One of the great time-honored traditions of America’s pastime is players suffering really weird injuries. No sport it seems has more players get injured off the field or court more than baseball, and we got the latest example of this on Thursday.
Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton has battled various ailments since breaking into the majors, but his latest injury issue that will keep him out briefly is one that will go on the all-time “baseball injury” lists. Buxton had to have a root canal after breaking a tooth while eating a steak, which the Twins expect him to return from soon, per Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press.
Byron Buxton cracked a tooth eating steak and had to undergo a root canal this week. The Twins expect him back shortly.
— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) March 11, 2021
Before we get into the lineage of strange baseball injuries, I have a few questions about this incident. What kind of steak was Buxton eating that broke his tooth? Was it just an incredibly tough piece of meat? Was it a bone-in steak that he just bit right into the bone? If not the bone, how does one even break a tooth on steak?
Sadly, there is no follow-up information available at this moment about Buxton’s situation, and hopefully he’s feeling alright, although root canals are always miserable so that’s on a sliding scale. Buxton can at least feel some comfort in knowing he is far from alone in the annals of baseball history when it comes to strange off-field injuries.
Just last year Zach Wheeler of the Phillies got a fingernail on his pitching hand caught on his pants while putting them on and had soreness that required a start to be pushed back, and Jose Quintana cut his thumb badly enough doing dishes that he needed five stitches. There have been ribs broken during massages, torn MCL’s carrying luggage up stairs, video game mishaps, and kids injuring their parents. The all-timer, though, is Clint Barmes injuring his collarbone while trying to carry deer meat up the stairs of his apartment building.