A Concussion Discussion

Admittedly I am new to this site and am still trying to find my way and my voice here. Obviously I never played Major League Baseball – or professional ball of any kind. My game – since I was 5 yrs old – is golf. At first I simply followed Dad around the course, but later I moved on to USGA Women’s Golf tournaments in the Greater NYC area.

What this has in common with baseball is that a little white hard-covered ball is flying through the air without a flight path. Sure the golfer tries to keep the ball straight, and Roger Clemens isn’t really aiming for Mike Piazza’ head, but sometimes things go awry. I saw the Clemens/Piazza ‘mistake’ and have never forgotten it.

Recently on MMO several of us had a concussion discussion about David Wright’s experience last fall and wondered just what are/are not the lasting effects of these injuries. Some of us remembered Tony Conigliaro. I also remembered Ryan Church’s experience with concussions when he was with the Mets – it was a couple of years ago, so I looked it up (Baseball Reference).

August 22, 2008	Missed 41 games (concussion).
July 8, 2008	Concussion, 15-day DL (retroactive to July 9th).
July 6, 2008	Dizziness, day-to-day.
June 29, 2008	Missed 19 games (post concussion).
June 8, 2008	Post concussion, day-to-day.
June 1, 2008	Missed 5 games (mild concussion).
May 27, 2008	Mild concussion, day-to-day.
May 25, 2008	Missed 1 game (mild concussion).
May 24, 2008	Mild concussion, day-to-day.
May 22, 2008	Missed 1 game (concussion).
May 21, 2008	Concussion, day-to-day.
February 7, 2008	Re-signed by the New York Mets to a one-year contract