MLB Trade Rumors confirmed the news Friday: Ron Hunt, the scrappy infielder who built a 12-year career on refusing to get out of the way, has passed away. He reportedly died from complications of Parkinson's disease and cancer in St. Louis.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news of Hunt's passing.
If you don't know the name, here's the pitch. Hunt broke in with the Mets in 1963 and was the first player in franchise history to start an All-Star Game, finishing as runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year that same season. He bounced from the Mets to the Dodgers to the Giants before landing with the Montreal Expos, where he turned himself into a folk hero doing something nobody else wanted to do: standing on top of the plate and letting baseballs hit him.
In 1971 with Montreal, Hunt got plunked 50 times in a single season, a modern-era record that still stands over 50 years later. That wasn't a fluke either. He led the National League in hit-by-pitches in 7 straight seasons from 1968 through 1974, finishing his career with 243 total HBPs. It's the kind of stat that sounds like a joke until you realize the guy basically weaponized his own body to get on base before OBP was even a stat anyone tracked.
Hunt closed out his 12-year run with the Cardinals in 1974, but it's the Mets and Expos years that stuck. He was a 2-time All-Star and one of the last living links to the original mid-60s Mets teams that were more lovable losers than contenders. Guys who crowd the plate and take one for the team still get compared to him decades later, whether they know it or not.
No word yet on any team ceremonies or tributes, but expect the Mets and Expos-lineage Nationals organizations to acknowledge one of the era's toughest, weirdest, most memorable players. Hunt made a career out of pain nobody else was willing to absorb, and that's exactly why people are still talking about him today.