Phillies franchise record holder
On July 19, 2005, Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal was hit by a pitch thrown by Dodgers' pitcher Steve Schmoll. It was the 81st plunk of Lieberthal's 12 year (now 13) career with the Phillies, and it broke the franchise plunk record, which was held for 104 years by Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty. Delahanty was hit 80 times for the Phillies between 1888 and 1901, and that total stood through July of last season when Lieberthal became the first player to take as many pitches for the Phillies. Lieberthal's franchise record now stands at 88. Mike Schmidt is third on the franchise list with 79. But, Craig Biggio has been hit by more pitches than the three of them combined.
Philadelphia Phillies franchise HBP leaders:
Mike Lieberthal - 88
Ed Delahanty - 80
Mike Schmidt - 79
John Titus - 78
Sherry Magee - 78
Roy Thomas - 66
Greg Luzinski - 61
Tony Taylor - 60
Cy Williams - 55
Scott Rolen - 54
Scott Rolen's 54 plunks for the Phillies is 10th on their franchise list, but it is only 1 more HBP than Craig Biggio has recorded on Saturdays.
The Phillies are leading the Majors in plunks this season with 80 - 6 ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are in second place. The Pirates have been plunked more times than any active franchise with 4,427 HBPs in their history, but the Phillies are #2 with 4,305. If the Phillies continue to close the all time gap at this rate, they'll take over the lead sometime in the 2028 season (get your tickets now).
On the pitching side, the Phillies have hit more batters their history than any other active franchise with 4,328. Bill Duggleby has held the Phillies franchise record for hitting batters since 1907, with 82 in his career. The closest any Philly has come to that record since then was Hall of Famer and US Senator Jim Bunning who hit 72 batters. Bunning led the league in plunks 4 times while pitching for the Phillies, but the more important and still unanswered question is - did anybody he plunked ever vote for him?
Here's the Phillies franchise list for hitting batters:
Bill Duggleby - 82
Chick Fraser - 75
Jim Bunning - 72
Wiley Piatt - 59
Chris Short - 59
Pete Alexander - 54
Tully Sparks - 52
Vicente Padilla - 50
Erskine Mayer - 48
Randy Wolf - 47
Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla have both plunked Biggio.
Steve Carlton hit only 31 batters in 3,697 and a third innings for the Phillies - only one player in the 20th century pitched more innings for one team with as few plunks (Ted Lyons). But, perhaps more interesting, Carlton recorded 79 of his 90 career balks while with the Phillies - that's more than twice as many as any other player has recorded with one team (35 by Phil Neikro with the Braves), and exactly twice as many as the 2nd place career total (45 by Bob Welch).
Labels: franchise leaders, Phillies
