Jun 22, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Jake Diekman (41) reacts to giving up a three run home run in the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Texas won 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
We seemingly cannot have a baseball season without a player or two missing time due to some bizarre injury. Let us look at the ten most peculiar injuries in MLB history.
Few things go together quite like a beer and a baseball game. Who doesn’t enjoy turning on the television and watching some baseball while enjoying a pint or six? Well, if one happens to be a baseball player, that mix can be dangerous.
That proved to be the case with Texas Rangers hurler Jake Diekman, who had been placed on the disabled list with a cut on his left index finger. This seemed normal enough, until it was discovered that Diekman injured the digit by cutting it on a piece of glass from a souvenir beer mug he bought from Cheers in Boston (yes, the setting of the television show). Don’t drink and baseball, I suppose.
This injury got me thinking – what other truly bizarre injuries have occurred in the history of the MLB? As it turns out, there have been quite a few freak injuries and bizarre missteps in the history of Major League Baseball, running the gamut from sheer stupidity to those that leave one scratching their head in confusion. Baseball players, it seems, are truly a danger to themselves both on and off the field.
So, in honor of Diekman’s odd injury, let us take a trip down memory lane and look at the ten most bizarre injuries in MLB history.
Sometimes, even the most experienced of people have difficulties in taking off a bra. The hooks can be problematic, and if they are bent even slightly, taking off that article of clothing can truly be a pain. For San Francisco Giants manager Roger Craig, trying to take off a bra was literally painful.
While the details surrounding the incident remain (thankfully) ambiguous, all that is known is that Craig appeared in the dugout one day with a large gash on his hand. Naturally, seeing their manager with this injury spawned questions, leading to the revelation that he had cut his hand on a bra strap.
Craig, who was in his late 50’s at the time, refused to divulge the information as to whose bra he was taking off at the time. It is imagined that it was not his own, although given the body types of former Giants John Kruk and Atlee Hammaker, there could have been issues in the clubhouse. Perhaps it was wise to keep the identity of the bra’s owner under wraps.
We can imagine that Craig played through the pain. After all, he showed up in the dugout with his hand bandaged, and did not miss a contest. Given the situation he likely found himself in, Craig likely just rubbed some dirt on the cut, said he was fine, and went about his business.
It may have been a bizarre injury, but Roger Craig may have earned a great deal of respect in the San Francisco Giants clubhouse that day. Turned out that the old man still had some game.
For some players, gymnastics are a part of their daily routine. Ozzie Smith is remembered not just for his glove, but for his backflip when heading out on the field. However, there is a reason why those moves come with the ‘Do not try this at home’ disclaimer.
Even professional athletes need to take care when performing such stunts, as Chicago Cubs starter Mike Harkey found out. He was in the midst of a solid year after being called up to the minors, having posted a 4-0 record with a 1.89 ERA and a 1.289 WHiP in seven starts when he decided to impress his teammates by doing a cartwheel.
Now, Harkey was a relatively large fellow, standing in at 6’5″ and weighing 225 pounds. People that size typically do not fare well when attempting such a move, and Harkey was no different. Not only did his attempt at the cartwheel go awry, but he also blew out his knee, ending his season and cutting into the following year, as he did not return until the middle of April.
It is difficult to say how much this injury hampered Harkey during the rest of his career. He was a talented pitcher with great stuff, but he had a bad shoulder. Harkey pitched well in 1990, but the Cubs switch to a four man rotation led to surgery that caused him to miss most of 1991, and he was never the same again.
Leave the cartwheels to the professionals, and let the tale of Mike Harkey, who failed in his attempt to impress his teammates, serve as a cautionary tale.
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.
7. Joel Zumaya injures himself playing Guitar Hero
As a rookie for the Detroit Tigers, Joel Zumaya took the league by storm with his impressive fastball. Routinely touching triple digits, Zumaya struck out over ten batters per nine innings, and allowed just over six hits per nine. His command was iffy at best, but with that high octane fastball, it did not matter.
