FRASER LED IN HIT BATSMEN

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Fraser Led in Hit Batsmen

By Raymond Gonzalez and Alex J. Haas

Last year’s Journal presented material on batters hit by pitch dating back to 1909. This year we present the other side of the picture, the hurlers who have hit the most batters since 1900. Much of this information is available from official league records since 1908 in the American League and 1903 in the National League. For the earlier years it ahs been necessary to compile the material from newspaper accounts and other sources. We have compiled all the season leaders since 1900 and have tabulated the lifetime totals for the all-time leaders although some started their careers prior to the turn of the century.

Much work still needs to be done on hit basemen in the early years because that was the period when hit-by-pitch was most common. In fact, the NL record was established in 1900 when Joe McGinnity hit 41 batters, and the AL mark was set at 32 in its initial season of 1901 by Charles “Chick” Fraser. The figures since then have gone done somewhat, although fluctuating over the years. The low mark was 6 in the AL in 1940 and 6 in the NL in three different seasons.

Three pitchers led their leagues five times in hit batsmen. They were Howard Ehmke and Tommy Byrne in the American, and Don Drysdale in the National. Ray Culp was the only pitcher since 1900 to lead in each league. The season totals of these pitchers were not high enough to give them the lifetime record, however. For many years it was assumed that Walter Johnson held the mark. He hit 207 batters, which is the AL record. While he had no particular propensity for pelting the batters, he had 21 active seasons for his steady totals to add up.

The all-time leader was Chick Fraser, who hit 215 batters in 13 full seasons between 1896 and 1909. He threw his fast ball, change of pace, and sweeping curve with the same side-arm delivery. In addition, Fraser was wild. In his rookie season of 1986, he hit 28 batters, had 28 wild pitches, and led the league in walks.

Unusual delivery probably can be related more to hit batsmen than wildness. For example, Jack Warhop, who had a higher HB frequency rate than Fraser, had a submarine delivery. Joe McGinnity was a side-armer with not much speed and batters were not afraid to get in front of his stray tosses. Don Drysdale had a big sweeping motion, and Jim Bunning appeared to be falling off the mound when he delivered the ball.

The two pitchers involved in the most famous beanings were Carl Mays, who fatally injured Ray Chapman with a pitch in 1920, and Bump Hadley, who ended the career of Mickey Cochrane with a pitch in 1937. Neither was notorious for hitting batters, although Mays was a submariner and somewhat difficult to follow. He led the league in 1917 with 14 HB and had a lifetime total of 89 in 3020 innings pitched. Hadley led in 1932 with 8 and had a career total of 66 in 2945 frames.

Of course, there are pitchers who hit fewer batters than that. Among the current hurlers, for example, Juan Marichal has hit only 37 batters in 3236 innings. And Lindy McDaniel, pitching mostly in relief, has hit only 14 hitters in 1795 innings. It is interesting to speculate about the extremely low figure for McDaniel, who happens to be a very religious and moral individual. Is he reluctant to apply the brush-back pitch? Or is it some other aspect of his particular situation?

Only two hurlers of recent years have hit more than 100 batters in their careers. They are Drysdale with 154, which is the modern NL records, and Bunning with 160. Don Cardwell got up to 98 before he retired. Among the active hurlers, Jim Kaat leads with 91. However, among the seasoned hurlers, Jim Lonborg ranks highest in frequency with 72 HB in 1322 IP.

At least 15 pitchers have hit 100 or more batters in their careers since 1900. We say at least 15 because some of the oldtimers who lapped over from the 1890s, like Cy Young, probably attained the century mark as well. Here is the list, along with their innings pitched.

Hurler	UB	IP	Hurler	HB	IP

Charles Fraser	215	3356	Jack Warhop	114	1424
Walter Johnson.	206	5924	George Uhle	113	3120
Eddie Plank	188	4505	Jack Chesbro	109	2897
Joe McGinnity	184	3441	Urban Faber	104	4088
Jim Bunning	160	3759	Tom Hughes	101	2644
Don Drysdale	154	3432	Earl Whitehill	101	3566
Howard Ehmke	137	2821	Wilbur Cooper	100	3480
George Dauss	121	3391

