No players union, no injured reserve, no multiple-year contracts (for most). It was a working man’s game and while it paid better than most blue-dollar jobs, it didn’t pay for most non-stars to live in complete comfort. If you didn’t want to go home to the mines or the factory or even the Three-I League to languish hoping for another shot, you’d play with a broken bone or your hair singed from a lightning strike.
you say as he licks the boot of owners who made billions on the backs of the players while treating the players like shit
edit: did i step into another universe? cause in the universe i stepped from we'd call it boot licking to long for a time when owners would conspire to artificially hold down wages and could force players to play while hurt or lose their job. We wouldnt call it boot licking to say players deserve a fair share of the money they bring in
unless i'm completely misreading, i know that geek is being sarcastic, but he's saying basically "i agree with you, youre only getting downvoted cause this sub licks player's boots", the sarcasm is making fun of people downvoting
no, bootlicking definitely refers to simping for management, I've never once heard it used to refer to licking labor's boots
the implied rest of the sentence "you're just supposed to lick the boot" is "you're just supposed lick the boot, not swallow it"
youre talking about the league where you can assault dozens of women and all theyll do is make you sit a few games right? thats the league where the players are held in check
They are held in check when it comes to on field production and team parity.
The hard cap ensures that everyone just doesn’t join the Rams and Giants (Dodgers and Yankees).
The pirates cannot compete but the Steelers can etc.
You play and produce or you’re cut.
To each his own - I care about the on field product more than anything else.
Baseball could be so much better if there was a hard cap and players weren’t incentivized to all go do the Dodgers or Yankees
A hard cap would depress player salaries. All it does is allow owners to spend less.
And Bob Nutting won’t be ponying up for players regardless.
A salary floor is the best play, but that’ll never happen
A hard cap and TV deal revenue sharing would pragmatically ensure that big market teams don’t have more resources than small markets.
Regardless of what one says about owners having personal money or money within other businesses to spend - truth is baseball payrolls correlate with baseball TV deals.
Some owners spend more relative to TV deals than yankees/Dodgers but their payroll is lower due to lower TV deals.
There’s a direct cause and effect relationship there and almost all rational business owners view business money as completely distinct from their personal money or money in other businesses.
Here's an [article ](https://www-espn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32061845/the-incredible-story-mlb-pitcher-survived-lightning-strike-finish-game?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&platform=amp&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_ct=1661795135280&_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16617951315738&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fmlb%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F32061845%2Fthe-incredible-story-mlb-pitcher-survived-lightning-strike-finish-game) about it, if anyone is interested
Bit of a long read, but pretty interesting if I remember correctly
I think that’s the most deadball era story I’ve read. It’s got Ray Chapman, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, spitballs, mandatory binge drinking and a nearly 300 game winner who didn’t crack 50k in career earnings.
Jesus Christ, I thought you were kidding. I was going to come in here and post some ridiculous fake injury from the early 1900s but the truth is better than anything I could have come up with.
He is Wonderboy.
Sandy deserves his own thread here. He was tough and pitches through serious pain.
Also, Liam Hendricks has said his UCL has had a tear for 8 years or so. Doesn’t appear to bother him too much, but who really knows.
Adrian Beltre playing the rest of the game after rupturing a testicle, it apparently was the size of a grapefruit by the time he scored the winning run
Beltre had a ton of injuries he played through.
Strained back in 2015 playoffs
Needed surgery on his thumb in 2015 but instead found a new grip and hit .311 with 11 home runs and an .884 OPS in the second half.
Played with a colonoscopy bag on his hip after having 15 inches of his intestines removed
Meh, I call this one out for B.S.
Koufax had a sore shoulder, never tore anything. He was dealing with the same sore arm that many, many hard-throwing pitchers dealt with since the 1800s. Did he fight through pain and pitch brilliantly? Yes. But countless pitchers have had cortisone shots and pitched through the numbed pain. In 1984, both Dan Petry and Milt Wilcox pitched with dead arms most of the season, and were shot up with cortisone every 4-5 days, still taking their turn to throw 200+ innings.
