MLB reports on it’s “History of the Game” page that on January 28, 1958, Brooklyn Dodgers catching star Roy Campanella suffered a broken neck and a damaged spinal chord in an early morning car accident.  Baseball Library shows a one day descrepancy, reporting that the accident occured on January 29th.

Campanella played 10 years for the Brooklyn Dodgers, having made the team after 2 years in the minors.  Campy’s debut with the Dodgers was on April 20, 1948.  He went on to play 83 games for the Dodgers in 1948 before becoming the Dodgers starting catcher in 1949 where he starred for the next 9 years, being an important cog in 4 Dodger pennants and Brooklyn’s lone World Championship in 1955, until the paralyzing injuries he sustained in the accident ended his baseball career.

Baseball Library writes this about Campanella;

For the next nine years, he caught for outstanding Brooklyn teams whose members have been lionized as “The Boys of Summer.” They won National League pennants in 1949,  1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956, narrowly missed two others, and climaxed Brooklyn’s baseball history with its only World Series triumph in 1955. Campanella’s contributions to the Dodgers were remarkable. He won the MVP award three times in five years. In 1953, his best season, he batted .312, and scored 103 runs. Also, his 142 RBI (which led the league) and 41 HR set ML records for catchers (plus one HR as a pinch-hitter). He fielded with grace that belied his physique and handled with distinction a predominantly white pitching staff.

Like those of many catchers, Campanella’s career was punctuated by injuries. In spring training of 1954, he chipped a bone in the heel of his left hand and damaged a nerve. It affected his hitting and limited him to 111 games. Surgery helped in 1955, but the problem returned the next year.

                          

In January 1958, Campanella was permanently disabled in an automobile accident. Returning home from his liquor store, which he ran in the off-season, he lost control of his car on an icy street. The car slammed into a telephone pole and flipped over, pinning him behind the steering wheel. The crash fractured his fifth cervical vertebra and damaged his spinal cord. He survived and endured years of therapy, living far beyond the normal span for quadriplegics, but his career was over. He committed himself to decades of work in community relations for the Dodgers.  (SG)

Highlights of Roy Campanella’s career can be viewed here.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 5:30 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, All Time Hitting Highlights, All Time Fielding Highlights, Untimely Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.