Pool hall injuries. Cuts, burns, bites... whatever.

Not in Pool , But My Dad coached his own Softball team for about 12 years and his Pitcher had a strong at bat and line drove one straight back to the Pitcher of the opposing team and hit him right in the mouth and knocked out about 6 teeth , That was wicked. But not in the pool hall so it does not count

Cron said:

... but no fights (that would be countless).

In another thread in regards to being hit with a cue ball at 88mph and possibly time traveling...



So, in response...

You'd think to the hospital or at least alley. I've never seen anything horrific like someone's teeth becoming cracked or even get knocked out fully, but I did see someone's front tooth loosen noticeably. Blood everywhere. It was actually the guy's fault, even in his opinion. He racked the balls and walked away for a long enough time to honestly, truly think it's now O.K. to break. Sadly, no one noticed he never put the rack down, then out of no where he went back down to rack and ...

Although no injury, I did see someone flat out chug someone's "spitter" (tobacco spit) thinking it was his whiskey. He held it down like a champ. Although in fairness again, everyone was surprised how long the ice lasted in that spitter to deceive him.

Lastly, I cut my own finger once (all 3 layers). For 10 minutes, nobody could figure out what the red stuff was, but then again everyone was drunk.

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I was stretching for a shot and got my balls caught in the corner pocket of an 8' Valley one time so bad, I had to ask for help.

My buddy started putting quarters in the coin mech until I yelled, "NOOOOO! Just help me get my balance and stand back up!"

In the action days it was usually loser racks.
..a good habit was to lay your cue on the table, angled to block the one-ball,
...after racking, you hung up the triangle...and picked up your cue from the side as you
were leaving.....it was a winning habit.

Breaking head on and rubbing your knuckles across the Brunswick plaque and ripping all the skin off your joint.

-td

td873 said:

Breaking head on and rubbing your knuckles across the Brunswick plaque and ripping all the skin off your joint.

-td

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I’ve done that....Brunswick made a good table back then...
....but their designers couldn’t hit the end rail.

learned that fast

pt109 said:

In the action days it was usually loser racks.
..a good habit was to lay your cue on the table, angled to block the one-ball,
...after racking, you hung up the triangle...and picked up your cue from the side as you
were leaving.....it was a winning habit.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it didn't take long to learn to lay a cue down to prevent that horse crap.



Back to the thread:

I have been in a pool room when shots were fired a handful of times, no hits! A mechanic lost the end joint of his finger when he let it get between two pieces of slate.

A cousin was shooting pool in a crowded room, tables too close together. He had words with the guy at the next table a couple times then while he was bent over shooting the guy at the other table broke a cue across his back. This annoyed AJ a bit so he turned and hit the guy in the mouth. The guy napped at the bottom of the bar for awhile then stood up and asked for a napkin, "I busted my lip." The bartender looked at him, "You didn't bust your lip, all your teeth are gone!"

I had a few discussions over pool tables, one had me sitting in the back seat of a cruiser for awhile. Early on, somebody tried to hold me up for ten times what the bet was. He was four inches taller and outweighed me a hundred pounds, I was fifteen and still growing. When he came at me I snapped the cue in my hands and ripped his face open from mouth to ear with a two handed jab. That place was rough enough I was back in there playing a few nights later with nothing said.

I came in a pool hall just after a shooting, didn't realize a body was still on the floor. The cops came in and asked me what happened. I told them the same thing as everyone else, just got there myself! Seemed like a lie when we all said the same thing. A union local was in a war with a biker gang, nobody in their right mind wanted in the middle!

I'm sure there were more dents and dings that don't come to mind at the moment. Another death when a man that friends of mine were playing pool with was found murdered a few hours later. Never solved that one as far as I know. I heard second hand, didn't mean nothing.

I got in a double handful of fights in bars over pool tables. Always playing somebody cheap. Had a few threats but never any violence associated with larger bets.

Hu

One time, right before my finals match, I managed to slice open my finger on a bathroom stall door lock. I still managed to play, but didn't win. Be careful in those bathroom stalls Iol.

I've seen lots of near misses of cueballs skimming off the top of the rack on the break...A friend of mine got hit in the face by a cueball that slightly hit the rail and jumpet up. Even with the slowed speed he dropped to the ground and got one of the worst black eyes I've ever seen.

I saw a girl, trying to reach a ball, standing on her toes, lose balance and faceplant on the slate, she was a little inebriated.

I used to have a cue with a metal joint. It was a high quality cue. I had very different mechanics back then, I used to routinely follow through past the joint, especially on the break, but sometimes even on power draws and stuff. People don't believe it, but it's completely possible to do. The transition between the finish and the metal burned my fingers, sometimes giving blisters. Thats the weirdest of the pool hall injuries I think.

I occasionally get ocular migraines. This is an overwhelming sensation of colored lights, stars, lightening bolts. Eyes open or closed, does not matter. I can see, but not any object in particular. They last 25 minutes, no more, no less. No dibilitating headache.

I said occaisionally, more like rarely.

Unless I play at this one room. There, about every other visit. Guessing it is the flourescent table lights that trigger it.
Or it could be their green chili.

A young couple dropped off a 15 year old kid with a gun ,who then came in the pool room and walked up to another young guy and shot him , he made it to the back door before he died , also had another bystander on another table who got hit by a stray bullet that same incident.

book collector said:

A young couple dropped off a 15 year old kid with a gun ,who then came in the pool room and walked up to another young guy and shot him , he made it to the back door before he died , also had another bystander on another table who got hit by a stray bullet that same incident.

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Shit, that's nothing.

Once, as I stretched (one footed) on a tile floor to reach a shot, my planted foot broke loose and I hit my face on the table bed.

