12/21/24
July 27, 2005
Matt Clement takes a line drive to the skull: A frightening moment for not only Red Sox fans, but anyone who has even gotten close to getting drilled. Not bloody, but certainly not for the squeamish, either.
A frightening moment for not only Red Sox fans, but anyone who has even gotten close to getting drilled. I've been hit in the throat by a line drive when I was pitching softball. I turned my head/neck just a bit and it caught me on the side of the throat instead of crushing my windpipe/adams apple. It knocked me flat on my ass (as I was leaning backwards to avoid it). The batter was safe, since it bounced back down to my feet and I wasn't coherent enough to field it. After a few seconds of making sure my head was still attached and that I could breathe, I started to feel the pain. The end result: a red mark on my throat for two days and a position change for the rest of the tournament. In the end, I'm glad it hit me there instead of the centre of my face. That would have probably broken my orbital bone or a whole mess of teeth. Same with Clement's incident: he's probably "lucky" it only hit him in the side of the skull. If it catches him in the windpipe or right in the jaw/nose/eyes, he's going to be in much worse shape. The fact that it still had enough momentum to carry into left field means that he did a great job of avoiding even worse damage to his skull (deflection instead of full impact).
posted by grum@work at 03:04 PM on July 27, 2005
That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in baseball. At the risk of sounding incredibly insensitive, really? So that means you were lucky enough to miss the Bryce Florie incident? Pity the poor NESN producers: they didn't know what the hell to do, so they just shut off the commentators' mikes. Like someone said today, they should really just stop the game and try again tomorrow whenever that happens. Plus it always seems to happen to the Sox: Clement, Florie and the unfortunately named Dick Pole.
posted by yerfatma at 03:27 PM on July 27, 2005
Going back further, what about Conigliaro? Didn't he (almost?) lose an eye on a HBP?
posted by billsaysthis at 03:42 PM on July 27, 2005
So that means you were lucky enough to miss the Bryce Florie incident? Thank you! I was trying to remember which pitcher it was that got hit in the face, and wanted to reference him when I mentioned how Clement was "lucky". Yes, that was ugly (in terms of hit-by-batted-ball). Nothing in baseball has turned my stomach more than watching Moises Alou's lower leg turn into silly-putty when he legged out a double (close seconds being Robin Ventura's ankle-shattering slide into home or Tony Saunders & Doug Dravecky breaking their arms mid-pitch).
posted by grum@work at 03:51 PM on July 27, 2005
Jason Kendall breaking and dislocating his ankle was pretty foul too. I saw it on TV and thought I was going to puke.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:58 PM on July 27, 2005
As injuries go in baseball, being hit by a batted ball or being hit by a pitch are probably the only life-threatening ones, although there's plenty of room for non-lethal grue.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:59 PM on July 27, 2005
Tony C did lose a career due to a HBP. My list was guys who were on the wrong end of a batted ball.
posted by yerfatma at 04:03 PM on July 27, 2005
Wasn't there some speculation at the time of his death that some of the health problems he had later in life stemmed from his beaning? I seem to remember he only lived to be 45 (I think he died a month after his 45th birthday, in fact.)
posted by The_Black_Hand at 04:47 PM on July 27, 2005
Yeah, I definitely remember that too, but I didn't want to repeat something I wasn't sure of.
posted by yerfatma at 05:20 PM on July 27, 2005
Pity the poor NESN producers: they didn't know what the hell to do, so they just shut off the commentators' mikes. I'll bet they were thinking, "there's our only decent starter lying on the ground motionless...."
posted by smithnyiu at 06:38 PM on July 27, 2005
Yes, missed the Bryce Florie incident live.
posted by jerseygirl at 07:13 PM on July 27, 2005
Paul Blair for the Orioles got hit with a fastball and he was never the same again. I'm not sure what you can do to protect pitches from a ball coming back at them going 120 mph. Can you only imagine that coming off an aluminum bat?
posted by dbt302 at 07:40 PM on July 27, 2005
I'm not sure what you can do to protect pitches from a ball coming back at them going 120 mph. Can you only imagine that coming off an aluminum bat? I don't know. I've seen conflicting studies on that topic, and differing opinions. I also read where the NCAA was going to restrict the speed a baseball can come off an aluminum bat. Though I have no idea if/when that was going ot happen.
posted by justgary at 08:11 PM on July 27, 2005
The good thing is they said on the radio today that he was released from the hospital, and will travel with the team, and he only had a slight concussion. They had the replay of this on SBCYahoo man that was loud comming off his head. What a lucky guy
posted by jojomfd1 at 09:21 PM on July 27, 2005
In 1997, Mariners' reliever Josias Manzanillo got hit in the groin by a Manny Ramirez line drive and he wasn't wearing a cup and lost a testicle. Yecccchhhh.
posted by ajaffe at 07:40 AM on July 28, 2005
In 1997, Mariners' reliever Josias Manzanillo got hit in the groin by a Manny Ramirez line drive and he wasn't wearing a cup and lost a testicle. Yecccchhhh. Oh yeah, that was definitely a cringe-inducing moment. He had the nickname "Great Balls of Fire" for a while.
posted by grum@work at 09:09 AM on July 28, 2005
Wasn't the yeccchhh part when the third baseman picked it up and threw it to first thinking it was the ball ? now you know why you all need to wear your cup , safety first .
posted by evil empire at 06:54 PM on July 29, 2005
That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in baseball. I am so glad he seems to be okay.