PITCHERS HITTING BATTERS MOST TIMES

Year	American League Leader		National League Leader
1900	(not major league)		Joe McGinnity, Bkn.	41
1901	Chick Fraser, Phil.	32	Doc Newton, Cin-Bkn.	20
1902	Clark Griffith, Chi.	14	Jack Chesbro, Pitt.	21
	Cy Young, Bos.	14
1903	Chief Bender, Phil.	24	Henry Schmidt, Bkn.	21
	Eddie Plank, Phil.	24
1904	Eddie Plank, Phil.	20	Tom Walker, Cm.	18
1905	Eddie Plank, Phil.	22	John Mchntire, Bkn.	20
1906	Otto Hess, Clev.	20	Gus Dorner, Cin-Bos.	17
1907	Barney Pelty, St.L.	19	Jake Weimer, Cm.	23
1908	Ed Summers, Det.	20	John Mclntire, Bkn.	20
1909	Jack Warhop, N.Y.	26	John Mclntire, Bkn.	21
1910	Jack Warhop, N.Y.	18	Harry Gaspar, Ciii.	15
	Cy Morgan, Phil.	18
1911	Cy Morgan, Phil.	21	Al Leifield, Pitt.	16
			Arthur Fromme, Cin.	16
1912	Ed Willett, Det.	17	Rube Benton, Cin.	18
1913	Tom J. Hughes, Wash.	14	Jim Lavender, Chi.	13
	Vean Gregg, Clev.	14
1914	George Dauss, Det.	19	Bill Perritt, St.L.	15
1915	H. Coveleski, Det.	20	Rube Beuton, Cin-N.Y.	19
1916	George Dauss, Det.	16	Ed Pfeffer, Bkn.	17
1917	Carl Mays, Bos.	14	Ed Pfeffer, Bkn.	16
	Walt. Johnson,Wash.	14
1918	James Adams, Phil.	12	Frank May, St.L.	13
1919	Cl. Williams, Chi.	11	Wilbur Cooper, Pitt.	15
1920	Howard Ehmke,Det.	13	Jack Scott, Bos.	13
1921	George Dauss, Det.	15	Joe Oeschger, Bos.	15
1922	Howard Ehmke, Det.	23	Ernie Osborne, Chi.	12
			Vic Aldridge, Chi.	12
1923	Howard Ehmke, Bos.	20	Dazzy Vance, Bkn.	11
	Walt. Johnson, Wasb.	20	Wilbur Cooper, Pitts.	11
			Tony Kaufmann, Chi.	11
			Burl.Grimes, Bkn.	11
1924	E. Whitehill, Det.	13	Allen Sothoron, St.L.	10
	George Uhle, Clev.	13
Year	American League Leader		National League Leader
1925	Howard Ehmke, Bos.	11	Dazzy Vance, Bkn.	10
1926	George Uhle, Clev.	13	Don Songer, Pitt.	11
1927	Howard Ehmke, Phil.	14	Frank May, Cin.	14
1928	Henry Johnson, N.Y.	12	Las Sweetland, Phil.	15
1929	Harold McKain, Chi.	10	Clise Dudley, Bkn.	10
1930	Elon Hogsett, Det	9	Carl Hubbell. N.Y.	11
1931	Art Herring, Det.	8	Burl.Grimes, St.L..	10
1932	Bump Hadley, Chi-StL.	8	Owen Carroll, Cin.	9
1933	Tommy Bridges, Det.	7	Roy Parmelee, N.Y.	14
1934	John Welch, Bos.	8	Bill Swift, Pitt.	8
1935	Vern Wilshere, Phil.	10	Roy Parmelee, N.Y.	9
			Paul Dean, St.L.	9
1936	E. Hogsett, Det-StL.	15	Roy Parmelee,StL.	10
	Earl Caldwell, StL.	15
1937	Bill Trotter, StL.	7	Roy Parmelee, Chi.	7
			Hugh Mulcahy, Phil.	7
			Hal Kelleher, Phil.	7
1939	Howard Mills, StL.	8	Hugh Mulcahy, Phil.	11
			Hugh Casey, Bkn.	11
1940	Spud Chandler, N.Y.	6	Carl Doyle, Bkn-St.L.	10
	Alfred Smith, Clev.	6
1941	Dick Newsome, Bos.	7	Ike Pearson, Phil.	8
1942	John Nigge]ing, StL.	11	John Podgajny, Phil.	11
1943	Allie Reynolds, Clev.	7	Nate Andrews, Bos.	6
			Van Mungo, N.Y.	6
1944	R. Christopher, Phil.	9	Hal Gregg, Bkn.	9
1945	Thornton Lee, Chi.	10	Charles Sehanz, Phil.	9
1946	Bobo Newsom, Phi.-Wa.	7	Joe Hatten, Bkn.	7
1947	P. Marchildon, PhIl.	7	Ralph Branca, Bkn.	6
	Dave Ferriss, Bos.	7
1948	Tommy Byrne, N.Y.	9	Rex Barney, Bkn.	6
1949	Tommy Byrne, N.Y.	13	Sheldon Jones, N.Y.	10
1950	Tommy Byrne, N.Y.	17	Ew. Blackwell, Cin.	13
1951	Tommy Byrne, N.Y-StL.	15	Ew. Blackwell, Cin.	9
			Frank Hiller, Chi.	9
1952	Tommy Byrne, StL.	10	Gerry Staley, Stl.	7
	Earl Harrist, StL.	10	Herm Wehmeier, Cin.	7
			Frank Smith, Cin.	7
1953	Harry Byrd, Phil.	14	Gerry Staley, Stl.	17
1954	Steve Gromek, Det.	12	Br. Lawrence, StL.	8
1955	Pedro Ramos, Wash.	11	Sam Jones, Chi.	14
1956	Frank Lary, Det.	12	J. Klippstein, Cin.	10
1957	Frank Lary, Det.	12	Moe Drabowsky, Chi.	10
1958	Frank Lary, Det.	12	Don Drysdale, L.A.	14
1959	John Kucks, N.Y.-K.C.	12	Don Drysdale, L.A.	18
1960	Frank Lary, Det.	19	Don Drysdale, L.A.	10
1961	James Kaat, Minn.	11	Don Drysdale, L.A.	20
1962	James Kaat, Minn.	18	Bob Purkey, Cin.	14
1963	Ken McBride, L.A.	14	Don Cardwell, Pitt.	16
1964	Ken McBride, L.A.	16	Jim Bunning, Phil.	14
1965	Mickey Lolich, Det.	12	Jim Bunning, Phil.	12
			Raymond Culp, Phil.	12
			Don Drysdale, L.A.	12
			Don Cardwell, Pitt.	12
1966	Marcel. Lopez, Cal.	9	Jim Bunning, Phil.	19
Year	American League Leader		National League Leader
1967	Jim Lonborg, Bos.	19	Jim Bunning, Phil.	13
1968	Joel Horlen, Chi.	14	George Culver, Cin.	14
1969	Tom Murphy, Cal.	21	Bill Stoneman, Mont.	12
1970	Bob Johnson, K.C.	11	Bill Stoneman, Mont.	14
	Raymond Culp, Bos.	11
1971	Jim Lonborg, Bos.	14	J. Billingham, Hous.	16
1972	Pete Broberg, Tex.	13	Jerry Reuss, Hous.	10