Plunk Everyone

HBPs of note: August 30, 2009

The big story yesterday was that Chris Coghlan collected the 1000th plunk in Marlins franchise history, and it was even mentioned in the media, if you looked hard enough. If you went by past stats, you'd never have guessed that a batter named Chris would have received the Marlin's 1000th plunk, because only 1 of their first 999 plunks was recorded by someone named Chris. A player named Mike would have been a better guess, since they had 8.3% of the Marlin's first 1000 plunks. Including Coghlan, 10 batters born in Florida have now been plunked 74 times in franchise history.

In other baseball action yesterday, Aaron Rowand was hit by a pitch for the 106th time in his career. That extends the record for players born in Oregon, which he already owned. Jason Bartlett got his 35th career plunk, Geoff Blum got his 30th and Matt Diaz got his 25th. And, Fred Lewis recorded the 900th HBP by a batter born in 1980.

Labels: Florida Marlins, HBPs of note

Marlins rookie Chris Coghlan got plunked in the 7th inning today, marking the first time in his career he's been hit by a major league pitch. But, while it was one first plunk for a rookie, it was one giant milestone for the Marlins franchise. Plunk Number 1000 in team history. Coghlan joins the likes of Craig Biggio and Ty Cobb on the list of players who have collected the 1000th plunk for a franchise.

Wes Helms also got plunked for the Marlins, which makes this post a little less round-number-centric. But, here are a few (dozen) facts about the first 1001 plunks in Marlins franchise history.

Chris Coghlan was the 120th different batter plunked in a Marlins uniform in their first 1001 plunks, but he'll need to get hit once more to be the 79th batter plunked twice for Marlins. Alex Gonzalez is the franchise record holder with 51 HBPs, with Gary Sheffield and Josh Willingham tied behind him with 43 plunks each. Mike Lowell got hit 39 times while he was a Marlin and Dan Uggla is the active leader with 36. Plunked Marlins include batters from 43 US states and territories and 13 foreign countries on five continents.

Coghlan may be the newest member of the Plunked Marlins club, but he's not the youngest. He was born in 1985, but Cameron Maybin was born in 1987, and got plunked for the Marlins on April 25th of this season. The oldest player among plunked Marlins is Charlie Hough. He was born in 1948, and was 45 years and 8 months old when he got his one and only plunk with the team, which means he's not just the oldest member of the club, he has the record for oldest age at the time of the plunking. The Marlins record for youngest age at the time of a plunk belongs to Miguel Cabrera, who was 20 years and 4 months old the first time he got plunked (September 1, 2003).

Of the 1001 base runners the Marlins have had who reached base by getting hit by pitches, 262 have come around to score runs. They've been hit a total of 25 times with the bases loaded.

On the other end of those 1001 pitches, were 538 different pitchers from 27 teams - they've never been plunked by the Angels or Mariners though. The Marlins have been plunked the most by their division rival Phillies, Nationals and Mets, but the Cubs and Astros have hit them more than the Braves, despite not being in a different division (although the Cubs were in the NL east in 1993).

Here are the team by team totals for plunking the Marlins:

Phillies - 112 Nats/Expos - 103 Mets - 91 Cubs - 70 Astros - 63 Braves - 62 Rockies - 55 Rays - 54 Cardinals - 53

Pirates - 49 Dodgers - 45 Reds - 44 Padres - 41 Giants - 41 Brewers - 30 Diamondbacks - 28 Red Sox - 16 Blue Jays - 10

Orioles - 8 A's - 5 Yankees - 5 Royals - 5 Indians - 4 Twins - 2 Tigers - 2 Rangers - 2 White Sox - 1

Even though the Braves are relatively low on the list of plunking the Marlins, long-time Braves pitcher Greg Maddux holds the carer record for hitting Marlins with 11. Tony Armas Jr. is second on the list with 8, which is particularly impressive because he's only hit 51 total batters in his career. Pitchers named Mike have hit 46 Marlins, while pitchers named John have hit 30, and Kevins have hit 27 Marlins.

