Bitchin’ Camaro: Rays pitcher Joel Peralta injures himself getting out of his car

| February 13, 2013

Baseball players, definitely more so than any other group of professional athletes, seem to injure themselves in the most bizarre ways imaginable. The list of incomprehensible injuries is literally almost too long to tackle here (although SI has compiled a fantastic rundown of some prime examples for those interested), but Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Joel Peralta, thanks to his peculiar injury, can now enter the pantheon of major league ballplayers who have suffered truly ridiculous and patently offbeat injuries.

But if I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times before: Guy hops into his Camaro to go grab some grub. While grabbing said grub — in Peralta’s case in this instance, sandwiches — guy suffers a neck injury while trying to exit his Camaro.

The reporting by the Rays beat writers was top-notch and accomplished mostly via Twitter. The rundown is as follows:

Here’s one for the weird spring injury lists @jaysonst: #Rays Peralta hurt his neck getting out of car when he stopped for sandwiches.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 13, 2013

#Rays Peralta was still able to get the sandwiches, by the way, and said they were good. Shouldn’t miss much time.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 13, 2013

#Rays Peralta didn’t throw today because of a stiff neck. Said it happened yesterday morning ducking his head to get out of his Camaro
— RMooneyTBO (@RMooneyTBO) February 13, 2013

Now ain’t that something. Despite joking about it above, I have never heard of someone hurting themselves getting out of their car. While I do not know the model year of Peralta’s Camraro, if it was an older model, the need to crane his neck to get out of the auto could have been alleviated had he removed the T-Tops on his sweet ride, as depicted in this photo. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes.

Despite the somewhat embarrassing nature of his injury, Joel Peralta can now enter the pantheon of major league ballplayers sidelined by ridiculous injuries. And he can do so with his head held high, to boot. Although perhaps it would not be wise for Peralta to do so. There’s a good chance he would get hurt simply by attempting to hold his head high.

Finally, just for the heck of it — and because I referenced it in the title — here’s the Dead Milkmen’s “Bitchin’ Camaro”: