My Favorite Hit-By-Pitch Moments - None Involved Ron Hunt, Don Baylor or Andre Dawson

On seven baseball players have been hit by pitch more than 200 times in their careers.  Hugh Jennings leads the way with 287 with most of them coming before 1900.  He is followed closely by Craig Biggio with 285.

From the Kellogg's era Don Baylor is fourth and Ront Hunt is sixth.  These two were well known for getting hit by a pitched ball.  Hunt led the league seven times while only playing 12 seasons.

Hunt and Baylor were quite different as players.  Hunt had career highs of 10 HR and 42 RBIs in this rookie season.  He finished with 39 homers.  Baylor's MVP season saw him end up with 36 HR and 139 RBIs.  Baylor hit 338 homers.  Surprisingly, the home run hitter had 285 steals and Hunt only had 65.

Sure, I remember those players finding ways to get hit by a pitch.  Andre Dawson had a well-known moment against Eric Show, but even though Dawson was hit by the ball it was a strike since Dawson was leaning into the strike zone.

Nothing can top watching my little brother get hit by the same kid three times in one game.  None was a minor incident either.  In all three pitches my brother ended up like Charlie Brown with bat, helmet, hat and ball flying in every direction.  Yes, we all wore our hats under the cheap helmets because the helmets were always too big.  The hat kept the helmet from falling off or sliding over your eyes.

The one I remember most saw my brother end up face down on top of home plate.  He stayed there for a long time.  Being 30 years ago there was no panic in the stands and no one threatened the pitcher with a lawsuit.  I will need to find out from my brothers more details about that game.  

Eventually he got up and got himself to first base.  I guess no one in the stands worked in marketing for a laundry detergent manufacturer because that would have been a perfect commercial.