Orioles catcher Matt Wieters was having one of — if not the best — seasons of his career on both sides of the ball. The switch hitter was .308 (AVG) with 18 RBIs and 5 HRs and a slugging percentage of .500 in the 26 games he played to start the season. With the recent announcement that Matt Wieters’ right elbow strain would require surgery, effectively ending his 2014 season, we thought back on some other memorable injuries that the Orioles had to deal with.

1967-1968 – Jim Palmer

Jim Palmer had a rough couple of years in the late 60s. He struggled with arm, shoulder and back injuries which allowed him to pitch only 49 innings in 1967 and miss all of 1968 with the Orioles. After surgery and some time in the Instructional League, Jim returned to the Orioles in 1969 to join Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar in the starting rotation. Jim also pitched a no-hitter that August and finished the season with a 16-4 record.

1990 – Randy Milligan

After the “Why Not” season of 1989, hopes were high (maybe too high) for the 1990 Baltimore Orioles. The injury issues really started in the spring with a few pitchers. Then on Aug. 7 Randy Milligan had a collision with Oakland A’s catcher Ron Hassey, separating his shoulder and causing him to miss the final two months of the season. This injury stands out to O’s fans because he was one of the offensive leaders on the team in a year which offensive consistency was needed.

One of the scariest moments in the history of the Birds, at least in my lifetime, had to be on May 17 when Mike “Moose” Mussina was hit directly in the face by a come-backer off the bat of Sandy Alomar of the Cleveland Indians. The Orioles ace and potential future Hall of Famer suffered a fractured nose, a nasty cut above his eye and was very lucky it wasn’t any worse. He missed about a month. He stated in one interview that the most difficult part of his recovery process was the mental part; standing out there directly in front of the batter, every pitch he threw, each time there was contact, he was terrified it was coming right back at him. Don’t forget this was the season after two consecutive post-season appearances, playing the team that a year earlier beat the Orioles in the ALCS.