Wild Boars, slamming doors and bad sushi
Wild Boars, slamming doors and bad sushi
Past and present Mets have experienced freak injuries, some more costly than others.
Edwin Diaz isn’t the first New York Mets player to be sidelined after suffering a bizarre injury.
Look no further than last season when Max Scherzer was bitten by his dog. Scherzer was already sidelined by an oblique strain at the time his pup bit his pitching hand. Fortunately, the would was minor and didn’t impact his ability to pitch.
Just a couple days prior, the Mets reported that Francisco Lindor fractured his middle finger after getting his right haught in a hotel door. It was reported that Lindor was closing one of two double doors in his hotel room and slammed it closed on his finger.
And who can forget the freak off-the-field injury Yoenis Cespedes suffered back in 2019 when he fractured multiple bones in his foot after trying to “sidestep” a wild boar on his ranch. The New York Post reported:
According to multiple people who were informed of the incident, Cespedes has traps on his ranch for a variety of reasons, including to keep boars away from people. But one boar was removed from a trap — perhaps by Cespedes — and either charged toward Cespedes or startled him, causing Cespedes to step into a hole. Cespedes suffered the fractured ankle at a time when he was recovering from surgery to both heels that already was jeopardizing his playing status in 2019. The ankle fracture guaranteed that he would not take an at-bat last season.
Back in 1997, while rehabbing from offseason shoulder and elbow surgery, then Mets prospect Jason Isringhausen compounded his pain when he suffered a compression fracture of the wrist. How? Isringhausen was hit hard, allowing three runs in the first inning of Tidewater’s (AAA) home opener. The poor performance led to a clubhouse meltdown and Isringhausen punched a trash can in the dugout, breaking his wrist.
Note: One month later Isringhausen was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He missed the remainder of the ‘97 season and all of 1998.
It wasn’t the first freak injury on Izzy’s record. A few years prior to the broken wrist, he broke two toes and had 22 stitches in his head. Isringhausen was reportedly scaling the side of a condo looking for a girlfriend on the second floor.
In April 1993, Dwight Gooden missed a start after Vince Coleman struck Gooden on the right shoulder blade with a golf club while practicing his swing in the Shea Stadium clubhouse.
In 2018, Tim Tebow was sidelined after he stepped on a sprinkler head and twisted his ankle. The injury was only day-to-day.
More Mets-related freak injuries …
Remember what happened to David Robertson last season? Despite being acquired by the Phillies from the Cubs at the Trade Deadline to add bullpen depth, Robertson was ultimately left off the postseason roster after straining his calf while celebrating Bryce Harper’s home run in the NL Wild Card Series.
In 2020, while pitching for the Chicago Cubs, current Mets lefty Jose Quintana was at home at his home in Miami. While washing dishes, Quintana broke a glass and sustained a laceration on his left thumb that required five stitches. He underwent microscopic surgery, which determined that he had lacerated the digital sensory nerve in his thumb, however, the setback delayed his throwing program and Quintana missed the first month of the already COVID-shortened season.
1990: Kevin Mitchell popped a donut in the microwave and ended up chipping his tooth on it. Ultimately the donut led Mitchell to a root canal. (Giants)
1992: Tom Glavine got food poisoning after eating airplane food. He threw up so hard that he cracked two of his ribs and landed on the disabled list. (Braves)
1993: Rickey Henderson missed three games in August 1993 with frostbite on his left foot because he left an ice pack on the foot too long. Yes, that's right -- frostbite. In August. (Blue Jays)
1998: David Cone missed a start after getting bit by his mother-in-law's dog. (Yankees)