Ranking the 15 Weirdest Sports Injuries of All Time

Injuries are an unavoidable part of being a professional athlete, but some are a lot more difficult to explain than others.

Over the years, there have been some truly weird injuries suffered by some high-profile figures in the sporting world.

Sometimes those injuries are self-inflicted, like Jason Pierre-Paul's fireworks incident or Bill Gramatica's torn ACL celebrating a field goal.

Other times, they are a case of extreme bad luck, like the Norwegian soccer star who hurt himself while running from a charging moose on a jog.

With credit given to the truly unusual and unlikely, we've selected the 15 weirdest sports injuries of all time and provided our definitive ranking.

The Headline: Rockies' Rookie Falls Hauling Todd Helton's Venison

The Details: There is a long list of athletes injuring themselves by falling down, so rather than occupying a significant portion of this list with varying examples, we've simply selected the weirdest.

Clint Barmes was having a terrific rookie season for the Colorado Rockies in 2005. Veteran Todd Helton had him and fellow rookie Brad Hawpe over to his ranch for dinner. The Hall of Famer sent Barmes home with a raw slab of the venison they had eaten for dinner.

On his way up the stairs upon returning home while hauling the meat, he slipped and fell, breaking his collarbone. He initially said he fell while carrying groceries, which was not entirely untrue in hindsight, before clarifying the details.

Surgery effectively derailed his strong NL Rookie of the Year candidacy.

The Headline: Kicker Tears ACL Celebrating First-Quarter Field Goal

The Details: With roughly seven minutes remaining in the first quarter of a scoreless game between the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants, rookie Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica kicked a 42-yard field goal.

Over-the-top celebrations on made kicks, whether they came in the clutch or while the smoke was still settling from pregame introductions, were part of the Bill Gramatica experience. On this occasion, he landed awkwardly after a celebratory jump and tore his ACL and medial meniscus in his right knee.

"You said I got hurt jumping. My jump was excellent. It was my landing I needed to work on," Gramatica told reporters in 2010, finding some levity in the years since the injury.

13. Antonio Brown (NFL) and Rickey Henderson (MLB)

The Headline: Frostbite 2, Superstar Athletes 0

The Details: A few weeks after joining the Blue Jays at the 1993 trade deadline, Rickey Henderson fouled a ball off the top of his foot in a game against the Twins on Aug. 12.

He went to the trainer's room the next day to treat his sore foot, but he accidentally left it on a synthetic ice pack too long, causing what amounted to freezer burn or frostbite . He played that night, but the burn eventually became so sore that he missed the next three games.

Former NFL star Antonio Brown was five years old when that happened. He apparently missed that story in the morning paper.

In July 2019, Brown suffered "extreme frostbite" on both feet after entering a cryotherapy chamber barefoot. The injuries kept him out for much of a tumultuous preseason, during which he was released before he made his Raiders debut.

The Headline: Wide Receiver Crashes Car Trying to Save Pizzas

The Details: A single-car accident involving an athlete is often the setup to a depressing fall from grace, but in the case of Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson, it was one of the most relatable weird injuries of all time.

Driving home from watching Monday Night Football at around 2:25 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2013, Burleson had two pizzas riding shotgun with him, stacked on top of one another. When the top pizza started to slide, he tried to adjust it before it fell, and he crashed into a median wall .

Burleson suffered a fractured forearm and ended up missing seven games. No alcohol, no drugs, not even a citation from the police officer who arrived on the scene. Just a man trying to save a pizza from falling and paying a steep price.

11. Lionel Simmons (NBA) and Joel Zumaya (MLB)

The Headline: Athletes and Tendinitis and Video Games, Oh My!

The Details: After a prolific collegiate career in which he scored 3,217 points over four seasons at La Salle, Lionel Simmons was selected seventh overall in the 1990 NBA draft by the Kings.

He averaged 18.0 points and 8.8 rebounds during his rookie season, though the lasting takeaway from that campaign is that he missed two games after developing tendinitis in his wrist and forearm from excessive use of his Nintendo Game Boy.

Video games grew and evolved in the years that followed, but became no less addictive. Just ask flame-throwing Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya.

