When Shelley Duncan got plunked by Josh Beckett in the first inning last night, that was HBP number 4000 in the history of the Cleveland Indians franchise.  They're the 13th franchise to reach the 4000 HBP mark, and the 5th of the American League clubs to do so.  It's taken the Indians 17 years and 101 days to get their most recent 1000 plunks, since Felix Fermin got number 3000 on April 24, 1993.  That's the fastest plunk-millenium in club history, and of course included their amazing 103 plunk effort in 2008, for the post-1900 record.  Number 2000 was recorded by Pedro Ramos on May 5, 1962, and number 1000 for the Indians landed on Frank Brower on September 23, 1923 (thrown by Walter Johnson).  Numbers 2000 and 3000 were both thrown by the A's franchise, but they were in Kansas City in 1962.

To make the event even more interesting, just last Friday Adrian Beltre recorded the 4000th plunk in Red Sox team history.  So, in the 8th inning, as kind of a joint celebration of 4000 plunks by both clubs, Jensen Lewis and Beltre attempted to do a dramatic re-enactment of the Red Sox 4000th plunk.  Sadly, his pitch was a little off, but it led to both teams joyously taking to the field to celebrate the moment together, with good-natured taunting from the Red Sox side about having reached the milestone first.  What a nice way for the newest member of the 4000 plunk club to be welcomed in by the next newest member.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened anyway.

Here's the full list of players who have recorded the 4000th plunk in team history, and the teams for whom they did it:

Shelley Duncan (Indians - 8/3/2010)
Adrian Beltre (Red Sox – 7/27/2010)
Alex Rodriguez (Yankees – 9/2/2007)
Aramis Ramirez (Cubs – 7/26/2005)
Carlos Lee (White Sox – 9/14/2004)
Jayson Werth (Dodgers – 8/7/2004)
Marcus Giles (Braves – 7/31/2004)
Jacque Jones (Twins – 4/25/2004)
Doug Glanville (Phillies – 9/23/2001)
Sean Casey (Reds – 6/28/2000)
Kevin Young (Pirates – 9/10/1999)
Tom Lampkin (Cardinals – 6/25/1998)
Mike Benjamin (Giants – 9/24/1991)