Here's the complete list of pitchers who have plunked a Marlin:
Greg Maddux (11), Tony Armas (8), Jamie Moyer (7), Mike Pelfrey (7), Mark Leiter (7), Mel Rojas (7), Andy Ashby (7), Darryl Kile (7), Bret Saberhagen (6), Byung-Hyun Kim (6), Jim Bullinger (6), Pedro Astacio (6), Kevin Millwood (6), Jon Lieber (6), Turk Wendell (6), Ryan Rupe (6), Chan Ho Park (6), Steve Trachsel (6), Matt Clement (6), Vicente Padilla (6), Jason Marquis (6), Josh Fogg (6), Brandon Duckworth (6), Carlos Zambrano (6), Roy Oswalt (5), Ryan Madson (5), Oliver Perez (5), Randy Wolf (5), Dave Weathers (5), Shane Reynolds (5), Pedro Martinez (5), Tom Glavine (5), Rheal Cormier (5), Mike Johnson (5), Jeremy Powell (5), Armando Reynoso (5), Bobby Jones (4), Joe Kennedy (4), Kevin Appier (4), Mike Mimbs (4), Marc Wilkins (4), Ricky Bottalico (4), Paul Wagner (4), Pete Schourek (4), Livan Hernandez (4), Matt Morris (4), Esteban Loaiza (4), Tim Scott (4), Jamey Wright (4), Kerry Wood (4), Glendon Rusch (4), Tomokazu Ohka (4), Aaron Heilman (4), Jay Bergmann (4), James Shields (3), Kevin Correia (3), Brad Thompson (3), David Bush (3), Sean Marshall (3), Mike Bacsik (3), Jake Peavy (3), Brandon Webb (3), Gavin Floyd (3), Matt Belisle (3), Brett Myers (3), Tim Hudson (3), Kip Wells (3), Jason Schmidt (3), Hideo Nomo (3), Trever Miller (3), Jeff Suppan (3), Billy Wagner (3), Ryan Dempster (3), Tim Worrell (3), Toby Borland (3), Tom Candiotti (3), Terry Adams (3), Pete Harnisch (3), Todd Jones (3), Jason Isringhausen (3), Miguel Batista (3), Travis Hughes (3), Orel Hershiser (3), Rocky Biddle (3), Kevin Tapani (3), Marvin Freeman (3), Mike Remlinger (3), John Thomson (3), Jose Mesa (3), John Burkett (3), John Franco (3), John Halama (3), Jerry Dipoto (3), Jae Weong Seo (3), Dustin Hermanson (3), Esteban Yan (3), Frank Castillo (3), Garrett Stephenson (3), C.J. Nitkowski (3), Bryan Rekar (3), Bryce Florie (3), Andy Benes (3), Allen Watson (3), Adam Bernero (3), Dave Veres (3), Dave Mlicki (2), Dave Coggin (2), Darren Dreifort (2), Darren Holmes (2), David Cone (2), Dennis Springer (2), Denny Neagle (2), Carlos Perez (2), Cory Lidle (2), Al Leiter (2), Amaury Telemaco (2), Brian Meadows (2), Britt Reames (2), Bobby Jones (2), Brad Clontz (2), Bobby Ayala (2), Gil Heredia (2), Doug Drabek (2), Jaime Navarro (2), Gregg Olson (2), Hector Carrasco (2), Jerry Spradlin (2), Jason Christiansen (2), John Patterson (2), Joey Hamilton (2), John Wetteland (2), Kevin Brown (2), Kevin Foster (2), Jim Brower (2), John Smiley (2), Jose Lima (2), Kent Bottenfield (2), Mike Thurman (2), Nelson Cruz (2), Norm Charlton (2), Mark Petkovsek (2), Kevin Jarvis (2), Robert Person (2), Rolando Arrojo (2), Rich Loiselle (2), Osvaldo Fernandez (2), Pat Rapp (2), Kevin Ritz (2), Omar Olivares (2), Paul Wilson (2), Tommy Greene (2), Victor Zambrano (2), William Van Landingham (2), Paul Byrd (2), Chris Carpenter (2), Giovanni Carrara (2), Jason Johnson (2), Tim Pugh (2), Derek Lowe (2), Ryan Karp (2), Scott Mullen (2), Scott Sanders (2), Stan Belinda (2), Sterling Hitchcock (2), Steve Parris (2), Steve Reed (2), Sun-Woo Kim (2), Todd Stottlemyre (2), Orlando Hernandez (2), Scott Elarton (2), Tim Wakefield (2), Braden Looper (2), Javier Vazquez (2), Valerio de los Santos (2), Mike Timlin (2), Brett Tomko (2), Mike Stanton (2), John Smoltz (2), Matt Herges (2), Francisco Cordero (2), Orber Moreno (2), Mark Redman (2), Kris Benson (2), Freddy Garcia (2), Damaso Marte (2), Nelson Figueroa (2), Eric Milton (2), Ted Lilly (2), Luis Vizcaino (2), Buddy Carlyle (2), Shawn Chacon (2), Billy Traber (2), Geoff Geary (2), Jorge de la Rosa (2), Jason Jennings (2), Gary Majewski (2), Casey Fossum (2), Jesus Colome (2), Horacio Ramirez (2), Chad Paronto (2), Jorge Julio (2), Claudio Vargas (2), Ben Sheets (2), Randy Choate (2), Tim Redding (2), Carlos Silva (2), Aaron Cook (2), Adam Eaton (2), Shawn Hill (2), Noah Lowry (2), Chad Qualls (2), Angel Guzman (2), Rich Harden (2), Mark Hendrickson (2), Clay Condrey (2), Doug Waechter (2), Dana Eveland (2), Mike Burns (2), Kyle Davies (2), Micah Owings (2), Jon Lester (2), Kyle Kendrick (2), Tony Pena (2), Matt Cain (2), Jair Jurrjens (2), Dirk Hayhurst (2), Carlos Marmol (2), Fabio Castro (2), Ramon Troncoso (2), Matt Albers (2), John Lannan (2), Jae Kuk Ryu (1), Matt Garza (1), Peter Moylan (1), Joe Smith (1), Bud Norris (1), Alberto Arias (1), Manuel Corpas (1), Greg Burke (1), J.A. Happ (1), Kyle McClellan (1), Edinson Volquez (1), Alex Hinshaw (1), Brian Wilson (1), Kurt Birkins (1), Chad Billingsley (1), Brad Hennessey (1), Chad Gaudin (1), Chad Cordero (1), Scott Kazmir (1), Chris Young (1), Fausto Carmona (1), Brandon League (1), J.P. Howell (1), Steven Shell (1), Ambiorix Burgos (1), Yorman Bazardo (1), Chris Resop (1), Ubaldo Jimenez (1), Juan Morillo (1), Wandy Rodriguez (1), Leo Nunez (1), Tom Gorzelanny (1), Wade LeBlanc (1), Greg Reynolds (1), Carlos Villanueva (1), Matt Chico (1), J.D. Martin (1), Ryan Sadowski (1), Ross Ohlendorf (1), Jonathan Sanchez (1), Marcos Carvajal (1), Chad Orvella (1), Ryan Webb (1), Collin Balester (1), Manny Parra (1), Eric Stults (1), Hong-Chih Kuo (1), Daniel Cabrera (1), Francisco Rosario (1), Greg Aquino (1), Oscar Villarreal (1), Heath Bell (1), Seth McClung (1), Brian Stokes (1), Nate Robertson (1), Chien-Ming Wang (1), Todd Wellemeyer (1), Aaron Harang (1), Kirk Saarloos (1), Cliff Lee (1), Luis Ayala (1), Javier Lopez (1), Jose Contreras (1), Joel Hanrahan (1), Ian Snell (1), Blaine Boyer (1), Paul Maholm (1), Edwin Jackson (1), John Maine (1), Mike Gosling (1), Edgar Gonzalez (1), Darwin Cubillan (1), Luke Hudson (1), Rafael Soriano (1), Duaner Sanchez (1), Kyle Lohse (1), Joe Beimel (1), John Grabow (1), Mike Gonzalez (1), Justin Duchscherer (1), Mark Prior (1), Brandon Backe (1), Erik Bedard (1), Jose Valverde (1), Jorge Sosa (1), Pedro Feliciano (1), Johan Santana (1), Bronson Arroyo (1), Scott Linebrink (1), Derrick Turnbow (1), Cedrick Bowers (1), Justin Miller (1), Brian Falkenborg (1), Chad Durbin (1), Danys Baez (1), Brad Penny (1), Ryan Franklin (1), Jeff Weaver (1), Barry Zito (1), David Riske (1), Stephen Randolph (1), Rob Bell (1), Dave Borkowski (1), Dennis Stark (1), Brian Fuentes (1), Danny Kolb (1), Mike Lincoln (1), Russ Springer (1), Curt Schilling (1), Darren Oliver (1), Dennys Reyes (1), Al Reyes (1), Ron Villone (1), Salomon Torres (1), Odalis Perez (1), Ramon Ortiz (1), Kyle Farnsworth (1), Ray King (1), Sidney Ponson (1), Jamie Walker (1), Todd Van Poppel (1), Tom Browning (1), Tom Edens (1), Todd Ritchie (1), Tim Spooneybarger (1), Terrell