With a 1.94 ERA in 83.1 innings over 62 appearances, Zumaya was a key cog in Detroit's bullpen as a rookie in 2006. The team reached the ALCS, and after pitching in Game 1, he missed the next three games with wrist and forearm inflammation.

Sound familiar? The culprit this time: Guitar Hero ... allegedly.

However, in a 2016 interview with the Detroit News , Zumaya called the Guitar Hero story "bogus" and hinted at it disguising a different root cause of the injury, but he refused to disclose what actually happened.

The Headline: MLB Outfielder Burns Face in Tanning Bed...Or Does He?

The Details: If there's one thing baseball fans remember about Marty Cordova's brief big league career, it's his stellar 1995 season that won him AL Rookie of the Year honors for the Twins.

If there are two things they remember, it's that and the story of him burning his face in a tanning bed.

Why did an athlete who spends his summers basking in the sun-drenched outfield of MLB stadiums feel the need to catch a few more rays on his off day? As it turns out, it was a cover.

In 2022, he finally set the record straight, clarifying that he actually got burned from laser surgery to remove ingrown facial hairs. That meant he had to avoid playing day games while the burns healed.

The Headline: NASCAR Legend Injured in Low-Speed Crash

The Details: The high-speed nature of NASCAR means any crash can be potentially serious or even life-threatening.

The low speed of golf carts means crashes are almost always avoidable and the result of shenanigans.

Shortly after winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2006, Jimmie Johnson was playing in a celebrity golf tournament when a cart crash left him with a broken wrist.

"I was in a golf cart and the driver took a sharp turn," Johnson told reporters . "I wasn't holding on tight enough, landed awkwardly on the ground and heard a little pop."

As it turns out, he wasn't holding on tight enough because he was on top of the golf cart , attempting to surf his way to the next hole. When he went to get down, his golf cleats slipped on the cart's plastic roof, and he fell directly onto his wrist.

The Headline: Arachnophobia Sends MLB Outfielder Through Glass Table

The Details: Outfielder Glenallen Hill was in his first full season in the majors, trying to carve out a regular role with the Blue Jays during the 1990 season when a bizarre incident sent him to the injured list.

Sleepwalking amid a nightmare about spiders, he ran into another room of his house and crashed through a glass coffee table . He suffered serious cuts and bruises that sidelined him for 14 games.

Decades later, broadcasters and sports fans alike still regularly mention it as one of the strangest sports injuries of all time.

While the incident remains Hill's enduring legacy for many, a monstrous rooftop home run at Wrigley Field and an absurd 1.112 OPS with 16 home runs in 40 games for the Yankees as a trade-deadline pickup in 2000 paint a more well-rounded picture of his 13-year career.

The Headline: Star Pass-Rusher Loses Fingers in Fireworks Accident

The Details: Honestly, it's surprising there have not been more fireworks-related accidents among athletes. An estimated 13,000 Americans were injured by fireworks in 2025 alone, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission .

There have certainly been others, but Jason Pierre-Paul stands alone atop the podium of the highest-profile fireworks injury in sports history.

A two-time Pro Bowler coming off a 12.5-sack season the previous year, JPP was one of the league's top pass-rushers when a Fourth of July fireworks mishap ended up costing him "2½" fingers and a two-week stint in the hospital to undergo multiple surgeries.

Impressively, he returned to the Giants later that season and went on to play 105 more games in the NFL. He even earned another Pro Bowl nod in 2020 when he tallied 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and two interceptions.

The Headline: MLB Knuckleballer ≠ Professional Strongman

The Details: Trying to inspire a team coming off a 90-loss season, the Brewers brass brought in a motivational group of strongmen known as "Radical Reality" during spring training in 1994.

As part of their presentation, they ripped phone books in half with their bare hands, and pitcher Steve Sparks was indeed inspired .

He tried the feat of strength himself to an audience of chanting teammates, even cheating a bit to make the tear easier, but the resistance of the tearing motion caused him to dislocate his left (non-throwing) shoulder. The team immediately optioned him to minor league camp.

