Eye of the Tiger
Charlie Morton recording three World Series outs after getting his leg broken by a comebacker is huge Tiger-Woods-2008-U.S.-Open energy
If you were to look at the Game 1 of the 2021 World Series on paper, you’d chalk it up as a really good night for the Atlanta Braves. The top of the order stayed red hot, the bullpen gave up just two runs in nearly seven innings of work, and they walked away with a comfy 6-2 win at Minute Maid Park, a venue that presents its own [cough, hack, wheeze] challenges. What you won’t see in the boxscore, however, is Braves ace Charlie Morton taking a 102-mph comebacker off his leg in the home second.
He trotted over to first and looked fine. But soon the cracks, literally, started to show. Morton hung in there for three more outs, two coming on strikeouts, first sitting down Chas McCormick with this ridiculous breaking ball …
… and then Jose Altuve with a pitch that made it clear something was very wrong.
Turns out, something was. Morton would exit the game and, eventually, the World Series, with the Braves later announcing that Charlie Morton had suffered a fractured right fibula in that second-inning incident. Devastating news for Braves fans. Even more devastating for Morton.
We’re not sure if Morton’s fibula fractured on impact with the comebacker or if that created the fissure that became a full-blown break when he planted on that Altuve K. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. I think we can all agree that getting three outs in the World Series on a broken leg earns you warrior status. It gets you mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods limping around the 2008 U.S. Open using his driver as a cane. It makes you a legend.
So a big ol’ pat on the back for Charlie Morton, who you have to think will become the Braves' Chief Towel Waver over the course of the next three-to-six games. He is now officially the toughest guy in baseball. World Series championship or no, that’s worth something.