BASEBALL

I’m playing around with the subscriber data site on Baseball Reference.  I had trouble with my initial search on in the park home runs.  So instead I decided to look at hit by pitch numbers since Fister has so many in under 1/3 of a season.

Currently Fister has the 45th highest number of HBP for a FULL TIGERS SEASON.  His next HBP will tie him for 34th with Steve Sparks’s 2002 season.  The 13th HBP would tie him with Jim Bunning in 1962.  A 14th HBP ties him for 18th with Verlander’s 2008, Jeff Weaver’s 2001 and Lolich’s 1969.  Weaver had 15 in 2000.  Two pichers had 16 in 1904 and 1916.  17 HBP would tie Fister for 7th all time with Weaver’s 1999.  An 18th HBP would tie Fister with Hooks Dauss’s 1914 season.  A 19th HBP would match Verlander in 2007.  Ed Summers and Harry Coveleski had 20 HBP in 1908 and 1915 respectively.  No Tigers pitcher has hit exactly 21 or 22 batters in a single season.  Howard Ehmke plunked 23 in 1922.

5 non-Tigers pitchers have hit more than 23 batters in a season.  All of them did it between 1901 and 1909.  The all time leader is Chick Fraser with 32.