Sparks' potential 1994 debut was delayed until 1995, though he went on to have a nine-year career in the big leagues.

The Headline: Team Doctor Accidentally Punctures QB's Lung

The Details: Tyrod Taylor entered the 2020 NFL season with a tenuous hold on the Chargers' starting quarterback job by design. His role was to bridge the gap from longtime starter Philip Rivers to first-round pick Justin Herbert.

He led the team to a Week 1 victory over the Bengals, but he suffered two cracked ribs during the first drive of the game. Prior to the team's Week 2 game, the team doctor administered a pain-killing injection to his ribs, but there were " complications ," and Herbert was thrust into action.

The complications? The doctor accidentally punctured his lung while administering the injection. He ended up hospitalized.

Herbert threw for 311 yards against the Chiefs, while Taylor ended up taking just one more snap for the rest of the season. Luckily, the 37-year-old is still going strong. He's currently serving as backup to Jordan Love in Green Bay.

The Headline: Punter Cuts Leg on Coach's Locker Room Axe

The Details: An axe and an NFL locker room brimming with testosterone. What could go wrong?

In his first year as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jack Del Rio brought an axe and an oak tree stump into the locker room with a simple motto for his players: Keep chopping wood.

The on-the-nose metaphor about grinding and enduring may have landed, but so too did the fact that there was a sharp object that the coach had openly invited his players to swing.

"We understood the meaning behind it," safety Donovin Darius told reporters . "That's why we welcomed it in there. NFL players are big kids anyway, and you bring a big toy in the locker room, we're going to play around with it."

Punter Chris Hanson took his turn swinging the axe one day and ended up burying it in his right leg . He was rushed to a local hospital for emergency surgery and stitches.

Hanson's season was over after five games. He returned the following season and played six more years in the NFL.

The Headline: Norwegian Soccer Player Injured Escaping Moose

The Details: Bymarka is a large nature reserve in Norway known for cross-country skiing, hiking and its scenic beauty.

While getting ready for World Cup qualifying in 1980 as a member of Norway's national team, defender Svein Grøndalen went for a morning jog through Bymarka. That scenery got a little too close for comfort.

He accidentally came upon on a moose, startling it and causing it to charge him. He sprinted away and dove down a hill, suffering a severe laceration to his left leg.

The resulting injuries required stitches, forcing him to withdraw from the national team as a result.

The Headline: Golfer Forgets Gravity Exists, Is Quickly Reminded

The Details: With 16 PGA Tour wins and 29 total professional victories, Bobby Cruickshank was an accomplished golfer who enjoyed a solid prime during the 1920s and 1930s.

He never won a major championship, but came close multiple times, including at the 1934 U.S. Open when he had the lead with seven holes to go.

On the 11th hole, it appears his ball was headed for a water hazard, but it perfectly nailed a rock in the pond and bounced onto the green. Surely a stroke of good luck worth celebrating!

Cruickshank threw his club up into the air, only for it to come right back down and hit him on the head, opening up a wound that required stitches . Play was delayed, as he ultimately settled for a third-place finish.

The Headline: NFL Lineman Temporarily Blinded By Referee's Flag

The Details: Many of the stories in these rankings have a predictable outcome that could be seen from miles away, or a comical turn after initially scary circumstances.

This one is just the true definition of wrong place, wrong time.

In his first season with the Cleveland Browns after signing a six-year, $27 million deal that made him one of the highest-paid linemen in football, Orlando Brown suffered what stands as the most bizarre injury in sports history.

With the 1999 season winding to a close on Dec. 19, referee Jeff Triplette threw a flag into the Cleveland backfield for a run-of-the-mill false start penalty. The flag, weighted with metal ball bearings, sailed through Brown's facemask and hit him directly in the right eye .

After leaving the field immediately following the injury, an enraged Brown, who feared he had been blinded, returned and shoved Triplette to the ground, earning an indefinite suspension .

The suspension was lifted when the severity of the injury was revealed, but Brown missed the next three seasons recovering. He filed a $200 million lawsuit against the NFL and came away with a multi-million-dollar settlement .

For the record, NFL flags are now filled with a small bag of sand. They made that change immediately after the incident.