Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves to see some new faces in the World Series.

Congrats to the Dbacks and Rangers on winning their respective leagues and making it back to the big dance; this should be fun to watch.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a ballplayer who was the GOAT of getting hit by pitches.

Hughie Jennings may hold the record for the most career HBP’s, but there was nobody better at getting plunked than Ron Hunt.

On paper, Hunt was never really anything special at the plate.

His lifetime batting average over 12 years was .273, and he never hit more than 10 homers in a season.

However, there’s one thing that Ron could do really f**king well.

Hunt has actually been called the Babe Ruth of hit by pitches.

From ‘68 to ‘74, Hunt led the league in HBP’s and in ‘71 he set the single-season MLB record with 50.

The previous record (49) was set by Hughie Jennings in 1896 and was later altered to be 51, but personally, I consider Ron the true king of the beanball.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Ron racked up 50 HBP’s in ‘71 - he was a master at his craft.

Here’s a few things he did to increase the chances that he would get drilled during the game:

• Wore baggie uniforms to catch any close pitches

• Choked up on the bat and crowded the plate

• Talked a lot of shit to pitchers

• Became a master at the art of “leaning in”

• Wasn’t scared to punch people in the face

One time, Bob Gibson drilled Hunt with a 100 mph four-seamer.

Hunt gently picked up the ball and flipped it back to Gibson as if to say “that was cute.”

Then when he got to first, the Cardinals first baseman asked if he was okay.

He replied “yeah, now tell that f**ker to go warm up.”

Gibson went on to hit Hunt five more times throughout the rest of his career.

Which was fine with Ron, he loved taking free bases.

If he’d had a few more seasons in the big leagues, I firmly believe Ron Hunt would hold the all-time record for HBP’s, but I guess we’ll never know.

The way the game is played now, we’ll probably never see another Ron Hunt, but learning about him is a nice reminder of how tough and gritty ballplayers from this era used to be.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

The good folks at BreakT do something that’s super unique; they make real-time sports apparel.

Pretty much as soon as something big happens in the game, they’ve got merchandise on their site to celebrate the moment.

Here’s some of the best drops from the last few days:

Quick Links:

• Arizona Against The World

• Sedona Red October

• Party Like It’s 2001

• Texas Against The World

• They Don’t Boo Nobodies

• Can We Pop Bottles Now?

Each design is also available in hoodies!

WEBGEM WEDNESDAY

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Walter Arthur "Hoot" Evers did just about everything there is to do in the baseball business.

He played, scouted, coached, and was even an executive with the Indians and Tigers.

As we all know, baseball is a pretty small world, and Hoot was well-known and well-respected within it.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Fortune Teller: No talent and a good story

• The World Series Riot: Detroit goes nuts

• The Draft Pick: A can’t-miss prospect becomes the biggest bust in MLB history