30 of the Strangest Off-Field Injures Ever

Injuries are a natural part of professional sports. 

From the hard tackles of football, to the repetitive motions of baseball and the constant exertion of energy required to be at the top of an athlete's game, injuries are an almost constant worry for players while on the field.

But what about off the field? 

Some of the most embarrassing and off-the-wall injuries athletes have suffered over the years have come not from playing the game, but rather doing everyday activities out side of the stadiums and arenas.

So here is a list of 30 of the strangest off-field injuries of all time.  

No. 30 Jimmie Johnson Tries to Be Like the Stars of 'Jackass'

This race car driver managed to hurt himself in a vehicle other than a race car, when he tried to surf on top of a moving golf cart at a charity golf tournament. 

No. 29 Mike Remlinger Breaks His Pinkie with a Chair

After not paying attention to where he was putting his hands in the Cubs clubhouse, Mike Remlinger broke his pinkie on his left hand after getting it caught between two new chairs. 

No. 28 Sammy Sosa Has an Epic Sneeze

He may be a baseball great, but at one point in his career this great missed several games thanks to back spasms caused by a sneeze. 

No. 27 Brian Giles Doesn't Get Along with Spiders

This Cleveland player missed several games in 1998 after a bad reaction to a couple of spider bites. 

No. 26 Marty Cordova Looks Like an Orange

This former Orioles player had to be scratched from the line-up of a game one night after suffering burns to his face from falling asleep in a tanning bed. 

No. 25 Reporter Keeps Chase Blackburn from Getting Cleaned Up

While attempting to clean out his ears after a game, a reporter bumped into him, while he had the Q-tip in his ear, causing him to burst his ear drum. 

No. 24 Clint Barmes Falls Down Some Stairs

One season he fell down the stairs while carrying boxes, breaking his collarbone and ending the rest of his season.

No. 23 Dave Beasant Doesn't Like His Salad Dressed

This English goalie ended up missing eight weeks after a bottle of salad dressing slipped through his fingers, shattering on his foot and cutting several tendons in his toes.    

No. 22 Allen Watson Finds Beer Dangerous

In another instance of food turning deadly, Allen Watson apparently cut his wrist, badly injuring it in an attempt to open a beer bottle.

The kicker was this injury happened just one day before he was set to come off the disabled list. 

No. 21 Wade Boggs Trips over His Own Feet

Clumsiness at its finest, Wade Boggs reportedly strained his back after falling while attempting to put on a pair of shoes. 

No. 20 Brandon Inge Props a Pillow, Strains a Muscle

While being a good parent and propping a pillow behind his son’s head, Brandon Inge re-injured a strained muscle. How much effort did it take for him to put the pillow down?

No. 19 Steve Sparks Doesn't Like the Phone Book

What better way to show your excitement over possibly getting to play in the major leagues than to try and rip a phone book in half?

Apparently any way is better than this way, which is what Steve Sparks learned the hard way when he dislocated shoulder and had to wait another year to get his debut.  

No. 18 Jeff Kent Falls

He missed the beginning of the 2002 season after he said he fell out off of his truck while cleaning it. 

No. 17 Alex Stepney Is Too Loud

This Manchester United player actually broke his jaw from yelling too hard. Who knew that was even possible?

No. 16 Owen Schmitt Gets over Excited

While he didn’t end up missing the game, Owen Schmitt cut his forehead badly while trying to get pumped up by smashing his helmet to his head over and over again.  

No. 15 Kyle Farnsworth Loses Fight with an Air Fan

This guy lost a fight with an air fan, spraining his knee in the Cubs clubhouse in 2004 after he attempted to kick it to relieve some frustration. 

No. 14 Jeremy Affeldt Can't Get the Hang of Barbecue

Jeremy Affeldt suffered a season ending injury earlier this season…from cutting apart hamburgers at a barbecue.

Apparently he sliced open his hand, cutting several nerves, which is an injury that will take longer than only a couple of games to heal.  

No. 13 Glenn Healy Almost Loses Career over Bagpipes

This goalie has a passion…for playing the bagpipes.

While in the offseason, he ended up cutting his hand while changing the bag on his beloved set of pipes, which required quite a few stitches.

Luckily he didn’t miss any playing time though.  

No. 12 Player Takes a Lightning Fast Call

A Twins farmhand player, David Foster missed an entire season after being struck by lightning through the phone while making a call.  

No. 11 Kendall Simmons Forgets He's on Ice

Kendall Simmons suffered a frostbite-like burn on his ankle after falling asleep with a chemical ice pack on his ankle, causing him to miss his team’s next game. 

No. 10 Moises Alou Runs Son over with His Bike

The strange circumstances that caused Moises Alou to miss the 1999 season all started when he fell off a treadmill in the offseason, tearing his ACL. To add to this, as he was about to start rehab for his ACL, he accidentally ran over his son with a bike.

On a side note, his son was unhurt in the accident.   

No. 9 Brian Anderson Likes to Iron His Face

Brian Anderson is another athlete on this list to suffer an embarrassing burn that caused him to miss at least one game, when he used the side of his face to see how hot an iron was. 

No. 8 Brandon Marshall Is Just Accident Prone

This is one athlete who is known to be accident prone off of the field. He reportedly once fell on a McDonald’s wrapper, putting his hand through an entertainment system. 

No. 7 Joel Zumaya Loves Guitar Hero a Little Too Much

Back in 2006, Joel Zumaya, a relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, began complaining of pain in his right forearm and wrist.

It turns out Zumaya loved to play the game “Guitar Hero” so much that he actually suffered an injury, which caused him to sit out several games while it healed.

Luckily he didn’t suffer any permanent damage and his abilities came right back once he quit playing the game. 

No. 6 Kevin Mitchell Fights with a Doughnut

Kevin Mitchell chipped a tooth on a frozen doughnut after he had cooked it, then let it sit and it became hard again. 

No. 5 Adam Eaton Can't Open a DVD

In the process of opening the safety seal on a DVD case with a knife, Adam Eaton managed to pull too hard with the knife on the flimsy sticker and stabbed himself in the stomach.

No. 4 Plaxico Burress Shot Himself in the Leg

This may be one of the most well known, and strangest off-the-field injuries of all time.

In 2008, Plaxico Burress was wearing sweat pants with a gun tucked in the waistband to a night club. When his pants began to fall down, he reached to pull them up, and in the process pulled the trigger shooting himself in the leg.   

No. 3 Chris Hanson

In 2006 Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio put a stump with an axe in it in the team's locker room.

The following season, several of the guys were messing around taking hacks at the stump with the axe, when punter Chris Hanson stepped up to the plate for his swing at the wood.
He missed the wood, however, instead cutting his foot and taking him out of the game for the rest of the season.

No. 2 Sam Torrance

And another of the strangest off-the-field injuries on the list came from the 1993 Ryder Cup.

When Sam Torrance woke up in the middle of the night in his hotel room, he thought he saw an intruder so he got up and ran full force at the mystery person, quickly finding out it was actually an urn. He ended up with a broken sternum from the attack on the furniture. 

No. 1 Glenallen Hill Is Afraid of Spiders

This former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder had an extreme case of arachnophobia.

One night he was having a nightmare about spiders and reportedly ended up sleepwalking into a glass table and falling down the stairs, cutting his feet and hands.