Thursday, May 12, 2016

Mickey Mantle HBP: never more than once by the same pitcher.

Mickey Mantle was Hit By Pitch (HBP) only 13 times in 9,907 plate appearances (PA) 1951-1968. In 10 of his 18 seasons he was not HBP. The eight seasons when he was HBP here are the number of HBP:
3 - 1954
2 - 1956, 1958, 1959
1 - 1960, 1962, 1967, 1968

Of the eight seasons leading the American League in OPS+, Mantle was HBP in six.

No pitcher ever hit Mantle more than once.

One HBP is not reflected in the stats for pitchers against Mantle, so there are only 12 HBP. It's possible that the unaccounted HBP was by one of the dozen pitchers we know hit Mantle.

Mantle had more than 200 PA against two pitchers who never hit him:
The dozen who hit Mantle:
Mantle homered off all but Phoebus, who had by far the most success of these twelve pitchers against Mantle.

Lefties: McDermott, O'Dell.
Photo of Charlie Bishop
Charlie Bishop hit Mantle in only 9 PA. For his career (1952-1955) Bishop had 168 BB and 121 SO, way more BB than SO; in 294 career innings Bishop had 13 HBP. Bishop did not hit any batter more than once. He hit Yankee Elston Howard in only two PA. Here is the link for Mantle's 9 PA against Bishop:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/batter_vs_pitcher.cgi?batter=mantlmi01&pitcher=bishoch01

Mantle was HBP in his final PA against Bishop:

Thursday, April 28, 1955, , Municipal Stadium
Attendance: 32,559, Time of Game: 3:15
Yankees 11, As 4

HR: M Mantle (3, off C Bishop, 4th inn, 1 on, 2 outs to RF).

IBB: G McDougald (1, by C Bishop).

HBP: G McDougald (1, by C Bishop); M Mantle (3, by C Bishop); E Howard (1, by C Bishop).

Bishop relieved the starter in the third inning and pitched out of a bases loaded jam. Bishop hit McDougald with two out in the fifth, then seems to have lost his control in the sixth. After retiring the first two Yankees, Bishop hit Mantle and Howard and walked Collins to load the bases. Bishop was then removed from the game.

Bishop pitched only once more: May 7, 1955 in a 9-3 loss in Cleveland. Bishop pitched the final two innings: 2 runs, 3 BB, 0 SO. Bishop never pitched again, not even in the minors. He had started his career in Johnson City in 1942 at age 18 in the Cardinals organization. He did not pitch 1944-1945. Bishop made the majors at age 28 with the Philadelphia As in 1952. Bishop died in 1993 in his home state of Georgia at the age of 69, two years before Mickey Mantle died at age 63 in Texas.

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