MLBWeird But True

Badass Baseball Injury Update: Oakland’s Michael Taylor Injures Finger Throwing Gum Away

Oakland Athletics outfielder Michael Taylor was traded for Roy Hallady once. There were a lot of other pieces involved – it was one of those here’s-our-farm-system-gimme-your-star trades – but Michael Taylor changed teams and was scrawled across various tickers. Who? Ah, yes, generic sounding prospect. Anyway: he’s 27 years old now and has played a few games here and there for Oakland in 2011 and 2012, but is unlikely to make the team this year.

So why are we talking about him? Well it’s his pinkie that’s of concern, as it relates to the badass injury spectrum. You know, the whole scorpion bite to strained butts thing. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Taylor says he can’t play until the gash on his pinkie heals – the gash he earned while throwing out gum. Apparently his hand hit the dugout ceiling light as he tossed it to the garbage, which tells us that he threw it overhand. An ambitious modus operandi, when the underhand toss is more suited to precise distance and optimal arc. But to each his own, I guess.

Still: don’t chew gum. It’ll rot away your pinkie finger.

Badass Baseball Injury Spectrum: sad puppy.

[San Francisco Chronicle]