1649	0.475	0.045	9.47%
Cardinals	131-121	0.52	1644-1498	0.523	-0.003	-0.57%
Mariners	128-120	0.516	1581-1558	0.504	0.012	2.38%
Cubs	128-121	0.514	1518-1623	0.483	0.031	6.42%
Blue Jays	130-124	0.512	1606-1541	0.51	0.002	0.39%
Phillies	127-124	0.506	1510-1633	0.48	0.026	5.42%
Padres	127-124	0.506	1545-1601	0.491	0.015	3.05%
D-backs	72-71	0.503	802-790	0.504	-0.001	-0.20%
Dodgers	126-125	0.502	1640-1504	0.522	-0.02	-3.83%
Rangers	120-123	0.494	1556-1589	0.495	-0.001	-0.20%
Indians	120-128	0.484	1623-1518	0.517	-0.033	-6.38%
Nats/Expos	122-130	0.484	1518-1631	0.482	0.002	0.41%
Rockies	111-119	0.483	1093-1245	0.467	0.016	3.43%
Twins	119-137	0.465	1566-1577	0.498	-0.033	-6.63%
Brewers	114-137	0.454	1465-1679	0.466	-0.012	-2.58%
Pirates	110-137	0.445	1478-1665	0.47	-0.025	-5.32%
Marlins	105-133	0.441	1099-1236	0.471	-0.03	-6.37%
Royals	107-138	0.437	1423-1715	0.453	-0.016	-3.53%
Tigers	108-141	0.434	1401-1743	0.446	-0.012	-2.69%
Reds	108-148	0.422	1559-1586	0.496	-0.074	-14.92%
D-rays	53-92	0.366	632-956	0.398	-0.032	-8.04%

Below is a table showing each team's win/loss record in games in which they plunked Biggio themselves:

Team	W-L	PCT
White Sox	2-0	1.000
Twins	1-0	1.000
Yankees	1-0	1.000
A's	1-0	1.000
Nats/Expos	9-6	0.600
Cardinals	13-11	0.542
Cubs	10-9	0.526
D-backs	5-5	0.500
Braves	4-4	0.500
Orioles	1-1	0.500
Dodgers	5-5	0.500
Pirates	10-12	0.455
Mets	8-10	0.444
Reds	9-12	0.429
Rockies	12-18	0.400
Brewers	6-9	0.400
Padres	6-9	0.400
Marlins	5-9	0.357
Giants	6-11	0.353
Phillies	3-10	0.231
Indians	0-1	0
Royals	0-2	0
Rangers	0-4	0

Biggio has been plunked twice on days when the Astros were playing double-headers, but the Astros are 1-3 on those days (he's never been hit in both games of a double-header). But, that means that while the Brewers are 6-9 in games in which they plunk Biggio, they are 7-9 on days when they plunk Biggio, and the Pirates are 11-12 on the dates they've hit Biggio with a pitch.

tied for 5th in doubles

2007-08-30T06:51:00.000-04:00

Cecil Cooper employed the old "move Biggio down to 2nd" trick with the Astros last night, but it didn't get Craig Biggio hit by any more pitches than he's been hit by in any of his past 36 games - which is none. The Astros won the game 7-0, and Craig Biggio hit his 665th career double, which ties him with George Brett for 5th on the all time list. That's pretty good, but if he had been hit by two pitches instead of hitting one double he'd be tied with Hughie Jennings for 1st on that all time list.

Joel Piniero pitches for Cardinals today, but since it's a day game, there's a good chance Biggio will be on the bench to start the game. Piniero has hit 38 batters in his career, but only 2 this season. The closest he's ever come to plunking Biggio, alphabetically anyway, was hitting Aaron Boone with a pitch.

Do you know who's been hit by pitches twice before on August 30th? Craig Biggio. Barry Jones hit him on August 30, 1991, and Jason Bere plunked Biggio on August 30, 1997.

plunks by manager

2007-08-29T12:07:00.000-04:00

Since someone asked, here's the breakdown of Biggio's HBPs by Astros manager:

Manager	Span	Games*	HBP:BGO	HBP:BGO per game
Hal Lanier	1986-1988	486	0	0
Art Howe	1989-1993	810	28	0.035
Terry Collins	1994-1996	421	57	0.135
Larry Dierker	1997-2001**	783	108	0.138
Matt Galante**	6/14/99 - 7/11/99	27	4	0.148
Jimy Williams	2002 - 7/11/2004***	411	55	0.134
John Tamargo***	5/31/2002	1	0	0
Phil Garner	7/16/04 - 8/27/07	530	33	0.062
Cecil Cooper	8/28/07 - ?	1	0	0

* - the Games column is the number of Astros games managed by each manager, whether Biggio played in them or not - since it would have generally been the manager's responsibility to put Biggio into those games.
** - Matt Galante managed 27 games in 1999, filling in for Larry Dierker
*** - John Tamargo mangaged 1 game in place of Jimy Wiliams, on May 31, 2002.

As you can see, Phil Garner's record of getting Biggio hit by pitches was the worst since Art Howe. Larry Dierker got the most plunks out of (or into) Biggio, but on a per game basis, he didn't get Biggio hit too much more frequently than Terry Collins or Jimy Williams. Matt Galante's brief tenure got Biggio hit most frequently per Astros game - if he'd been managing all of Biggio's 2,824 games and kept getting Biggio plunked at that rate, Biggio would have about 418 HBPs.

New Astros manager Cecil Cooper was born in the Chinese year of the Ox, and Biggio has been hit a total of 90 times while being managed by those born in the year of the Ox. But, he's been hit 136 times for managers born in the year of the Dog. I mention this only because Craig Biggio has been plunked twice on days when I've posted crazy crap about astrology (here and here).

74 losses - but only 2 7-0 losses.

2007-08-29T06:44:00.000-04:00

The Astros only got 9 batters to first base last night, and none of them made it past 2nd, as the Cardinals shut them out 7-0. Ty Wigginton was the only Astro who had his HBP offense going, but Craig Biggio did have one hit. On the bright side, the Astros may have now lost 74 games, but they've only lost 2 games by a 7-0 score.

Kip Wells gets his turn in the Cardinals pitching rotation tonight. He hit Craig Biggio with an 0-1 pitch with 2 outs in the 5th inning on July 12, 2003. Wells was matched up against Astros start Roy Oswalt that day, just as he is today.

Kip Wells has hit 60 batters in all in his career, with 7 this season, but he's never hit anyone on August 29th. Craig Biggio has been hit by 285 pitches in his career, but he's never been hit by one on August 29th.

plunk first, get outs later

2007-08-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 285 times in his major league career, and on 68 of those occasions, he was plunked by a pitcher who had not yet recorded an out in the game. 39 of those 68 were thrown by the opposing starter in the first inning while Biggio led off the game for the Astros, but he's been hit another 22 times by relief pitchers who hadn't recorded an out, and 7 more times by starters, in the first inning when Biggio was not the lead off batter, but came to bat with no outs anyway.

Another 60 of Biggio's plunks have come from pitchers who have recorded between 1 and 3 outs in the game, so a total of 128 plunks have come from pitchers who had worked one inning or less at the time of the plunk. 205 HBPs in Biggio's career were thrown by pitchers who had worked 3 innings or less.

Here's the full break down of Biggio's HBPs by number of outs recorded by the pitcher before plunking Biggio:

Outs	HBP:BGO
0	68
1 to 3	60
4 to 6	38
7 to 9	39
10 to 12	25
13 to 15	26
16 to 18	12
19 to 21	10
22 to 24	5
25	2

The record for most outs in a game before plunking Biggio is 25, and Joey Hamilton and Francisco Cordova both sat that many Astros down before plunking Biggio. Both plunked Biggio with one out in the 9th inning while they were on there way to a complete game shutout against Houston.

The longest a reliever has been in a game before plunking Biggio is 3 innings, or 9 outs, by Orel Hershiser, but he had already plunked Biggio once before in that game and was immediately replaced after throwing the 2nd one. Of the 5 pitchers who have plunked Biggio after 2 full innings of relief work, only 1 recorded another out after putting Biggio on base with the HBP. In all, 35 pitchers failed to record another out after plunking Biggio in a game - 20 starters and 15 relievers. 5 of those were relievers who didn't get anyone out. The quickest hook for a starter who failed to get an out after plunking Biggio was for Steve Cooke on July 23, 1994. Cooke plunked Biggio to lead off the 3rd inning, and then gave up 5 consecutive singles before being lifted.

But of those 68 pitchers who plunked Biggio before recording an out in the game, 5 never recorded any outs, but 10 pitched 7 or more full innings. 5 hit him a 2nd time in the game, including Mark Gardner on August 2, 1996 who plunked Biggio before recording his first out and after recording his last out, but pitcher 6 full innings in between.

management change

2007-08-28T06:50:00.000-04:00

It's not clear that Craig Biggio would have gotten hit by more pitches this year if Phil Garner was not managing the team, but when a season goes this way - with Biggio only getting hit 3 times and remaining 3 short of the all time record - it's perfectly reasonable for a team's ownership to want to shake things up in the clubhouse. The only question now is whether or not new manager Cecil Cooper can inspire the plunk chase and manage the Astros in such a way that Craig Biggio can break the most important record in sports (or at least the most interesting record in sports).

We'll see what changes the new administration makes tonight when the St. Louis Cardinals come to Houston. Braden Looper will be pitching for the visitors tonight, and he hit Biggio with a pitch on April 13, 2005.

Mark Gardner plunked Biggio 15 years ago today, on August 18, 1992 for the Expos, and
Lance Davis hit Biggio with a pitch on August 28, 2001. The Astros are 2-0 on August 28th when Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch (Cecil Cooper take note).

things you wanted to know about Jeff Bagwell

2007-08-27T12:05:00.000-04:00

372.

That's how many of Jeff Bagwell's 1,529 career RBIs were scored by Craig Biggio. 372 times. 24.3% of Bagwell's RBIs were runs scored by Biggio and 20.4% of Biggio's 1837 career runs were driven in by Bagwell. Biggio has been on base for 93 of Bagwell's 449 homers - nearly 21% of them - and Biggio was the runner scoring from third on 29 of Bagwell's 102 sacrifice flies. Bagwell drove in Biggio 127 times on singles, 82 times on doubles and 7 times on triples. And of those 372 times Bagwell drove in a Biggio run, 31 of them were after Biggio reached base on a plunk.

Jeff Bagwell hit 6 grand slams in his career, and Craig Biggio was on base for 5 of them.

