Chicago Cubs pitcher Colten Brewer was placed on the 60-day injured list over the weekend after he broke his hand punching a wall in the team’s dugout, landing him among the most unusual injuries in Cubs history.
Craig Counsell called the injury an “unfortunate mistake,” and Brewer called the incident a “heartbreaking” one to deal with.
“Emotions get the best of us at times,” he told Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “Letting my family down, and friends, teammates, the people of Wrigleyville, it’s just kind of heartbreaking to me right now.”
The injury occurred after Brewer gave up three runs in the third inning of Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Angels. He was pulled with two outs in the inning and was seen punching the wall with his non-pitching hand, which caused a fracture according to team doctors.
While Brewer’s injury was certainly unusual, it’s far from alone in the pantheon of bizarre Cubs injuries. Here’s a look back at some of the stranger ones to occur.
Tyler Colvin
During a Sept. 2010 game against the Marlins, Colvin was running home when he was impaled in the chest by a shard of a broken bat.
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Colvin was hospitalized for several days after the frightening incident.
Kyle Farnsworth
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The 2004 season had a few strange injuries for the Cubs, and Farnsworth’s ailment has echoes of the Brewer incident.
During an Aug. 27 game against the Astros, Farnsworth gave up six hits and six earned runs, and was so angry that he threw his glove into the stands and kicked an electric fan in the team’s clubhouse.
That kick ended up costing him nearly a month of action.
Koyie Hill
Hill was busy in his workshop during the 2007 offseason and was working with a table saw when a piece of wood got caught and pulled his hand into the saw.
His thumb was severed in the incident, and his other four fingers also suffered extensive damage. He was still able to regain functionality in the hand after doctors reattached his thumb, and his playing career continued.
Felix Pie
One of the Cubs’ top prospects, Pie was forced to miss part of spring training in 2008 after suffering complications from a “twisted testicle,” an ailment that ultimately forced him to undergo surgery.
Sammy Sosa
“Slammin Sammy” briefly became known as “Sneezin Sammy” during a 2004 incident where several powerful sneezes caused back spasms. Those spasms were so bad that he sprained a ligament in his back, according to team doctors. He ultimately missed a month of action.
Kerry Wood
During spring training in Feb. 2007, Wood was relaxing in a hot tub as he made the transition from starting pitcher to relief pitcher. He ended up slipping as he got out, landing on his chest and stomach, but didn’t miss any regular season games because of the incident.
Carlos Zambrano
We all became somewhat obsessed with chatrooms and email in the 2000s, but Zambrano took things to another level after he was forced to leave a May 2005 start after dealing with elbow issues.
The possible culprit for those issues? Too much time typing on a keyboard, with team doctors telling him to curb his computer use.
