Baseball's Most Bizarre Injuries

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jul 2, 2013

Baseball's Most Bizarre Injuries

Lance Berkman

Berkman injured his right knee when he slipped going down the steps while getting off the plane after the Rangers got home late Thursday night, June 27, from a road trip to St. Louis and New York. After playing only 32 games for St. Louis last season after two operations on his right knee, Berkman says his knee "doesn't tolerate trauma very well.''

Ian Kennedy

Kennedy was scratched from his scheduled start after cutting his right index finger while washing dishes, according to azcentral.com's Nick Piecoro. The right-hander said he was cleaning a knife when he suffered a laceration on the inside of the finger, according to FOXSportsArizona.com's Jack Magruder. Manager Kirk Gibson said Kennedy threw a bullpen session with a band-aid on the finger after suffering the injury earlier in the week.

Carl Pavano

After ramping up his workouts and free-agent negotiations with teams following the holidays, Pavano had a "freak accident" while shoveling snow at his Vermont home on Jan. 12, 2013. The 37-year-old slipped on ice and fell onto a shovel handle, which jammed into his midsection. Four days later, he felt a "sudden wave of abdominal pain and nausea" -- he had lacerated his spleen. Pavano, who became notorious in New York for spending so much time on the disabled list after signing with the Yankees, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Joe Christensen, "I'm just lucky to be alive."

Hanley Ramirez

Ramirez cut his hand when he hit an electric fan after returning to the dugout following a sixth-inning groundout against the Cardinals on July 8, 2012. He left the game and received stitches for the injury. "Very stupid injury," manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters. "Very immature. ... You make an out, you hit something and you injure it, you don't just hurt yourself, you hurt the ballclub."

Ramon Ramirez

Johan Santana's no-hitter came at a cost to the New York Mets. While injured outfielder Mike Baxter is expected to miss about six weeks after crashing into the fence while making an outstanding catch to preserve Santana's no-hitter against St. Louis, reliever Ramon Ramirez is likely headed to the disabled list as well after straining his right hamstring during the postgame celebration. Ramirez was injured running onto the field with teammates to mob Santana after he finished the first no-hitter in Mets history.

Jonathan Lucroy

Lucroy fractured a fifth metacarpal in his right hand and was placed on the 15-day DL by the Brewers May 28, 2012. He suffered the injury during an accident in his hotel room when he was reaching for a sock under the bed and his wife bumped a suitcase that fell on his right hand. Lucroy is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Mark DeRosa

Utility man Mark DeRosa (inset), who was on the disabled list with a left oblique strain, aggravated his injury after Bryce Harper high-fived him after stealing home against the Phillies on May 6. "I don't know if that set back the rehab or not," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "But I said, `Why didn't use your [right] hand?' He said it was spur of the moment."DeRosa had not played since April 27 because of his oblique strain; he was hitting .081 (3-for-37) before the injury.

Josh Outman

The Rockies reliever was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique he suffered while vomiting from food-poisoning.

Joba Chamberlain

Working his way back from elbow surgery, Chamberlain suffered an open dislocation of his right ankle while playing with his 5-year-old son on a trampoline.

David Price

Price left a preseason game with minor neck spasms sustained while he was drying his neck with a towel between innings. "It's happened to me two times before," Price explained. "The towel just catches the back of my head and it pulls my neck forward. I just felt it a little bit in back of my neck and just wanted to be cautious with it."

Brett Cecil

Cecil was scratched from his scheduled start against the Yankees after cutting his left index finger while cleaning a blender in Boston.

Chris Coghlan

Coughlan suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee after planting a pie in the face of teammate Wes Helms, who had just hit a game-winning single.

David Freese

Freese was working out when he accidentally dropped a weight on the big toe of his left foot. On the bright side, Freese was already on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle so he didn't miss any additional time.

A.J. Burnett

Burnett, who had been struggling for the Yankees, took out his aggression on a pair of swinging doors. After a particularly rough half-inning, the hard-throwing righty went into the clubhouse and slammed his open hands into the doors, cutting them up badly in the process. He tried to come back into the game but was quickly pulled after hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch.

Russell Branyan

The Mariners slugger missed time with a foot injury after waking up in a hotel room at 5 a.m. to shut the curtains. In his half-sleep, Branyan knocked over a table and cut his toe, forcing him out of action for four games.

Geoff Blum

For a sport full of strange injuries, Blum's may take the cake. He was placed on the 15-day DL after feeling a "pop" in his elbow while putting on a shirt.

Luke Scott

There are few thrills in professional sports like hitting a home run, but it wasn't all roses for Scott. The Orioles outfielder pulled a hamstring during his home trot and was forced to spend 15 days on the DL.

