In baseball, a beanball is a pitch, similar to a brushback pitch but actually intended to hit the batter it is thrown at, often in the head. It is rarely used as a strategic weapon, and mostly used to vent anger and frustration. Teams with rivalries often find several beanballs exchanged a season. Beanballs can sometimes lead to fights, charging the mound, and bench-clearing brawls. Because of the hazards of the pitch and the possibility of fights, umpires will often warn teams, after beanballs or fights have occurred, that any pitcher to throw at a batter will be ejected from the game. Throwing at batters can sometimes lead to suspension for a number of games as well.

The amount of hazardous beanballs thrown during and previous to the 1950s caused Major League Baseball to require that all batters wear batting helmets, starting in 1956.

A pitcher who is known for a habit of purposefully throwing at opposing batter's heads is called a headhunter. Some notorious headhunters include Bob Gibson, Sal Maglie , Hugh Casey , Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez.

External links

An Unofficial History of the Beanball - An in depth look at use of the beanball throughout 20th and 21st century baseball, including lists of headhunters and those they hunted.