It appears that Red Sox pitcher Jake Peavy will be taking it slow after cutting a tendon in one of his index fingers with a fishing knife, according to a report by the WEEI Full Count blog on Tuesday. That Peavy -- who is in his second year with the Sox after joining the team as part of a three-team trade last season -- was injured in such a manner during spring training shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. He's the third major leaguer to slice his hand open in just the last four springs.
Jake Peavy injury update: Red Sox pitcher still throwing despite laceration
Pitcher Jake Peavy’s finger laceration, while ultimately harmless, is the latest in a long and storied history of freak spring training accidents.
Jared Wickerham
And more importantly, his is the latest in a long and storied history of freak baseball injuries that have occurred in spring trainings of yore. While none are as hilarious as knuckleballer Charlie Hough fracturing his finger trying to give a friend a “fancy handshake,” the sheer number of times professional baseball players -- who are presumably functioning adults -- have cut themselves or caught their hands in something is absolutely remarkable.
From Carlos Baerga getting his hand crushed in a car door slammed by the wind while giving money to his cousin, to Michael Taylor cutting his pinkie open trying throw out a piece of gum, springtime appears to be prime time for freak hand injuries.
Thankfully for Peavy and the Red Sox, the injury is on his non-throwing hand, a major relief for his manager, John Farrell. “The fact is, we can pad that index finger too, when it’s on his glove hand,” Farrell told MLB.com. “Nowhere near the impact had it been the other hand.” But others haven’t been so lucky.
The aforementioned Charlie Hough missed several weeks to begin the season. Other freak accidents, like Jeff Kent’s wrist injury -- which he originally claimed occurred while he was “cleaning his truck” before later admitting it was a result of a fall during a misguided motorcycle stunt -- ultimately ruined the relationship between the former MVP and his team, in addition to causing him to miss all of spring training that year.
And while it's likely that no hunting or fishing accident will ever reach the bar set by Clint Barmes breaking his collarbone carrying a slab of deer meat -- which he had received as a gift from teammate Todd Helton -- the reason behind Peavy's may be the most heartwarming.
“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,” the pitcher told WEEI in Boston. “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.”
Which is definitely better than breaking your wrist doing wheelies.
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