Ron Hunt
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Ron Hunt (born Ronald Kenneth Hunt on February 23, 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball player.
A second baseman who also played third base sparingly, Hunt played for the New York Mets (1963-1966), Los Angeles Dodgers (1967), San Francisco Giants (1968-1970), Montreal Expos (1971-1974) and St. Louis Cardinals (1974).
Hunt broke into the major leagues in 1963 as the Mets’ regular second baseman, batting .272 with 10 home runs, which would be his career high, and 42 runs batted in, which would tie him with another. That year, he also finished runner-up to Pete Rose for the National League Rookie of the Year honors. In 1964 he batted .303 and became the Mets’ first-ever All-Star representative, an honor made all the more special because the game was played in the Mets’ newly opened Shea Stadium. He was also an All-Star representative in 1966.
In November 1966 Hunt and Jim Hickman were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tommy Davis. After batting .263 in 1967 Hunt, heartbroken over the deal, was traded again, this time to the San Francisco Giants in the same deal that sent Tom Haller to Los Angeles. The deal was the first between the two teams since they moved to the West Coast, and also the first since the one that would have sent Jackie Robinson to the Giants; he retired rather than report with his new team.
After three seasons in San Francisco Hunt was traded to the Montreal Expos. In nearly four seasons in Montreal he batted .277, including a career high .309 in 1973. Late in the 1974 season he was traded to his hometown St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he closed out his career after playing 12 games.
In his 12-year career Hunt batted .273 with 39 home runs and 370 RBIs in 1483 games played. He was also one of the most difficult batters to strike out, fanning 382 times in 5235 at-bats, or once in every 13.70 at-bats. In 1973 he set an Expo record by only striking out 19 times in 401 at-bats, the fewest ever in franchise history by a player who had at least 400 at-bats on the season.
[edit] The Hit by Pitch
Hunt, whose motto was, “Some people give their bodies to science; I give mine to baseball,” had been hit by pitches more often than anyone during his playing days. He led the National League in getting hit by pitches in each of his final seven Major League seasons; in all but his final season (1974), he was the Major League HBP leader, his 16 “plunks” outdone only by Bobby Grich’s 20. He was hit by 25 pitches in 1968, 25 in 1969, 26 in 1970, 50 in 1971, 26 in 1972 and 24 in 1973.
On September 29, 1971, against the Chicago Cubs at Jarry Park, Hunt was hit by a Milt Pappas pitch to give him 50 on the season, breaking the former record of 49 by Hughie Jennings in 1896. Pappas argued to home plate umpire Ken Burkhart that the pitch was directly over the plate, that Hunt got hit by the ball without even trying to get out of the way. Earlier in the year, Pappas had also contributed #27 in the Hunt collection, prompting Cub manager Leo Durocher to cry foul (just as Pappas himself would after hitting Hunt with the record-breaking pitch) after home plate umpire Augie Donatelli awarded Hunt first base on that pitch. Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson had a similar complaint after Hunt was hit by a Jim McGlothlin pitch on August 7 of that year; the HBP was Hunt’s 32nd of the season, which broke the National League record set by Steve Evans of the 1910 St. Louis Cardinals.
On April 29, 1969, Hunt tied a Major League record with three HBPs in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Hunt always insisted that he never deliberately got hit by a pitch, that he always stood straight up at the plate and simply leaned into the pitch.
Upon his retirement, his 243 HBPs were a career record. Don Baylor would break that record in 1987 and retire with 267 HBPs. Craig Biggio would break Baylor’s career record in 2005; as of the end of the 2006 season he has 282 HBPs.
On occasion, Hunt wore a wetsuit underneath his uniform to deaden the pain from being hit by a pitch.
