MLB: Top 10 Worst Reasons Players Have Missed Time

Player: Sammy Sosa, outfielder, Chicago Cubs

Reason(s): Violently sneezing

Sammy Sosa will forever be known as the only player in MLB history to hit 60 or more home runs in three different seasons. So dominant was Sosa for a four-year stretch, between 1998 and 2001, that he hit 243 HR and 597 RBI. That’s an average of approximately 61 HR and 149 RBIs per season.

I’m not sure that’s ever been done before.

Shortly after that dominant run, however, Sammy began experiencing one of the worst runs a player has ever had. I’m not talking in terms of his play either. I’m referring to his character and his ego.

First came the suspicions that perhaps he was using performance enhancers to dramatically improve his play. Then came the corked bat incident. And in between, there was a missed game because of perhaps the dumbest reason you could ever imagine… a sneeze gone wrong.

According to a report, found here from ESPN, “Slammin’ Sammy” was placed on the 15-day DL “two violent sneezes brought on back spasms.”

Sammy’s career was never the same after that. The following season, he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles where he’d have the worst season in more than a decade.

Then, after missing two seasons, Sammy Sosa returned for the 2007 season, where he would retire as a member of the Texas Rangers.