“Star player loses a tooth” is a statement reserved for hockey players, not baseball players. So when Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees lost one, it grabbed a few headlines.
The outfielder is one of the more electrifying players in the sport. Everyone collectively held their breath when Judge celebrated Brett Gardner’s walk off home run and caught a batting helmet in the face.
Judge wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
Gardner once again hit a walk off but this time Judge was way more careful. He covered his mouth and walked gingerly around the pile-up.
.@TheJudge44 has learned his lesson about Brett Gardner #walkoffs. pic.twitter.com/xHpc1VhGVu
— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 29, 2017
It has always been a marvel how this type of injury hasn’t happened before. A lot of baseball players get injured in innocuous ways but for whatever reason after a walk off, they are eager to hop onto one another. Even smacking other players on top of the head.
If anything, baseball players need to switch it up and come up with an entirely different celebration. What about politely shaking hands? Maybe a polite bow?
Either way, this won’t be the first and last time we see a player get injured in one of these scrums. It’s nice to see Judge learned his lesson.
