I had to stop reading the Buxton portion of the WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS article today because it sent my mind back through the history of Baseball. I was luck enough to be a kid when Dizzy Dean was announcing games and he always made me smile, but as I learned more and more about him and his amazing, but too short career I learned lessons that continue to plague me. One injury cannot be isolated from the rest of the body. When I am suffering from various injuries that were accumulated in a lifetime of adventures and guiding my wife will sing a versus from skeleton song - https://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/childsongslyrics/dryboneslyrics.html to remind me that everything is connected.

For Buxton to play with a broken toe is exactly what Dizzy Dean did and it killed his career. ]https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/tht-live/the-dizzy-dean-injury-cascade/[/url] When asked about the injury Dean said, "“Fractured. Hell, the damn thing’s broken!”"

Dean's injury happened during the All-Star game - "Initially, most thought Lou Gehrig, not Earl Averill, delivered the most damaging shot against Dizzy Dean in the 1937 All-Star Game. It wasn’t until later in the summer that the impact of Averill’s low liner that ricocheted off the toe of the Cardinals ace began to be understood."

"Dean returned to St. Louis and had the aching toe examined by Dr. Robert F. Hyland, the club physician. Hyland said the toe was bruised, not broken, and prescribed rest for Dean, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dean, who had a 12-7 record and 2.41 ERA, was scratched from his scheduled start July 11 versus the Reds.

During his recuperation, Dean clipped a newspaper photo showing his bandaged foot, autographed it, inscribed “Thanks, Earl” and mailed it to Averill.

Though Dean still was limping, Cardinals management instructed him to join the team in Boston. When he arrived, manager Frankie Frisch asked Dean whether he could pitch. Dean said he could.

On July 21, two weeks after he was injured, Dean started against the Braves in Boston. He pitched eight innings and yielded two runs, but he altered his delivery to compensate for the pain in his toe. By throwing with an unnatural motion, Dean damaged his arm." https://retrosimba.com/2017/07/08/dizzy-dean-and-his-final-painful-cardinals-days/

Dean tried to continue pitching even though he was hurt - the worst thing he could do. Buxton is our future and he has a history of injuries, but looking at his build and the way he plays it is not surprising. Someone needs to help him make decisions because players will always play.

In case we need reminding - here is a good site to look at 25 careers that were ended early by injuries. We might add the career altering of concussion to Mauer - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1022656-25-potentially-immortal-baseball-careers-derailed-by-injuries#slide5 We can also add the shortened career of Kirby Puckett, and the impact of bad knees on Tony Oliva,

I know that I get caught up with critiquing players, but I also have to set back and realize that if they are injured and not playing it is frustrating them too.