One of the reasons I did not play Little League baseball, besides being too shy to join a team of kids I did not know, was the possibility of being hit by a pitch.

I knew how hard a baseball was. I remember my 9- or 10-year-old self tossing one, squeezing it in my hand and, at a young age, being surprised and almost shocked that it pretty much felt like a round rock inside a thin cowhide coating. In my neighborhood we used a rubber-coated ball that was less likely to break things — windows or bones.

I eventually played high school baseball and accepted the risk that I could be hit by a pitch … though I don’t think I ever was.

If you make a point of getting out of the way of the errant inside pitch, if you don’t dig in too deep in the batter’s box … you will rarely suffer the hit-by-pitch (and experience the dubious reward of a pass to first base) only rarely.

Which brings us to today’s news on the HBP front.

Brandon Guyer of the Tampa Bay Rays was hit by a pitch three times in one game today — and stayed in the game, even after the trainer came out to examine him after the second plunking, which hit him on the elbow.

Guyer tied a Major League single-game record jointly held by several ballplayers with a higher threshold of pain than most of their brethren.

Here is the thing about multiple HBPs:

You have to be OK with being plunked.

Among a certain subset of ballplayers, “taking one for the team” by allowing an inside pitch to hit them … is a recognized part of their game.

Ron Hunt is the first name that comes to mind. He played in the 1960s and 1970s and for seven consecutive seasons, starting in 1968, he led the National League in HBP. In 1971, he was hit by a pitch 50 times — a modern (which in baseball means “since 1900”) MLB record.

Hunt was a fine player, as evidenced by a 12-year career that included two All-Star Game appearances and three occasions when he received votes in the National League MVP voting.

And part of his game was getting trips to first base via the HBP.

The “trick” is to stand close to the plate and, often, allow an inside pitch to bang off the body.

Masters of this tactic, like Hunt, usually are skilled enough to have the ball hit a part of the body where it will do less damage and hurt a bit less. The upper arm, for instance. The thigh. The buttocks.

Too, pros like Hunt make a point of freezing when a slow pitch — a curve ball or change-up — comes inside. Less velocity, less pain.

Check this list of career leaders in HBP.

Most of those guys were good or very good players. Craig Biggio, Don Baylor, Frank Robinson, Chase Utley, Jason Giambi, Andres Galarraga, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter … good or very good players who also were willing to let a ball traveling 80 mph or more to strike them so as to get to first base.

Some of that is about longevity: Biggio needed 20 seasons to amass his record 285 HBPs. Some of it is about a hyper-competitiveness (Baylor and Utley comes to mind) to do Whatever It Takes to improve a team’s chance to win.

In baseball, these guys are seen as masochists or heroes, by teammates. Or both.

Guyer, a 30-year-old outfielder, last night apparently did little or nothing to get out of the way, the three times he was hit, twice by Boston Red Sox ace David Price, in a 12-8 Rays victory.

Price was not amused. Perhaps because he was charged with eight earned runs in a loss.

Guyer said he doesn’t have “the instinct to move” out of the way. A Boston Globe reporter suggested Guyer meant he “didn’t have the inclination to move”.

Guyer’s manager, Kevin Cash, said: “I don’t necessarily agree that he’s just taking it. Because that hurts.”

Rotoworld.com said: “Guyer’s HBPs were all game-changers, and in none of them did he make any effort at all to get out of the way of the pitch. In fact, he moved into the second of them, which was a borderline strike from David Price. Of course, it’s Guyer’s MO.”

Turns out, Guyer was hit 24 times last season, most in the American League since David Eckstein was plunked 27 times in 2002.

Guyer has taken been hit by a pitch 40 times in his five-season fringe MLB career, representing 15.5 percent of the 258 times he has reached base by hit, walk or HBP. He has a better-than-average career on-base percentage of .346, but without those 40 HBPs his OBP is closer to .200.

The 40 HBPs could be the difference between Guyer being in the bigs or being in Triple-A — or out of baseball. He apparently understands that.

According to baseball rules, players are expected to make an effort to avoid being hit. A famous instance of an umpire invoking that rule occurred in the ninth inning of a game in 1968, when Dick Dietz of the Giants was ruled not to have tried to avoid being hit by Dodgers ace Don Drysdale (who was working on a scoreless-innings streak that would eventually reach a record 58.2 IP), with the bases loaded.

Dietz got back in the box; Drysdale got out of the inning.

However, umpires seem reticent to make that call, perhaps because being hit by a thrown baseball seems like its own punishment. If a player is willing to let one hit him — or even step into one — well, more power to him.

As someone who was unwilling, before the age of 16, to play in an organized game using a regulation baseball … I certainly am impressed by those willing to take great pains to get to first base.