Madson Suffers Latest 'Reckless Injury'

The Phillies are going to be dealing with a short-handed bullpen for at least the next two months, all because Ryan Madson decided to take out his frustration by kicking a chair last week in San Francisco. Madson broke his toe. He had to have surgery and now he's going to be out for a while.

Madson seems to feel guilty about it – "I'm embarrassed. I let down my teammates," he told reporters – and he ought to. Injuries are a part of the game, and you can't blame a player for getting injured ... except in cases like this.

We'll call them "reckless injuries," those times a player gets hurt doing something that he ought to know not to do. These aren't just fluke injuries, like Glenallen Hill's arachnophobia or Sammy Sosa's sneezing. These are injuries of negligence, when a player is clearly at fault.

Madson is not the first, and he's not the last. Here are some of the more notable ones in recent memory:



Share • Ron Gant and his ATV: In February 1994, just before the start of spring training, Gant had just signed a $5.5 million contract, the richest one-year deal in Braves history. A week later he decided to do a little riding. He broke his right leg. A month later, the Braves terminated the contract, paying Gant just over $900,000.

• Jeff Kent and his motorcycle: The infamous "car washing" incident. The Giants' All-Star second baseman showed up one morning in the spring of 2002 with a broken wrist. He insisted that he'd been washing his pickup truck and he fell off. Reports later showed that he was most likely doing wheelies on his motorcyle when he fell off. To this day, Kent hasn't publicly admitted what really happened. It wasn't a big deal for the 2002 Giants. Kent missed only about the first week of the season, and the Giants went to the World Series that year. However, the bad blood between Kent and the organization over the incident probably contributed to the Giants' failure to re-sign Kent at the end of the season.

• Aaron Boone's Hoop Dreams: A month before the start of spring training in 2004, just months after Boone had been a Yankee hero with his walk-off homer to win the 2003 ALCS, he tore his left ACL playing pickup basketball. The Yankees terminated his $5.75-million contract, paying him just over $900,000. Boone's injury paved the way to Yankees to pick up another third baseman: Alex Rodriguez.

• Carney Lansford and his snowmobile: A big part of the A's three consecutive AL pennant winners, from 1988 to 1990, Lansford was snowmobiling near his home in Oregon on New Year's Eve. He got in an accident and suffered serious injuries to his left knee and right shoulder. He played just five games in 1991. He came back in 1992, but then his career was over.

• Jim Lonborg went skiing: In 1967, Lonborg went 22-9 with a 3.16 for the Red Sox, winning the Cy Young Award. On Christmas Eve that year, he was skiing at Lake Tahoe, where he took a spill and hurt his knee. Over the next three years he was 17-22 with a 4.27 ERA. He still managed to pitch through 1979, and he did have some good years with the Phillies.

• Kevin Brown punches a wall: The ultra-intense right-hander had just had a mediocre performance against the Orioles on Sept. 3, 2004, when he retreated to the clubhouse and punched a wall in frustration. Brown was smart enough to punch with his left hand, but he still broke it. The Yankees, who had a 2 ½-game lead at the time, feared that Brown might be lost for the season. He did make it back late in the month, but he didn't pitch well. He was the starter in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox torched him for five runs in 1 1/3 innings, capping their comeback.

• Brien Taylor defends his brother: You may not have heard of Brien Taylor if you aren't a real seamhead, because he never reached the majors. Taylor is infamous for being the No. 1 overall pick in 1991 but having his pro career derailed by a bar fight in December 1993. Taylor had been 13-7 with a 3.48 at Double-A before the fight, but the injuries from the fight caused him to miss the entire 1994 season. He spent six more years pursuing the big leagues, but he never pitched higher than Class-A ball.

• Carlos Quentin slaps his bat: The White Sox slugger was leading the league with 36 homers on Sept. 1, 2008, when he slapped his bat in frustration after fouling off a pitch. It seemed an innocent act at the time, but the next day Quentin's hand was sore, and he ended up with a broken right wrist that required surgery. The White Sox still made the playoffs without him, but they lost in four games to Tampa Bay in the Division Series, scoring just 13 runs in the series.