Bagwell drove in 2 Biggio runs in 35 different games, and once drove in Biggio for 3 runs in a single game - that was the day Bagwell hit for the cycle and drove in Biggio on a single, triple and a homer.

Of Bagwell's 128 career HBPs, 17 were recorded in games in which Craig Biggio was also plunked. The Astros were 10-5 when both Biggio and Bagwell got hit by a pitch. Bagwell was hit 5 times with the bases loaded, but never with Biggio on third to score a run off the plunk. Biggio's 7 rbi plunks never scored Bagwell either, and as far as I can tell, Bagwell never scored on a Biggio rbi of any kind.

Bagwell day

2007-08-27T06:14:00.000-04:00

The Astros retired number 5 yesterday - Jeff Bagwell's number. Bagwell, as you may know, got hit by 128 pitches in his career, and while some may have thought it would have been nice for Craig Biggio to celebrate his longtime teammates' career by getting hit by a pitch himself, he instead made a speech and took the day off.

It's entirely possible that Jeff Bagwell is responsible for Biggio's run at the career plunk record and this website. Bagwell jumped into the league as a rookie in 1991, and led the league with 13 HBPs. Biggio didn't lead the leaugue until 1995, and after 1991, Biggio never took fewer than 7 plunks for the team until this season. It could easily have been that Bagwell's refusal to get out of the way of pitches in 1991 inspired Biggio to do the same for the next 15 seasons.

The Astros are off today, meaning that Paul Byrd will remain the only pitcher to plunk Biggio on this date. He did so ten years ago, on August 27, 1997. He scored on a Jeff Bagwell homer.

Dennis Martinez plunked Jeff Bagwell on August 27, 1993 and Frank Castillo hit Bagwell with a pitch on August 27, 1996.

15 innings, no plunks

2007-08-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

Jason Bay and Luke Scott got hit by pitches in last night's 8-3 Astros loss, but Craig Biggio didn't. That was only the 2,557th game of Biggio's career in which he didn't get hit by a pitch.

Tonight the Astros will face Matt Morris, who plunked Biggio on September 19, 2003 for the Cardinals. Morris has hit 3 batters since joining the Pirates this year, but he also hit 5 batters with the Giants before that. The Astros starting pitcher is expected to be Troy Patton making his debut in the majors. Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 4 times in games in which the Astros starter was making his Major League debut (Scott Elarton, Carlos Hernandez, and twice in Rodrigo Rosario's debut).

Tomorrow, Tony Armas is scheduled to pitch for the Pirates. Armas has hit a total of 40 batters in his career, including 6 this season, but he's never plunked Craig Biggio.

Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 25th or 26th.

Experience

2007-08-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

On average, pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch have appeared in 145 games in their careers before the one in which they plunked Craig Biggio. They also average about 80 career starts. Three pitchers have plunked Biggio in their first career game (all as starters), but no pitcher has ever hit Craig Biggio with a pitch in their first start after previously having a relief appearance.

Biggio has been hit 10 times by 8 pitchers with over 500 career pitching appearances. Steve Reed holds the record, having plunked Biggio in his 745th career appearance, on April 24, 2004. All 745 of Reeds appearance up to that date were as a reliever, and he also holds second place on the list, having also plunked Biggio in his 672nd career appearance. Frank Tanana holds the record for most career starts before plunking Biggio - he threw Biggio's 21st career plunk in his 594th career start. Only Tanana, Orel Hershiser and Kevin Brown have hit Biggio with a pitch after starting over 400 major league games. Brown did it in his 437th career start, while Hershiser plunked Biggio twice in a relief appearance with 463 starts already under his belt. Hershiser also plunked Biggio in his 395th career start.

Biggio has been plunked most often - 6 times - by pitchers in their 8th career pitching appearance. He's also been hit 38 times by pitchers who have never started a game, but among those who have started games, he's been plunked most often in their 2nd start, with 7.

Here's the break down of Biggio's HBPs by the career game number of the pitcher who hit him:

G	HBP:BGO
1 to 10	27
11 to 100	110
101 to 200	68
201 to 300	45
301 to 400	19
401 to 500	6
501 or more	10

Slightly over half of the pitchers who have plunked Biggio had 40 or fewer career starts at the time.

Here are Biggio's plunks by the pitchers' career starts:

GS	HBP:BGO
0 to 10	80
11 to 100	118
101 to 200	53
201 to 300	23
301 to 400	7
401 to 500	3
501 or more	1

No more plunks from the Nationals

2007-08-24T06:43:00.000-04:00

The Washington Nationals passed up their final opportunity to hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, leaving their franchise total (as both the Nationals and the Expos) at 15, with just one coming since the team moved to the US from Canada. Mark Gardner was the only pitcher to plunk Biggio twice for the Expos, and he was also hit by Barry Jones, Willie Fraser, Kirk Rueter, Barry Manuel, Dave Veres, Pedro Martinez, Jeff Juden, Trey Moore, Bobby Ayala, Britt Reames, Rocky Biddle and Sunny Kim while they pitched for Montreal. Livan Hernandez will remain the first, last and only Washington Nationals pitcher to plunk Biggio - unless maybe Biggio falls short of the all time record in hit-by-pitches and is forced to come out of retirement next year to break the record by the popular outcry of millions of fans.

Biggio had one hit in last night's 7-6 loss, but can you really expect to win against a team that sends John Lennon to the mound and then sends in a guy named Jesus C. to relieve him? Even if his name is actually spelled Lannan, that doesn't seem fair. Biggio, by the way, has never been plunked by anyone whose name sounds kind of like Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Ringo Starr either.

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Pirates will be visiting, and Ian Snell will be pitching for them. Snell has hit a career high 7 batters this season, bringing his career total to 10, but he has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

10 years ago today, Jamey Wright plunked Biggio for the Colorado Rockies - that was the first of 4 HBPs Wright has contributed to Biggio's career total. Biggio was plunked a year after that by Matt Karchner, on August 24, 1998 - that was the only road plunk that resulted in Biggio scoring on a wild pitch.

Astros pick up a win but not a plunk

2007-08-22T22:14:00.001-04:00

The Astros won last night's game against the Nationals by a 3-2 score, but it was also the 31st consecutive game for Craig Biggio in which he did not get hit by a pitch.

Tonight, John Lannan will be pitching for the Nationals. He's a 22 year old rookie and has only hit two batters in his career. He's never faced Craig Biggio before, but if he does throw plunk 286, he will break the all time record for most occurrences of the letter N in the last name of a left handed pitcher who has hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. 7 left-handers with two Ns in their name have plunked Biggio a total of 9 times, but the only pitcher with 3 or more Ns ever to plunk Biggio was Jason Jennings, who is right handed, and threw one HBP:BGO for every N in his last name.

On August 23, 1997, Pedro Astacio threw the first of his record 7 plunkings of Craig Biggio.

those who stay out of the way

2007-08-22T12:51:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty bad year for getting hit by pitches in 2007 - plunks per game are down 5% from last season, to their lowest level since 1999. At the current rate of plunking, there will be a total of 92 fewer hit batters this season than there were last year. Whether this means that pitchers are losing control less often, or if more batters are choosing to get out of the way of inside pitches is anyone's guess, but there a couple of examples of players avoiding plunks at record rates.

Jose Reyes of the Mets has stepped to the plate 586 times this season without being hit by a pitch. If he holds up that pace of plate appearance per game, and doesn't get hit by any pitches, he could break Sandy Alomar (Sr.)'s single season record for most plate appearances in a season without being plunked. Alomar had 739 trips to the plate, and 0 HBPs in 1971 (the same year Ron Hunt got hit 50 times).

If Reyes doesn't make that record, Brian Roberts might. He's had 554 plate appearances so far, and no HBPs. He's only on pace for 730 plate appearances based on his rate per Orioles game, but he could still make it if the Baltimore offense picks up its pace and gets around their batting order a little more frequently.

At the moment their are 14 major league players who are on pace to have 500 plate appearances this season and have not been plunked. If they all make it to that number and don't get hit, that will be the most unplunked players in the majors with that many plate appearance since 1996.

In other news related to people going through entire seasons without doing certain things, Jason Stark pointed out in his recent ESPN.com column that Curtis Granderson is has gone this far in the season without hitting into a double play. Stark correctly notes that the only player to make it through a 162 game season without hitting into a double play is Craig Biggio in 1997. But he fails to mention that Granderson has already missed two games this season (June 5th and August 9th) - so even though the title of that section of the column is "The 0-for-162 Club", Granderson can only hope to join the 0-for-160 club in the GIDP category, unless the Tigers end the season in a three way tie and are forced to play multiple tie-breaking games or something ridiculous like that. Biggio played in all 162 games in 1997, without hitting into a double play.

Granderson does, however, have a shot at the record for most at-bats in a season without a GIDP (since the grounded-into-double-play stat became official in 1939) as Stark pointed out. He's fallen off the pace a bit since the article - down to a projected 623 at bats - 4 more than Biggio's 619. But, he won't get close to the number of total plate appearances Biggio had in 1997. Granderson is only on pace for 685 total plate appearance, while Biggio had 744 trips to the plate without a GIDP in 1997. If you're not one of those people who, of the top of your head, knows the exact difference between at-bats and plate appearances, it might not be obvious why Biggio would have so many more plate appearances in '97 than Granderson will have this year when the two are on pace for about the same number of at-bats. Plate appearances* is at-bats + walks + sacrifice flys + sacrifice hit + HBPs. Biggio got hit 34 times in '97, along with 7 sac-flys and 84 walks. Granderson has only been plunked once this year.

*technically the number of times the batter reached on catchers interference is supposed to be part of the plate appearances calculation, but it's often left out because it's sometimes hard to find and happens so infrequently anyway.

made-up records falling

2007-08-22T06:29:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio played the 2,554th game of his career in which he didn't get hit by a pitch last night, but that's not a record of any kind. He also hit his 664th double - which is the post-Nixon administration record, and his 291st homer - which is the most by anyone with with over 268 HBPs, and his 3,036th hit - which is the most hits by anyone since the release of Van Halen's 1984 album. And, he hit the 53rd lead-off home run of his career, which is the National League all-time record for home runs leading off games. But, he didn't get hit by a pitch, and the Astros lost 11-6.

Tonight the Nationals will give the starting pitcher's job to left-hander Mike Bacsik. Bacsik has hit ten batters in his career, but he's never plunked Craig Biggio. If you were looking for someone who has plunked Biggio August 22nd, you'd have to find Chris Hammond - he's the only pitcher who has plunked Biggio on this date, doing so in 2005.

