Baseball News of the Weird

[Willets Point]

Northern League game to be played on Xbox.

[Guest cooby]

I love this idea. I love it

[Guest Edgy DC]

Will any homers Virtual Edgy hits count on my career stats.

If virtualy Edgy gets hit by a pitch and goes after the pitcher, do I have to serve his suspension?

[Willets Point]

Keep track of Craig Biggio's quest to break the all-time record for being hit by pitches at Plunk Biggio/

[Elster88]

I wonder how the players (the actual baseball players, that is) feel about this.

[Theoldmole]

I love it too. Another reason to love minor league ball.

[Willets Point]

Biggio's up to plunk 267 tieing the modern ML record.

[seawolf17]

And there's [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2097360]268[/url].

I always loved Biggio. He coached at a baseball camp I attended for a few years; I never had him as my coach, but I saw him around camp. I was very excited when I got my first Craig Biggio baseball card... I felt like I knew a celebrity, even though I don't think I said more than two words to him in three summers. Definitely a Hall of Famer in my personal HoF.

[seawolf17]

This is off-topic, but didn't merit its own topic, so I figured sticking it in "News Of The Weird" would work.



Is this the Tigers' real mascot? It looks like a high school mascot. You can practically see up his right sleeve. Hey, Ilitch, spend some money to get a real freaking tiger made, will ya?

[Frayed Knot]

Others who have 100+ HBPs:


[u:1b45387d68]Plunkees[/u:1b45387d68]:
Jason Kendall - 183
Fernando Vina (he's still active??) - 157
Larry Walker - 136
Carlos Delgado - 130
Jeff Bagwell - 127
Damion Easley - 112
Gary Sheffield - 111
Jeff Kent - 102
Jason Giambi - 100
Derek Jeter - 100



[u:1b45387d68]Plunkers[/u:1b45387d68]:
Randy Johnson - 162
Roger Clemens - 148
Kevin Brown - 138
Tim Wakefield - 131
Greg Maddux - 120
Pedro Martinez - 116
Al Leiter - 111
Chan Ho Park - 110
Pedro Astacio - 109 (including Biggio 8 times - most by any pitcher even though they were teammates for a time)
Kenny Rogers - 106 (and that doesn't even include camermen)
Aaron Sele - 104
Jamie Moyer - 103

[Willets Point]

This may not be too weird, but it fits here better than anywhere else.

From Dan Shaugnessy's column in the Boston Globe.

]Top player on this year's Wesleyan baseball team was none other than Jeffrey Maier -- who made history in 1996 when he reached over the right-field wall in Yankee Stadium and turned Derek Jeter's fly ball into a home run in a playoff game against the Orioles. Maier, a junior outfielder, hit .350 and led his team in slugging, on-base percentage, hits, runs, double, and triples. Still good with the glove, too.

Any chance the Yankees sign him?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Any chance they don't?

[Guest Edgy DC]

At least a one in thirty chance.

Baltimore would be the more compelling story.

The real criminals in this story remain the Yankees for not humbly and quietly accepting unjust luck (or rejecting the luck and the call!), but rather showering the kid in celebrity, the Giuliani administration for playing along, and the umps for not getting the call.

Honorary mention goes to Armando bashers who cite his post-season statistics as proof of his lack of heart or guts or whatever, without acknowledging that it's not only a small sample size, but it's uniquely tainted.

[Willets Point]

Bowie Baysox fans have a gas, gas, gas.

[Willets Point]

A pitcher even heavier than David Wells, with a good tailing fastball.

[Willets Point]

Plunk Biggio lists the all-time hit-by-pitch recipients alphabetically by last name in verse.

A is for the plunks of Brady Anderson
one hundred fifty four when he was done.

B is for Houston's own Craig Biggio,
two hundred seventy three plunks as you know,
we hope that he still has a long time to go
and he'll break Jennings' record - as an Astro.

C's for Fred Clarke, at the old ball park,
one hundred fifty three plunks before dark

D stands for one named Bill Dahlen, for now,
one hundred and forty plunks made him say "Ow",
but Carlos Delgado is one plunk behind,
when he passes Dahlen we really won't mind.

Kid Elberfeld is our man with an E,
one hundred and sixty five pitches struck he.

F is a catcher named Carlton Fisk -
he wasn't afraid of taking a risk -
his HBPs total one forty three,
but now he's a Hall of Fame inductee

G represents Andres Galarraga,
his long career was a plunk filled saga.
One hundred seventy eight times, the Big Cat,
got hit by a pitch when he went up to bat.

H is for Hunt, Ron Hunt that is,
two hundred forty three plunks are all his

I is the letter for Charlie Irwin,
his sixty one plunks made his manager grin

J is for Jennings, the all time plunk king,
Hughie's two eighty seven is still standing.

K is Jason Kendall's last initial,
his hundred and ninety seven plunks are official.

L is for Lemon, his first name is Chet,
one hundred and fifty one plunks he did get.

M stands for Dan McGann who was sturdy
enough to take plunks numbered two hundred thirty.

N is for outfielder Bill Nicholson
Fifty two plunks are all that he won.

O stands for first basemen John Olerud,
eighty eight pitches have struck this old dude.

P is for Padden, his first name was Dick.
Ninety seven plunks proved that his skin was thick.

Q is for Joe Quinn whose career dates back
to a time before anyone really kept track
of hit batters to whom first base was awarded,
so thirty nine plunks were all he recorded.

R is for Nats skipper Frank Robinson,
whose hundred and ninety eighty plunks weren't much fun

S is the letter for Gary Sheffield,
his hundred and seventeen bruises have healed

T's for Tommy Tucker, maybe you've heard,
his two hundred seventy two plunks now rank third.

U's most hit player was Willie Upshaw,
23 plunks are all that he saw.

V is Fernando Vina's own letter,
one hundred fifty seven plunks - few can better.

W is for Curt Welch, you see,
his plunk total was one seventy three.

X is left out - no one in the game
has ever had X to start his last name.

Y is for third baseman Eddie Yost, his 99 plunks surely called for a toast.

and Z's for Chief Zimmer, who had ninety one
pitches hit him, and now we are done.