Plunk Everyone

Sometime around 1990, Major League Baseball decided that 26 teams weren't enough. They figured that by expanding the league to 28, and later 30 teams, they could really increase the number of players who get hit by pitches with the increased number of games and the dilution of the talent pool. And that decision led to the creation of the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, who began play in 1993. The Rockies won the race to be the first 90s expansion team to plunk 1000 batters, crossing that milestone on September 5th of last season, but the Marlins are just 3 plunks away from crossing the much more important milestone of being hit by 1000 pitches.

It's a coming of age moment for a team - a sign that you're no longer the new young franchise. 1000 batters have "taken one for the team" - for your team. The Marlins have had a strange short history - they've won the World Series twice, but they're also the only team to lose 840 games in a 10 years span that included two World Series wins. But soon they'll have been plunked 1000 times and maybe the team can put it's troubled and erratic childhood behind it - and get to work on its 2nd plunk millennium. In metric units of HBPs, they'll have reached 1 kiloplunk. In standard units, it's about 3.51 Biggios. But it's an important moment, and calls for celebration - a plunkmitzfah perhaps. It's a point when a team has truely earned the right to call itself a Major League franchise, through the ultimate test of grit and bruising.

The last time a team crossed the 1000 plunk milestone was September 12, 2002 when Padres right fielder Gene Kingsale was hit by a pitch in the 7th inning. It took the Padres most of 34 seasons to reach 1000 plunks, but the Marlins will do it in under half that time if unless they put in an amazing display of pitch avoidance for the rest of this year. Earlier that same year, the Mariners beat the Padres to the 1000 plunk mark, despite giving them an 8 season head start. Mike Cameron collected the 1000th plunk in Mariners history on May 30, 2002. But, the Mariners were a little slower to 1000 plunks than their 1977 expansion twin, the Toronto Blue Jays. Jays catcher Darrin Fletcher got their 1000th plunk in team history on April 17, 2000.

One year and 2 days before the Blue Jays 1000th HBP, Fernando Vina got plunked for the Milwaukee Brewers to give them their 1000th on April 15, 1999 - 30 years and one week after playing their first game (as the Seattle Pilots). The Brewers, along with the Padres, Expos and Royals all joined the league in 1969, but the Expos were the first of that group to get hit by 1000 pitches - with a large contribution from Ron Hunt in the early 70s. The Expos 1000th plunk landed on Henry Rodriguez on September 23, 1996. The Royals got plunk 1000 on July 1, 1998 by Jeff Conine.

It should surprise no one to hear that the 1000th plunk in Houston Astros franchise history was recorded by Craig Biggio. He got that one on July 27, 1994, but he wouldn't have been an obvious guess at the time. That was only his 34th career plunking, and his best season up to that point was 1993 with 10 HBPs. Perhaps that milestone plunking is what encouraged him to get hit 251 more times and become the face of the Astros franchise. However, if he'd mastered the art of the plunk, maybe he could have helped the Astros beat the Mets to the 1000 plunk mark. They both joined the league in 1962, but the Mets reached 1000 plunks just under 3 months before the Astros. Todd Hundley got Mets plunk 1000 on May 1, 1994.

The 1961 expansion teams didn't have nearly as close a race to 1000 plunks. The Angels got plunked for the 1000th time on May 5th, 1989, but the Rangers didn't get their until April 17, 1993. For the Angels, it was Brian Downing who crossed the milestone, and for the Rangers it was Juan Gonzalez.

Before the Angels, there was a long drought in the 1000th plunk celebration industry. Their hadn't been a 1000th plunk to celebrate since Bing Miller got hit on September 9, 1926 for the St. Louis Browns - they've since become known as the Baltimore Orioles. There was a different Baltimore Orioles franchise which played in the National League prior to 1899, and they got hit by over 1000 pitches, but they didn't write them down well enough to know who got their 1000th plunk. If you had to guess though, they safest bet would be Hughie Jennings, since he had 46 of the teams 115 plunks in 1897, which was the year they broke 1000.

On September 13, 1925, Ty Cobb became the only player to record a team's 1000th plunk and also have over 4000 career hits (though he only had around 3800 at the time). He collected the 1000th plunk in Tigers franchise history, which no doubt won him favor with his manager - Ty Cobb. Cobb's previous manager, Hughie Jennings probably liked it too.

The 1000th plunk in Philadelphia Athletics history, long before they moved to Oakland, was recorded by Frank Welch on August 7, 1924. The Indians got their 1000th plunk on September 23, 1923, but it could have been either Frank Brower of Joe Sewell. The Red Sox thousandth plunk hit Chick Fewster on April 18, 1923 (thrown by the Yankees, of course). The White Sox had their 1000th collected by Johnny Mostil on April 27, 1922, and the Twins, who were the Senators at the time, had their 1000th recorded on May 1, 1921, by either Sam Rice or Clyde Milan. But it was the Yankees who were the first American League team to reach the 1000 plunk mark - doing so on August 12, 1920 on a pitch that hit Fred Hoffman. It's sad to note that all of the original 8 American League franchises recorded their 1000th plunk during Prohibition, so none of them could celebrate properly and legally.

The 8 National League teams that still play today, and were there for the AL merger in 1901 all recorded their 1000th plunk in seasons to early for me to track down their who recorded them, based on the fine work of the folks who make Retrosheet.org possible. The Cubs crossed the 1000 plunk mark sometime in 1909, the Braves in 1907, the Giants in 1906 and the Phillies and Reds did it in 1904. The Dodgers had been hit 1000 times by 1903, the Pirates in 1902, and the Cardinals in 1901. The old NL Orioles, as mentioned above, got to 1000 plunks in 1897. Of course those teams all played before HBPs were officially recorded, but we're just going with what HAS been recorded.

But, you have to go back to those 19th century Orioles teams to find a team that got hit by their first 1000 pitches faster than the Marlins have. Hopefully it's just a coincidence that they folded that Orioles franchise. It'll probably be another 2 or 3 years before the Rockies join them in the 1000 plunk club.

Labels: Florida Marlins