TAKEN OUT

Bloodsport: Watch MLB Players Clobbered

America’s pastime isn’t for the faint of heart. Or soft of skull.

Baseball is back! America is gearing up to welcome back the boys of summer, going through endless rituals and traditions. Radios are being dusted off for staccato play-by-plays, snacks and beer are being stocked up on, sausages are getting ready to race, and Red Sox fans are suddenly piously turning up at church again after a long winter’s absence.

As we settle in to Field of Dreams season, it’s easy to wax quixotic about the sport synonymous with summer, American values, and fun in the sun. But let’s not forget that baseball is essentially about swinging heavy sticks at 100-mile-per-hour hard leather balls, carrying with it a certain element of danger. Every year pitchers, who stand directly in the line of fire, are pummeled by these red-stitched cannonballs like so many bags of meat in a Rocky flick, leaving behind a wasteland of fractured faces.

We’ve compiled a few of the gnarliest moments above. And just in case you thought it was only the players who risked it all for a shot at glory, it can be equally as dangerous for those in the stands. And not just because of the bacon slathered, doughnut-ensconced hot dogs fans gleefully line-drive into their arteries, either.

A blown up beer is nothing compared to a two-pound club flying at your face.

And speaking of doughnut hot dogs, all that grease congeals on your fingers, making catching errant balls a lot harder than it seems.

If this wince-inducing supercut isn’t enough Monday morning carnage for you, here’s a collection of some more baseball bloodshed:

Who says they don’t earn their multimillion-dollar salaries? Hospitals are expensive. Be careful out there.

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James Joiner

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