Redding returns but doesn't contribute

2007-08-21T06:35:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio was once again not hit by a pitch in last night's 7-0 loss to the Nationals, making it his 29th consecutive plunkless game. But, just because he hasn't been hit in 29 consecutive games and he'll be facing Joel Hanrahan, who has never plunked anyone in his Major League career, that doesn't mean he couldn't get hit tonight. On July 26, 1992, for example, Jim Bullinger threw his first career plunk to end a 37 game un-plunked streak Biggio was on then.

If Biggio doesn't get plunked tonight, this will be his first season since 1993 in which he's had two different plunk-free streaks of 30 games or longer. And, if he doesn't get plunked tonight it will be his 20th season in which he didn't get hit by a pitch on August 21st.

blown saves

2007-08-20T19:22:00.000-04:00

As you may have read someplace, Craig Biggio has been hit by 85 pitches thrown by relief pitchers. Those relievers have a combined win loss record of 3-11, 4 saves, 9 blown saves and 12 holds. They've had a terribly impressive ERA of 7.90 in the games they've plunked Biggio.

The Astros are 9-0 when Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch thrown by a pitcher who's charged with a blown save, but only 6 of those 9 pitchers were charged with the loss in those games, and Biggio scored a run in 5 of those. But, no one has ever plunked Biggio in the process of recording a vulture win (a blowing a save but getting the win), and no one has ever managed two blown saves in the same game that they plunked Biggio.

This season, Jorge Julio became the 9th pitcher to blow a save and plunk Biggio in the same game, but he blew the save prior to plunking Biggio. Prior to that, no one had done both in the same game since 1998, but three pitchers did it that season. On June 20, 1998 Biggio led off the 8th inning with an HBP, with the Astros down 6-5, and scored the tying run to give Rick Krivda the blown save. Three days before that, Biggio got plunked by Jeff Brantley to lead off the 9th, with the Astros down 5-2. He scored on a sacrifice fly, and the Astros rallied for 3 runs and the win. On August 17, 1997, in the 4th inning, Biggio's plunk put him on base to score the tying run, and give Scott Rufcorn the blown save. Then, Biggio got hit by Wayne Gomes to lead off the 7th inning, with the Astros down by one run again, and he came around to tie the game for the second time in the inning. But, Gomes got replaced before Biggio scored so Gomes just got the loss and not a blown save. On July 15, 1995 Biggio scored another tying run after reaching on a plunk, hanging a blown save on Kenny Greer. And, on September 1, 1989, Biggio came to the plate with the bases loaded, and the Astros down 1 run - and tied the game with an RBI plunk.

On the other hand, Orel Hershiser plunked Biggio twice in a relief appearance on May 7, 2000 and still didn't give up the lead - recording a hold.

Nationals come to Houston

2007-08-20T06:18:00.000-04:00

Greg Maddux picked up his 342nd career win yesterday, beating the Astros 5-3, but Craig Biggio didn't get off the bench to face him, and more importantly, didn't get off the bench to get hit by a pitch. But, the Astros will be back home this week, so we can hope he'll get plenty of playing time in Houston to resume his search for plunks 286, 287 and 288. The Washington Nationals will be visiting tonight, and pitching for them will be former Astro Tim Redding. He's never faced Craig Biggio before, and has only hit 1 batter this season. But, Redding threw 8 of his 18 career plunks at Minute Maid Park and tonight will be his first game their since he left the Astros after 2004.

Craig Biggio has been hit by 2 pitcher on August 20th - in 1998 by Scott Karl of the Brewers, and in 2002 by Kyle Farnsworth of the Cubs.

last weekend in San Diego - last chance to see Biggio vs Maddux

2007-08-18T12:21:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio once again did not get hit by a pitch in last nights game, and Jake Peavy effectively shut down the 8 Astros not named Lance Berkman, but Berkman's 3 rbis were enough to give the Astros a 3-1 lead.

Today, Biggio isn't expected to be in the starting lineup, but Justin Germano will be starting for the Padres. He's never faced Biggio before, but he has plunked a career high 5 batters this season.
Jaime Navarro plunked Biggio on August 18, 1996, and Jimmy Anderson plunked Biggio on August 18, 2001 - so if Justin Germano had a chance to plunk Biggio today we'd have a Jaime, Jimmy and Justin who had plunked Biggio on this date.

Tomorrow, the Padres will send Greg Maddux to the mound. Craig Biggio has stepped into the batters box while Maddux was on the pitchers mound 140 times in the regular season, and another 12 times in the playoffs. Biggio has had more hits against Maddux than he has against any other pitcher, and Maddux has given up more hits to Biggio than he has to any other player not named Tony Gwynn. Tony Gwynn had 39 hits off Maddux, and Biggio has 38. It would certainly be interesting if Biggio could tie or pass Tony Gwynn's while playin against Gwynn's team.

Maddux has also hit Biggio with a pitch twice - on July 31, 1993 and June 12, 1994. If he could plunk Biggio one more time he'd break Orel Hershiser's record as the oldest pitcher to plunk Biggio. He'd break Frank Tanana's record as the most experienced pitcher to plunk Biggio (in terms of major league seasons). And, he'd break Salomon Torres' record for longest gap between plunkings of Biggio. Torres threw pitches that plunked Biggio nearly 10 years apart, but Maddux hasn't gone over 13 years since last plunking Biggio.

Also, Maddux would be the first pitcher ever to hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on August 19th.

SAY IT AIN'T SO!! Or say it might be so!! I really don't know!! That's just kinda weird.

2007-08-17T18:38:00.000-04:00

Well, Craig Biggio went 2-4 in last night's 6-2 loss to the Dodgers, but since he didn't get hit by a pitch, there is a much more important Biggio related story in the news today. It seems that Tigers closer Todd Jones has been throwing wild accusations around that Craig Biggio has used performance enhancing cabbage leaves.

Now, major league baseball does not, as far as I know, ban the use of cabbage - although the Korean major leagues do. This topic was brought up on this very site by official Plunk Biggio Senior Korean Correspondent Cletus J. "Bubba" Huckabee Jr. over two years ago. This is not a new idea in baseball, and Babe Ruth himself was said to have used the cabbage trick. But in this era of accusations, how can a pitcher like Todd Jones throw around such issues so lightly? Obviously I had to check out whether or not Jones had his facts right, and as it turns out, Biggio did have a game in Jones' rookie season at St. Louis in which he committed a ground ball error and left the game shortly after - July 18, 1993. But from this we can at least be sure that if Craig Biggio did in fact use a cabbage leaf that day, it certainly didn't help his performance. Also, he got hit by a pitch the day before.

Now the other interesting thing about this is that the week this issue came up in the news two years ago (and was discussed on this site), was also the week when Craig Biggio passed Don Baylor for the so called "modern" HBP record. So, if you believe in omens, it could be that when Cabbage Leafs are in the air, plunk records are about to fall.

The Astros are in San Diego tonight to play the Padres, and Jake Peavy. Peavy has plunked Biggio before on August 31, 2003, and he's hit 6 batters so far this season. Peavy is 26 years old, right-handed, and 6'1" - and if you've been reading the site this week, you know those figures fit closely to the profile of pitchers who have plunked Biggio in the past.

Scott Ruffcorn and Wayne Gomes both plunked Biggio on August 17, 1997 - that was the only time Biggio was plunked twice by the Phillies. Randy Wolf hit Biggio with a pitch on August 17, 2004 - that was the last time Biggio was plunked by the Phillies.

Ben Sheets plunked Biggio on August 17, 2006, and that was the last time the Brewers plunked Biggio, but they still have a few more chances.

Could today also be the day the Padres plunk Biggio one last time? Or maybe just one more time?

the farewell tour of benches

2007-08-16T06:26:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio got another night off last night in the Astros 6-3 loss to the Dodgers, but he'll probably be back in the starting lineup tonight against Dodgers' starter Derek Lowe. Hopefully the Dodgers will do the right thing and give tickets for tonight's game to all the fans in LA who went to one of the last three games hoping to see Craig Biggio on his final trip to LA.

Derek Lowe has never plunked Biggio, and has only hit 1 batter this year in 152 innings of work.

Seth Etherton plunked Biggio on August 16, 2003, but he's the only pitcher who has plunked Biggio on this date.

profiling - part 2

2007-08-15T20:59:00.001-04:00

If you joined us Monday, you may recall that we learned that Craig Biggio has been hit a lot of times by starting pitchers, starting right handed hitters, starting right handed hitters between the ages of 24 and 30, and starting right handed pitchers between the ages of 24 and 30 and between 6'0 and 6'4. There are 16 pitchers currently on the rosters of the teams left on the Astros schedule who fit that profile. Biggio has been hit more often by pitchers who are 26 years old than any other age, and more often by pitchers who are 6'2" than any other height. There is one pitcher left on those rosters who is a starting right hander, 26 years old, and 6'2" - Shawn Hill of the Nationals. And, just because that's the kind of season it's been, Shawn Hill looks like he's set to pitch the day before the Nationals' 4 game series with the Astros next week, meaning he won't pitch against them.

But that's okay - he's actually been hit more times by 6'1" 28 year olds than by 6'2" 26 year olds. (And besides that, Shawn Hill is Canadian, and Biggio has never been plunked by a Canadian). Jason Marquis and Joel Pineiro are 6'1 and 28, and starting right-handers on the Astros upcoming schedule (and not Canadian), but Marquis turns 29 on August 21st and his team won't face the Astros until August 31st. Joel Pineiro, though, is 6'1 and 28 and currently listed as a starter for the Cardinals. They have seven more games against the Astros.

But still, there are many more criteria we can use to identify those pitchers who fit the profile of the ones who have plunked Biggio in the past. One slightly counterintuitive approach is looking at how many times they've already plunked Biggio. He's been plunked 213 times by pitchers who have never plunked him before - nearly 75% of his total. So, oddly, it would seem Biggio is more likely to be plunked by someone who hasn't plunked Biggio than by someone who already has. The average pitcher who hits Craig Biggio with a pitch has hit Craig Biggio 0.38 times before that time they hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. There are 22 starting right-handers who have never plunked Biggio on the rosters of the Astros remaining opponents. Biggio's been hit 103 times by starting right handers who have never plunked him before. There are 21 starting right-handers who have never plunked Biggio on teams that will still face the Astros this year. 13 of them are between 24 and 30 years old, and between 72 and 76 inches tall.

