Houston Astros Charlie Morton: MLB’s leading headhunter

Baseball’s Headhunters: Bob Gibson

There are numerous quotes about Bob Gibson throwing at hitters. Here’s a sampling:

"“Gibson was so mean, he’d knock you down and then meet you at home plate to see if you wanted to make something of it.”—Dick Allen."

"“(Hank Aaron told me) ‘Don’t dig in against Bob Gibson. He’ll knock you down. He’d knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don’t stare at him, don’t smile at him, don’t talk to him. He doesn’t like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don’t run too slow, don’t run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don’t charge the mound, because he’s a Gold Glove boxer.’ I’m like, ‘Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?’ That was the night it ended.”—Dusty Baker"

"“Barry Bonds? I’ll tell you what, if he hit a home run off Gibson or (Don) Drysdale and stood and admired it, they’d knock that earring out of his ear the next time up.”—NL umpire Doug Harvey"

Gibson’s reputation for intimidation has lived on for a half a century. In retirement, he allegedly beaned a batter, Pete LaCock, in an Old Timers’ Game because LaCock hit a grand slam off Gibson in Gibson’s final major league game. After beaning him in the Old Timers’ Game, Gibson shouted, “I’ve been waiting years to do that!” Gibson also didn’t mind encouraging the legend, as this story about Ron Fairly reveals.

Despite all the stories about Gibson, he doesn’t rank anywhere close to Drysdale and Martinez on the HBP/200 IP list. He’s in the 60th percentile. He hit an average of 5.3 batters per 200 innings, which is a little more than half the rate of Pedro Martinez. Gibson wasn’t nearly the headhunter you’d think he was based on his reputation.

Among the pitchers of his generation, Gibson was in the upper third in his rate of hit batters, but definitely not in the Drysdale or Martinez stratosphere. Ironically, one of Gibson’s peers was Jim Lonborg, also known as “Gentleman Jim.”

While Gibson was known for his intimidating presence on the mound while hitting 5.3 batters per 200 innings pitched (from 1959-1975), the good “Gentleman Jim” Longborg was hitting 9.4 batters per 200 innings. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? No matter, it’s likely Bob Gibson didn’t give a damn about his bad reputation.

In today’s game, when it comes to beaning batters, current Astro Charlie Morton is more “Gentleman Jim” than “Batter Beaning Bob”.