Baltimore Orioles: Crowding the Plate in Charm City

Jun 9, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado (13) reacts with the trainer after he got hit by a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Switching to Geico can save you 15% or more on car insurance. I know, everybody knows that. But did you know that you are more likely to get hit by a pitch while playing for the Baltimore Orioles than with any other franchise in history?

Okay, so how did this come up? Well, let me explain …

The baseball world was saddened by the death on Sunday of Minnie Minoso at age 90 – known as the player to break the color barrier for the Chicago White Sox. He was definitely what we today would call a five-tool player.

I am not quite old enough to have memories of the “Cuban Comet” playing, but I was quite familiar with who he was, even in my boyhood.

To be mentally refreshed about his career, after I read the news of his passing I went to baseball-reference.com to look at his numbers. What really jumped out at me were the number of times he was hit by a pitch – a total of 192. He led the American League in that category for 10 consecutive seasons from 1952-1961.

This led to me researching further to see where he ranked in all-time baseball history. The answer is that he was #9 in the history of the game in getting plunked.

But what was also of interest on that list was the inclusion of a couple of very prominent Baltimore Orioles names: Frank Robinson and Don Baylor. Digging deeper and looking beyond the several other names of which I was familiar, I discovered that three of others in the top 10 were also players on the Baltimore Orioles franchise of the old American Association and later the National League (1882-1899).

Actually, the #1 player of all-time in terms of getting plunked is a fellow from the late 1800s named Hughie Jennings, who played six seasons for the Orioles. The #3 all-time hit batsman was Tommy Tucker, who played three seasons for the O’s. And the #7 name on the list – Dan McGann – played a single year in Baltimore in 1898, leading the league by getting hit 39 times! Ouch!

Jennings not only was hit the most times in his career – two times more than long-time Astro Craig Biggio – he also was plunked in the highest percentage of times to the plate. In running the numbers, he was hit in 5.08% of plate appearances! Once every 20 at-bats!

So five of the top eight all-time leaders in getting hit played for the Orioles in their careers. Here is a list of the top 10 …

Name	Plate App.	HBP	%
Hughie Jennings	5,648	287	5.08
Craig Biggio	12,504	285	2.28
Tommy Tucker	7,273	272	3.74
Don Baylor	9,401	267	2.84
Jason Kendall	8,704	254	2.92
Ron Hunt	6,158	243	3.95
Dan McGann	6,051	230	3.80
Frank Robinson	11,742	198	1.69
Minnie Minoso	7,712	192	2.49
Jake Beckley	10,504	183	1.74

Why do some players get hit much more than others? For many, it is because their style is to crowd the plate. Ron Hunt actually made it a specific part of his game to seek to get on base by getting hit with the pitch.

In the history of the game, the 1800s was the time players were more frequently hit by pitches – hence the number of late-1800s players on the top 10 list, even though they had far, far fewer plate appearances than Robinson or Biggio. (Annual league leaders list HERE)

But in the century of the 1900s, the league leaders in HPB dropped very significantly … most often in the range of about 10 to 15 times in a season.