Morneau’s Concussion Evokes Bad Memories Of Koskie
The concussion has become one of the biggest battlegrounds in sports over the last few years. Much of the focus remains on heavy-contact sports like football and hockey — and rightfully so, given the myriad of injuries we seem to hear about on a weekly basis from these sports. This article from The Classical, for example, details the struggles Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison underwent in the latter half of this past NFL season and is a fantastic read on the impacts concussions can have on players and people.
The nature of injury in baseball is very different, of course. Rather than large masses of metal and human flying at each other, baseball injuries are caused by immense stress on ligaments. That doesn’t mean the concussion isn’t an issue, though, and we’re seeing that now with Justin Morneau. The 30-year-old former MVP managed just 69 games in 2011 dealing with issues stemming from concussions dating back to 2010. Three concussions in and his baseball career could be nearing the end, just like former Minnesota Twin teammate Corey Koskie.
Morneau talked to Minnesota Star-Tribune writer Jim Souhan about his career going forward Friday. The glass seems less than half-empty for the slugger at this point:
Well, I don’t think there will be a career if it’s something I’m dealing with. That’s the reality of the whole thing. I’m obviously not going to continue to mess around with this if it continues to be a problem. There comes a point where you can only torture yourself for so long.
Unlike Morneau’s situation, Corey Koskie’s career was ended by one single concussion on July 5th, 2006. Going back for a pop-up behind third base, Koskie slipped and his head slammed into the ground at Miller Park. Koskie managed to get the ball in his glove and it popped out to Bill Hall who made the catch running behind Koskie’s limp body — it was one of the day’s top plays on all the highlight shows. Nobody realized it would end Koskie’s career.
Koskie’s incident is obviously the worst concussion MLB has seen. His issues threatened to take away not just his career but his ability to live a normal life as well. As he told Gordon Edes:
My head hurt, my body was numb, I couldn’t walk through a door, I couldn’t go in the sun, I couldn’t enjoy time with my kids, my stress level was through the roof, everybody was telling me I’m fine and I wasn’t.
Unfortunately, the language Morneau uses — particularly the word “torture” — connects all too well with Koskie’s experience. At least Morneau is at training camp and participating in baseball activities — something Koskie struggled to do at any level following his injury.
As a post-concussion symptom sufferer myself — I sustained a concussion after taking a foul ball off the mask while umpiring a 14-and-under baseball game in summer of 2009 — I can relate with the issues Morneau is dealing with and Koskie dealt with. It must be extraordinarily difficult to deal with such issues in a clubhouse setting (as Koskie mentions in the Gordon Edes article), where people cannot actually see the battle scars of your injury — the pain, fogginess and other symptoms of the injury are enough to deal with on their own. It can be something that feels like it will never go away, and the feeling can be totally helpless — rehabbing an injured brain is not the same as rehabbing an injured knee.
I am fully behind Justin Morneau and rooting for a swift and full recovery. Unfortunately, it sounds like Morneau is starting to deal with some of the same questions Koskie did when it became apparent the injury would end his career. Every case is different, however, and hopefully Morneau can make his way back to the field without further issue.
I posted this comment at another site, but am curious what people think here:
Seems like no one ever retired from concussion problems (extreme cases like Coniglieri aside) until the last decade. Is it possible this is kind of a reverse-placebo effect caused by excessive caution? Doctor’s tell players to be hypervigilant after concussions or they might suffer permanent damage, and as a result every twinge is magnified exponentially in the player’s mind, until he can’t play without anxiety. Thoughts?
As a medical professional I can tell you that the scenario you describe is a distinct possibility. The more a person knows about a condition, the more likely they are to incorrectly believe they have it. This is known as Medical Student Syndrome as it often occurs in medical and psych students. In todays culture you see this a lot more as the average person is bombarded with medical information, particularily incomplete or misinterpreted information through various media sources.
However, I doubt that this is the reason we see concussions becoming more of an issue in sports today. I believe that in the past the macho culture of sports encouraged players to live through any and all injuries or disabilities. Players were simply taught that to play through these conditions was a badge of honor and to speak of any lingering effects was a sign of weakness.
Another thing to consider is that some players may have showed a significant loss of skill due to concusssive after effects that caused them to wash out of MLB. Players may well have had their careers shortened by concussions without explicitly retiring due to concussion.
I don’t think anyone really knows the answer. I don’t think it is excessive caution, as it seems players frequently try to come back and experience symptoms. As far as I know, most of those symptoms (e.g., blurred vision, light sensitivity) are not consistent with anxiety.
I think that the more we understand all injuries, the more we see their effects as direct rather than indirect. Football is the obvious sport to look at since there is so much more contact. In the old days a guy would “get his bell rung” and come back in the game although maybe he didn’t remember anything that happened after or the plane ride home. If that happened a few times maybe he gets a little sluggish in practice or he runs the wrong route, misses a blocking assignment because he can’t think straight or can’t keep in shape because he gets headaches if he works out to hard and pretty soon he is out of the sport. The record won’t reflect that he retired because of concussions but that’s what happened.