Wade (1), Steve Sparks (1), Terry Mulholland (1), Tim Belcher (1), Tim Corcoran (1), Tim Mauser (1), Steve Avery (1), Steve Bedrosian (1), Scott Sanderson (1), Sean Bergman (1), Shawn Boskie (1), Sid Fernandez (1), Scott Ruffcorn (1), Sam McConnell (1), Satoru Komiyama (1), Scott Erickson (1), Scott Forster (1), Scott MacRae (1), Kent Mercker (1), Randy Johnson (1), Joe Borowski (1), Doug Brocail (1), Tom Gordon (1), Alan Embree (1), Shawn Estes (1), Woody Williams (1), Ugueth Urbina (1), Wayne Franklin (1), Wayne Gomes (1), Wes Obermueller (1), Tony McKnight (1), Tony Saunders (1), Travis Smith (1), Troy Mattes (1), Pedro Liriano (1), Pedro Martinez (1), Pete Smith (1), Peter Munro (1), Ramon Martinez (1), Ramon Tatis (1), Randy Myers (1), Reggie Harris (1), Rene Arocha (1), Rich Rodriguez (1), Rick Reed (1), Rick Sutcliffe (1), Rick White (1), Ricky Bones (1), Ricky Stone (1), Robb Nen (1), Ricardo Rodriguez (1), Rich DeLucia (1), Ruben Quevedo (1), Roberto Hernandez (1), Roger Bailey (1), Roger Clemens (1), Roger Mason (1), Roger McDowell (1), Kevin McGlinchy (1), Mark Dewey (1), Mark Gardner (1), Larry Andersen (1), Larry Luebbers (1), Lee Hancock (1), Les Lancaster (1), Manuel Aybar (1), Marc Valdes (1), Mark Portugal (1), Mark Thompson (1), Masato Yoshii (1), Matt Mantei (1), Matt Ruebel (1), Omar Daal (1), Mike Morgan (1), Mike Perez (1), Mike Trombley (1), Mike Venafro (1), Mike Williams (1), Mike Judd (1), Mike Magnante (1), Mike Matthews (1), Mike Buddie (1), Mike DeJean (1), Mike Grace (1), Mike Harkey (1), Mike James (1), Kevin Gross (1), Kevin Gryboski (1), Johnny Ruffin (1), Jose Bautista (1), Jose Santiago (1), Josias Manzanillo (1), Juan Acevedo (1), Julio Santana (1), Junior Herndon (1), Ken Hill (1), John Burke (1), John Habyan (1), John Rocker (1), John Roper (1), John Hope (1), John Hudek (1), Joe Magrane (1), Joey Dawley (1), Joey Eischen (1), Jim Gott (1), Jim Mecir (1), Jimmy Anderson (1), Jimmy Haynes (1), Joe Grahe (1), Joe Hudson (1), Jay Witasick (1), Jeff Ballard (1), Jeff Innis (1), Jeff Juden (1), Jeff Shaw (1), Jeff Williams (1), Jesse Orosco (1), Jim Abbott (1), J.D. Durbin (1), Hector Almonte (1), Jamie Arnold (1), Jared Fernandez (1), Jaret Wright (1), Doug Henry (1), Erik Sabel (1), Everett Stull (1), Felix Rodriguez (1), Francisco Cordova (1), Graeme Lloyd (1), Grant Roberts (1), Greg Harris (1), Gene Stechschulte (1), Geremi Gonzalez (1), Aaron Fultz (1), Brian Bohanon (1), Brian Lawrence (1), Brandon Claussen (1), Bruce Ruffin (1), Bryan Eversgerd (1), Brian Powell (1), Brian Williams (1), Cal Eldred (1), Andy Carter (1), Allen Levrault (1), Adam Butler (1), Barry Manuel (1), Ben Rivera (1), Ben Van Ryn (1), Bill Pulsipher (1), Bill Swift (1), Bob Tewksbury (1), Bob Walk (1), Craig McMurtry (1), Curt Leskanic (1), D.J. Houlton (1), Dan Smith (1), Danny Graves (1), Danny Jackson (1), Darrell May (1), Carlos Valdez (1), Carlton Loewer (1), Casey Daigle (1), Chris Nabholz (1), Chris Peters (1), Chris Reitsma (1), Chuck Crim (1), Chuck Ricci (1), Clint Sodowsky (1), Dewon Brazelton (1), Dicky Gonzalez (1), Donne Wall (1), Donovan Osborne (1), Doug Creek (1), David Nied (1), David West (1), Dennis Cook (1), Dennis Eckersley (1), Dave Eiland (1), Dave Otto (1), Dave Wainhouse (1), Dave Williams (1)


