Ojeda Has Part of Finger Reattached After Accident

New York Mets left-hander Bob Ojeda underwent successful surgery Wednesday after he nearly severed the upper third of his left index finger with an electric hedge clipper in a gardening accident at his Long Island home.

The Mets said Ojeda underwent five hours of microsurgery at Roosevelt Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. James Parkes and Dr. Richard Eaton.

Eaton said the tip of the finger, including damaged arteries, tendons and nerves, was reattached.

Parkes said the accident, which occurred at 11:15 a.m., nearly severed the finger at the joint.

The cut went through the bottom and top arteries and bottom and top tendons of the finger and shattered the joint. Eaton took out the damaged parts of the joint and then fused the remaining portion, connected the remaining blood vessels and nerves and stabilized the finger.

“Microsurgery in the hand is very effective,” Parkes said. “The nerve is back, the artery is back and the finger is stabilized.”

Parkes said the clippers slipped and Ojeda could not control them.

“He was lucky. The tip could have been severed completely,” Parkes said.

Parkes said it would take four to six months for Ojeda to recover and that with proper rehabilitation, Ojeda should be able to throw by spring training.

“They feel there is a chance he will get the feeling back. They had to fuse the bone (at the joint), so the finger might be permanently bent,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said.

“After the surgery, there was some feeling around the tip of the finger,” Parkes said.

Ojeda, who missed most of last season after he had elbow surgery, was 10-13 for the Mets this season with a 2.88 earned-run average as the club returned to the top in the National League East. The Mets are expected to meet the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

“He’s a very good patient, and that will help,” Parkes said.

Ojeda’s accident damped the festive mood of the Mets, who are close to clinching the division title.

“Injuries are part of baseball, and a pitcher lives with that fear every day,” reliever Randy Myers said. “But this is something you don’t expect, and it’s terrible it had to happen to Bobby.”

New York acquired Ojeda from the Boston Red Sox before the 1986 season for pitchers Calvin Schiraldi and Wes Gardner and outfielders John Christensen and LaSchelle Tarver.

Ojeda, 30, made an immediate impact with an 18-5 record and 2.57 ERA. He won a game in the National League playoffs against Houston, and after the Mets lost the first two games of the World Series, Ojeda won Game 3 at Boston’s Fenway Park. The Mets went on to win the Series in seven games.

On May 11, 1987, Ojeda was placed on the disabled list and on May 23, Parkes moved the pinching ulnar nerve out of the groove in his e left elbow. Some bone chips were also removed.

Ojeda returned in September and spent two weeks during the winter recuperating his elbow.

Ojeda had five shutouts this season and had allowed only six home runs in 190 innings. He had 133 strikeouts and 33 walks.