Generally speaking natural instinct is to not purposely
do anything that would jeopardize one’s ability to do their job. That could be
said for the short-term as well as something that would affect the ability to
do the job ever again. Your job is typically your livelihood and one would not
want to put that risk. This goes doubly if the person has no other skills or
ability to get “Another” job that they would be physically able to with a
similar compensation level.
It’s fair to say that this would be a main and golden
rule if your job pays up in the higher stratosphere like a major league
baseball player. Now, unlike professional football, an MLB player generally has
a longer career which brings with it a longer ability to make money. Smart
players would “Make hay while the sun shines” and try to best capitalize on the
amount of years that they are granted. Even those who stay involved in the game
after retiring as an active player can make a few bucks, but nothing like what
they made on the field.
There have been many intentional, kind of intentional and
accidental while at risk incidents that have happened through the years with
active baseball players. These all ended with bad results, some not too bad,
some pretty bad and some flat out fatal. In all cases a player’s action or lack
of led to their career going sideways or ending. That leads to deeper affects
like how their families could be supported, etc.
The first player to discuss is the reason for this blog
due to the close timing of the incident. This is referring to the budding star
from the Miami Marlins, 24 year old pitching sensation Jose Fernandez. From all
accounts Jose was a great guy on and off the diamond. He was only at the
beginning of what was going to be a long and prosperous career with Jose likely
being a perennial all-star and a feared pitcher. During an off-day in Miami
Jose and two friends were excessively speeding on a boat recklessly in the literal
middle of the night. They crashed and all three of the guys died on the scene.
RIP #16.
That case is of course a tragedy on all counts and for
all reasons. What makes it just worse than worse is that someone in Jose’s
position should not be participating in fun activities that put his life at
risk. Really nobody should, but especially when you are a public figure of
sorts with a tremendous revenue upside and you are someone beloved by a global
fan base. In Jose’s case his fiancé has a baby on the way and will now need to
find ways to support that. Things happen and Clutch’s handbook doesn’t say that
players or regular people should not leave the house, but controlled risk is
probably a better option.
There are also many cases of reckless activities on the
field that led to injuries of all shapes and sizes. These cases usually only
put a team’s ability to win at risk, but can cause a player his career. There
is a couple from the Clutch archives of a “Lighter” note than above. Met icon
Pat Zachry once kicked the dugout bench after getting the hook during a bad
outing. This lead to a broken leg and missing most of the season. Of course
this was during the bad Met era of the late 70s so it didn’t affect “Winning”
too much.
Another Met that was the recipient of a bizarre injury
that kind of was a negative turn to the Met season and may have put the kibosh
on a possible World Series win. It also wound up ending his career, which was a
shame. His name was Duaner Sanchez, and he was the setup man for the 2006 club.
With him and Billy Wagner the Mets had a pretty dynamic back of the bullpen. On a summer night he went out to dinner after
a game with a few guys and was in a taxi when a drunk driver hit the taxi
connecting the two cars and separating Duaner’s shoulder. He missed a season and a half with the
injury, made a short comeback and then was released. Middle to late inning
relief guys can usual play forever, or until they stop throwing strikes.
Sanchez had around a five year career and was last seen a few years after his
last Major League appearance trying out for Long Island Ducks.
Though the name escapes Clutch’s memory banks there was a
player recently who broke his leg during a home-plate celebration. He had just
hit a game winning homerun and his teammates met him at home plate where
everyone proceeded to jump around hooting and hollering. The end result was a
trip to the ER and a cast on the leg. This clearly could have and should have
been avoided. This was basically a super-sized version of getting injured while
issuing or receiving a high-five.
The last Met who was victim of preventable injuries is
the great Bobby Ojeda. Ojeda was a key cog of the 1986 championship Mets.
Though he had a pretty good career it was derailed by two pretty preventable
incidents. The first was when a year after winning the title he lost part of a
finger or two on his pitching hand while trimming the hedges at his house. You
would think he would hire someone for that. A few years later during spring
training with the Cleveland Indians Bob went on a boat ride with two fellow
players, Steve Olin and Tim Crews. Crews
was legally drunk and the boat crashed. He and Olin died, while Ojeda survived
but missed the entire season and was never the same.
Things happen all the time and there were many active players’
fatalities over the years for one reason or the other. As noted earlier it’s a
matter of controlled risk. Players and their entourages should be smart enough
to not do anything to put their livelihood in jeopardy. Maybe they think their
invincible because of the ability to throw a hard to hit curve-ball or hit a
ball over the fence at will. That works and is likely true in the game, but
doesn’t apply to real life. This blog is dedicated to all the players we lost
way too early.
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