Another key distinguishing feature of pitchers who have plunked Biggio is experience - Biggio has been hit 36 times by pitchers in their 2nd and 3rd year (each) in the majors. The average Biggio plunker has 5.6 years of major league experience, but he's been recorded 55.8% if his HBPs against pitcher with 5 years in the majors or less. 9 right handed starters on teams the Astros will still face have 5 years or less in the majors, have never plunked Biggio, and are between the ages of 24 and 30 and between 6'0" and 6'4".

One last notable fact, for today, about pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch is that a large number of them debuted in the majors at age 22. He's been hit more times by pitchers who debuted at 22 than by pitchers with any other debut age. There is only one right handed starter currently on the roster of a team the Astros still have to play who debuted at 22 and hasn't plunked Biggio before - Ian Snell of the Pirates. He's also 25 years old, in his 4th year in the majors, and he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch before - but he's only 5'11 - 1 inch to short to fit this profile. If we expand this a bit and look at pitchers who debuted between the ages of 22 and 24, that would cover the pitchers who threw 57.5% of Biggio's past plunks. There are 6 pitchers on teams who still play the Astros this year who are right handed starters, between 6'0 and 6'4", between 24 and 30, with 5 years or less of experince, who have never plunked Biggio and debuted in the majors between age 22 and 24. They are Canadian Shawn Hill, Lance Cormier of the Braves, Claudio Vargas and Dave Bush of the Brewers, John Maine of the Mets and Anthony Reyes of the Cardinals - but only one of those 6 was born in the state that has contributed nearly twice as many plunks to Biggio's total than any other state or country. That's Dave Bush, and he's from California. Californian's have plunked Biggio 42 times.

another night off?

2007-08-15T06:32:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio sat out another game last night in LA, resting against a team ranked last in the league in hitting batters, but the Astros managed to win without him 7-4. He's expected to be out of the lineup again tonight, while Brad Penny pitches for the Dodgers. Unless Biggio gets a pinch hit appearance against him, Penny likely won't get a chance to join the 213 pitchers who have plunked Craig Biggio. He's hit 34 batters in all, and just 3 this season.

Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 15th.

last in plunking

2007-08-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

If you've looked at the team stats in the category of hitting batters with pitches recently, you probably already know that the Astros current opponents, the LA Dodgers, are dead last in the league in that category this season. They've hit 22 batters this season, and are on pace to plunk about 30 for the season. And, they have not hit Craig Biggio with a pitch this season.

Biggio has only been hit 6 times in his career by teams that finished last in the majors in hitting batters (including ties). He's been hit 8 times by the teams that finished list in the National League that year. The '95 Reds are the only team to manage plunking Biggio twice in the season, and still finish last in the league in total plunks thrown.

Season	MLB fewest hit-batters	total HB	HBP:BGO	NL fewest hit-batters	total HB	HBP:BGO
1988	Giants	18	0	Cardinals	18	0
1989	Braves	16	0	Braves	16	0
1990	Orioles	16	0	Padres	19	1
1991	Padres	13	0	Padres	13	0
1992	Padres	21	0	Padres	21	0
1993	Braves	22	1	Braves	22	1
1994	White Sox	17	0	Cubs	19	0
1995	Reds	31	2	Reds	31	2
1996	Braves	19	0	Braves	19	0
1997	Orioles	30	0	Braves	31	1
1998	Pirates	31	0	Pirates	31	0
1999	Braves	26	1	Braves	26	1
2000	Twins	35	0	Braves	37	0
2001	Braves	33	0	Braves	33	0
2001	Giants	33	0	Giants	33	0
2002	Giants	36	0	Giants	36	0
2003	Marlins	40	0	Marlins	40	0
2003	Dodgers	40	1	Dodgers	40	1
2004	Braves	27	1	Braves	27	1
2005	Braves	32	0	Braves	32	0
2006	Twins	36	0	Dodgers	41	0

The team with the lowest season total of hit batters ever to include a plunking of Craig Biggio was the 1990 Padres who hit just 19 batters. They finished last in the NL in plunking batters, but the Orioles hit just 16 that year. Only 60 of Biggio's 285 career plunks have been thrown by teams that finished in the bottom 5 in plunks in the NL.

On the other end of the plunk standings, Biggio has only been hit 9 times by teams that have led the majors in hitting batters - but that is largely because an American League team has been the overall plunk leader in 14 of the past 19 seasons. He's been hit 32 times in all by the National League leaders in plunks, even though the Astros led the league in 2 seasons during Biggio's career. Biggio has been plunked 125 times by teams that finished in the top 5 in plunks in the National League, and the most batters any National League team has hit without plunking Biggio is 74 - by the 2006 Marlins and the 2003 Astros. The last teams to plunk 75 or more opposing batters in the National League without hitting Craig Biggio with a pitch were the New York Giants and the Chicago Orphans in the year 1900. The Reds have a chance to do that this year if they break their streak of plunking Biggio in 15 consecutive seasons.

you can't get plunked on the bench

2007-08-14T07:02:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio took the night off last night, so he couldn't add to his 285 career HBPs, but Roy Oswalt and the Astros pulled out a road win without him, 4-1.

Tonight, the Astros will be facing Brett Tomko. Craig Biggio has 43 career plate appearances against Tomko, but has never been plunked by him. 5 pitchers have plunked Biggio after not hitting him the first 43 times they faced each other. Tomko is one of only 7 active pitchers who have thrown over 1500 innings in the National League without hitting Craig Biggio with a pitch.

Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 14th.

profiling

2007-08-13T12:29:00.000-04:00

With only 45 Astros games remaining in the career of Craig Biggio, it's about time that we start applying all that we've learned over the past 3 seasons of research regarding who exactly has been plunking him all these times. Perhaps, if we start trying to pull together the various pieces, we can create a picture of who is going to throw those 3 plunks he needs to reach 288 and the all time record.

The most obvious feature of a would be Biggio-plunker, is that he's a pitcher - Biggio has never been plunked by a position player filling in at the pitchers spot. The next most obvious trait for those who have plunked Biggio is throwing right-handed. 80% of Craig Biggio 285 career plunks have been thrown by right-handed pitchers. And, starting pitchers have thrown 200 of Biggio's 285 plunks - about 70.2%. Joining those criteria together, there are 155 of of Biggio's plunks that have been thrown by right-handed, starting pitchers, but all but 12 of Biggio's HBPs have been thrown by someone who was either right-handed OR the starter.

Another feature we can look at is the pitcher's age. We know that the average age of pitchers who have plunked Biggio is about 28.5 and the median age is 28. But, Biggio has been plunked the most times by pitchers who are 26 years old. In case you haven't seen it recently here are Biggio's career HBPs split by the age of the pitcher who threw them:

Pitcher age - HBP:BGO
20 - 1
21 - 4
22 - 14
23 - 17
24 - 23
25 - 26
26 - 33
27 - 20
28 - 28
29 - 24
30 - 25
31 - 18
32 - 19
33 - 12
34 - 6
35 - 2
36 - 2
37 - 1
38 - 2
39 - 4
40 - 2
41 - 2

As you can see, about 63% of Biggio's plunks have been thrown by pitchers between the ages of 24 and 30. In all, Biggio has been plunked 19 times by 26 year old right handed starters. He's only been hit 20 times by left handers 29 or older (including starters and relievers).

Obviously though, we can't construct an accurate profile of pitchers most likely to plunk Biggio without looking at the pitchers' height. Biggio has been 57 times by pitchers listed at 6'2" tall, and 81% of his plunks have been thrown by pitchers between 6'0 and 6'4". Pitchers within that range of heights AND between ages 24 and 30 have accounted for nearly half of Biggio's career HBPs. Starting right-handed pitchers between 24 and 30 years old and between 72 and 76 inches tall have plunked Biggio a total of 70 times - and 65 of those were thrown by pitchers whose name was not Pedro Astacio.

This isn't much to go on so far, so we'll have to try to narrow this search for the next three plunks a little more in days to come.

why isn't every day Craig Biggio tribute day?

2007-08-13T06:09:00.000-04:00

The Astros put together a nice ceremony for Craig Biggio yesterday, honoring his achievement of 3000 career hits. But, one can only assume that if the team does something like that to honor something that's been done 26 other times, they must have something REALLY special waiting for when he becomes the first player ever to reach 288 plunks. Unfortunately, in the ensuing baseball game, Biggio did not get any closer to reaching that historic mark. He did hit a homer, and the Astros won 6-4, but the Brewers pitchers may have thought it was a bad idea to hit a guy in front of an entire stadium full of people wearing shirts with his number on them. They obviously don't understand.

Tonight the Astros travel to LA - the regular one, not the one in Anaheim - to play the Dodgers - a team who embody everything Craig Biggio has taught us is wrong about baseball... dodging. The Dodgers are 3rd from the bottom among NL teams in plunking Biggio, with a total of 12, but they have 4 games left to move up the charts. If they plunk Biggio 3 times, they could move past the Phillies on the all time list - and give Craig Biggio the all time record. Chad Billingsley is tonight's scheduled starters, but he's only hit 1 batter this season and 4 batters in his career. Although, he's only thrown 154 more career pitches than Biggio has career hits.

Frank Castillo threw Biggio's 16th career plunk on August 13, 1992.

Two more with the Brewers in town

2007-08-11T08:06:00.000-04:00

The Astros went to extra innings - again - last night, increasing their average innings pitched per game to 9.08 this season (which is only 2nd place in the league behind the Padres), but the 11 innings of work did not result in a winning outcome for OR an HBP for Craig Biggio. The Astros lost 5-4 in the 11th and Craig Biggio went 2-6 without being hit by a pitch, even though he had 17 thrown in his general direction.

The Brewers are in a pennant race, so they probably know that they're 6-9 all time in games in which they plunk Craig Biggio at least once. If they continue to pitch around him, that could be the reason why. Jeff Suppan will start tonight's game, and he's hit a total of 73 batters in his career other than Craig Biggio. But he also plunked Biggio on July 5, 2003 for the Pirates. Suppan has hit 8 batters this season, which leaves him 2 plunks behind the National League lead.

Biggio has been plunked by the Brewers once before on August 11th - by Bob Wickman in 1998, but he was also plunked by non-Brewer Joey Hamilton on August 11, 1994.

Tomorrow, Claudio Vargas is expected to pitch for the Brewers. He's never plunked Biggio, and he hasn't hit anyone this season despite hitting 7 or 8 batters in each of his prior 4 seasons. But, tomorrow is a day game, and Phil Garner generally seems to believe that Biggio will burst into flames if he plays in a day game (Hey Phil, just because he's old for a baseball player, that doesn't mean he's a vampire).

