A collection of random facts gathered together from the Web. Have an idea for THE 10?
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In honor of the opening day of the Major League Baseball season, the first collection of "random facts gathered from the Web" is devoted to stupid injury excuses (many of them hard to believe) that Major Leaguers have given for injuries.
Here they are in position number order:
1. PITCHER | Adam Eaton, San Diego Padres
-Missed a start in 2001 after stabbing himself with a paring knife while attempting to open a DVD box.
Source: CBC
2. CATCHER | Mickey Tettleton, Detroit Tigers
-Reportedly injured because he tied his shoes too tight.
Source: ESPN
3. FIRST BASEMAN | Ryan Klesko, Atlanta Braves
-Missed a couple games after reportedly overexerting himself picking up a lunch tray.
Source: ESPN
4. SECOND BASEMAN | Jeff Kent, San Francisco Giants
-Missed a month due to a broken wrist he sustained while washing his truck at a self-serve car wash in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2002. According to ESPN, he broke his wrist when he slipped and tried to brace his fall. "I was straddling the back of my truck when I slipped and fell," he told ESPN. "I didn't think much of it at the time and finished washing my truck. ”
Source: ESPN
5. THIRD BASEMAN | Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox
-Missed seven games from a back injury he sustained putting on a pair of cowboy boots.
Source: CBC
6. SHORTSTOP | Clint Barmes, Colorado Rockies
-Claims he injured his collar bone in 2005 walking up the steps with a bag of groceries. He later claimed it was a package of meat Todd Helton gave him that he was carrying and not the ATV he and his teammate were riding that day. "I figured, I'm an athlete, I can walk up the stairs, it's not that big a deal," Barmes told ESPN before he changed his story.
Source: ESPN
7. LEFT FIELDER | Vince Coleman, St. Louis Cardinals
-Missed 1985 World Series after getting rolled up in the tarp machine.
Source: Baseball Reference
8. CENTER FIELDER | Jose Cardenal, Chicago Cubs
-Missed a game in 1972 because he was kept awake all night by crickets chirping in his hotel room. Missed another game in 1974, because he couldn't blink. He swore his eyes were stuck open.
Source: Chicago Sports.com
9. RIGHT FIELDER | Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
- Hurt in May 2004 when he sneezed twice in the Cubs clubhouse and developed back spasms. "It would have been better if I had hit off the wall or we have a fight or something, but this ... you know what I mean?" Sosa told the Associated Press. "What can you do? Some things in life you cannot control. This is strange that it happened."
Source: Associated Press
10. DESIGNATED HITTER | Glenallen Hill, Toronto Blue Jays
-Missed a game in 1990 because of an injury (cuts on his toes and elbows and carpet burns on his knees) he claims was the result of a nightmare. Deathly afraid of spiders, Hill told the New York Times that he bounced off a wall and climbed the 10 stairs in his apartment. ''When I woke up I was on a couch and my wife, Mika, was screaming, 'Honey, wake up!' '' he said. (Note: Numerous Internet reports that he crashed through a glass coffee table could not be confirmed.)
Source: New York Times
posted [03.31.08]
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