On This Day in Baseball: Frank Chance Sets HBP Record

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One of the most painful things to happen to a player during a game of baseball, a game with very little contact if it's played correctly, is getting hit by a pitch. As someone who one summer got hit by more pitches than he actually got hits, I know first hand how unpleasant it can be.

On this day we take you all the way back to 1904 in which the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds played a doubleheader and during the doubleheader, a Major League record was set.

Frank Chance, the first baseman for the Cubbies was hit a record five times during that doubleheader. In fact, during the first game, he was hit in the head and knocked out for a second before coming to and ended up staying in the game. Oh, how times have changed, there's not a chance, pun intended, that would happen nowadays.

The Reds would go onto win game one 7-4 before the Cubs rebounded in game two 5-2. Chance was unique in that he was the player-manager of the Cubs from 1905-1912 where he complied an extremely impressive 768-389 record while leading the team to back-to-back World Series victories in 1907 and 1908.

On the field, he was a pretty darn good player as well. He hit a career .296 while scoring 798 runs, drove in 596, stole 403 bases and had an on-base percentage of .394 over his 17 years in the league. He's also enshrined in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame.

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