Biggio was plunked twice on August 12, 1997 against the Marlins, by Al Leiter and Rob Stanifer. He was also plunked on August 12, 2003 by Carlos Zambrano.

arm-guard appreciation post.

2007-08-10T12:29:00.000-04:00

Many people have noticed this season that part of Craig Biggio has retired already this season, and some have been wondering when exactly that happened. That heroic arm guard that so many times leaped to the defense of Craig Biggio's other body parts, like a Secret Service agent diving in front of the President, has not been seen since June 5th this season, at Colorado*.

One might jump to the conclusion that someone in the Hughie Jennings fan club may have equipment-napped Biggio's elbow pad, particularly since it was last seen in Colorado where Biggio has been plunked more than any other road park, but that's unlikely. Biggio was spotted playing bare-elbowed as early as April 24th this season, and played about 1/3 of his May games without the arm guard.

Biggio has said his batting helmet is the same - uncleaned - one he's had since 2001. I don't know if he's been quite as superstitious with the arm guards, but the one he was last seen wearing could only have been with him for plunks 269 to 283. His previous elbow pad - above - was requested by the Hall of Fame after Biggio passed Don Baylor for what some in baseball (who like to deny the existence of the 19th century) considered the "all-time" record and what others called the modern record. The one in the Hall may have been protecting Biggio for as many as 115 HBPs - MLB put in a rule at the beginning of the 2000 season regulating elbow pads to a maximum of 10 inches, and Biggio went along with the rule (unlike certain other MLB players continued to wear the enormous ones). Biggio's first plunk in 2000 was number 154 so if he really did wear the same arm guard from then until he gave it to the hall after 268.

Prior to 2000, Biggio wore the very large black arm guard for 3 or 4 seasons, and before that he appears to have worn a very small white version from around 1991 to 1995. Biggio claims he went to the large elbow pad after Danny Darwin hit him, which would have been plunk 67 in 1996, so that would put the total plunks wearing the oversized padding at about 86 (assuming he was wearing it for all his HBPs from number 68 to 153).

But now, it appears that Biggio will go the rest of the way without his bodyguard - if his hands and wrists can, in any way, be compared to Whitney Houston, they'll be playing without Kevin Costner. You may have noticed when he took number 284, his elbow still bravely moved upwards to block a ball headed for his wrists but it seemingly forgot it was playing un-padded.

It's hard to say whether the early retirement of the arm guard will be a factor if Biggio does not get the three plunks required to pass Hughie Jennings for the all time lead, and it's hard to say how many times he'd have been hit if he never wore one. But it's easy to say that if Craig Biggio played in a league without elbow pads, or even without helmets, he would have been equally unwilling to move out of the way of a pitch if he knew that a little pain on his part would help his team win. If he played his career without protective gear, he probably just would have had it cut short by one of those pitches.

*The June 5th last reported sighting is as close as I can get browsing through the mlb.tv condensed games - if you have visual proof of an arm-guard sighting since then, let me know.

time for some plunkenbräu?

2007-08-10T07:04:00.000-04:00

The Milwaukee Brewers visit Houston tonight, bringing with them Dave Bush, who will be throwing baseballs at people - mostly Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada, but some of Bush's pitches may veer toward a batter once in a while. Bush has never plunked Craig Biggio, but he has hit 44 batters in his career. Bush hit 18 batters last year, so he's probably going to be looking to pick up his pace since he's only hit 7 batters this year. He's probably got some contract incentives to reach.

Craig Biggio has never been hit by a team other than the Brewers on August 10th - but he's only been plunked once. Brewer Bill Pulsipher threw Biggio's 17th career leadoff plunk, and his 139th overall, on August 10, 1998.

289?

2007-08-09T06:45:00.001-04:00

Craig Biggio hit his 289th career homer last night, but that didn't help his HBP total get past the 285 number it's been stuck on since July 7th. Biggio got the Astros scoring started with a 3rd inning solo homer, and the rest of the team jumped all over the Cubs pitchers after that for an 8-2 win and a series sweep.

The Astros are off today, waiting for the Brewers to show up for the weekend tomorrow night (you'd think they'd be bringing the beer).

Willie Fraser plunked Biggio on August 9, 1995, and Turk Wendell threw Biggio's 101st plunk on August 9, 1997.

plunks by division

2007-08-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

The Astros have played 113 games this season and Craig Biggio still hasn't been hit by a pitch against a team in the NL Central division. This is the first year since 1996 in which Biggio has recorded 3 plunks without any of them being thrown by a divisional rival, and 1994 is the only other such year. Biggio has only had two season in which he didn't get hit at least once by a team in his own division - 1988 when he didn't get hit at all, and 1991 when he was plunked just twice (both by NL east teams).

106 of Biggio's 285 career plunks have been thrown by teams in the Astros division (the NL Central since 1994, and the NL West before that). His season high for divisional plunks is 16 in 2001, but that is 1 of only 3 season in which he got plunked more times by teams in the division than by the rest of the league. And, the division the Astros play in has only been the top division in plunking Biggio in 9 of the past 18 seasons. The NL West has been the top Biggio plunkers 4 times since the Astros left that division, and the NL East teams led 5 seasons, with 1 more that was a tie. But, since 2001 when the league really unbalanced the schedules, the Central division has plunked Biggio the most often in all but one season.

Also, the NL West still holds a slim lead over the Central for Biggio's career plunks by division, 96 to 94. The Pirates, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Braves and Brewers have all plunked Biggio as members of two different divisions and the Brewers did it as members of both leagues.

yearID	NLW	NLC	NLE	ALW	ALC	ALE
1989	2		4
1990	1		2
1991			2
1992	4		3
1993	5		5
1994	4	2	2
1995	7	11	4
1996	13	7	7
1997	10	6	15		3
1998	8	10	4		1
1999	2	3	5		1
2000	10	5	1
2001	7	16	2		3
2002	1	9	5	2
2003	7	11	4	3		2
2004	4	6	5
2005	8	4	4			1
2006	2	4	2	1
2007	1		2
total	96	94	78	6	8	3

The divisions multiplied in 1994.

contending Cubs?

2007-08-08T06:12:00.000-04:00

The Chicago Cubs really are contending for first place in the NL Central division, but they haven't shown it recently, and the Astros handed them their 3rd straight loss by a 5-2 score last night. Craig Biggio broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th inning with an rbi single, but neither he nor Jason Kendall were hit by a pitch. It was the fifth time this season two players with over 200 career HBPs have played in the same game, but neither of them has been plunked in any of those games. Before Biggio and Kendall faced each other this year, there hadn't been a game involving two players with over 200 plunks since Hughie Jennings and Tommy Tucker faced each other in 1899. Kendall and Biggio currently have a combined 499 plunks - which is more than the next 3 players on the active list combined.

Tonight could be the night when Kendall and Biggio reach 500 combined plunks, but the question is which one will get plunked first? Carlos Zambrano is pitching for the Cubs, and he's tied for the National League lead in hitting batters with 9. But, he hasn't plunked Biggio since the 2003 season when he did it on May 31st and August 12th.

Craig Biggio recorded his 255th career plunk on August 8, 2004 against Sunny Kim of the Expos. For those of you who don't know what an Expo is, or used to be, ask your parents.

season series

2007-08-07T13:02:00.000-04:00

Tonight's game between the Astros and Cubs is their 8th meeting this year, and the two team will play a total of 15 games this season. Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 13 times in games which were the 8th meeting of the season between the Astros and their opponent, but none of them were during the 8th game of a 15 game season series. He's also never had a multi-plunk game in the Astros 8th game of the year against an opponent. 15 games season series have been fairly rare for the Astros - Biggio has only been plunked 3 times during a season series of that length - and they've only had 4 series of that length before this season. But, his 3 plunks in 15 game season series were in the 2nd game against the Brewers in '05, the 4th game against the Reds in '06, and the 6th game against Milwaukee in '06. So since the 3 previous ones were in the 2nd, 4th and 6th game, the 8th game of a 15 game series comes next, right? That would be tonight.

The shortest season series Biggio has ever been plunked in was a 2 game set from the 1998 interleague schedule against the Twins, and he's been hit 6 different times against teams the Astros played 19 games against. He's been hit the most often against teams the Astros had a 6 game season series against, with a total of 49, and he's been hit 47 more times against teams against whom the Astros played 12 games.

Also, Biggio has been plunked most often in the Astros 3rd game of the season against an opponent, with a total of 44. He's been hit 28 times in the Astros first game of the season against the other team, and 26 times in the teams' final matchup of the season. The latest into a season series he's been plunked was game 17 (against the Cubs on August 20, 2002 - but they played 19 that season). In all, Biggio has been hit 90 times in the 8th game or later in a season series, but teams generally plunked Biggio more often in the first half of their games against the Astros. Biggio has been hit 147 times before the half-way point of each season series, and 138 times after the teams had played half their games for the season.

He's been hit 19 times in the 3rd game of a 6 game season series, and the 2nd game of a 6 game series is his second favorite with 9 plunks. Unfortunately for this season, the Astros have already played 3 games against everyone they're going to play.

5 of Biggio's 20 games in which he was plunked twice occured in the Astros 3rd game of the season against that opponent, and Biggio has had another three 2-plunk games in the 10th game of a season series. A few more of those would be nice.

still no 286.

2007-08-07T06:53:00.000-04:00

The Astros continued their recent policy of maximizing fans per-game value by playing as many innings as they can, stretching last night's contest with the Cubs to 10 innings, before winning 2-1 (which hasn't really been their policy this season). Craig Biggio saw 15 pitches, but didn't think any of them quite had the look of plunk 286. He's obviously looking for very special pitches for the next three to hit him.

Tonight's starter for the Cubs will be Sean Marshall - another lefty and another pitcher who has never plunked Biggio. Marshall has hit 7 batters in his short career, all of them last season. If Marshall hits Biggio with a pitch tonight, it will be Biggio's 20th HBP against the Cubs and his first on August 7th.

wait, he's retiring when? No, not last Friday.

2007-08-06T06:30:00.000-04:00

Some long time Astros fans may remember a player from long long ago named Craig Biggio. It may have been a while since you've seen him play, but he'll be back in action at home tonight against the Cubs - assuming he hasn't forgotten how to play the game during his long absence. This will be Biggio's first game since back on August 3, 2007.