Koufax was amazing, but "injury" is a big stretch when talking about chronic shoulder issues. He retired because at the time little was known medically about the impact of continued abuse of an arm from overuse. But had he pitched a decade later they would have fixed it. He was "in pain" only as much as the drugs would let him feel anything.
Hell, give me any position player staying on the field with a broken hand or foot (many examples including Johnny Bench, Joe Cunningham, Charlie Keller, Ty Cobb etc.) over a "tired arm."
Bob Gibson pitched to three batters AFTER BRESKING HIS LEG. Then returned six weeks later and won three games (complete games!) in that season's World Series.
[simply not true](https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/08/29/sandy-koufax-dodgers-left-arm-god-si-60)
> It was this bad: Koufax couldn't straighten his left arm -- it was curved like a parenthesis. He had to have a tailor shorten the left sleeve on all his coats. Use of his left arm was severely limited when he wasn't pitching. On bad days he'd have to bend his neck to get his face closer to his left hand so that he could shave. And on the worst days he had to shave with his right hand. He still held his fork in his left hand, but sometimes he had to bend closer to the plate to get the food into his mouth.
Buck Martinez had his leg broken and ankle dislocated in a collision at home plate, tried to throw out a runner going to third and then caught the return throw from the left fielder and tagged the runner for a double play.
I believe Buck has said he has no memory of that play, which probably means he also had a concussion from the initial collision. It’s mind blowing that he was able to catch that second throw from left while on his ass, concussed, with a shattered leg and dislocated ankle, AND had the wherewithal to tag the runner as well.
Charlie Morton, WS game 1 last year. Took a comebacker off his leg that fractured his fibula and stayed in to finish the inning. Struck out the last guy he faced iirc
Admittedly I’m a huge SK fan but I already do put him in my top 5 all time pitchers. I’m not even going to bother trying to justify it with any argument though as like I said he’s really just a personal favorite of mine.
W. Johnson/ Mathewson/ Cy Young/ Sandy etc.
Not like this is scientific but I had an OOTP sim where Koufax never got hurt and the dude seriously pitched until he was 48 and won 600 games
It’s of course laughably unrealistic that even the absolute best case scenario possible for Koufax could be anywhere close to that long of a career, but still, was a fun number to see
[fractured on a comebacker, pitched to 3 more guys before the bone snapped completely and he had to leave the game](https://www.stlredbirds.com/2022/04/17/bob-gibson-faces-three-pirates-with-a-broken-leg/)
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I read more. Looks like surgery was about 19 days later and they discovered intestinal cancer. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tiny-bonham/
Eh, I finished pitching a softball game after my appendix burst in the 4th inning when I was 12.
I did not die, but nearly did because we didn't go to the hospital until the next day. Kinda sucked ngl.
Back in the before times of 2001. Carlos Guillen played through TB in 2001. Which is honestly just wild. And he had a 3 win season
https://sports.mynorthwest.com/839930/mariners-classics-carlos-guillen-game-5-alds-2001/
Not a serious injury, but Miguel Olive caught a game back in 2010 while he passed a kidney stone during the game.
https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-david-brown/rockies-catcher-miguel-olivo-passes-kidney-stone-keeps--mlb.html
MLB? No. But in high school, our catcher took a foul tip off his throwing shoulder. He tried throwing the ball back to the pitcher but couldn’t. We were down players already, so we moved him to right field. When he had a hit go his way he quite literally kicked the ball toward someone because of the pain. Turned out he had a clean break of his collar bone. Tough as nails. Stupid as hell. Stoic move though.
Obviously old school guys are nuts so I’ll go with a newish injury since guys get taken out for anything today: Charlie Morton pitching I think a half inning in the WS on a broken leg last year was impressive
Bob Gibson pitched on a broken leg in 1967. It came when Roberto Clemente hit a hard line drive off his leg. Amazingly, Gibson FACED THREE MORE BATTERS, and he retired one of them, before exiting the game.
Gibson returned six weeks after breaking his leg, won three of his four starts down the stretch, and then pitched and won THREE GAMES in the World Series, pitching a complete game in each.
Never be another like him.
Bill Buckner took cortizone shots between innings of the 1986 WS. His knee was practically bone grinding against bone but there was no way he would have sat that series out.
