MLB: Ten Most Bizarre Injuries in Baseball History
By David Hill
8. Vince Coleman gets taken out by automatic tarp machine
During the running 1980’s, Vince Coleman was amongst the fastest men in baseball, leading the National League in stolen bases in each of his first six years in the game, including the 110 bases he swiped as a rookie in 1985. However, even he was not fast enough to escape the automatic tarp machine in Busch Stadium.
In a way, this was Coleman’s fault. As a light rain had been falling before Game Four of the National League Championship Series, the Cardinals announced that the tarp would be put on the field. He did not realize it, and was hit by the machine, chipping a bone in his knee and badly bruising his leg, forcing him to miss the rest of the postseason.
It certainly did not affect the Cardinals. As it turned out, his replacement, Tito Landrum, was solid in the postseason. As Coleman was essentially a speedster with few actual skills on the diamond, Landrum’s 15 hits in 39 at bats, including a home run, were likely far more than Coleman would have provided.
The injury would not be a problem for Coleman going forward either, as he continued to steal bases at a prodigious rate. He remained one of the elite speedsters in baseball through the end of the decade, and his 752 stolen bases rank sixth all time. Yet, he could not outrun the automatic tarp.
Rain delays may seem to be rather boring events, but in this case, it proved to be quite dangerous.
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