Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-21-2012

Pittsburgh Press, November 21, 1912:

Bobby Byrne...who third sacks for the Pittsburg Pirates, was in an automobile smash-up late yesterday afternoon that might have resulted in his death. However, fortunately he escaped with only a few bruises on his back and about $500 damage to his auto.
...
[As Byrne tried to make a turn at full speed] a delivery wagon appeared from an opposite direction. Then in between the wagon and Byrne’s auto a pedestrian hurried across the street and was in the jam. Bob…either had to smash the wagon, run over the pedestrian or crack into a telegraph pole.
...
The machine escaped both objects in front, but smashed into the pole and split it in half. Byrne was thrown out of his seat and fell upon the sidewalk.

According to Byrne’s SABR bio, the next week he began to feel a “jerking pain” on his right side and was confined to bed. Four months later, in Spring Training, he was knocked unconscious by a Smoky Joe Wood fastball to the head.

Not a particularly good offseason for Byrne.