Number 7 Dan McGann had 230 times hit by a pitch in his career. He was an OK player who played late in the 1900 century and joined the New York Giants in 1902. He had his best year in 1905. Then he had a great view of Christy Mathewson’s three shutouts in the World Series since he played first base. He played only 12 years but led the league in hit by pitch 6 times and was in the top 10 ten times. Like others on this list being hit by pitches helped him get his career on base average in the .360s at .364.
Number 8 Chase Utley was hit by a pitch 204 times in his career. Maybe 200 hit by pitches should be on the level of 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. After all it has been accomplish by only 8 players. Chase Utley followed the timeline for a ball player to heart. When he was young before 25, he worked on making the majors. He made the majors at age 23. He was a part time player at age 24. At age 25 he was a backup. He played like a hall of famer from age 26 to age 31. He did everything. He hit, fielded great, ran great (he was 23 for 23 in stolen bases in 2009. He also led the league in hit by pitches twice. He led the Phillies to the playoffs 5 times including 2 pennants and one World Series title. From age 32 he had some injuries and that might have affected his play when he was able to play. At least his stats went down. He had a mediocre WAR for four years. At age 36 he really faded and was playing at below replacement level when the Phillies traded him to the Dodgers. He was with the Dodgers for three more seasons after that. He was a below average player. He appeared in the post season the first three years with the Dodgers. He looked like a shell of his former self. He played in six post season series in those 3 years. He was mostly a backup. He went 4 for 46 in the six postseasons. That is an .087 batting average. All his hits were singles, so his slugging average was the same. However, his on base average was higher. He was 12 for 54 in the six series for an average of .222. The big thing was in the 2017 National League Championship Series and World Series Utley was 0 for 13. He did get on base twice. He was hit by a pitch once each series.
Number 9 Frank Robinson was hit 198 times in his career. He is the first player on this list who didn’t need to get by a hit by a pitch to improve his batting. He did well enough without it. He crowded to plate to reach the ball. If he got hit, he used it as an excuse to get angry at the other team. He still led the league in hit by pitches 7 times and was in the top 10, eighteen times. It is interesting that Robinson stopped 57 hits short of 3,000 and 2 hit by pitches short of 200. I think Frank didn’t want to be known as a player anymore. He wanted to make sure he was known as a manager. He did this in part for the guys coming after him. MLB and the Washington Nationals owed him a debt of gratitude for managing the Expos their last three years and the Nationals their first two years. With the ownership problems, Robinson kept a steady helm during those years when the ownership situation was up in the air. He had that team play at least.500 ball in 3 of the 5 years.
Number 10 Minnie Minoso was hit 192 times in his career. He is my favorite player that should be elected to the hall of fame that hasn’t been elected. In 1955 Minoso was hit by a pitch 10 times and came in the fourth in hit by pitches. He had led the American League in hit by pitches the previous 4 years. What a slacker. I guess the face he led the American League the next 6 years makes up for it. Minoso knew how to get on base. He had a career on base average of .389.
Number 11 Jake Beckley was hit by a pitch 183 times in his career. Beckley is kind of funny in one way. He has 61.3 WAR, but never had 5 WAR in a season. He had 4.6 a couple of time. He also never led the league in being hit by a pitch, but he was second three years in a row. He could have won the title if he maybe made a little more effort like Ron Hunt. Of course, two of those years he lost to Jennings. However, that was before Jennings hit his peak. He was nine years in the top ten for being hit by a pitch.
Number 12 Jason Giambi was hit by a pitch 180 times in his career. I saw him play in the minors in 2009. He was cut from the A’s earlier and the Rockies signed him. I think he came to the Sky Sox to work on his swing. I remember him hitting a double. I must have lucked out as he played only 6 games for the Sky Sox that year. I wonder with steroids if you feel the pain less from getting hit by a major league hit. He led the league in getting hit by a pitch twice. The first time was in 2003 when he was in his prime. The second time was in 2008 his last year with Yankees. He was 37 and starting to fade. He hit only .247 that year. It helped him have a decent on base average of .373.
