Post by Copperfields on Mar 14, 2004 12:39:50 GMT -5
In trolling around the Web looking for info about spring training cuts, I came across an article that recalls some of the odd reasons players have missed time. The article begins by talking about Blue Jay pitcher Justin Miller who missed 18 months after tearing a shoulder muscle when he tried to lift weights for the first time.
It then continues:
One they left off was John Smoltz (I think it was Smoltz), who missed a start after he burned himself while ironing a shirt. While he was wearing it.
Anyone remember any others?
David
It then continues:
Five years ago, Canadian reliever Paul Quantrill went on a snowmobile run near his Port Hope home and met up with a tree stump he didn't expect to find on the route.
A broken leg cost Quantrill an entire season and nearly $1 million (U.S.) in salary when the Jays reworked his existing contract, which had a provision barring him from snowmobiling and other hazardous activities.
There was no such provision the Jays could invoke with Glenallen Hill in 1990 when he went on the 15-day disabled list for an activity no more dangerous than sleeping. Hill said he'd had a nightmare about being devoured by spiders, tumbled out of bed and through a glass table, then suffered serious rug burns to his arms, legs and face while trying to crawl to safety.
Miller's injury won't generate more laughs than the one that kept Rickey Henderson out of an August 1993 series for the Jays at Fenway Park. Henderson claimed he couldn't play in the humid weather because of frostbite on his left ankle, caused by him leaving an ice pack on it for too long.
Other major-league injury crack-ups include Moises Alou of the Astros missing the entire 2000 season after falling off a treadmill. Mickey Tettleton of the Tigers once sat out with athlete's foot after tying his shoelaces too tightly. There was also Bret Barberie of the Marlins missing two games for rubbing chili in his eye, Braves ace Tom Glavine breaking a rib while throwing up an airplane meal and future hall of fame hitter Wade Boggs straining his back while pulling on cowboy boots.
A broken leg cost Quantrill an entire season and nearly $1 million (U.S.) in salary when the Jays reworked his existing contract, which had a provision barring him from snowmobiling and other hazardous activities.
There was no such provision the Jays could invoke with Glenallen Hill in 1990 when he went on the 15-day disabled list for an activity no more dangerous than sleeping. Hill said he'd had a nightmare about being devoured by spiders, tumbled out of bed and through a glass table, then suffered serious rug burns to his arms, legs and face while trying to crawl to safety.
Miller's injury won't generate more laughs than the one that kept Rickey Henderson out of an August 1993 series for the Jays at Fenway Park. Henderson claimed he couldn't play in the humid weather because of frostbite on his left ankle, caused by him leaving an ice pack on it for too long.
Other major-league injury crack-ups include Moises Alou of the Astros missing the entire 2000 season after falling off a treadmill. Mickey Tettleton of the Tigers once sat out with athlete's foot after tying his shoelaces too tightly. There was also Bret Barberie of the Marlins missing two games for rubbing chili in his eye, Braves ace Tom Glavine breaking a rib while throwing up an airplane meal and future hall of fame hitter Wade Boggs straining his back while pulling on cowboy boots.
One they left off was John Smoltz (I think it was Smoltz), who missed a start after he burned himself while ironing a shirt. While he was wearing it.
Anyone remember any others?
David
