Life Threatening Injuries: Baseball’s hazardous side- MLB Feature Part 5
Fouling off a pitch is a very common tool that batters apply to avoid being out. Fans love catching a foul ball and adding it to the memorabilia they have. To protect fans from some screeching foul balls often a net is placed
in front of the fans nearest to action.
The seemingly routine matter can however take a turn for the worse. Matt Williams learned all about the dangers in spring training of 2000, playing against the Chicago White Sox. While he fouled one off, the ball hit is foot, immediately bringing him down.
He had broken his metatarsal bone. It was a second time he did it; he had broken the same bone in 1995 in the same manner. In 1995, he had missed nearly 70 games, this time around; he was able to comeback after just 43.
Jermaine Dye had a similar one while playing against the New York Yankees in 2001 for the Oakland Athletics. He came to bat against Orlando Hernandez and fouled one off, which hit his shin. He went down straight away and was in obvious pain before being
taken off the field.
The hit ended up with a fractured tibia. It was a blow to the team’s chances as well as Jermaine was a star performer for the A’s. Team mate Johnny Damon knew the injury was bad once he saw him go down and not get back up.
"I figured it out when he was getting carried off," said Damon. "He's a tough guy. I've seen him bounce back from a busted-up collarbone and a busted-up knee, and he'd get up and be ready to keep going. I knew this was pretty severe."
The team was unable to recover from the loss of Jermaine and eventually lost the game as their batters found it hard to connect. Jason Giambi had an exceptional time, going 4-for-4 but saw little support otherwise.
Collisions on the base can be really ugly. They can end up with lengthy injuries and it is important that one takes special care to avoid serious injury in such a situation.
Chad Kreuter had a massive collision with Johnny Damon of the Kansas City Royals who bludgeoned him in his conquest to get to home plate. Chad had a fractured and dislocated shoulder. That was not the greatest issue though as he later had internal bleeding
in his stomach associated with the injury and had a close brush with death.
He was operated upon his shoulder a week later. Chad later recalled the incident and explained how he had tried to avoid it.
"I had given him ample room to fly by me on the outside of the plate," Kreuter said. "He could have slid around me. But he felt he had to run into me to be safe. I was in a vulnerable position, a sitting duck."
He continued his career in the Majors for a few more years though the injury at one point had threatened to draw his career to an early close.
Last on our list is the collision between Ray Fosse and Pete Rose that took place at the end of 1970 All-Star game’s conclusion. The collision took place when Pete Rose ran into Ray Fosse and separated Ray’s shoulder. He also had broken the shoulder but
that was initially not diagnosed, adding to Fosse’s misery.
The injury had a telling impact on the catcher’s career who was unable to produce the same kind of power he had before. His numbers at the end of his career were reasonable but they could have been a lot better if he had not sustained the injury.
Both players have a different account of the story and Ray maintains that he was only waiting for the throw to come from the outfield and not blocking the plate. Rose suggests that he did not hit him intentionally.
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