And here's everyone who's ever been plunked as a Marlin:
Alex Gonzalez (51), Josh Willingham (43), Gary Sheffield (43), Mike Lowell (39), Mike Redmond (38), Derrek Lee (37), Dan Uggla (36), Preston Wilson (33), Cliff Floyd (32), Hanley Ramirez (27), Miguel Cabrera (25), Kevin Millar (25), Cody Ross (22), Juan Pierre (22), Greg Colbrunn (22), Jeremy Hermida (20), Andy Fox (19), Juan Encarnacion (19), Matt Treanor (18), Jeff Conine (18), Carlos Delgado (17), Bret Barberie (16), Jorge Cantu (15), Devon White (15), Wes Helms (14), Kurt Abbott (14), Aaron Boone (13), Charles Johnson (13), Damion Easley (12), Alex Arias (12), Quilvio Veras (11), Edgar Renteria (10), Alfredo Amezaga (10), Dave Berg (9), Bruce Aven (9), Chuck Carr (9), Andre Dawson (9), Miguel Olivo (9), Kevin Orie (8), Luis Castillo (8), Craig Counsell (7), Paul Lo Duca (7), Ivan Rodriguez (6), Benito Santiago (6), Todd Dunwoody (6), John Baker (6), Joe Borchard (5), Bobby Bonilla (5), Reggie Abercrombie (5), Orestes Destrade (5), Terry Pendleton (5), John Mabry (5), Darrell Whitmore (5), Rich Renteria (4), Bob Natal (4), Mike Jacobs (4), John Cangelosi (4), Moises Alou (4), Jerry Browne (3), Hee Seop Choi (3), Gregg Zaun (3), Walt Weiss (3), Mark Smith (2), Dontrelle Willis (2), Todd Zeile (2), Dave Magadan (2), Ralph Milliard (2), Brian Moehler (2), Eric Reed (2), Russ Morman (2), Tommy Gregg (2), Ross Gload (2), Jorge Fabregas (2), Nick Johnson (2), Ramon Castro (2), Wil Cordero (2), Brian Banks (2), A.J. Burnett (2), Jerry Brooks (1), Greg Briley (1), John Burkett (1), Emilio Bonifacio (1), Jeff Abbott (1), Brett Hayes (1), Chris Coghlan (1), Chad Allen (1), Danny Bautista (1), Paul Bako (1), Chris Clapinski (1), Henry Cotto (1), Matias Carrillo (1), Joe Dillon (1), Mario Diaz (1), Alejandro De Aza (1), Brian Daubach (1), Darren Daulton (1), Mark Kotsay (1), Livan Hernandez (1), Lenny Harris (1), Charlie Hough (1), Ryan Jackson (1), John Gall (1), Jim Eisenreich (1), Junior Felix (1), Mark Gardner (1), Craig Grebeck (1), Pablo Ozuna (1), Mike Mordecai (1), Carl Pavano (1), Tim Raines (1), Mike Rabelo (1), Cameron Maybin (1), Todd Linden (1), Josh Wilson (1), John Wehner (1), Dave Weathers (1), Jesus Tavarez (1), Michael Tejera (1), Rob Stanifer (1), Henry Rodriguez (1)


