1964 – New York Mets pitcher Carl Willey suffers a broken jaw when he is hit by a line drive batted by Detroit Tigers outfielder Gates Brown during a spring training loss. Willey will be out until June 6th but his career will be effectively ended.
1963 – Minnesota LF Harmon Killebrew undergoes knee surgery.
Mickey Mantle breaks his left foot On June 5, 1963, – At Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, Mickey Mantle fractures a bone in his left foot and suffers ligament and cartilage damage to the left knee running into the chain link fence chasing down a Brooks Robinson drive. Mantle will be out for 61 games. Whitey Ford beats Milt Pappas and the Orioles, 4 – 3, as the Yankees return…
Al Kaline fractures his collarbone On May 26, 1962, future Hall of Famer Al Kaline fractures his collarbone while making a dramatic game-saving catch in right field. Kaline helps preserve a 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees snagging Elston Howards drive for the final out, but the Detroit Tigers’ star will miss two months…
May 18, 1962 Mickey Mantle suffers a a knee and thigh injury during a 4-3 loss to the Twins while running to first base. Mantle on crutches after the game will miss a month of the season. Mantle will finish strong and still win the MVP leading the league with 30 homeruns, and hit .320…
1961 – In a spring training game, Cardinals pitcher Larry Jackson suffers a broken jaw when hit by a fragment of Dodgers Duke Snider’s broken bat. Jackson will be sidelined four weeks.
The Yankees lose a doubleheader to Washington and fall to 3rd place in the American League, a half game behind the Orioles and White Sox. P Camilo Pascual’s grand slam is the difference in a 5 – 4 first-game win. In the second game, Mickey Mantle, believing there are two outs, jogs to first base on a grounder to third. The Senators turn a double play, with New York’s Roger Maris suffering bruised ribs trying to break it up at second base. Maris will miss 18 games as a result. Mantle is heavily booed, and manager Casey Stengel replaces him with Bob Cerv. The clubs set a major-league record by using 17 pinch hitters – 9 by the Yankees – in the doubleheader (more than 18 innings), while playing a major-league record 24 errorless innings.
In a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente injures his right elbow. Pittsburgh Press reporter Les Biederman writes: “The Puerto Rican lasted three innings last night as the Cardinals beat the Pirates, 8 – 2, retiring in favor of Roman Mejias after making an underhanded throw while pitcher Larry Jackson waltzed from first to third on an ordinary single in the 3rd inning. Clemente complained of pains in the right elbow in Chicago but X-rays taken there failed to reveal anything wrong. Clemente says he injured the arm making a sliding catch in Los Angeles and simply aggravated an old ailment.” Pittsburgh’s banged-up ball hawk will not return to the starting lineup until July 9th.
Milwaukee Braves second baseman Red Schoendienst is diagnosed as having tuberculosis. He will appear in just five games in 1959 as a result.
1958 – Duke Snider, Johnny Podres, and Don Zimmer suffer minor injuries in an auto accident in Vero Beach, Florida, as they try to beat a 12:30 A.M. curfew. This is the third accident involving Dodgers players in the last two months; Jim Gilliam and his family had an accident shortly after Roy Campanella’s.
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