Atlanta Braves history: their most whacked hitters ever

Last year, we watched catcher Tyler Flowers get thumped on a regular basis, but does where does he rank in the long annals of Braves franchise history?

For the Atlanta Braves, several players have fallen victim to the “hit-by-pitch” on more than enough occasions.  Flowers was punished a team-high 20 times in 2017, 11 more in 2016.

From the late 1800’s to the 21st century, here are the top 5 Atlanta Braves players that lead the franchise in the painful, hit-by-pitch category:

#5 Fred Tenney

Tenney played first base, outfield, and catcher for the Boston Beaneaters, Boston Doves, and Boston Rustlers from 1894-1907. During his tenure with the franchise before moving to other teams, Tenney accumulated 53 HBP’s.

Yes, the team name changed that much during that small time span:  The Boston Beaneaters was the name of the franchise from 1882-1906, the Boston Doves was the team’s name from 1907-1910, and the Boston Rustlers was the team name in 1911.

#4 Bobby Lowe

Bobby Lowe was a teammate of Tenney as Lowe played for the same Boston Beaneaters from 1890-1901. However, it’s likely Lowe and Tenney were trying to follow the footsteps of their manlier teammate, who is #1 on this list.  We’ll talk about him shortly.

Lowe comes in at #4 with 57 HBP’s in 12 years of service with the Beaneaters.

#3 Jeff Blauser

Many of you that watched the Atlanta Braves in the early 90’s might remember this guy... Blauser played 2nd base for the Braves from 1987-1997, and made 2 All-Star appearances with the Braves: 1993 and 1997.

Blauser absorbed 75 HBP’s at the plate in an entire decade of service with Atlanta.

#2  Andruw Jones

Andruw Jones was not only known for his fielding ability and long ball threat, but he takes the cake as #2 on Atlanta’s list of players with the 2nd most HBP’s.

Jones is a10-time Gold Glove winner and 5-time All Star center fielder for the Braves.  He is also on the ballot this year for the Hall of Fame.

During his 11-year stint with the Braves from 1996-2007, he tallied a painful 83 HBP’s.

That’s a big number… but it doesn’t even rival our #1 horsehide target:

#1  Tommy Tucker

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Tucker was the Boston Beaneaters first baseman from 1890-1896, and playing with both Tenney and Lowe for several years in the mid 1890’s. In his 7-years of eating beans in Boston, he got “beaned” exactly 150 times.

That’s an average of 21 hit-by-pitches every season while averaging 130 games per season. This means Tucker averaged 1 HBP every 6 games for 7 years with the Beaneaters! Talk about tough as nails…

But Boston wasn’t Tucker’s only team.  He was bruised elsewhere, too.  On the all-time leader board, Tucker ranks #3 overall in HBP with a total of 272, only behind Craig Biggio (285), and Hughie Jennings (287).

ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 20: Tyler Flowers #25 of the Atlanta Braves hits a fifth inning grand slam against the Cincinnati Reds at SunTrust Park on August 20, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

Tyler Flowers

Flowers is a catcher, so he is used to taking a beating behind the plate, but no one should get beat up while batting as much as Flowers has. In 2017, Flowers led the Braves in HBP with 20 on the season – a dubious honor for sure!

The interesting thing about Flowers’ experience with the HBP is that in his 7-year stint from 2009-2015 with the Chicago White Sox, he only got hit by a pitch 26 times. But in just 2 years of playing in Atlanta, he has already been nailed 31 times! 

Next: Lots of No-Shows

That 31 ranks him 20th on the Braves’ All-time list… tied with Hank Aaron, Matt Diaz, and Frenchy Francoeur.  But another 20 this season would put him 7th with another catcher:  Javy Lopez.