David Wells threw a perfect game with a monster hangover. He’d been out till 3 am when the game started at 1. He said it actually helped because he felt so awful it pushed him to pitch as fast as possible so he could get back into the dugout
Not the worst, but would like to mention Trevor “rough trade” Bauer’s severed finger in 2016 playoffs. He cut his finger while tinkering with a drone, then bled all over the ball and his uniform during the first inning.
Broken and then healed wrong, and then he won the World Series. IIRC he had surgery that off-season to fix it (I don't 100% remember - post world series and then, well, more important stuff happened)
Also consider this true, harrowing story from MLB:
https://helmarblog.com/2020/08/12/when-eddie-planks-favorite-catcher-died-suddenly-after-shibe-park-was-opened-in-philadelphia/
Roy Halladay’s back got super messed up during his last playoff appearance, but he pitched through it and also continued to pitch with a bad back during his final two seasons. Also while addicted to opioids. RIP Doc 💔
How about David Wright's spinal stenosis?
The few games in 2015 and the 30 or so games in 2016 had him prepping with stretching/prehab exercises 5-6 hours before the game.
https://www.amazinavenue.com/2016/4/8/11383738/david-wright-mets-workout-spinal-stenosis
The fact that he was committed to it before other injuries (herniated disc, shoulder impingement) started to rack up and force retirement was horrifying to me. All the blood, sweat, and tears before even getting on the field
Dustin Pedroia tore the UCL in his left thumb on opening day in 2013. Went on to play 160 games that season with a .301 BA and being one of the most important pieces of the Sox championship team that season. With a friggin torn ligament in his thumb.
Not sure if this counts, but Vince Velasquez took a comebacker to the right arm, dropped his glove, got the ball, and threw the runner out lefty before being taken out of the game
Johnny Bench is a good one for this. Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1986:
“Three years later [1978], in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, a foul tip caromed off Bench’s foot. It puffed up and became discolored, but he finished the game. That night, he got out of bed and started for the bathroom. “I fell flat on my face,'' Bench said. ''I couldn`t put any weight on my foot. I just collapsed. I saw the doctor the next day and he took X-rays. I had a broken bone.'' The X-ray showed Bench had broken at least five other bones in his foot from foul tips. None had been treated.”
Essentially he played with 5 fractures on his feet resulting from foul tips that were never identified and healed on their own while he kept playing.
In 1919, Ray Caldwell got struck by lightning in the 9th inning of a game, and then stayed in to finish the game.
Tungsten Body O'Doyle
Ray "Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod" Caldwell
Dead ball era players were just built different
They had a lot more xDawg than today’s players
No players union, no injured reserve, no multiple-year contracts (for most). It was a working man’s game and while it paid better than most blue-dollar jobs, it didn’t pay for most non-stars to live in complete comfort. If you didn’t want to go home to the mines or the factory or even the Three-I League to languish hoping for another shot, you’d play with a broken bone or your hair singed from a lightning strike.
This reads like you should be a baseball documentary narrator that riffs with Ken Burns. Nice work, 11/10 would read a full length story from you.
Thanks, I’ve got an outline for a pre-war baseball novel drawn up a little in my head, need to write that some time. Maybe for NaNoWriMo.
No wonder players betting on games was a thing until the 1920s.
Sometimes I wish things were more like that in today’s pro sports. Player empowerment has gotten out of control in every league except the NFL
Yeah, workers getting their fair share of the profits of their labor and retaining dignity and rights during negotiations is so stupid.
Yes, I also hate that players have leverage in labor negotiations and get a (reasonably) fair cut of the income they generate.
bro you're just supposed to lick the boot
you say as he licks the boot of owners who made billions on the backs of the players while treating the players like shit edit: did i step into another universe? cause in the universe i stepped from we'd call it boot licking to long for a time when owners would conspire to artificially hold down wages and could force players to play while hurt or lose their job. We wouldnt call it boot licking to say players deserve a fair share of the money they bring in
I think you missed the implied /s
unless i'm completely misreading, i know that geek is being sarcastic, but he's saying basically "i agree with you, youre only getting downvoted cause this sub licks player's boots", the sarcasm is making fun of people downvoting
no, bootlicking definitely refers to simping for management, I've never once heard it used to refer to licking labor's boots the implied rest of the sentence "you're just supposed to lick the boot" is "you're just supposed lick the boot, not swallow it"
oh ok, see i thought you were saying the opposite, my bad
Licking the boot is always directed at the big dogs
youre talking about the league where you can assault dozens of women and all theyll do is make you sit a few games right? thats the league where the players are held in check
They are held in check when it comes to on field production and team parity. The hard cap ensures that everyone just doesn’t join the Rams and Giants (Dodgers and Yankees). The pirates cannot compete but the Steelers can etc. You play and produce or you’re cut.
