Really Strange
2 Catchers, 2 Broken Hands, 1 Inning. Bizarre Phillies game in 1970
Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants could hurt opposing pitchers with their powerful bats. Oddly, each was involved in one freakish inning in which two Phillies catchers suffered broken bones in their hands.
Tim McCarver, the starter, sustained a broken right finger on a foul tip from Mays’ bat. It happened in the sixth inning of a Saturday afternoon, May 2, 1970, game at Candlestick Park, a 7–1 loss. Mike Ryan replaced McCarver, and two batters later he suffered a broken left finger on a McCovey slide at home plate. Ryan finished the inning, but he was lifted for a pinch-hitter with two outs in the top of the seventh inning. The pinch-hitter was rookie Jim Hutto, who then replaced Ryan behind the plate. First time catching in the majors for Hutto, an infielder-outfielder.
Back to Mays’ at-bat after McCarver exited. Mays singled and scored on McCovey’s double. Ken Henderson singled to right, but McCovey was thrown out at home plate by right fielder Byron Browne. Ryan was injured on the play, but he finished the inning.
The weirdness of that inning got weirder, as William Leggett wrote in the July 1 issue of Sports Illustrated: “A Willie Mays foul tip broke the fourth metacarpal bone on McCarver’s right hand. Mike Ryan replaced McCarver and Willie McCovey slid into him, breaking the second metacarpal on Ryan’s left hand. “When I got to the hospital,” McCarver recalled, “the nurse said, ‘We’ve been waiting for you Mr. Ryan.’ I said, ‘No, I’m McCarver. Ryan is catching at Candlestick.’ ‘No,’ she said, ‘Ryan is supposed to be on his way here with a broken hand.’ I just stood there and looked at her.”
“It was a Catholic hospital, and all the nurses were nuns,” Ryan remembered. “I said to Timmy, ‘Do you think there’s any chance of getting a beer in this place?’ “We both broke out laughing. It was the only thing we could do,” said McCarver.
“As a catcher, you’ve got to keep your right hand behind you to avoid getting hit by a foul ball,” recalled McCarver. “You learn that at a young age. I let my hand float out there and got nailed. Careless, simply careless. I was out a long time and worried about my career.”
Ryan was sitting on the bench. He quickly put on the gear, jogged to home plate. “I wore a soft, small glove. I went down and tagged McCovey’s left foot. Somehow it broke my left ring finger, which was in the glove. When I got back to the bench, my hand was shaking. Couldn’t stop it. The finger was sticking straight back. The Giants’ doctor came to the clubhouse and yanked it back. I almost went through the ceiling.”
Two days later, the two were on their way back to see a hand specialist in Philadelphia, each wearing a split. They looked like bookends. Sitting next to each other on the flight, Ryan kiddingly said, “I was rooting for you to get hurt so I could get some playing time. Now look at us.” Again, they broke up laughing.
McCarver’s cast was removed on June 15, but he didn’t return until Sept. 1. Ryan was back on July 6.
Combined, McCarver and Ryan caught 16,606 innings in the Majors. In the space of three batters in one inning, each suffered a broken hand. It is the only such injury for either. Bizarre, simply bizarre.
(NOTE: Story was originally written, May 2, 2020. Both Ryan (July 7, 2020) and McCarver (February 16, 2023) have passed).
