With the annual cost of salaries to disabled players running at more than $5 million per team and threatening to escalate to nearly $17 million in the next 2-3 years, preventing injuries is a major concern to MLB.

Tendonitis in the shoulder, for example, is the most common injury in baseball and is responsible for one-third of the trips on the DL.

During the 1999 season, 83 players appeared on the DL for a total of 6,022 days with injuries to the shoulder described as "inflammation," "tendonitis," or "strain." While most teams are developing programs to help reduce the risk of this type of injury, there are some injuries for which there are no obvious counter-measures.

Over the years there have been numerous unusual injuries that have occurred off the field that managers, coaches, team physicians, trainers and conditioning coaches could not foresee or prevent.

1. John Smoltz burned his chest while ironing a shirt that he was wearing.

    

2. Wade Boggs hurt his back when he lost his balance while trying to put on cowboy boots.

    

3. Odiebe McDowell cut his finger buttering a roll at the Texas Ranger's welcome home luncheon.

    

4. Ricky Bones hurt his lower back getting out of a chair while watching TV in the clubhouse.

    

5. Kevin Mitchell strained a muscle while vomiting.

    

6. George Brett hit his foot on a chair and broke his toe while running from the kitchen to the TV to see Bill Buckner hit.

    

7. Rick Honeycutt injured his wrist while flicking sunflower seeds in the dugout.

    

8. Chris Brown injured his eye by sleeping on his eye wrong.

    

9. Phil Niekro injured his hand shaking hands too hard.

    

10. Nolan Ryan was bitten by a coyote.