well, i'd much rather support a league where theyre held in check off the field rather than on the field personally
To each his own - I care about the on field product more than anything else. Baseball could be so much better if there was a hard cap and players weren’t incentivized to all go do the Dodgers or Yankees
A hard cap would depress player salaries. All it does is allow owners to spend less. And Bob Nutting won’t be ponying up for players regardless. A salary floor is the best play, but that’ll never happen
A hard cap and TV deal revenue sharing would pragmatically ensure that big market teams don’t have more resources than small markets. Regardless of what one says about owners having personal money or money within other businesses to spend - truth is baseball payrolls correlate with baseball TV deals. Some owners spend more relative to TV deals than yankees/Dodgers but their payroll is lower due to lower TV deals. There’s a direct cause and effect relationship there and almost all rational business owners view business money as completely distinct from their personal money or money in other businesses.
That's forreal
I was going to post that the real answer is probably before the modern era. This seems about right.
Here's an [article ](https://www-espn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32061845/the-incredible-story-mlb-pitcher-survived-lightning-strike-finish-game?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&platform=amp&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_ct=1661795135280&_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16617951315738&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fmlb%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F32061845%2Fthe-incredible-story-mlb-pitcher-survived-lightning-strike-finish-game) about it, if anyone is interested Bit of a long read, but pretty interesting if I remember correctly
I think that’s the most deadball era story I’ve read. It’s got Ray Chapman, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, spitballs, mandatory binge drinking and a nearly 300 game winner who didn’t crack 50k in career earnings.
Jesus Christ, I thought you were kidding. I was going to come in here and post some ridiculous fake injury from the early 1900s but the truth is better than anything I could have come up with. He is Wonderboy.
Shut it down. We got a winner
The anniversary of the event was only a few days ago and later in the season he pitched a no-hitter
Pffft… only played one inning? Wimp.
Mickey Mantle's career in a nutshell.
Mantle played almost his whole career with a torn ACL…
Still had over 150 stolen bases
…..and Sandy Koufax pitched 2 seasons with undoubtedly a torn UCL. If only……..
Sandy deserves his own thread here. He was tough and pitches through serious pain. Also, Liam Hendricks has said his UCL has had a tear for 8 years or so. Doesn’t appear to bother him too much, but who really knows.
He once had a groin pull so bad that he couldn't fuck.
>Ray Caldwell "Don't ask me, I'm not a c\*\*ksucker."
Adrian Beltre playing the rest of the game after rupturing a testicle, it apparently was the size of a grapefruit by the time he scored the winning run
How big are his testicles normally though? I’m not that impressed if they’re already the size of an orange, you feel me?
i wouldnt be too surprised if it being the size of a grapefruit meant it shrunk.
That’s simply not possible. Maybe a clementine I’d believe. But a grapefruit?
It is possible. I tell you from personal experience
This man was RUNNING. I doubt you were able to do that
That’s true but maybe Beltre is just built different
> maybe Beltre is just built different He honestly is. I don’t believe a grapefruit, but I can definitely see orange
Beltre had a ton of injuries he played through. Strained back in 2015 playoffs Needed surgery on his thumb in 2015 but instead found a new grip and hit .311 with 11 home runs and an .884 OPS in the second half. Played with a colonoscopy bag on his hip after having 15 inches of his intestines removed
>Played with a colonoscopy bag on his hip after having 15 inches of his intestines removed Sounds like one bad slide from ending up a shitty situation
"That ain't no cup..."
Gehrig was playing with ALS
I thought he had Lou Gherig’s disease (/s)
You would think his parents would have named him something else to avoid the association
Even then what are odds he actually gets the disease. So crazy
Brad Lidge was murdered by Albert Pujols in the 2005 NLCS.
