Houston Astros Charlie Morton: MLB’s leading headhunter
Baseball’s Headhunters: The other guys
Finally, let’s take a quick look at the guys on the other end of the spectrum, the guys who rarely hit batters. Perhaps they are nicer people than the Charlie Mortons, Don Drysdales and Pedro Martinezes of the world, or perhaps they just had different pitching styles.
The pitcher at the very bottom of the list is Ivy Andrews, who no one reading this has ever heard of. He pitched with the Yankees, Browns, Red Sox and Indians from 1931 to 1938 and has a large face, with big, full cheeks, like a chipmunk. His nickname was “Poison” as in “Poison” Ivy Andrews. He only hit four batters in the 1041 innings he pitched in his career. Charlie Morton hit four batters in one game this season, including Jurickson Profar twice.
A couple pitchers from the 1970s that some of you may have heard of who also rarely hit batters are Mike Cuellar and Ron Guidry. Cuellar hit 12 in 2808 innings (0.9 HBP/200 IP) and Guidry hit 13 in 2392 innings (1.1 HBP/200 IP). They were both lanky lefties who each won an AL Cy Young Award.
Then there’s one of my all-time favorite players, submarining pitcher Dan Quisenberry, who only hit seven batters in 1043.3 innings (1.3 HBP/200 IP). Quisenberry truly was one of the nicest guys to ever play the game. He was also one of the least intimidating pitchers to take the hill. He didn’t huff and puff like Al Hrabosky or have the large, manly presence of Goose Gossage or throw pure fire like so many relievers these days.
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Quisenberry was a tall, thin guy with a 1980s mustache who looked more like an accountant than a baseball player. He threw from down under, relying on a sinkerball to get groundouts. He learned the pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates reliever
, who may have been even less intimidating than Quisenberry because he added a pair of glasses to the tall skinny frame they had in common. Tekulve didn’t hit many batters either (2.4 HBP/200 IP, 13th percentile).
Not only did Quisenberry rarely hit a batter, he also didn’t walk many batters, strike out many batters or allow many home runs. He was the opposite of everything baseball has become. And yet, he led the AL in saves five times in six years from 1980 to 1985.
That’s impressive for a guy who once said, “Most pitchers fear losing their fastball and, since I don’t have one, the only thing I have to fear is fear itself.” Batters didn’t have to fear Quisenberry, whose fastball likely didn’t do much damage to the seven batters he hit in his 12-year career. That just so happens to be the number of batters Charlie Morton hit in the 29 days from June 3 to July 1 this season. That was a banner month for the King of HBPs.
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While the Houston Astros Morton may not exemplify an intimidating, hard-throwing starter the way “headhunters” of the past did, but he does exemplify a movement of any pitcher being a guy who could end up plunking a hitter.