Kendry Morales

Morales went from elation to disappointment in a matter of seconds as he broke his leg celebrating a walkoff grand slam against Seattle. The injury caused him to miss the rest of the season.

Brad Bergesen

The Orioles must have known 2010 was not going to be their season after Bergesen strained his shoulder while filming a commercial for the team. The injury forced him to miss the first 10 days of spring training.

Hunter Pence

The hotshot outfielder was the early talk of spring training after he suffered lacerations on his knee and right index finger from walking through a sliding glass door at his apartment in Kissimmee while hot-tubbing with a female friend. But he isn't alone in baseball injury lore.

Joel Zumaya

The fireballing reliever missed three games of the 2006 ALCS after developing inflammation in his right wrist from playing the video game Guitar Hero. Zumaya, who presumably does a killer version of Smoke on The Water, recovered in time for the World Series.

Clint Barmes

The 2005 NL Rookie of the Year candidate short-circuited his season, and ultimately his career, by taking a tumble on a flight of stairs while carrying groceries. Barmes, who injured his left shoulder, later admitted he was actually hauling a slab of deer meat procured while hunting with teammate Todd Helton.

Doug Mirabelli

Doug Mirabelli may only trail David Ortiz by a few inches and about 10 pounds, but Big Papi's bat appeared to be too much for Sox catcher to handle back in 2005. Mirabelli sprained his wrist trying to swing Ortiz's lumber and missed 21 games.

Kevin Brown

The cantankerous hurler punched a wall in frustration and broke his non-pitching hand after being removed from a start in 2004. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Brown returned in time to take a pounding from the archrival Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS.

David Cone

Talk about the dog days of summer, the hurler missed a start in June 1998 after he was bitten on the ring finger of his pitching hand by his mother's Jack Russell terrier, Veronica.

Marty Cordova

Opting for lamps over natural sunlight (perhaps the logical option for a baseball player) to stay bronzed, Marty Cordova was burnt to a crisp and ordered to ride the bench for a game.

Adam Eaton

The right-hander wound up in an emergency room after stabbing himself in the gut while trying to open a DVD with a paring knife.

Akinori Otsuka

Who knew signing autographs could be more dangerous than the sport? Akinori Otsuka was nailed by a flying bat while giving his John Hancock to fans before a game.

Oliver Perez

Frustrated over his lack of pitching control, Perez chose to take his anger out on the team's laundry bucket in the locker room. The laundry bucket won, giving Perez a broken toe and a trip to the DL.

Sammy Sosa

No wonder the wind blows out at Wrigley. This slugging outfielder missed a 2004 game with back spasms brought on by a hearty sneeze.

Kaz Sasaki

The closer missed two months of the 2003 season due to rib injuries sustained in a fall while hauling a suitcase up a flight of stairs in his home.

Randy Keisler

After arthroscopic shoulder surgery, a demotion to the minors, and a tiff with reporters, Randy Keisler's baseball luck ran out when he was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake in his backyard.

Steve Sparks

Milwaukee's knucklehead, er, knuckleballer dislocated his left shoulder while trying to rip a phonebook in half at a motivational seminar hosted by the team in 1994.

Rickey Henderson

No stranger to injuries or bizarre behavior, baseball's all-time stolen base king missed three mid-summer games after allegedly falling asleep with an ice pack on his foot and developing frostbite.

Glenallen Hill

The arachnophobic outfielder cut himself up in 1990 by falling out of bed and onto a glass table in a fit of panic induced by a nightmare about being covered in spiders.

John Smoltz

The 1996 Cy Young Award-winner allegedly burned himself in 1990 by ironing a shirt while he was still wearing it. Steamed by the story, Smoltz adamantly denies the injury ever happened.

John Tudor

Sitting quietly in the dugout, Cardinals ace John Tudor was pummeled by Mets catcher Barry Lyons as he attempted to catch a foul ball. The ball stayed foul, but Tudor's knee was shattered.

Vince Coleman

Vince Coleman set a rookie record with 110 stolen bases for St. Louis in 1985, but he will forever be known as the "man who got swallowed by the tarp." Relaxing on the Busch Stadium tarp path during that year's NLCS, Coleman got caught underneath a mechanized tarp that was trying to cover the field before Game 4. Coleman injured his knee and missed the rest of the post-season--including the Cardinals seven-game World Series loss to the Royals.

Oddibe McDowell

Talk about a warm welcome! At the Rangers' annual welcome home luncheon, Oddibie McDowell attempted to butter a roll, but, instead, sliced his right hand. Welcome to the DL?

Chris Brown

According to legend, the former Giants infielder once begged out of a minor league game because he said he'd strained his eyelid by "sleeping on it funny."