Deadball-era brain teaser
 

I suspect one of you smart folks will get this right away, but here we go-

What MLB player (despite having a solid career) is now best known for being the victim of a hit by pitch - here's the kicker - that did not injure or kill him?

He appears in one major deadball-era card set and several lesser-known ones...

My first thought was Ray Caldwell, but then I remembered he was hit by lightning and not a pitch. Nippy Jones is best remembered for getting hit by a pitch, but he didn't have much of career, and he played way past the Deadball era.

Hugh Jennings?

Ee-yah

Nippy was my first thought as well! (edit: I guess he was your actually 2nd thought, but at least he was doubly remembered.)

Morrie Rath is probably best known for getting plunked by Eddie Cicotte to start the 1919 World Series, but I'm not sure whether his career is truly solid or more in the semi-permeable range.

pretty good answer

Morrie Rath
 

was the one I had in mind - he had a strange career in two phases years apart, 1912-13 with the White Sox and 1919-20 with the Reds. In 1912 and 1919 he played really well, earning 4.0 and 3.9 WAR, which was just outside the top 20 for non-pitchers in those years. For me those two really good years, plus a World Series, adds up to a modest but solid career.

Since every thread needs a photo, here’s my 1919 World Series program from game one. The scorecard even notes Rath getting hit by the pitch.

Apologies for denigrating Rath's career -- when I typed that I didn't dig too deeply as I thought it was a fun-but-incorrect throwaway answer (when I checked VCP the only Morrie Rath card I saw was the Colgan's Tin Tops) and I guess I just felt like saying "semi-permeable"; and later when I realized that he's also got cards as Morris Rath (which I would've known if I weren't a mere T207 dilettante) I was too lazy to revise.

But you're right, he does have the two really nice years (including a 95-walk season as a teammate of Cicotte's!) and he also hit ~.318 with walks during a decade in the minors, much of it in the PCL. Very solid indeed.

Thanks for the question, Tim, this was fun! (even if I botched my homework)

Bill James wrote of him and said his career could have been a lot different if teams had seen what he could do instead of focusing on what he could not do. That occurs to this day

And a more modern (post-WW2 player) best known for a HBP is Nippy Jones in the 1957 World Series with Shoe Polish

Rich

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Smilin' Morrie's Zeenut.
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