Once. Had a few close calls since then...but as they say: a cut hand learns best.

td873 said:

Breaking head on and rubbing your knuckles across the Brunswick plaque and ripping all the skin off your joint.

-td

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That's a classic. Ridiculously painful for such a slight injury. Silver lining is that it is a good indicator of a level cue stick though.





At a weekend tourney 15 years or so ago, I saw a man have a heart attack and die right there on the floor in front of the tournament directors table. That was an eerie evening for sure:sorry:

I've seen someone get their front tooth chipped while trying to catch a CB.

The guy lost the CB on the break. Someone else picks it up and gently tosses it towards the breaker. The breaker goes to scoop catch the CB but miss handles it and it caroms off his hand/wrist and into his open mouth.

To this day, I dont catch CB's and I dont toss em at ppl.


Eric

8cree said:

That's a classic. Ridiculously painful for such a slight injury. Silver lining is that it is a good indicator of a level cue stick though.





At a weekend tourney 15 years or so ago, I saw a man have a heart attack and die right there on the floor in front of the tournament directors table. That was an eerie evening for sure:sorry:

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I once saw a man die of a heart attack in a bowling alley. He threw his ball, made a strike, then fell like a sack of potatoes. Didn't even try to break his fall. Uncoscious before he hit the ground. Gave CPR but to no avail. Some people kept bowling on nearby lanes. som people have no respect at all. Lost a lot of respect for the decency of most people that day, and gained some respect for the fragility of life. You can drop dead any second, at any time, like that guy, with people not giving even a second glance.

Once in a pool hall without proper airconditioning I saw two players faint from the heat, one of which had to be taken to hospital. It was scorching hot inside. Again, people were just standing around in a state of bystander apathy, until another guy and I managed to break through that barrier and get first aid started. If you do have a medical emergency while out, you'd better hope you either have friends or someone trained in first aid around, because you may end up not getting help at all, sad as that is.

never know why people seem indifferent.

Straightpool_99 said:

I once saw a man die of a heart attack in a bowling alley. He threw his ball, made a strike, then fell like a sack of potatoes. Didn't even try to break his fall. Uncoscious before he hit the ground. Gave CPR but to no avail. Some people kept bowling on nearby lanes. som people have no respect at all. Lost a lot of respect for the decency of most people that day, and gained some respect for the fragility of life. You can drop dead any second, at any time, like that guy, with people not giving even a second glance.

Once in a pool hall without proper airconditioning I saw two players faint from the heat, one of which had to be taken to hospital. It was scorching hot inside. Again, people were just standing around in a state of bystander apathy, until another guy and I managed to break through that barrier and get first aid started. If you do have a medical emergency while out, you'd better hope you either have friends or someone trained in first aid around, because you may end up not getting help at all, sad as that is.

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You never really know why people seem indifferent. I saw a helluva wreck between a motorcycle and a car one day. I was alone running a service station back when we gave service. I walked out and looked at the guy that had been on the bike. Two huge holes in his chest, another in his neck. He was still breathing but he was dead, nobody on God's green earth could save him and he was out, he wasn't suffering. Other people were starting to gather around and I was neglecting a business wide open to theft. I went back to my job.

Had similar deals a handful of times between racing circle track and running a wrecker service. If you can't help, stay the hell out the way and do your job. If a race wasn't called a lot of the time the other drivers didn't know somebody had died until it was over. I was at a track where a car went off the top of the track where there wasn't a wall and didn't reappear. I was in the pit crew of a car and responsible for taking care of it and getting it back on the track, no reason to think the car off the track was a big deal anyway. Nascar legal roll cage should be plenty to deal with small pines worst case. What I didn't know was that for some reason never known the driver had released his safety harness before he was stopped. He was dead when people got to him.

Hu

Hu

Smacked my knee on the coin op mechanism mid-game in Vegas. Hurt like hell but won my match

Oh Oh I forgot a personal one also, I used to drink from time to time , I also used to be able to juggle 3 balls very well.
I was in a poolroom bar one night and I had a bit too much and was showing a couple of my buddies how to juggle , it was an old place and had about 12 foot ceilings so I was tossing the balls up and skimming them off the ceiling lightly after a while .
Then someone suggested we go outside {probably me } and see how high I could get them , Out to the parking lot we go and it's full of motorcycles belonging to the local Club The Avengers, I had known many of them for years , so I was ok , unless I caused a beef with someone
I toss the balls in the air about as high as I can and realize theres not.enough lighting and I can't see them . So I just keep looking up with my hands out hoping I catch glimpses in time to keep from hitting a bike .
I get lucky and snag the first 2 but the third one hit me right on the forehead and I went down like someone shot me with a 50 cal.
There are about 10 people in the door when it happens and 5 or 6 outside and every one of them was in agreement , that I got shithouse lucky ,the last ball hit me instead of a bike.

A hunnert times!

jsalazar said:

Smacked my knee on the coin op mechanism mid-game in Vegas. Hurt like hell but won my match

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Can't believe how many times I hit those damned mechanisms sticking out midrun while focused on the table! I learned the hard way about leather soled shoes and the ball plant when they slipped out from under you too. Never hit my face on the table or pool balls but people just thought it was funny when a foot slipped, no idea how much it hurt! A dozen railbirds laughing had me seriously wanting to do major damage. Fortunately by the time I caught my breath I realized it did look pretty funny. I did that twice the same night wearing some pretty expensive dress shoes. Went home and as they came off they flew straight into the garbage can!

Odd that you are the first to mention the coin op mechanism. They caught me right on the bottom part of the knee and I think that is why I have a permanent dent there! I quit drinking long ago so haven't been playing on those danged tables to remember those mechanisms.

Hu

I stretched over a table to reach a shot, kept 1 foot on the floor. When I swung my back leg off the table, it got hung up on the rail, I stumbled and broke my toe.