I learned how to lean in and get hit by strikes. On-base percentage was my only good statistic. Santangelo, who played for four teams during his seven-year career, laughed and said, "I'm in the hit-by-pitch hall of fame - most hit-by-pitches in a season by a switch-hitter: 25. Baylor, big and burly and tough, once was asked which one of the 267 hurt the most, and he grunted and said, "None of them." Kendall, who isn't as big or burly but is as tough as they come and got hit by pitches on purpose all the time, said of his 254, "They all hurt."į.P. Craig Biggio was hit 285 times, followed by Tommy Tucker (272), Don Baylor (267), Jason Kendall (254) and Ron Hunt (243). He was hit 287 times, once every 19.3 plate appearances. The all-time leader is Hughie Jennings, whose career began in the 1800s. How can that be? Mickey Mantle was hit 13 times in his career. "The last time I got hit," he once said, "was diving back into first base on a pickoff throw." ESPN analyst John Kruk got hit by a pitch twice in 4,603 plate appearances. Former major league outfielder Herm Winningham had 2,069 plate appearances without getting hit and says he never got hit by a pitch in the minor leagues, either. Yet Lemke and Saunders were hit plenty of times in the minor leagues. The Mariners' Michael Saunders is the active player with the most plate appearances without a hit batsman he's just over 1,000. Former Braves infielder Mark Lemke holds the major league record for most plate appearances - 3,664 - without getting hit by a pitch. Kim Klement/US PresswireĪnd yet, the hit-by-pitch numbers are confusing. "The hit batsman, and the game, is all about, How much can you handle? How much pain can you handle? How much failure can you handle? How much embarrassment and fear can you handle? Those that handle it best are the ones that play the game for a long time." The expression on Casey Kotchman's face says getting hit by a pitch can really hurt. "To me, the hit-by-pitch epitomizes the game of baseball," Padres catcher John Baker said.
It is what separates them from the rest of us. Yet it is pain and fear that major league players experience monthly, weekly, even daily, but they keep getting back in the batter's box, a courage that deserves our total admiration. It is pain and accompanying fear that the average fan would experience once, then never go near home plate again. It is pain that can last for weeks, it can leave a hideous mark that can last for months and it can instill a fear that can last forever.
It appears in springtime, like flowers and warm sunshine.Īnd yet, when that baseball is flying directly at a hitter at 95 mph, and that batter can hear the ball spinning, like the sound of a giant bee attacking, and then it hits that batter and those red seams bore into the skin like the teeth of a buzz saw, well, the elegance and romance of that pearl is replaced by piercing, pulsating, primal pain. It is what brings fathers and sons together in the backyard for a joyful, peaceful game of catch. A shiny new baseball is known as a "pearl" pearls are so elegant and romantic. It is the ideal home for the proudest autographs, so white and pristine, resting on the mantel or in the trophy case. It weighs 6 ounces - the same as an apple - and is the perfect size and shape for the hand.