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Jake Peavy Kicks off Odd-Baseball-Injury Season by Slicing Finger with Knife
March 3, 2014
Baseball is back, which means MLB players should stay away from any sharp objects. Stairs, sneezes and spiders should also be avoided.
ESPN's Gordon Edes (h/t Deadspin) reports Boston Red Sox pitcher Jake Peavy injured his left (non-throwing) index finger by accidentally cutting it with a fishing knife.
Rest easy, because the oddity that is baseball players injuring themselves off the field is alive and well. The report initiates from Peavy, who spoke with Boston-based radio station WEEI:
I promised my little boy I would take him fishing, so we went to Bass Pro [Shops] and we bought us some rods and reels that were combo'd. Trying to cut the wire tie that was holding them together using the knife with my right hand and holding the rod with my left. And when I broke the wire, it struck the knuckle pretty good.
It's a bummer. I didn't think it was that crazy bad -- to the point I didn't seek medical attention. That day we wrapped it up and went fishing. I came in here yesterday and realized we needed to have it stitched up and we would have to take some precautionary measures.
Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald provided a glimpse at the injured finger:
To be fair, Peavy did state that the injury wasn't all that bad. Had his next start been a necessity, he would have given it a go.
Manager John Farrell painted a tad more grisly picture, via Edes:
This was a freak one. And honestly, he avoided some serious injury with what took place. ... He almost cut through his left index finger. He had a procedure to make sure there was no infection of any kind and to clean it out thoroughly.
Because Peavy injured his non-throwing hand, he will still be able to get some work in, the manager said. However, he will only start throwing after three days of rest.
Of course, Peavy's situation garnered the usual "Baseball Injury" reports that come with such a story. Deadspin's Tom Ley called this just the start of "one of baseball's greatest traditions."
Business Insider's Tony Manfred reminds us of some other recent mishaps for baseball players: "Last year Cardinals pitcher Marc Rzepczynski got hit in the eye by a golf ball while on a golf outing, and Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez got rug burn on his forehead while wrestling with his dog."
Baseball fans must feel as though they are watching a far more whimsical version of Final Destination. Essentially, we are left to beg and plead for players not to take showers, go up flights of stairs or go fishing.
Thanks to Peavy, we now know one little fishing trip could nearly cost you a perfectly fine index finger.
This is the moment we would like to remind you that Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Clint Barmes, while with the Colorado Rockies, suffered a broken collarbone after falling down a flight of stairs while hauling some groceries, per The Associated Press (via ESPN). Although, those "groceries" later turned out to be venison.
If that doesn't seem odd, perhaps we need to remind you that Sammy Sosa once injured his back sneezing and Glenallen Hill suffered cuts after smashing through a table—all because he was dreaming about, as Sports Illustrated reports, "being covered in spiders."
This is essentially the only time you wake up grateful you only have deep cuts and not the horror that is a massive wave of spiders.
And so we head deeper into spring training with the wonder of the regular season just beyond, guaranteeing that this is hardly the last we have seen of baseball players injuring themselves without the aid of bat and ball.
It's a tradition as old as chewing tobacco and the seventh-inning stretch. There is nothing you can do to stave off the next ridiculously dumb or extremely unlucky injury, because it's as much a part of the game as strikes and balls.
As for Peavy, we are going to assume the team mandates he eat with a spoon for the rest of his contract.
For you MLB managers, just keep your players in a padded room for the season.
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