Sunday, February 23, 2014

Ron Hunt


Born on today's date, Ron Hunt.

"Some people give their bodies to science. I gave mine to baseball."

(Hit by pitch 243 times in 12 year career)

5 comments:

Hackenbush said...

And that was before players were all armor'd up. And when pitchers weren't afraid to pitch inside.

Contrary Guy said...

Good point. We forget that. I did.

Jim from Downingtown said...

He led the league in HBP every season from 1968 to 1974. Usually that was with 24 to 26 hits. In 1971, that number ballooned to FIFTY! If there was going to be a sudden spike in wild pitchers, it would have been in 1969, when 20 more pitchers entered the National League.

Surely, he meant to dig in and take those hits. As such, the "At least make an attempt to get out of the way" rule should have been enforced against him at some point that season.

Jim from Downingtown said...

(The next-highest guy was hit 9 times.)

Contrary Guy said...

You would think umpires in general would call that more considering the "play the game the right way" mentality that most of them have.