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Article Date: Dec 9
Athletes and Their Reckless Behavior
Jeff Kent in 2002. Paul Quantrill in 1999. Carney Lansford in 1990. The list can go on and on and will continue to add names in the future. The list includes the names of athletes who have recklessly lost parts of or entire baseball seasons due to reckless stunting on motorcycles and snowmobiles. In 2009, Ryley Rebel utility man Kevin Reinholt was added to this list of athletes who injured themselves in activities which very likely could have ended a lot worse then they actually did.
In the now well known incident that occurred in Tofield, Alberta on a night in which country sensation Gord Bamford rocked the Tofield Sodbuster Rodeo, Reinholt was busy breaking his collarbone while stunting on his father’s pedal bike, effectively, ruining his 2009 season.
Reinholts 2009 Stats
|
AVG
|
PA
|
R
|
H
|
SLG
|
OBP
|
|
.185
|
32
|
5
|
5
|
.185
|
.498
|
Reinholt does join some prestigious company though. On March 1st 2002, All-Star second baseman Jeff Kent of the San Francisco Giants fractured his wrist after falling from atop his pick up truck while washing it. An unfortunate accident in a harmless situation. Or was it? According to witness accounts, Kent was “doing a ‘wheelie’ and he dumped his bike” and “the guy was hot-dogging it all the way” before hitting a curb and being tossed from his motorcycle. When officers arrived at the scene they found no accident. No report was ever filed. Police did not investigate. At press time of this article, the Tofield RCMP detachment had yet to open a file on Reinholt’s accident, which not only broke Reinholt’s collarbone, but also destroyed Ted Reinholt’s bike.
Kent never flatly denied crashing a motorcycle nor did he admit it. If the Giants were able to gather enough evidence that Kent indeed did fracture his wrist while stunting on a motorcycle, they could have voided his 2002 contract ($6,000,0000) or dock Kent $33,000 per day once the season started because the injury was caused by an activity forbidden by his contract.
Reinholt also joins the company of former Blue Jay pitcher Paul Quantrill, who in January 1999 broke his right leg in an unfortunate tobogganing accident. Surgery was required to insert a steel rod into Quantrill’s leg and Quantrill bought himself an extended stay on the disabled list followed by an extensive rehab program. Quantrill however came clean about how he actually broke his leg. He was stunting on a snowmobile in the woods north of his home in Port Hope, Ontario. Blue Jays General Manager Gord Ash confirmed Quantrill was specifically banned from snowmobiling in his contract. Snowmobiling is one of the excluded sports written in standard baseball contracts. So is tobogganing. Quantrill, like Reinholt and Kent never reported the accident to Police.
Lesser known Carney Langsford blew out his knee in a snowmobile accident in 1990 costing him his 1991 season with the Oakland Athletics. Like Reinholt, Langsford was able to keep his pay cheque, even though the Athletics and the Rebels could have withheld the player’s salary because the activities were banned by the player’s contract. Like the Rebels, the Athletics felt that Langsford felt that the player was a key part of the franchises future and they took into contribution what the player has done for the team and the community in the past. Therefore there contracts were kept in place and honored by their respective teams. Major League Baseball contracts won’t allow “motorcycle racing” but there is no part of the contract language prohibiting players from riding a motorcycle. The Ryley Rebels have decided to adopt a similar contract for their player, but adding bicycles to motorcycles. “Maybe Kevin thought he would look like Charlie Sheen in Major League or Brian Bosworth in Stone Cold” said Rebel OF Kris Kushnerick, “The allure of ‘bikes’ and athletes is a strong one to resist”. Stone Cold of course is the 1991 film in which Bosworth portrayed a member of a biker gang.
San Francisco Giants’ GM Brian Sabean summed up the Reinholt incident when he discussed Kent’s accident in 2002;“This is a great lesson for him and a great lesson for baseball. There’s a difference between partaking in whatever your fun is and being careless. Am I surprised by the information that’s presenting itself about a bike accident? No. Do I think it’s prudent and smart? No. I think it’s careless. But I also know what kind of life he leads, which is very workmanlike, old-fashioned style. I’m sure he’s been in situations that nobody knows about that are far more precarious and even more dangerous than falling off a bike. I’m sure that he’s fallen off his bike before.”
Ryley Rebels General Manager Corey Epp could not have described Kevin Reinholt any better himself.
