By 1912 Hall of Famer Frank Chance had been hit in the head so many times by pitches that he had developed blood clots on his brain and left the Cubs near the end of the season for surgery, and left him deaf in one ear.
Frank Chance
Chance, who was known to crowd the plate, was hit by pitches 137 times during his big league career; on May 30 1904 he was hit five times in a double-header—one of which rendered him unconscious– with the Cincinnati Reds.
It appears his plate-crowding ways, and his propensity for being beaned, predated his professional career. In April of 1894 the 17-year-old was catching for a team in his hometown of Fresno, California against a team in nearby Visalia. The Sacramento Record-Union said:
“Frank Chance, Fresno’s catcher, was hit on the head by Charles Button, Visalia’s pitcher, in baseball game this afternoon. Chance was knocked senseless, and believed to have suffered concussion of the brain. He regained consciousness and vomited freely, and is better. The outcome of the accident is mere conjecture.”
Four years later Chance began his professional career as a catcher for the Fresno franchise in the Pacific Coast league.
Baseball History Daily 
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