He was an integral part of the Tigers bullpen down the stretch, and was a major part of their run to the World Series that year. However, there was a three game span during the American League Championship Series due to wrist inflammation. While it was thought that this was just a matter of usage, that was not the case.
In December, General Manager Dave Dombrowski shed some light on what really happened. As it turned out, Zumaya was a fan of Guitar Hero, and had played the game excessively, injuring his wrist in the process. This story would be something that parents everywhere would use to warn their children about the dangers of video games.
This bizarre injury did not escape the notice of the game. When the sequel, Guitar Hero II, came out, they included the following disclaimer: “No pitchers were harmed in the making of this game. Except for one. Joel Zumaya. He had it coming.” That’s a little harsh, but maybe the makers of the game just aren’t Tigers fans.
Joel Zumaya saw his career derailed by injuries, and Guitar Hero was just the beginning. This was one of the most bizarre injuries in MLB history, and it ended up as a precursor to what the rest of his career would be like.
There are certain concepts that are considered to be obvious. Do not play in traffic. Do not eat rat poison. And do not iron a shirt while wearing it. Well, someone forgot to teach Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz that last lesson.
At least, that is according to the legend. Smoltz had realized a shirt he was wearing was wrinkled, and he needed to iron it. However, he decided against taking his shirt off, and ironed it while wearing the offending garment, burning his chest in the process.
Smoltz, meanwhile, disputes that story. He claims to have simply been using a portable steamer, and when he set it down, some water popped out and left a penny sized burn on his chest. His teammates thought that the mark was a sign of an amorous encounter, and instead of taking the less embarrassing story, decided that it was better to tell the truth.
In doing so, he has become somewhat legendary in the annuls of bizarre injuries. Whenever someone does something stupid, missing time due to an incident that defies logic, Smoltz’ unfortunate ironing incident is brought up, much to his dismay.
The legend says one thing, and Smoltz himself claims something different. In reality, it is difficult to know what the truth actually is.
In his rookie season in 2010, Tyler Colvin appeared as though he would be a viable part of the Chicago Cubs future. In his 111 games played, he produced a solid .254/.316/.500 batting line with 20 home runs, providing the Cubs offense a bit of power as a semi regular. However, his season was cut short by one of the more bizarre injuries to happen on the diamond.
Colvin had been standing in the on deck circle, awaiting his turn at the bat while Wellington Castillo was at the plate. The bat shattered as Castillo hit a double, with a piece impaling Colvin and severely damaging his lung. He was hospitalized and a tube was placed in his chest to prevent against a collapsed lung.
That injury would also lead to a debate about a ban on maple bats. Although the MLB had sanctioned the use of ash bats, some players, such as Castillo, preferred maple. Maple bats tended to shatter into splinters when broken, and baseball wanted to do away with them. The injury to Colvin was the first real evidence against such bats, a debate that continues to this day.
However, in the minors, certain types of maple bats have been banned since 2010, ironically the year that Colvin would be injured. With the focus on fan safety, and the expansion of the netting behind home plate, that debate has begun once again.
If maple bats are ever banned at the Major League level, Tyler Colvin will be a prime example as to what could happen on the field. It was certainly one of the more frightening injuries in this history of the game.
Rickey Henderson is one of those players that, if he did not exist, it would have been almost impossible to invent him. A speedster without peer, Henderson’s mouth moved as quickly as his legs, and without filter. Known for his insistence on referring to himself in the third person, and his entertaining malapropisms, Henderson kept us entertained on and off the field.
Those foibles also extended to the trainer’s room. He once missed several games in August due to a foot injury, which would make sense given how he relied upon his speed. But the reason as to why he missed those games is pure Henderson – he had frostbite because he left an ice pack on for too long.
It is the type of story that just makes sense for Henderson. After all, he allegedly went up to John Olerud and mentioned that he had previously played with someone else who wore a batting helmet in the field. That turned out to be Olerud when they were in Toronto together. He also slid into home plate on his 3000th hit, waving his teammates off so that he could score on his home run in style.