@MikeS, haven’t they also looked into the life span of some of those players as well? I seem to remember a report on the average life span of former NFL players being significantly shorter than regular people. Sure, those guys didn’t seek medical help, but they certainly seemed to pay the price later. Here is a report on life expectancy: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/14477196/nfl-is-killing-its-players-and-league-doesnt-care
Obviously not all of it is from head injuries as weight is a factor as well, but some of it is from head injuries. The old school mentality of “get back in the game” took a heavy toll and now we just know more and need to be more cautious with guys like Morneau. 20 years ago he might have just tried to play through it and not make “excuses” because he would have been afraid of the stigma of not playing.
As someone who’s had a severe head injury (subdural hematoma), most of the side effects I experienced were memory loss, blurred vision, dizziness, memory loss, occassional nausia, memory loss….okay the memory loss part was a bad joke I tell people.
Really though, for about a year I would get incredibly painful monthly headaches, my vision isn’t at all as good as it used to be, it’s harder to focus at times. My brain injury occurred on the right side of my head though, so that might have something to do with it.
As far as being overly cautious. I was at first, and I still probably won’t ever box my friends or anything crazy like that. It’s honestly more my family and friends that are cautious for me. I can see it happening with players though. It’s scary.
Morneau suffered his 3rd concussion last fall fielding a ground ball. Suffered several others playing hockey. Its only a matter of time before he gets another – then what? He can’t walk through doors? Can’t be in the sun with his kids? Yikes, take the money and run, man.
Yeah, sadly, that’s sort of my thought too. He’s my favorite Twin since Puckett. I’d really hate to see him retire but I’d hate for him to stick it out and get worse.
Totally agree.
Koskie and Morneau are both Canadians.
Hockey destroys lives.
Nothing wrong with hockey. Canadians are just born with severe head damage.
Time to finish what we started in 1812 and take those socialists out.
Makes sense.
If you thought about Canadians as much as I do, you’d realize how disgusting they are.
Some of my best friends are Canadians.
I don’t know what 1,812 refers to, but I can see Canada from my house. (It looks sorta gross.)
I sell Canadian pizza. It is all white cheese with a beer on the side. Serve the Pizza and Beer as cold as Canada.
Brett Lawrie is a weapon of mass destruction.
It also produces really competent team doctors.
When Gregg Zaun was knocked unconscious during a game in Toronto, the trainer immediately ran onto the field with a breathing mask. He knew, because he’d dealt with many concussions before, that a serious blow to the head often temporarily interrupts breathing. And it did for Zaun, as well, so that air bag was wholly necessary.
Don’t try to throw logic at Libtrolls.
Good piece. I have always felt for Morneau and wished he could come back strong. I can’t help but wonder how the playoffs would have went in ’09 and ’10 when he was out injured for their entirety. Those were some really good Twins teams.
Brian Roberts is also attempting to comeback from a concussion. In the last game of 2010, he hit himself on the head with his bat after striking out. He got a second concussion after diving back to first base early in the next season. He’s still experiencing symptoms.
Whenever I start getting dangerously optimistic about the Orioles, I think about how Brian Roberts sustained his concussion.
Don’t forget the backup catcher who retired a few years back with San Fran due to concussions…I want to say it was Mike Matheney but I don’t think that’s right.
Concussions are indeed very serious and are (finally) rightfully being treated as such in the sporting world. Nobody has mentioned Sidney Crosby and his immense struggle to get back into the game. Concussions are just so unpredictable and the road to recovery can sometimes take years. They really do knock you out indefinitely, and there comes a time when quality of life is more important than the game you play. I am sure John McDonald (whose knee smashed into Morneau’s head) feels terrible for the part he played in all of this, even though it was just a routine pivot play at second base. I know the two have already reconciled and there are no (public) hard feelings about it.
I am going to drop one more name here though, another familiar to Canadians: Johnny O
Now I just read that Olerud’s head injury was not a concussion (it was an aneurism suffered in college), but he was known for 20 years as the man who wore a helmet in the field. He was instructed to do so, because of how dangerous the possibility of another head injury was. I wonder if more players who have suffered head trauma should do the same. Olerud is another example of players playing through career threatening injuries at the risk of their own personal well being.
It was Mike Matheny.
Helmets prevent certain types of injuries (such as fractures) but concussions are generally not one of them.
People are very different in their susceptibility to concussion, and also to their recovery after similar grades of concussion. I would say incredibly different. Luck of the draw.
As weird as it may seem (or maybe not), a lot of it has to do with your neck. It’s sort of there to flex with a blow. I was apparently born with 2 fused vertebre in my neck, so when my head is struck or if I fall, my neck is more rigid and thus, more of the impact goes to my head.
Not sure how much that comment contributes to the conversation, just something to think about.
I guess it all comes down to a persons physical and mental make up.
Plus awareness by the medical community. I remember my father telling me stories of playing semi-pro football in 30s and not remembering most of the games.
My own experiences from car accidents back in late 60s and early 70s where my head went through windshield of Corvair and in another case woke up in back seat after crash (was driver) –concussions were never mentioned .
I remember crashing on Sat night going to work on Monday and wondering why I had headache and was dizzy –Duh.