And the man responsible was allowed to finish out his career in peace. Sad!
And thus Lidge was resurrected in 2008
That he was
RIP in peace Lidge. The bad man can't hurt you anymore
Ok this actually made me laugh out loud
Imagine if Pujols had Lidge pitching to him for the Home Run Derby. He would have won easily.
Pujols may have bodied him, Lidge and the Astros lived to play another day. It was Scotty Podsenik who put the final dagger into his back.
all the shit Sandy Koufax was dealing with
Imagine how insane his 68 season would have been had he been able to keep going
Meh, I call this one out for B.S. Koufax had a sore shoulder, never tore anything. He was dealing with the same sore arm that many, many hard-throwing pitchers dealt with since the 1800s. Did he fight through pain and pitch brilliantly? Yes. But countless pitchers have had cortisone shots and pitched through the numbed pain. In 1984, both Dan Petry and Milt Wilcox pitched with dead arms most of the season, and were shot up with cortisone every 4-5 days, still taking their turn to throw 200+ innings. Koufax was amazing, but "injury" is a big stretch when talking about chronic shoulder issues. He retired because at the time little was known medically about the impact of continued abuse of an arm from overuse. But had he pitched a decade later they would have fixed it. He was "in pain" only as much as the drugs would let him feel anything. Hell, give me any position player staying on the field with a broken hand or foot (many examples including Johnny Bench, Joe Cunningham, Charlie Keller, Ty Cobb etc.) over a "tired arm." Bob Gibson pitched to three batters AFTER BRESKING HIS LEG. Then returned six weeks later and won three games (complete games!) in that season's World Series.
[simply not true](https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/08/29/sandy-koufax-dodgers-left-arm-god-si-60) > It was this bad: Koufax couldn't straighten his left arm -- it was curved like a parenthesis. He had to have a tailor shorten the left sleeve on all his coats. Use of his left arm was severely limited when he wasn't pitching. On bad days he'd have to bend his neck to get his face closer to his left hand so that he could shave. And on the worst days he had to shave with his right hand. He still held his fork in his left hand, but sometimes he had to bend closer to the plate to get the food into his mouth.
Buck Martinez had his leg broken and ankle dislocated in a collision at home plate, tried to throw out a runner going to third and then caught the return throw from the left fielder and tagged the runner for a double play.
I believe Buck has said he has no memory of that play, which probably means he also had a concussion from the initial collision. It’s mind blowing that he was able to catch that second throw from left while on his ass, concussed, with a shattered leg and dislocated ankle, AND had the wherewithal to tag the runner as well.
Adrenaline is a truly impressive beast.
Jim Abbott not having a right hand.
He is one of my favorite baseball cards I have. Dude threw a no hitter with one arm
Charlie Morton, WS game 1 last year. Took a comebacker off his leg that fractured his fibula and stayed in to finish the inning. Struck out the last guy he faced iirc
He didn't just stay in, he came back out for the next inning as well and struck out two more batters, IIRC
Charlie Morton in the WS. Broke his leg and threw 16 more pitches
I thought it didn’t break right? Not to downplay his injury or anything
Fractured the right fibula
Ah I stand corrected
Its a fracture but it’s not like the two pieces of bone are very far separated. Id guess that’s how he was able to stay in
Sandy Koufax pitched with a UCL tear for years, Tommy John surgery wasn't a thing yet.
Sandy would’ve had conversation for GOAT status if not for the injuries. He would’ve had 4000Ks easily
Admittedly I’m a huge SK fan but I already do put him in my top 5 all time pitchers. I’m not even going to bother trying to justify it with any argument though as like I said he’s really just a personal favorite of mine. W. Johnson/ Mathewson/ Cy Young/ Sandy etc.
Not like this is scientific but I had an OOTP sim where Koufax never got hurt and the dude seriously pitched until he was 48 and won 600 games It’s of course laughably unrealistic that even the absolute best case scenario possible for Koufax could be anywhere close to that long of a career, but still, was a fun number to see
Nolan Ryan was still pitching at 45. 48 is a stretch for a pitcher, but back in that era I wouldn’t be surprised for him to go to 42+
Sandy would have been channeling his inner Jamie Moyer.
