Ouch!

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 10, 2008 2:08 AM EDT

www.rotoworld.com

KC pitcher Jimmy Gobble had a cactus thorn removed from his big toe. He apparently accidently kicked a cactus while playing a round of golf in Arizona. He felt the pain but continued normal activities including pitching. "They said it was almost an inch, 3/4 of an inch long," said pitching coach Bob McClure, "how he pitched with that, I'll never know."

Eeeeowww!!!!

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It's possible

Entering the sixth grade, I was playing whiffle ball in my back yard. We had pruned our hawthorn trees and the garbabe men hadn't picked them up yet. I managed to get a hawthorn needle deep into my inside lower thigh when I stumbled on the thorny branches trying to make a catch.

We expected the darn thing to fester out -- but it never did, even as I continued playing whiffle ball and later basketball for my school team. (I was the team's star, but that was merely because it was a crummy team, believe me.)

Finally during Christmas vacation I had the darn thing cut out -- four or more months after getting the darn thing in my leg. Yeah, it hurt a lot -- but it still was playable.

Speaking of "playing" with pain, a referee friend of mine a few year back kept refereeing on a stress fracture in his foot. When he finally had the thing treated, he continued reffing -- and the thing must have killed him.

Because it did, literally. I have no idea how he stood the pain, but he developed an infection in the foot that suddenly shut down his body. He had to be taken off life support quickly, since his kidneys had shut down.

I think the last thing he said to me when I saw him a couple of weeks before his sudden death was, "My foot is hurting, but it's getting better."

I try not to be as dumb about "playing" through ongoing aches and pains anymore.

by sharksrog on Mar 10, 2008 3:33 AM EDT reply actions

It seems to me

That it would be pretty hard to pitch with a needle in your toe, since you put a lot of presure on that. I've stepped on sea urchins and had the spines in my heel for months before getting them out, but they are a lot shorter. Having something in your thigh I could see, because you're not putting any pressure on it.

by killa on Mar 10, 2008 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Couple Comments

stumbled into thorns, yada yada yada......did you catch the damn ball????

The way your ref friend died, isn't that how Bob Marley went? An infected toe orginally from a blister, something like that?

Baseball Instructor - www.frozenropes.com

by HuskerBob on Mar 10, 2008 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

wiki

In July 1977, Marley was found to have malignant melanoma in a soccer wound on his right hallux (big toe). Marley refused amputation, because of the Rastafari belief that the body must be "whole". The cancer then metastasized to Marley's brain, lungs, liver, and stomach.

classy move Belichek...Quitter

by jrose643 on Mar 10, 2008 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Knew it was something like that

Good thing is he already had the "meds" to help him deal with the Chemo.

Baseball Instructor - www.frozenropes.com

by HuskerBob on Mar 10, 2008 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I can't remember

I can't remember if I caught the ball or not, Husker -- which probably means I didn't.

By the way, Husker, my e-mail address is sharksrog@aol.com. If you could send me yours, I would like to continue our discussion of Tim Lincecum's mechanics in private. It dawned on me the other day that I indeed have a lot of respect for your view on pitching mechanics, and I would like to better understand your thoughts on Tim's weaknesses.

Incidentally, while Tim's arm still seems as sound as ever, he DID miss his last spring training start with a strained groin. He was able to throw a bullpen instead and I suspect wouldn't have missed a start if the injury had happened during the regular season. But however minor, the injury does add credence to some who felt that while Tim's arm wasn't particularly at risk, his core might be.

by sharksrog on Mar 11, 2008 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Email

PitchingGuy@gmail.com

Baseball Instructor - www.frozenropes.com

by HuskerBob on Mar 11, 2008 6:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Response

I thought this thread would be about Evan Longoria and the seven others that Gammons DOOMED by giving them his preseason rub.

by OneHitWonder @ Minor League Ball on Mar 10, 2008 10:59 AM EDT reply actions

i still have...

a 1/4 inch long piece of cactus thorn stuck in my right ring finger near the palm. i was coming down a mountain in new mexico and stepped on some loose rock. i had the choice to pitch forward and go headlong unimpeded for quite a while, or immediately fall on my back. i went back, of course...into a large patch of cactus.

that night i cut some 20 spine pieces out of my hands with my friend's knife, but this one went so far in, i just could not cut myself deep enough to get it. it bothers me about once a year for a day or so (it's been 9 years). actually, all the little hair-like points (probably thousands in my jeans and hands) hurt a lot worse than the spines.

http://www.simdynasty.com/index.jsp?refer=mychiefs58

by huckleberry on Mar 10, 2008 11:00 AM EDT reply actions

Um

Wow.

by ajohnst1 on Mar 10, 2008 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Jeezus

Is this some kind of natural occurance? Why the hell don't you people go get them cut out? I fell into a rose bush a few years ago and it hurt like shit, I can't imagine just leaving the spikes in there because they were too big a pain to take out.

by TexasHeat on Mar 10, 2008 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Accidentally?

I'm guessing he was in the rough in one of those Arizona courses, sliced a wedge trying to get out of it, and ended up in a sand trap or something. Lacking anything better to kick, he kicked a cactus. Nobody accidentally kicks anything.

cmathewson

by cmathewson on Mar 10, 2008 12:19 PM EDT reply actions

how?

I'm still trying to figure out how it got to his toe. Are the thorns of a cactus strong enough to go through the thick leather of a golf shoe? I'm assuming he didn't like take his shoes off to hit a shot out of water, then kick a cactus. So it must have gone through the shoe. That's remarkable!

by journeymen on Mar 10, 2008 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Cactus thorns

Are the thorns of a cactus strong enough to go through the thick leather of a golf shoe?

Yes. Some cactus thorns are as sharp as any needle and have the tensile strength of steel. Still, he had to give it a pretty good kick. Golf is known to do that to guys even as mild mannered as Jimmy Gobble.

cmathewson

by cmathewson on Mar 10, 2008 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

What are you talking about?

I accidentally kick my dog every day when I get home from work.

.....man, I need a new job.

Baseball Instructor - www.frozenropes.com

by HuskerBob on Mar 10, 2008 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

hm

Did this happen sober? "Cactus" is right up there with "porcupine" and "druglord" on the list of things that make sense to kick. I want to hear the pretext to this story.

http://rswanzey.blogspot.com

by rswanzey on Mar 10, 2008 1:31 PM EDT reply actions