Baseball Player Bitten By Shark

The Hall of Bizarre Baseball Injuries has some memorable inductees. Sammy Sosa's sneeze. The injury to Clint Barmes caused by a dead deer. Pitcher Brian Anderson testing an iron's temperature by pressing it to his face. But as far as excuses goes, this one is pretty good. Chad Rogers, the Reds 28th-round pick in the draft last month, is now recovering after being bitten by a shark.

The incident happened while Rogers was surfing off the Galveston coast in Texas, the weekend before last. He was paddling his way through the water when, "Next thing you know, I feel something which feels like just a mouthful of needles grabbing my foot," he said. The culprit appears to have been a five-foot bull-shark, though fortunately, the animal let go - beach patrol Chief Peter Davis thinks it may have mistaken Rogers' foot for a fish.

The incident resulted in no less than sixty stitches and has put Rogers' baseball career on hold for a bit. He had been scheduled to pitch for the team's scouts the next day - that was, obviously, not possible. The good news is, he is expected to make a full recovery, Rogers saying, "It's not going to stop me from doing anything I would have done before the shark bit me,. It just postponed things."

It's not the first injury to a baseball player this year caused by an aquatic attack. Tampa Bay Ray Sean Rodriguez was a victim of his namesake [er, that's a ray, not a Rodriguez] earlier in May. Still, Rogers hasn't been put off surfing - at least, not this time. "If I get bit again, though, I'll probably stay out for sure. I'm not testing my luck that much."