Brett Gardner needs six stitches in lip after getting hit with own helmet
New York Yankees' Brett Gardner beats the tag by Kansas City Royals catcher Martin Maldonado to score on a sacrifice fly hit by Gio Urshela during the sixth inning of the first baseball game in a doubleheader Saturday, May 25, 2019, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
CLEVELAND – It was just last week that Brett Gardner was discussing the very topic with DJ LeMahieu.
“I just got done telling DJ last week that he shouldn’t throw his helmet in the dugout,” Gardner said.
Do as I say, not as I do, as the saying goes.
After Cleveland rightfielder Jordan Luplow robbed Gardner of a hit in the sixth inning Saturday with a running catch against the wall, he slammed his helmet against the dugout wall -- only to have it ricochet off an adjoining wall and slice his lower lip down the middle. The gash required six stitches to close.
“Obviously frustrated,” said Gardner, whose hitless streak reached 0-for-22 after an 0-for-4 afternoon. “Frustration’s been building up. We’d given up the lead, then hit a ball like that and it’s an out. Just frustrated. I told [Aaron] Boone, if I hadn’t done it then, I would have done it after my next at-bat [a hard groundout to second]. Either way.”
Gardner, who typically appears at his locker quickly after games whether he has played well or not – he’s out especially fast if he doesn’t play well – didn’t arrive until nearly 40 minutes after the game because he was getting the stitches.
When Gardner faced reporters with his swollen and freshly stitched-up lip, which was blackened around the wound, and noticed the YES Network camera already had departed, an ever-so-slight smile came across his face.
“No cameras,” he deadpanned. “That’s good.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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