The Most Bizarre MLB Injuries
Nolan Ryan, pitcher, 1985
The Express could throw the lamb chop past ten wolves, but he couldn’t get his hand past a coyote pup he found on a countryside drive. The critter bit him on the finger, costing him a start. For once in his life, Wile E. Coyote (famishius nippibus) nailed the Road Runner (fastballicus supersonicus).
Wade Boggs, third baseman,1986
The Red Sox’s Hall of Famer missed a week with a wrenched back he suffered when . . . pulling up a pair of cowboy boots. The Chicken Man proved the hazard of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.
Glenallen Hill, outfielder, 1990
The Toronto Blue Jays’ sophomore fell out of bed . . . right into and through a glass table, suffering bruises and cuts on elbows, knees, and legs, as he awoke violently from . . . a nightmare about spiders. Now, I wonder: Has he been seen since watching any of the film exploits of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?
Rickey Henderson, outfielder, 1993
Baseball’s arguable greatest leadoff man ever found himself put on ice for three August games. The Man of Steal dozed off with an ice bag on his foot, suffering a nasty case of frostbite. Ice, ice, baby!
Steve Sparks, pitcher, 1994
Remember when you were a child and your mother challenged you about going along with the crowd: “I suppose if Billy Bestie jumps off the bridge you’d have to jump off the bridge, too?” Sparks decided that just because a motivational speaker he’d seen ripped a thick telephone book in half he could rip a thick telephone book in half, too.
Except that the shoulder he dislocated trying told him, nastily, “That’s what you think!”