5 Wackiest Spring Training Injuries in MLB History

Two players share our No. 4 spot despite their incidents occurring 13 years apart and affecting different body parts. Trust that they’re related, though.

Mitchell went into spring training in 1990 as the best player in baseball. Literally. He was coming off National League Most Valuable Player honors in 1989 after leading all of MLB in home runs (47), RBIs (125), slugging (.636) and OPS (1.023) as the San Francisco Giants made the World Series.

But a chocolate doughnut slowed him out of the gate in ‘90. He took a bite and melted chocolate seeped into his tooth, resulting in an eventual root canal. He missed only a couple of days.

“I put it in the microwave,” Mitchell said. “As soon as it happened I threw the doughnut in the trash. It hurt that bad.”

Peralta’s injury came post-mastication. He was the Detroit Tigers’ regular shortstop in 2013 and like Mitchell’s Giants, Peralta’s Tigers, too, were coming off a World Series loss. Ironically, it was against the Giants who swept Detroit the same way Oakland swept San Francisco back in 1989.

The 2013 season would go well again for the Tigers, but it didn’t start that way for Peralta. He ate some unlabeled soup before a spring-training game and ultimately had to be scratched from the lineup hours later. Turns out, the soup was clam chowder and Peralta was allergic.

RELATED READ: Where Does Every MLB Team Hold Spring Training?

3. Jose Cardenal (Mind and Body) in 1972

Cardenal played 18 years in the majors, putting together a decade’s worth of strong seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely with the Angels and Cubs.

He’s most remembered by history as one of the last Cuban-born players to leave the country for the United States before Fidel Castro began cracking down, forcing subsequent Cuban athletes to defect to the United States if they wanted to play at the highest level.

Cardenal was famous in his day, though, for his bizarre injury history. On three different occasions he had told his managers he couldn’t play in a game because of, well, unusual circumstances.

On Opening Day of 1974, it was because his eyelid was stuck open. In 1979, while with the Phillies, Cardenal was sold to the Mets during the series. He told his manager he couldn’t play because of the shock of the deal, even though all he had to do was change dugouts.

But in spring training in 1972, well into his career, Cardenal told Cubs manager Jim Marshall that crickets had kept him up all night and he was too exhausted.

2. Elvis Andrus (Arm) in 2013

Something was up in 2013, huh?  

The Texas Rangers of the early 2010s were largely considered the best team in franchise history until the organization won their first World Series in 2024. Andrus was one of the best players on those early teams and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2025.

Andrus was coming off an All-Star campaign in 2012 as a 23-year-old. Well established as the team’s current-and-future shortstop, Andrus was given a day off in February by manager Ron Washington.

So, Andrus went out and picked up a tattoo. It was a full upper-arm sleeve featuring an image of his father. Unfortunately, the pain from the tattoo was severe enough that Andrus then had to take the next game off, too.

1. Steve Sparks (Shoulder) in 1994

Sparks was in the running for American League Rookie of the Year honors in 1995 after pitching to a 3.2 WAR over 27 starts as a 30-year-old rookie with the Milwaukee Brewers. But considering he didn’t make his debut until the fourth decade of his life, it’s understandable that Sparks experienced some frustration on his way up.

Sparks attempted to tear a phone book in half during spring training in 1994. Phone books, for those who have forgotten or aren’t old enough to recall, are not easily torn across the spine. They’re monsters. Funnily enough, Sparks wasn’t angry when he attempted the tear.

No, the Brewers were partaking in a team-building exercise with a motivational group. Someone from the group had torn a phone book during one of the sessions and Sparks decided to try it the next day, ultimately dislocating his shoulder.