Edwin Encarnación Burns Face, Becomes Front-Runner for Injury of the Decade

↵↵The schadenfreude that bubbles up when professional athletes do absurdly stupid things to injure themselves -- say, with fondue or packages of deer meat -- comes from people who aren’t paid millions to take care of their bodies, yet somehow manage to do that more successfully than the studs. So, those of you who celebrated the changing of the calendar with pyrotechnics may get to do a little smirking at Toronto Blue Jays infielder Edwin Encarnación.↵

↵↵Encarnación, ESPN Deportes reports (English translation), was released from a Miami hospital today with burns on his face from fiddling with fireworks at a New Year’s celebration in the Dominican Republic. A firecracker that was supposed to go up apparently went sideways and winged Encarnación, who was transported from a hospital in the Dominican Republic to Miami to see a face specialist.↵

↵↵It appears Encarnación will make a full recovery: He doesn’t need surgery, and must only spend a week out of the sun. The embarrassment will sting enough, probably.↵

↵↵(HTs to Jorge Arangure and Jesse Spector.)↵

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