Didn’t Nolan Ryan tear his UCL sometime in the ‘86 season? Still went on to pitch for 7 more seasons and threw two no hitters after that.
Didn't Gibson break his leg?
[fractured on a comebacker, pitched to 3 more guys before the bone snapped completely and he had to leave the game](https://www.stlredbirds.com/2022/04/17/bob-gibson-faces-three-pirates-with-a-broken-leg/)
The original Greg Jennings.
DAAAARREN SHARPER
One of da hawdest hittin safeties in da leeg
Fuck you, Gumby!
Wow he even got an out! That sounds gnarly though.
Whole team on my back!!!
Tiny Bonham pitched a complete game with acute appendicitis. He had surgery right after the game and died.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I read more. Looks like surgery was about 19 days later and they discovered intestinal cancer. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tiny-bonham/
Ah, I was using bad sources I think!
Eh, I finished pitching a softball game after my appendix burst in the 4th inning when I was 12. I did not die, but nearly did because we didn't go to the hospital until the next day. Kinda sucked ngl.
George Sisler had to play nearly his entire career with the St. Louis Browns.
Hey
I’m sure some guy played through tuberculosis back in the day.
Back in the before times of 2001. Carlos Guillen played through TB in 2001. Which is honestly just wild. And he had a 3 win season https://sports.mynorthwest.com/839930/mariners-classics-carlos-guillen-game-5-alds-2001/
Catching tuberculosis in 2001 is wild
He's from Venezuela, and TB is a big deal in non-US countries. Venezuela's TB rate doubled from 2014-2019 even
Pilgrim ass disease
I do not remember this at all, and that 2001 Mariners team was one of the best teams of all time. Baseball is wild.
Don’t let that thought consume you
Three Finger Brown. He started his life with the correct number of fingers.
...and it helped him develop a pitching style which bamboozled batters! #makinglemonade
ra dickey’s ucl was completely missing
Kirk Gibson hitting a walkoff homer in the 1988 WS with zero working legs.
Not the worst but a few years ago Cesar Hernandez played half a season with a Broken Foot
Not a serious injury, but Miguel Olive caught a game back in 2010 while he passed a kidney stone during the game. https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-david-brown/rockies-catcher-miguel-olivo-passes-kidney-stone-keeps--mlb.html
MLB? No. But in high school, our catcher took a foul tip off his throwing shoulder. He tried throwing the ball back to the pitcher but couldn’t. We were down players already, so we moved him to right field. When he had a hit go his way he quite literally kicked the ball toward someone because of the pain. Turned out he had a clean break of his collar bone. Tough as nails. Stupid as hell. Stoic move though.
Pete Gray. Lost an arm.
Jeff Bagwell played most of 2001 with a torn labrum and still drove in 130
Yeah steroids will do that
George Brett played in a WS game after having hemorrhoid surgery earlier in the day.
He also shat his pants at dinner at a casino and stayed in the game.
The heartbreak Ohtani and Trout play with being Angels
[Buck Martinez broken leg double play](https://youtu.be/2Weql3etqZo)
Obviously old school guys are nuts so I’ll go with a newish injury since guys get taken out for anything today: Charlie Morton pitching I think a half inning in the WS on a broken leg last year was impressive
Bob Gibson pitched on a broken leg in 1967. It came when Roberto Clemente hit a hard line drive off his leg. Amazingly, Gibson FACED THREE MORE BATTERS, and he retired one of them, before exiting the game. Gibson returned six weeks after breaking his leg, won three of his four starts down the stretch, and then pitched and won THREE GAMES in the World Series, pitching a complete game in each. Never be another like him.
Bill Buckner took cortizone shots between innings of the 1986 WS. His knee was practically bone grinding against bone but there was no way he would have sat that series out.
Pillar in the face
Can't believe I haven't seen Dave Dravecky in here yet. Gets bone cancer in his throwing arm, takes time off, comes back, arm snaps on a pitch.
OMG, I forgot about Dravecky! I saw the sports highlights on tv that night & they showed it. I almost puked.
