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Vina Taking It For Team, But No Comparison To Hunt
By Sean Deveney - The Sporting News
September 22, 2000
Some players step into the batter's box with the look of a Roman prepared to face a rabid lion in the Coliseum. Wrist protection? Check. Forearm shield? Check. Elbow pad? Check.
And they still can't get hit by a pitch.
Which is what makes watching the Cardinals' Fernando Vina such fun. He is a leadoff hitter, so his job is to get on base, even if that means getting hit. When a pitcher throws inside, Vina curls his shoulder and lets it hit him. He has been hit a career-high 27 times this season, most in the majors and seven more than the next guy on the list, Richard Hidalgo. And Vina does not wear a bit of protection.
"A lot of guys wear armor," Vina said. "The way I see it, if they're going to come inside, let them. I don't mind getting hit."
The best thing about Vina, though, is that he takes his beanings and goes to first base, without the absurdity of charging the mound. That makes Vina a player worth rooting for.
Ah, but if you like Vina, you should have seen Ron Hunt, a big-league infielder from 1963-74. Hunt was a tough player, a spikes-up slider, the kind of guy you did not want at first base if you were a shortstop trying to turn a double play. Vina's toughness is appreciated, but with the Expos in 1971, Hunt set the record for most times hit by a pitch, taking 50 pitches to the body. Which bears the question: Did it hurt?
"How about you stand 60 feet away and let me hit you with a 60 mph throw?" Hunt said. "I can throw it 60, so we'll see how that feels."
Contrary to what many readers like to tell me, I am not that dumb.
Hunt was a good hitter and a two-time All Star in 1964 and 1966. But it's the HBP that Hunt is remembered for. He used to practice getting hit by standing in front of a mirror, holding his body as vertical as possible so that he could stand next to the plate without leaning into the strike zone. He gets a chuckle out of players wearing arm guards. He probably would have worn pads, but, "I didn't make that much money. I couldn't afford that kind of stuff."
Hunt said he did not charge the mound, because that was unaffordable, too. You could be fined a few hundred dollars for charging the mound, which was no small change at the time. Now, of course, players are fined in the thousands, but they can pay such fines with money found between the cushions of their couches. Besides, Hunt saw no reason to charge. He liked it when pitchers threw inside.
"I was happy to get to first base," Hunt said. "I don't know why they aren't happy about that anymore.
"I think the problem would be solved if they let the pitchers throw inside, if they called the strike zone the way it is supposed to be called. They pitched inside in my day. You couldn't get in the way. The pitch was a strike."
Hunt, 59, now has a farm in Wentzville, Mo., and owns Ron Hunt's Eagles Baseball Association, a baseball clinic for boys 14-18. He used to have a reputation as a guy who would not associate, or even talk to, opponents, and he watches some baseball these days -- until he can't take it anymore.
"Oh, I see them laugh with each other, laugh after making an error, laugh after striking out," Hunt said. "That's when I change the channel. You'd think, all the money they're making, they would take it a little bit seriously."
Hunt took it seriously, and he takes his record seriously. He remembers the time Tom Seaver hit him on a 3-1 pitch and apologized.
"I told him that was bulls---," Hunt said.
He remembers when Milt Pappas hit him for his final HBP in 1971.
"That's the only way he'll ever be in the record book," Hunt said.
Fernando Vina, eat your heart out.
"Hey, it's the only record I've got," he said. "I guess I should thank the National League pitchers. I could not have done it without them."
The Sporting News
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