Rich Hill will be pitching for the Cubs when they visit Houston tonight, and he might be looking to plunk Biggio for the first time in his career. Hill has hit 7 batters this season, which is just 2 behind the National League leader in hitting batters.

Craig Biggio was recorded his 80th HBP on August 6, 1996 against the Montreal Expos, and was also plunked by that long lost team on August 6, 2004. He was also got hit twice on August 6, 2003 by Mets Aaron Heilman and Pedro Feliciano.

Final two in Florida

2007-08-04T07:37:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio's attempts to find a 286th pitch to get hit by were once again foiled last night by the opposing pitching staff, who were too busy giving up 8 runs to the Astros batters. Biggio did collect his 3,022nd hit, and the Astros won 8-2, but those of us wishing to see the Craig Biggio reach 288 plunks, and the unification of the so called "modern" and all-time HBP records have to see it as another lost opportunity against a known plunker (Dontrelle Willis). To make matters a bit worse, Biggio will probably be on the bench for the final two games of the series, as has become the Astros custom. It seems they, and some fans, have already decided that the team would be better off seeing if they can get Chris Burke moving toward the all-time HBP record. But let's face it - Burke has shown signs of being a promising get-hitter, but his chances of approaching the record are astronomically low (no pun intended). Why not devote the remaining 53 games of the season to someone with the best chance anyone's had in 104 years to break this record? Burke will need to average 20 plunks a year from next season until he's 40 to break the record. I have nothing against Chris Burke, and it will be fun to see if he can make a run at this record a dozen or more years from now, but can't he just wait until next year and watch the master at work for two more months?

Tonight, Sergio Mitre is expected to pitch for the Marlins. He's hit 6 batters this year, and 19 in his career, but he never plunked Biggio. Jose Valverde is the only pitcher ever to plunk Biggio on August 4th - that was a 9th inning plunk in 2005.

Tomorrow, Scott Olsen will face the Astros. He's cut down his plunkings from 7 last year to only 1 this year in 21 starts, and he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.
Biggio has also never been plunked on August 5th.

road innings

2007-08-03T12:47:00.000-04:00

The last time Craig Biggio got hit by a Dontrelle Willis pitch while visiting Florida, it was the 2nd inning on May 18, 2004. The 2nd is the only inning during which Craig Biggio has been hit by pitches significantly more often in road games than in home games. Biggio has been plunked 10 times on the road during the 2nd inning and only 6 times at home, and it's the only inning in which his road plunks exceed his home plunks by more than 1.

Here's Biggio's home/road splits for HBPs by inning:

Inning	Home plunks	Road plunks
1	33	23
2	6	10
3	24	17
4	13	14
5	19	19
6	11	11
7	19	19
8	13	13
9	8	6
10	1	2
11	0	1
12	1	1
13	0	1

As you can see, he's been hit more in even numbered innings on the road than at home 51 to 45, but in odd numbered innings he's been hit more at home by a 103 to 86 margin.

The Marlins, however, have only plunked Biggio once in an even numbered inning while he was visiting Florida - that Dontrelle Willis plunk in the 2nd inning on May 18, 2004. But they've hit Biggio 5 times in even numbered innings in games played in Houston. The only team that's plunked Biggio more time in even numbered innings at Houston is the Mets - they've hit Biggio 6 times in even numbered innings, but none of those 6 were recorded at Shea Stadium.

In all, Craig Biggio has been plunked 6 times in the frequently renamed home park of the Florida Marlins, and it's the only road park that's had three different names when he's gotten hit there. Biggio was hit in the 5th inning at Joe Robbie Stadium, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th at Pro Player Stadium, and in the 1st inning at Dolphins Stadium. Which, of course, are all the same place.

plunk power wins in Atlanta, on to Florida tonight

2007-08-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

The Astros harnessed the power of getting hit by pitches in the 14th inning last night to get on base to score the winning run, but it was Jason Lane taking one for the team, and not Craig Biggio. Lane got plunked in the 14th inning and driven in by unlikely hero Jason Jennings for the Astros 12-11 win. The winner of each game in the series scored 12 runs. But, Craig Biggio's only plate appearance of last night's extended game resulted in a ground out.

Tonight, the Astros move on to Miami tonight, where Dontrelle Willis will be there to great them. Last year, Willis pitched the opener of the Astros only trip to Florida and plunked Chris Burke, and in 2004, Willis started the first game when the Astros visited and threw Craig Biggio's 248th career plunk. Willis also plunked Biggio on September 12, 2005, but those three plunks (2 to Biggio and 1 to Burke) are the only ones Dontrelle Willis has thrown against the Astros. Willis has only hit 7 batters this year after leading the league with 19 in 2006. 12 of the 45 plunks Dontrelle Willis has thrown in his career were recorded in the 3rd inning.

Shawn Estes plunked Biggio on August 3, 1996 for the Giants.

Final game at Turner

2007-08-02T06:34:00.000-04:00

The Braves scored 12 runs for the 2nd consecutive game, but the Astros score one less than yesterday, leaving them further from victory, losing 12-3. Craig Biggio only had one pinch-hit at-bat, but he didn't get hit by a pitch.

Tonight will be Craig Biggio's final game in Atlanta, thought he'll play the Braves three more times in Houston later on this season. He probably won't be starting the game, but the Braves are sending Jo-Jo Reyes to the mound, and he's never plunked anyone anyway. Reyes has only pitched 18.2 major league innings though, so maybe he's just getting ready to start hitting batters now.

Jose Rijo threw plunk number 15 on August 2, 1992, and Mark Gardner plunked Biggio twice on August 2, 1996.

In the news, the plunk chase has FINALLY been picked up by the true main stream media.

662, but no 286

2007-08-01T07:22:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio had a two run double in the 5th inning last night - and that brought the Astros within 1 run after they fell behind early, but the Braves bats took the game over from there winning 12-4. That was career double number 662, but Biggio didn't get hit by any pitches.

Tonight, the Astros will face Braves' starter Buddy Carlyle. Carlyle has never plunked Biggio, nor has any other pitcher named Buddy. Buddy Carlyle has also never faced Biggio, and he might not tonight as the plan continues to be to let other people start at 2nd base in the second and third games of road series. So, Biggio will probably be limited to pinch-hitting duty tonight, and if we're lucky, pinch-get-hitting duty.

13 years and 250 plunks ago, Steve Reed threw plunk number 35 on August 1, 1994. That was the first of 33 times Biggio has been hit by the Colorado Rockies.

...and the home of the Braves

2007-07-31T06:46:00.000-04:00

The Astros are back in action tonight, in Atlanta against the Braves and starting pitcher Chuck James. That's the same Chuck James who plunked Biggio on September 29th last year, at Turner Field. Since then though, James has only hit one batter, so maybe he's been waiting for Biggio to come back. The Braves have only contributed 8 of Biggio's 285 career HBPs, but the last 3 of them have all been at Turner Field. If James plunk Biggio today he'll join Greg Maddux as the only Braves pitchers to plunk Biggio twice.

Speaking of Greg Maddux, he plunked Biggio on July 31, 1993, so Chuck James could also put his name next to Maddux's on the list of pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on this date. Kaz Ishii also plunked Biggio on July 31, 2005.

final 57

2007-07-30T20:09:00.000-04:00

The Astros are down to those critical 57 games of the season - the final 57 games of the season. Craig Biggio has been hit by 83 pitches during the Astros final 57 games of the last 19 seasons, which gives him an average of slightly over 4.4 plunks per season, in the final 57 games of those seasons. However, a 4 plunk average shouldn't fill fans with a sense of security that the all time HBP record will be his by the end of this season. Biggio has only been plunked 3 or more times in the final 57 Astros games of the season in 11 of the last 19 seasons. But - in 2000 he only played in 1 of the last 57 Astros games of the season, and in his 24 game appearances in the final 57 Astros games of 1988, Biggio didn't get hit at all. Also, in 1994 the final 57 games of the season started at game 59 due to a labor dispute, and the 1995 season started late so the final 57 games of that year started at game 88.

During the final 57 games of the last 19 Astros seasons, Craig Biggio has been plunked most often on Tuesdays, with 15 plunks. In 1997, he got hit 19 times in the final 57 Astros games of the season, but last year he was only hit twice. If he were to get hit 19 times in the next 57 games, he'd be able to end his career with 304 HBPs, which obviously would be a number that would make the BBWAA and the Baseball Hall of Fame waive the 5 year wait for induction.

29 runs without benefit of a plunk?

2007-07-29T20:51:00.001-04:00

The Astros had an interesting weekend - Saturday they won a pitchers duel between the pitcher with the most wins in the past 5 years (Roy Oswalt - 94-50 since 2002) and the pitcher with the most wins in the past 20 years (Greg Maddux - 338-207 since 1987). The Astros won that duel 3-1, but the bats of both teams took over on Sunday in an 18-11 Padres win. But more importantly, Craig Biggio didn't get hit by any pitches.

The Astros are off today, which will most likely mean Craig Biggio will not be hit by a pitch. Although, if he's going to become the first player in major league history to get hit by 288 pitches, why not become the first player in major league history to record an HBP on an off-day? The Astros will be visiting Atlanta starting tomorrow.

Mike LaCoss plunked Biggio on July 30, 1989, and Hector Carrasco hit him on July 30, 1996. Last year, Miguel Batista plunked Biggio on July 30th.

And, this is a clever piece of marketing.

two more against Padres on HOF weekend

2007-07-28T08:26:00.000-04:00

Jake Peavy missed Craig Biggio with all 6 pitches he threw him last night, but it only took him that many to get Biggio out 3 times. Biggio singled on a Cla Meredith pitch after Peavy left the game, but nobody hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, and the Astros lost 9-4.

This afternoon, Craig Biggio is expected to play, and he'll be facing Greg Maddux, which seems perfectly appropriate for a Saturday afternoon on the weekend when the Baseball Hall of Fame is celebrating induction weekend. Biggio has faced Maddux more times than any other pitcher - a total of 137 plate appearances so far, and if he could manage 2 hits of Maddux, he'd break the all time record for most hits off Greg Maddux. The current holder of that record will be giving his induction speech tomorrow - Tony Gwynn. As coveted as that record surely is, if Biggio could get hit by a pitch 3 times against Maddux, he'd break both the all time record for getting hit by pitches, AND the all time record for getting plunked by Greg Maddux (currently 4, by Andres Galarraga). Okay, that's not too likely - Biggio hasn't been plunked by Maddux in his last 81 plate appearances against the future Hall of Famer. Maddux last plunked Biggio on June 12, 1994 and on July 31, 1993. (Biggio does not even have the Astros record for being plunked by Greg Maddux - he hit Jeff Bagwell 3 times.) Maddux has a career total of 129 hit batters, including 4 this season even though he didn't hit anyone last year.