In case you wondered, Dave Weathers, John Burkett, Livan Hernandez and Mark Gardner are the only players who have plunked a Marlin and have also been plunked AS a Marlin.

Labels: Florida Marlins

HBPs of note: August 29, 2009

Padres pitcher Wade Leblanc plunked Dan Uggla yesterday, but he only did it once. That means the Florida Marlins have been hit 999 times in team history, and are still waiting to mark off the 1000th HBP for the franchise.

Scott Rolen's 110th plunk on August 2nd got him pretty hard in the head, but he got right back in front of the horse, so to speak, collecting his 111th HBP yesterday. You don't get to be the all time leader in plunks among batters born in Indiana without knowing how to come back from a plunk in the head. Jeff Weaver threw that one, which was also the 123rd of Weavers career.

Kevin Youkilis got plunked for the 55th time in his career. He's now tied with Tris Speaker for 7th place on the Red Sox all time list. That was his 13th of the season, and he's just the 2nd player in team history to get hit 10 or more times in three different seasons. Mo Vaughn had 4 seasons with double digit plunks.

There were 9 plunks recorded in major league games yesterday, and 4 of them were thrown by pitchers born in California.

Labels: Florida Marlins, HBPs of note

HBPs of note: August 25th, 2009

In the 4th inning of last nights game between the Mets and Marlins at Land Shark Stadium, Hanley Ramirez got hit by a pitch. That plunk was the 1000th in park history for Land Shark Stadium, formerly known as Dolphin Stadium, formerly known as Pro Player Stadium, and possibly some other things. 502 of those plunks have been delivered to Marlins batters by visiting pitchers, and 498 have been pitches thrown by the Marlins that struck their guests at the ballpark - which is remarkably even over the course of 17 seasons. Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa was responsible for throwing the 1000th plunk at Land Shark Stadium, and while it was only his 2nd at that park it was also the 20th of his career, and the 4800th know plunk in major league history thrown by a pitcher born in the state of New York. It was Hanley Ramirez's 17th at his home ballpark, and but he's still 15 behind the park record holder Alex Gonzalez.

Meanwhile, Carlos Zambrano threw the 80th plunk of his career, which has been spent entirely with the Chicago Cubs. That leaves him 8 hit batters behind Kerry Wood for the Cubs record, although he's currently in 3rd place behind Ed Reulbach.

Labels: Florida Marlins, HBPs of note

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