3 strange but costly injuries that befell former Cardinals

Baseball players suffer a fair share of memorable maladies. The St. Louis Cardinals witnessed one such incident on March 4, when right fielder Jordan Walker hurt his knee after stumbling over a sprinkler head that was poking out of the ground. Luckily for Walker and the Cardinals, the subsequent MRI didn't reveal any structural damage, and he returned to action 11 days later.

One of the more humorous (to viewers) incidents occurred in 2011 to Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday. In the eighth inning of an Aug. 22 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a moth flew into Holliday's right ear while he was in the outfield, forcing him to leave the game. The moth left Holliday no worse for wear, and he was inserted into the lineup the following day.

However, not all of the more unusual injuries can be laughed off. Some of them result in players missing significant amounts of time, and in the worst cases, they can even cost a player his career.

These three oddball injuries hit the Cardinals at inopportune times.

Vince Coleman gets eaten by the tarp

One of the members of the Cardinals' seemingly endless parade of high-potential rookies in the 1980s, Vince Coleman pilfered 110 bases in 1985, his first season in the league. He meshed perfectly with manager Whitey Herzog, as the Cardinals embraced Herzog's focus on speed, defense and line drives. Coleman was an integral part of the Cardinals' success that season, but it all came to a screeching halt prior to Game 4 of the NLCS.

As the Cardinals were warming up, rain began to fall, and Coleman slipped on the Astroturf, leading the 1,200-pound tarp to roll over his leg. To make matters worse, the grounds crew was forced to roll it over Coleman's leg again when reversing the process. Scans afterward didn't reveal any fractures, but Coleman was unable to return to the NLCS. Despite that, the Cardinals won the series in six games.

Another, more detailed scan after Game 2 of the World Series revealed that Coleman had a small "bone flake" that was pulled off the bone, and he was ruled out for the remainder of the year. Without Coleman atop the lineup, the Cardinals sputtered, hitting a meager .168 in the series and losing four of the final five games, including the infamous Game 6, where umpire Don Denkinger blew a pivotal call at first base.

The Cardinals were outscored 23-2 in three of the four games they lost, and Coleman's leadoff spark was sorely missed. The tarp incident remains one of the most unlikely and freakish injuries in the Cardinals' storied history.

Mike Matheny slices finger with hunting knife

The Cardinals made it to the postseason in 2000 largely by the guiding hand of catcher Mike Matheny, who ended up winning the Gold Glove Award that season. But hours before the third to last game of the season, members of the Cardinals learned that Matheny would not be present for the game or the postseason that they had clinched. The reason? Matheny had severed two flexor tendons and a nerve in his right ring finger with a hunting knife he had received as a gift.

With Matheny out, the Cardinals relied on backup catcher Carlos Hernandez to guide the pitching staff, and the team swept the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Perhaps nobody felt Matheny's absence more than the Cardinals' rookie pitching sensation, Rick Ankiel, whose meltdown in Game 1 eventually became the background of a documentary and an autobiography.

Although the Cardinals defeated the Braves in the NLDS despite Ankiel's woes, they went on to lose the NLDS against the New York Mets in five games. Matheny has wondered whether his presence behind the plate could have prevented Ankiel's subsequent battle with the yips that ultimately ended his pitching career, although Ankiel did eventually return to the major leagues as an outfielder in one of the most inspiring baseball stories in existence.

The Cardinals might have lost the NLCS regardless of Matheny's absence, as top slugger Mark McGwire was also dealing with injuries. Whether Ankiel would have fulfilled his enormous promise had Matheny served as his catcher in that fateful postseason game is another question that will never be answered, but his story of resilience and perseverance has endeared him to Cardinals fans long after his career concluded.

Juan Encarnacion is hit in the eye with a foul ball

2007 was a rough year for the Cardinals, as tragedies and injuries took their toll on the roster. Relief pitcher Josh Hancock died in a car accident before the season, third baseman Scott Spiezio was released because of substance abuse problems, and the top two starters, Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder, missed the entire season to injuries. If that weren't enough, Scott Rolen was placed on the injured list on Aug. 31 because of repeated issues with his left shoulder throughout the season. But the news on Rolen was small potatoes when compared with the other incident that took place on that day.

Juan Encarnacion was the Cardinals' regular right fielder that season, although by August, he was beginning to lose time in the outfield to Rick Ankiel. In a game against the Cincinnati Reds, Encarnacion was called upon to pinch-hit for Randy Flores. As Encarnacion stood at the on-deck circle taking his practice hacks, the current batter, Aaron Miles, lined a foul ball back at Encarnacion, hitting him square in the left eye and leaving him lying face-down on the ground.

Encarnacion was lifted from the game and sent to the hospital, where it was revealed that he had suffered several fractures to his orbital bone in what Dr. George Paletta said was the worst trauma he had ever seen. With Encarnacion added to the already long list of injured Cardinals, the team finished 2007 with a record of 78-84.

Although there was some initial optimism in his recovery, by October, Encarnacion's vision in his left eye was 20/400, and he would not play another game in his career. He was in the second year of his three-year contract with the team, and the catastrophic injury led the Cardinals to pivot to Ryan Ludwick as the everyday right fielder in 2008. As a silver lining, Ludwick would hit .298 with 37 home runs in his best season as a professional.

After his truncated career, which ended when he was 31, Encarnacion focused on his namesake charity, the Juan Encarnacion Foundation. He returned to the news in 2021, when he was charged with sexual assault of his daughter.

Though Encarnacion's injury was not as pivotal to the Cardinals' failure as Coleman's and Matheny's, the effects that severe physical trauma can have on individual players' careers shouldn't be overlooked.