Though his return helped key his team to a strong second-half finish, Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts(notes) missed the last six games of the season with concussion-type symptoms.
Roberts plans to meet with doctors today to see if he indeed has a concussion. But if they ask him when and where the trauma occurred, Roberts says only one good explanation will come to mind.
He hit himself in the head with a bat last Monday.
On purpose.
Here's Roberts' self diagnosis (via the Balt. Sun):
"I don't know 100 percent sure, but it was Monday night. In frustration (after a strikeout), I whacked myself on the head with my bat in the ninth. I had my helmet on," Roberts said. "It's something I've done a million times, but I still can't tell you for sure if that was it. But that's the only thing that I can point to because that night and the next morning, I just didn't feel good. So it's been going on since then."
In the parlance of Major League Baseball, I believe such a move is called The Carlos Quentin. It's named after the Chicago White Sox outfielder who took himself out of MVP contention in 2008 after breaking his wrist while hitting the handle of his bat in frustration.
Roberts says it wasn't an unusual move for him and I can recall a few players expressing their emotions in a similar fashions. That said, you wonder just how hard Roberts had to knock his noggin' to cause an injury as severe as a concussion.
Also, would this have happened had Roberts been wearing the new Great Gazoo helmet, which offers more protection?
Either way, I suppose it goes to show you that a bat doesn't need to be broken into flying shards to cause real damage to the ballplayers on the field. Ouch.
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Related: Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox
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