Biggio has been hit once before by the Padres on July 28 - in 1990 by Calvin Schiraldi. He was also plunked on July 18, 2001 by Jimmy Anderson.

On Sunday, Craig Biggio is expected to be out of the starting lineup, but he may see pinch-hitting duty. Chris Young is expected to start for the Padres, and he's hit 4 batters this season and 19 in his career. Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on July 29th.

Wells Shelled

2007-07-27T06:44:00.000-04:00

The Astros jumped all over elderly Padre's starter David Wells last night, like something out of the Dr. Seuss horror novel "Hop on Pop", scoring 7 runs in just three innings against Wells, and winning 7-1. It was the first time since July 2nd the that Astros scored 7 runs, and the scoring featured Craig Biggio's 288th career homer.
That's a nice 288, but not the 288 we're hoping for. Despite the poor pitching early, the Padres were still careful enough not to throw Craig Biggio anything he could get hit by.

Tonight, the Astros face Padres starter Jake Peavy, who hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on August 31, 2003. Also, Jake Peavy's first name is Jake - the other three pitchers who have plunked Biggio this season are named Jorge, Josh and Joe. This could be the first time Biggio records 4 consecutive plunks against different pitchers with the same first initial. (Though he was plunked by Jorge Julio, Jamey Wright, and then 3 times by Jason Jennings in 2005).
Peavy has hit 38 batters in his career, including 5 this season. Peavy leads the Padres in plunkings, but the Padres are only 23rd in the league, having hit only 29 batters.

Biggio has been hit 4 times before on July 27th, but not since 1998 when Brian Meadows threw plunk 138. Prior to that, Biggio was hit in three consecutive years on July 27th - in 1992 by John Smoltz, 1993 by Tom Browning and 1994 by Tim Fortugno.

In other news, the 2007 Major League plunk leader, Chase Utley, was hit for the 17th time this season - and finished the game, even though post game x-rays showed his hand was broken. Even more interestingly, he did this one day after someone started a Plunk blog about him. This whole story just illustrates how amazing it is for Craig Biggio to get hit 285 times without one of them causing an injury that caused him to miss a game.

And more importantly, it just goes to show that if you're going to start a blog about people getting hit by pitches, you need to add a disclaimer to your site to make sure that people know you don't support or endorse intentionally hitting [insert name here] with pitches. I'm happy to see anyone taking an interest in chronicling their favorite player's personal HBP records, but be sure to add a disclaimer - to make sure young pitchers like John Lannan don't get the idea that hitting batters with pitches is "cool". (Utley, by the way, has a career high 17 plunks this season, and he'll need another 17 plunks every year from now until he's 42 years old to catch Biggio.)

Astros 2, Dodgers 1

2007-07-26T06:26:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio moved another game closer to retirement last night, but didn't get any closer to the all-time plunk record. He was unplunked in 4 plate appearances, though he did get one more hit. And, the Astros took the game 2-1 in a duel of solo homeruns.

Tonight Biggio has another rare chance to get hit by a pitch thrown by a pitcher who's older than him, for the first time since April 24, 2004 when Steve Reed hit him. The San Diego Padres are in town, with 44 year old David Wells expected to pitch. He hit Craig Biggio with a pitch for the Yankees on June 12, 2003, and if he does it again he will break Orel Hershisers record and become the oldest pitcher ever to plunk Biggio. Wells has hit 83 batters in his career, including 3 this season.

On this date in plunk history, Biggio collected his 13th, 53rd, and 253rd career HBPs. Number 13 was thrown by Jim Bullinger on July 26, 1992. Number 53 was tossed by Armando Reynoso on July 26, 1995, and plunk 253 was contributed by Brandon Webb on July 26, 2004.

1000 words

2007-07-25T19:34:00.000-04:00

... give or take 100 depending on current exchange rates.

Below is a picture sent along by reader Rihar. It's his view from the stands of plunk number 284 on June 29th.

grand night

2007-07-25T06:32:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio did a lot of things yesterday, but one thing he didn't do was get hit by a pitch for the 286th time in his career. He did, however, hit his 4th career grand slam - the 287th homer of his career in the 6th inning to break open a tie game and lead the Astros to a 7-4 victory.

Biggio's other big moment yesterday was an afternoon press conference to officially announce his retirement following this season. His own message along with responses of a couple of hundred fans is over here. Biggio's announcement doesn't really come as a surprise, but it does bring new urgency and intrigue to those couple of things he has left to do on the major league baseball field. The Astros have 62 games left on the schedule, and while in most seasons that would be plenty of time for Craig Biggio to find 3 pitches to get hit by, it now seems like a very small number of games. 62 games - but with Biggio stepping to the plate without an arm-guard, and the Astros promising to give the kids more playing time and Biggio more rest. The Astros youth movement has been hampered by injuries which my force that playing time back in Biggio's direction, but the fact remains that this plunk chase just got a dumptruck full of suspense dumped on top of it.

Just 3 to go - it would seem like so little to ask if we didn't know that there have been 350 players in Major League history who had over 500 plate appearances and never got hit by 3 pitches in their whole career. Can the man who has already given so much to the Houston Astros give up his body 3 more times, or will he spend his remain games waving to crowds, and adding to those 3,016 hits, 287 homers, 661 doubles, and most importantly to him, 1451 Astros wins in games Biggio has played in.

But this site will be looking for those 3. 3 shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be 3. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Okay, 4 or 5 would be great too, but 3 is the magic number.

Tonight, the Astros will be facing Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe. Lowe spent the early part of his career hanging around a pitching staff featuring Pedro Martinez and Tim Wakefield, who have hit a combined 279 batters in their careers, but their influence hasn't rubbed off too much on Derek Lowe. Lowe has hit 53 batters in his career but only 11 since leaving Boston for the Dodgers, and only 1 this season.

Today is also the 10th anniversary of Biggio's 100th career plunk - thrown by Jeff Juden on July 25, 1997. Two years after that, he got plunked by Andy Ashby on July 25, 1999 for plunk number 151. Unfortunately, that means the Dodgers don't have anyone on their pitching staff who can plunk Biggio today because none of them have the same first and last initial. (Okay, we'll let them break the trend this one time - but maybe they could make a roster move?)

plunk +/-

2007-07-24T12:49:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed, the Astros lost last night, and they hit a batter, while the Dodgers did not. From 1988 to 2006 when the Astros hit more batters than there opponents, they had a record of 231-299 while when Astros batters get hit more than the other team, they are 431-272. That's a .436 win pct when the other team gets hit more and a .613 win pct when the Astros get hit more. League wide, from 1988 to 2006, the team that gets hit by more pitches wins 59.6% of games.

Below is the breakdown of the Astros wins and losses from 1988 to 2006, by plunk differential. As you can see, the Astros are undefeated when they get plunked at least 4 times more than there opponents. Also, Craig Biggio has been hit 143 times in games in which the Astros got hit 1 more times than their opponents.

HBP +/-	Record	win pct	HBP:BGO
5	1-0	1.00	0
4	4-0	1.00	3
3	13-5	0.722	11
2	77-44	0.636	67
1	336-223	0.601	143
0	918-862	0.516	49
-1	193-228	0.458	6
-2	32-59	0.352	3
-3	6-11	0.353	0
-4	0-1	0	0

When Craig Biggio gets hit himself more times than the other team, the Astros are 106-81 (through 2006). But, the Astros were 285-338 in games in which Biggio has played but didn't get hit as many times as the other team. Also, through last season, Craig Biggio had been hit 179 times in games where he was plunked one more time than the other team.

HBP +/-	Record	win pct	HBP:BGO
2	9-5	0.643	28
1	97-76	0.561	179
0	1023-875	0.539	66
-1	240-259	0.481	6
-2	38-66	0.365	3
-3	7-12	0.368	0
-4	0-1	0	0

(through 2006)

In the 20 games in which Craig Biggio has been hit twice, the other team has never been plunked more than once.

less dodging please

2007-07-24T06:51:00.001-04:00

Craig Biggio saw 15 pitches from the Dodgers last night, but didn't get hit by any of them, and didn't hit any of them safely. Dodgers' pitcher Chad Billingsley had another effective start moving to 7-0, and didn't allow any runs until the 9th inning as the Astros lost 10-2.

Mark Hendrickson will pitch for the Dodgers tonight, and he's never plunked Craig Biggio either. Hendrickson moved to the Dodgers last year after spending two seasons each with Tampa Bay and Toronto - two teams that have never plunked Biggio. The Dodgers haven't officially plunked Biggio since September 3, 2003, although Jeff Weaver did hit him on August 28, 2005 only to have umpire Doug Eddings refuse to award Biggio first base (claiming Biggio didn't make an effort to avoid the pitch).

Craig Biggio hasn't been plunked on July 24th since 1996 when Willie Blair threw plunk 75 for the Padres. Frank Castillo also plunked Biggio on July 24, 1993.

Dodgers in Houston

2007-07-23T06:36:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio didn't add to his 285 career HBPs while in Pittsburgh over the weekend, but the Astros did take 2 out of 3 game against the Pirates, helping to keep themselves out of last place in the NL Central.

But, they'll be returning to Houston to play the Dodgers tonight which means more playing time for Craig Biggio and more chances for him to get hit by pitches. Chad Billingsley will get the first chance for the visitors, but he's only hit 4 batters ever. This will be Billingsley's first time pitching against Houston, so none of the 4 batters he's hit has been Craig Biggio.

Steve Cooke and Jamey Wright both plunked Biggio on July 23rd - Cooke did it in 1994 for plunk 33, and Wright threw number 212 in 2002.

Craig Biggio and the no-blood plunks

2007-07-21T07:36:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio had another plunk-free game last night, but the Astros managed to win anyway with the bullpen preserving Roy Oswalt's 2-1 win.

Biggio is not expected to start in the remaining two games against the Pirates, which may deny Pittsburgh starters Paul Maholm and John Van Benschoten the chance to hit him with a pitch for the first time in either of their careers. Both pitchers have hit 4 batters this year, and Maholm plunked 12 in 2006. Craig Biggio has never been plunked by a Van.