Honestly, even if the story of Henderson contracting frostbite in August was not true, it sounds like the sort of thing that would happen to him. He was a character all his own, a true original that may never be replicated.
Not only was Rickey Henderson a great leadoff hitter, but he also had one of the all time greatest injuries in baseball history. Who else would get frostbite in the middle of summer?
Typically, when I am fighting foes that no one else can see, it either involves mixing various substances or complete insanity. For Blue Jays slugger Glenallen Hill, it involved a nightmare and a broken glass table.
Remembered as a muscular player who would hit prodigious home runs, and not much else, Hill has gone down in MLB history with one of the more bizarre injuries ever. During a nightmare about spiders, Hill began sleepwalking and fighting his arachnid foes, leading him to fall into a glass coffee table. He fell onto the table, suffering several cuts, before falling down the stairs in his haste to escape the creatures.
As it turned out, Hill had a severe phobia of spiders. Naturally, this incident was met with quite a lot of scepticism, because who would believe that someone would cause that much damage to themselves battling invisible insects. Hill then invited those who refused to believe him to his house, where they could witness the damage themselves.
It was really a bizarre situation with a fun story. Of course, with this being baseball, Hill earned the nickname ‘SpiderMan’ because of his battle, although the humor may have been lost on him. It is, however, better than other nicknames he could have received based on his play, as watching Hill in the field was once described as “akin to watching a gaffed haddock surface for air.”
If you ever end up with Glenallen Hill spending the night at your place, make sure that the glass tables are in the other room.
Nolan Ryan was truly a mystical being. He fired seven no hitters, holds the record for most strikeouts in MLB history, and was one of the most intimidating people in the history of the game. He was also involved in one of the more infamous moments in the game, when he put a charging Robin Ventura in a headlock and pounded him with uppercuts.
So, for a legendary tough guy like Ryan to make this list, the injury would have to be truly spectacular, and be something befitting his lifestyle. Well, as Ryan would spend his time driving around the countryside and working on his ranch, it had to be something interesting.
Well, in 1985, during one of those junkets, Ryan found two coyote pups. He decided to take them home, because why wouldn’t he want two coyotes to hang around with? Well, one of the pups bit his hand, leading Ryan to undergo numerous tests for rabies and to miss a start.
Needless to say, Ryan was not happy about missing that start, the rabies tests, nor having his coyote pups taken away. He held the Padres to six hits, walking two and striking out five in a 3-2 victory while he was waiting for those test results. San Diego players would have preferred he be kept away from the mound until they knew for sure that the Ryan Express was not rabid.
And yet, this was not the most bizarre injury in MLB history. For that honor, we go all the way back to 1923.
Back in 1923, dental hygiene was not quite what it is today. While toothbrushes and toothpaste existed, the standards were not the same as they are these days. As such, it was not uncommon for younger people to wear dentures, with their teeth having rotted or fallen out.
Such was the case with 30 year old rookie Clarence Blethen. He would remove his dentures when on the mound, as he felt that he looked meaner without his teeth in. Or, he made people think about their grandfather. Considering he had a career 7.32 ERA and a 2.186 WHiP during his seven major league appearances, that intimidation factor did not work.
However, if not for his false teeth, Blethen would likely be completely forgotten about in the annuls of the game. See, needing a place to put those dentures when playing, he would keep them in his back pocket. This would prove to be a mistake when, during a game in 1923, Blethen slid hard into second base after a double, forgetting about those teeth.
Well, they did not forget about him. The dentures closed, taking a bloody chunk out of his bottom. He began bleeding profusely, and needed to be pulled from the game due to the damage that his teeth caused. He certainly remembered to put those teeth back in his mouth when batting after that incident.
Clarence Blethen only pitched for parts of two seasons in the Majors, but he certainly left a mark on the game. And a denture sized mark on his bottom.