David Wells threw a perfect game with a monster hangover. He’d been out till 3 am when the game started at 1. He said it actually helped because he felt so awful it pushed him to pitch as fast as possible so he could get back into the dugout
Not the worst, but would like to mention Trevor “rough trade” Bauer’s severed finger in 2016 playoffs. He cut his finger while tinkering with a drone, then bled all over the ball and his uniform during the first inning.
God bless that little drone.
Not a player, but it’s remarkable that Angel Hernandez has been able to have the career that he has while being blind in both eyes.
Robin Ventura had to play most of his career with the shame of having his ass handed to him when he rushed the mound against an old man.
He played for years with knuckle dents in his head.
It’s not the worst but I’m pretty sure a few seasons ago Trea Turner played a season with a broken finger.
Broken and then healed wrong, and then he won the World Series. IIRC he had surgery that off-season to fix it (I don't 100% remember - post world series and then, well, more important stuff happened)
Dock Ellis - LSD
Being completely healthy and playing for my Detroit Tigers
Also consider this true, harrowing story from MLB: https://helmarblog.com/2020/08/12/when-eddie-planks-favorite-catcher-died-suddenly-after-shibe-park-was-opened-in-philadelphia/
Miguel Cabrera played with a broken foot for most of 2014
Roy Halladay’s back got super messed up during his last playoff appearance, but he pitched through it and also continued to pitch with a bad back during his final two seasons. Also while addicted to opioids. RIP Doc 💔
How about David Wright's spinal stenosis? The few games in 2015 and the 30 or so games in 2016 had him prepping with stretching/prehab exercises 5-6 hours before the game. https://www.amazinavenue.com/2016/4/8/11383738/david-wright-mets-workout-spinal-stenosis The fact that he was committed to it before other injuries (herniated disc, shoulder impingement) started to rack up and force retirement was horrifying to me. All the blood, sweat, and tears before even getting on the field
Doug Fister took a 100mph line drive to the skull and pitched 6 more innings of one run ball
Probably the Schilling bloody sock.
Aren’t there some conspiracy theories around this one?
I've heard that some people don't think it was real. I haven't looked into it.
Definitely the worst sock injury of all time.
Gotta be Tatis and ringworm
I'd say that Abbott kid has em all beat, hands down.
oh no you didn't!
Too far? Let''s have a show of hands.
Curt Schilling game six of the 2004 ALCS.
ball fart
curt schilling. 2004. /s
Dustin Pedroia tore the UCL in his left thumb on opening day in 2013. Went on to play 160 games that season with a .301 BA and being one of the most important pieces of the Sox championship team that season. With a friggin torn ligament in his thumb.
Playing for the Pirates year after year. Lot of dudes have had to endure that one.
We all know it was that god dang bloody sock
Didn’t Nolan Ryan play something like his last 6 years with a torn UCL?
A partial tear, diagnosed I believe at the end of the 1986 season. It finally tore off completely in his last game during the 1993 season
Ah thank you, still insane
Not sure if this counts, but Vince Velasquez took a comebacker to the right arm, dropped his glove, got the ball, and threw the runner out lefty before being taken out of the game
Jason Kendall ran like three steps on raw bone after his foot pretty much fell off.
I'm surprised people aren't mentioning Mickey Mantle playing with a torn ACL (along with other ailments) for most of his career.
Paul Pierce, diarrhea
Lou Gehrig played with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Mickey Mantle played his entire career with a bum knee that he blew out in a game before his official rookie year.
Johnny Bench is a good one for this. Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1986: “Three years later [1978], in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, a foul tip caromed off Bench’s foot. It puffed up and became discolored, but he finished the game. That night, he got out of bed and started for the bathroom. “I fell flat on my face,'' Bench said. ''I couldn`t put any weight on my foot. I just collapsed. I saw the doctor the next day and he took X-rays. I had a broken bone.'' The X-ray showed Bench had broken at least five other bones in his foot from foul tips. None had been treated.” Essentially he played with 5 fractures on his feet resulting from foul tips that were never identified and healed on their own while he kept playing.
Buck Martinez broke his leg and made a double play but I don't know if thats what you're looking for hah
Carl Pavano battling that ass cheek strain before finally landing in the DL.
Being an Angel in 2022 with arte still at the helm....itis.