Bo McLaughlin

Who is Bo McLaughlin?

Michael Duane "Bo" McLaughlin was a Major League Baseball relief pitcher from 1976 to 1982 for the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, and Oakland Athletics. He is currently the bullpen coach for the Colorado Rockies. McLaughlin is best known for being hit by a pitch that almost ended his career.

On May 26, 1981, McLaughlin was pitching in the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox. He threw a sinker to Harold Baines, who hit a line drive into McLaughlin face. The pitch broke McLaughlin's left cheekbone and his eye socket in five different places. McLaughlin vomited blood and went into shock. It took two surgeries to wire his cheekbone and left eye socket, and doctors at Oakland's Merritt Hospital feared that he wouldn't last the night. McLaughlin recovered to play a few games in September that year, then spent 1982 with the A's. He was demoted to the Minors in 1983 and played three seasons of Triple-A baseball. He later went into the real estate business and coached in the minor leagues for the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles systems before moving on to his current job with the Rockies.