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Sep 19, 2008

Dodgers euthanize Garciaparra after breakdown at Dodger Stadium

LOS ANGELES - In an emotional press conference today, Los Angeles Dodgers officials announced that Nomar Garciaparra had been euthanized, two days after he injured his left knee rounding the bases in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.



"Nomar gave us all he had for such a long time," said Dodgers general manager Ned Coletti, fighting back tears while addressing the media. "But with his history of injuries, and the likelihood of his recovery being slim to none, we thought the humane thing to do would be to put him out of his misery."

Dodgers trainers said they had attempted to keep Garciaparra off of his injured leg, but he had fought all restraints, refusing to lay down while shouting "What are you doing?" and "Hey, I'm not a horse!"

Dodger fan Joe McClendon, who brought his family to the game on Wednesday, said watching Garciaparra break down in front of a packed stadium was a disturbing sight.

"You bring kids to the game, and you don't want them to see that," McClendon said. "But at least they didn't have to put him down right there - I saw they had the portable curtain thing out just in case. If that happened, we wouldn't have come back."

Posted by The Duke of Everything

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