h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Houston Astro Craig Biggio got hit by a pitch a few days ago, bringing his career total to 256 HBP's. That is number 1 for active players and second only to Don Baylor for modern players. He oughta get a contract making commercials for some liniment company. Of course, not everybody is sympathetic, like this blogger after the Astros beat his favorite team, partly due to a Biggio HBP:

"Craig Biggio's HBP is the poster child for why batters should not be allowed to wear all that damn padding. That pitch wouldn't have hit him except that Biggio stuck his "padded" elbow out and took the pitch off it. What a sham. Joe Morgan has voice his displeasure with this practice before, and I agree 100%"

The padding wasn't enough this time, tho, as Biggio will miss a few games.

Protection or no protection, no batter ever wants to be hit by an extremely hard object being flung at them at upwards of 90 MPH.

Although not a hit by pitch situation, a few days ago a Dodger pitcher was struck in the tricep by a hit. The ball hit his arm so hard that the lacings left an imprint.

I would actually argue that Craig Biggio does in fact want to be hit by pitches. He wears a special piece of "armor" on his elbow, which he sticks way out over the plate, in an attempt to get on base. It's technically within the rules, but I find it really annoying, which is why it's one of the major reasons I've always found it hysterical to watch Craig Biggio bumble around center field.

I finally found a pretty detailed explanation of the whole situation by Googling on "Biggio Armor":

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/john_donovan/05/20/body.armor/

Here is the gist of it:

QUOTE

... the hitters who lean into a pitch as a cheapie way to get on base aren't even the worst part of the problem. It's the other guys who suit up, stand on top of the plate and wait to crush a pitch who present the biggest challenge to fair play ... Barry Bonds, of course, is the biggest practitioner of the suit-up-and-stand-close method of hitting. Pitchers have complained for years that his front elbow -- the right one, with the heavy padding -- is actually over the plate, so a strike on the inside corner is in danger of hitting him.

END QUOTE

And to correct my original message, I heard from a friend that Biggio did not miss any time, or at least he played the next day.