THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL August 11: Carlos Quentin hit by a pitch in 5th straight game
He only played in nine seasons, and just twice did he play more than 130 games in a year. Yet Carlos Quentin was a feared slugger who got almost as much as he gave.
The outfielder hit 154 career home runs — and was hit by a pitch 127 times.
On this day in béisbol, Aug. 11, 2008, Quentin, playing for the White Sox, was plunked by Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be big news. For Quentin, who had a reputation for leaning over the plate, it was the 19th time he’d been hit that season.
But it also happened to be the fifth game in a row Quentin took one for the team — the first time a player was hit in that many consecutive games since 1920.
Quentin, who was out of baseball by 2014 at just 31 years old, is tied for 46th on the career HBP list. Dead Ball Era shortstop Hughie Jennings is the all-time leader with 287 plunkings; Hall of Famer Craig Biggio is second with 285.
Also on this day: In 1991, 21-year-old Wilson Alvarez, pitching in only his second game ever, no-hit the Orioles in Baltimore. The Venezuela native struck out 7 and walked 5 in a 7-0 win.
— Robert Dominguez
Robert Dominguez is the author of “Bronx Bummers: The Unofficial History of the New York Yankees’ Bad Boys, Blunders and Brawls” and writer of the upcoming “El Salón: The Trials and Triumphs of Baseball’s Latino Hall of Famers.”
Photo: Dereksemmler — Under Creative Commons License