Craig Biggio has been plunked 3 times by pitchers named Mark on July 21st - twice in 1995 (Leiter) and once in 1998 (Brownson). He was marked by one more Mark on July 22, 1990 (Gardner). You could say this is a marked weekend for him. But I already did, so now you don't have to.

Biggio has been plunked 4 times on release weekends of Harry Potter books (including both US and British releases of "Prisoner of Azkaban"), but he hasn't been plunked on the release weekend of any of the past 3 books. Biggio has never been plunked by a pitcher named Potter, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Weasley, Granger, Snape, or Hagrid.

small numbers, a large number of times

2007-07-20T12:09:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio has only been hit by a pitch 3 times this season, which is a slow season compared to the rest of his career, but that does mean he's been hit by a pitch at least 3 times in 18 different season. That certainly isn't as impressive a feat as 285 career plunks, or his 6 seasons with over 20 HBPs, but if you look at the number of players who have done it as a measure of the difficulty of the accomplishment, 18 seasons with 3+ plunks is about as difficult as 4 seasons with 20 plunks - each have been done by only 7 players. The 7 players with 20+ plunks in 4 or more seasons is also the same 7 players with over 200 career plunks, but only Biggio has had 4 or more seasons with 20+ HBPs and 18 seasons with 3 or more plunks.

Players with 20 or more plunks in 4 or more seasons:
Player - seasons with 20 or more HBP
Hughie Jennings - 6
Craig Biggio - 6
Tommy Tucker - 6
Ron Hunt - 6
Don Baylor - 5
Jason Kendall - 5
Dan McGann - 4

Players with 3 or more plunks in 18 or more seasons:
player - seasons with 3 or more HBP
Pete Rose - 19
Craig Biggio - 18
Ricky Henderson - 18
Carlton Fisk - 18
Honus Wagner - 18
Frank Robinson - 18
Gary Sheffield - 18

It's a common misconception in baseball that racking up huge numbers in a short number of seasons is a more difficult accomplishment than putting up consistent numbers for a long stretch of seasons. Biggio is also 16 hits away from having 100 hits in 19 seasons. That doesn't jump out at the average fan the way, for example, 200 hits in 5 or more seasons does, but guess which one has been done more often. Coming into this year, 20 players have had 5 or more seasons with 200 or more hits, but Biggio will be the 17th to have 19 seasons over 100 hits. And it's not a pack of average players who "hung around a long time". Both lists are a great group of players, and like the HBPs, there isn't a lot of overlap on the two lists - only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb did both.

5 or more seasons over 200 hits:
Pete Rose - 10
Ty Cobb - 9
Paul Waner - 8
Lou Gehrig - 8
Willie Keeler - 8
Wade Boggs - 7
Charlie Gehringer - 7
Rogers Hornsby - 7
Ichiro Suzuki - 6
Steve Garvey - 6
Stan Musial - 6
Bill Terry - 6
Al Simmons - 6
Sam Rice - 6
George Sisler - 6
Jesse Burkett - 6
Derek Jeter - 5
Tony Gwynn - 5
Kirby Puckett - 5
Chuck Klein - 5

19+ seasons over 100 hits:
Pete Rose (23)
Carl Yastrzemski (22)
Ty Cobb (22)
Hank Aaron (21)
Cap Anson (21)
Eddie Murray (20)
George Brett (20)
Cal Ripken (19)
Ricky Henderson (19)
Paul Molitor (19)
Dave Winfield (19)
Robin Yount (19)
Willie Mays (19)
Tris Speaker (19)
Honus Wagner (19)
Nap Lajoie (19)

Interestingly, the 200 plunk club lines up with the group who got hit 20+ times in 4 or more seasons, but the 3000 hit club matches up better with the group that has 100+ hits in 19 seasons - all 16 of them (17 when Biggio joins). Only 6 of the 20 players with 200 hits in 5 seasons got to 3000 (though Jeter and Ichiro still could).

At the moment, 18 players have hit 40 home runs in 5 different seasons, but only 15 have hit 10 or more in 19 seasons. Guess which group is more likely to grow in the near future? To make it a little more symmetrical, 11 players have had 10 or more hits in 20 seasons - so 8 less than the group with 4 times as many homers in 1/4 as many seasons. Craig Biggio didn't make any of those clubs, but he is just the 21st player with at least 3 homers in 20 different seasons. (It's not nearly as impressive a group - only 14 hall of famers, though 4 haven't been voted on yet)

Friday in Pittsburgh

2007-07-20T06:52:00.000-04:00

The Astros are back in action in Pittsburgh tonight, where the Pirates are 10th in the majors in hitting batters, and Tom Gorzelanny is scheduled to start. Gorzelanny has never plunked Biggio, but he has hit 9 batters, including Brad Ausmus and Chris Burke. Ausmus also has 4 hits of Gorzelanny, which ranks third on the all time list of career hits against Tom Gorzelanny. Adam Everett is 2nd with 5 hits off Gorzelanny. If Tom Gorzelanny plunks Biggio tonight, he will be the first pitch with both a Y and a Z in his last name to do so. He'd also be the first Pirate to plunk Biggio since May 6, 2004.

Biggio collected his 50th career HBPs on July 20, 1995, against Jose Bautista of the Giants.

Day off, then... Pirates

2007-07-19T06:51:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio once again hit a sacrifice fly in his only plate appearance of yesterday's 7-6 loss. If he can keep up this one-sacrifice-fly-per-game pace, he can break the single season record in 17 games, and the all time record in 51 games. Get your tickets now for September 13th if you want to see that record go down!

Okay, maybe he's not going to be breaking the all time sacrifice fly record, and the Astros are off today, so he'll make this his 20th consecutive season of not being plunked on July 19th. But Biggio has only been plunked 6 times in games in which he also hit a sacrifice fly, and he only gets hit by a pitch once per 60 plate appearances in games in which he hits a sac fly. So, he generally doesn't sacrifice both fly balls and his body in the same game, so lets focus on the one where he's 3 away from breaking the all time record.

Tomorrow, the Astros move on to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates.

Over on astrocast.net, they were joined this week by that nut who writes that Plunk Biggio website. I hear that guy can't string two sentences together without mentioning an HBP stat, so that ought to be funny.

Prime Target

2007-07-18T18:50:00.000-04:00

It's often said that the casual fan can't truly pick out the details of the game of baseball that statistics show us. The difference between a .280 batter and a .320 batter is only 1 or 2 hits a week. Similarly, Craig Biggio gets hit by a pitch once every 43.5 plate appearances on prime numbers days of the month, but he gets hit once every 43 plate appearances on non-prime days. Leaguewide, for the 1988 through 2006 seasons, batters were hit once per 126 plate appearances on prime numbered days and once per 125 plate appearances the rest of the time. That's just the sort of thing you'd never notice, even if you were diligently keep score every time you go to the ballpark.

More importantly, Biggio gets hit by pitches once per 45.4 plate appearances on prime numbered days in prime numbered months compared with once per 43.9 plate appearances the rest of the time, but the league wide splits are identical whether or not the date has a prime number for both the day and month. But, very strangely, when the date is a prime numbered day in a prime numbered month in a primed numbered year, Biggio get's hit once per 36.7 plate appearances, compared to once per 43.4 plate appearances the rest of the time.

In all, Biggio has been plunked 97 times on prime numbered days, 109 time in prime numbered months and 82 times in prime numbered years. He's been hit 35 times on prime numbered days in prime numbered months, and 29 times on prime numbered days in prime numbered years. He's been hit 25 times in prime numbered months that happened to be in prime numbered years, and 10 of those times were on prime numbered days ( in prime months in prime years). The most recent such date of an HBP:BGO was July 5, 2003.

Craig Biggio's 82 plunks in prime numbered years is 14 more than any other player in history has had in prime years. Jason Kendall is 2nd with 68. As math would have it, there have been 5 prime years in the last 20, more than any 20 year span in baseball history. Biggio is 4th all time in career hits in prime numbered years, behind Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Rafael Palmeiro - and tied with BJ Surhoff (yes, BJ Surhoff). He's also 1st in doubles in prime numbered years, and 2nd in runs (behind Bonds).

Biggio has recorded all 285 of his HBPs wearing the uniform number 7, which is a prime number, but he did wear number 4 in 1988. But, he's been hit 70 times by pitchers wearing 14 different prime numbers. He's been plunked by a pitcher wearing every prime number from 17 to 71. 3 pitchers wearing prime uniform numbers have plunked Biggio on a prime numbered days in prime numbered months in prime numbered years.

The July 5, 2003 plunk mentioned above was thrown by Jeff Suppan, who was wearing prime number 37. It was Biggio's 229th career HBP (also prime) as well Suppan's 41st career hit batter (prime again). And, he did it in the 7th inning.

Once again, there was probably a point to all this. But there won't be another opportunity for anyone to get hit by a on a prime numbered day in a prime numbered month in a prime numbered year until May 2, 2011.

just another sac fly in DC

2007-07-18T06:09:00.000-04:00

Craig Biggio was out of the starting lineup last night, but he did contribute an 8th inning sacrifice fly, driving in an insurance run in the Astros 4-2 win. But - it's Carlos Lee that's supposed to be chasing a sac-fly record, and Biggio's supposed to be chasing the all time HBP record. Lee is still 7 sac flies away from breaking the single season record, and Biggio is 3 plunks away from breaking the all time HBP record.

Today may well be Craig Biggio's last chance to get hit by a pitch at RFK Stadium, but reports suggest he may be starting the game on the bench once again - to the disappointment all the Craig Biggio fans in the Nation's capital. Jason Bergmann is schedule to start, but he'd never plunked Biggio and hasn't hit a batter yet this season. He did hit Brad Ausmus once though.

Craig Biggio has been hit by three pitches on July 18th - in 1989 by Sid Fernandez, and twice in 2001, by Mike Matthews and Andy Benes.

That Andy Benes plunk might be the one mentioned in Greg Garber's excellent article on Biggio and the HBP record, currently on espn.com, but Benes did hit him one other time in 2001. Tim Marchman of the New York Sun also has an article about the plunk record which throws in some nice perspective on Hughie Jennings. By some strange coincidence, this space posted a link to a Tim Marchman article last year- while the Astros were playing the Nationals, at RFK. Last year, he seemed to be arguing that milestones were overblown and I said "Maybe he'll feel better if someone breaks an all time record sometime soon".

Anyway, thanks again to Greg Garber for taking the time to speak with me about the HBP record, and my attempts to set a record for most blog posts about a single statistic. It's even more remarkable that Garber took that time to speak with me when he probably he could have been interviewing Maria Sharapova.