Babe Ruth and the long ball briefly renewed hostilities — despite the fatal beaning of Ray Chapman in 1920 — and the average climbed to 38 per team in 1923. (Few pitchers, however, dared hit Ruth.) Then everyone adjusted to the new style, and by the 1930s, 20 to 22 batters per team were hit each year.

The next outbreak came with integration. Jackie Robinson finished lower than third in H.B.P. only once in his first eight seasons.

In 1951, five of the eight most bruised batters were African-American or Latino, including Robinson, Minnie Minoso and Monte Irvin. Team averages climbed to 30 in 1952 from 20 in 1947.

The annual team averages stabilized in the range of 30 to 32 H.B.P., then climbed to the upper 30s in the 1960s with the 162-game schedule. But in the early 1970s, pitchers, perhaps emboldened by declining home run numbers, stopped pitching inside. Team hit-batter averages dropped to the low 30s and even the 20s by the 1980s. This encouraged hitters, and power numbers started climbing in the mid-1980s, and H.B.P. totals also began inching up.

Everything changed in the next decade. Teams averaged 33 H.B.P. in 1990, but three years later, the average rose to 43, surpassing 40 for the first time since 1916. Then the battle for the inside corner really turned fierce. By 1996, teams averaged 50 shots to the body. From 2001 to 2006, teams averaged 61 hit batters a year.