Darin Ruf is suing the Reds over the end of his major league career.
The journeyman first baseman filed a suit against the team on Thursday in Hamilton County, Ohio, alleging that a knee injury he suffered at their ballpark while playing for the Brewers in 2023 ended his career.
Ruf is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Ruf accuses the Reds of negligently failing to maintain safe field conditions. He ran into an unpadded metal tarp roller while chasing a foul ball that summer.
“The dangerous condition of the tarp roller caused [Ruf] to sustain bodily injuries, including permanent and substantial deformities to his knee,” the lawsuit says.
Replays from that day show Ruf bleeding after the play; he was put on the 60-day injured list and never played in the majors again.
Ruf is not the first player to sue a major U.S. pro sports team over an injury. In 2018, longtime NFL running Reggie Bush won a lawsuit against the St. Louis Rams for $12.5 million after suffering a knee injury in a game after slipping on a concrete surface when he was pushed out of bounds.
“They’re different sports and slightly different circumstances, but a lot of it is pretty similar to Reggie’s situation, where it’s an injury from a dangerous condition at an opposing team’s stadium,” Tim Cronin, Bush’s lead attorney in the case, told Front Office Sports.
“Injury grievance disputes have to be resolved [in] internal arbitration,” Cronin added. “What the Rams tried to do in Reggie’s case, and what I bet the Reds try here, is to invoke the [National Labor Relations Act] and refer to the CBA. But in the NFL, it doesn’t apply because it’s an opposing team. If [MLB’s CBA] is remotely similar to the NFL’s it should be able to develop into a case [for Ruf].”
Ruf’s lawsuit says that the end of the tarp roller was sharp metal with no protective cushioning, and the Reds were “reckless” in not covering the metal. The suit says Ruf’s view of it was obscured by a Gorilla Glue ad.
“This didn’t need to happen,” Ruf said in a statement. “I wish it didn’t happen. Players shouldn’t have to worry about hidden hazards like that on a major league field.”
Ruf played for five teams across nine seasons in the majors including two stints with the San Francisco Giants. He batted .239 for his career with 67 home runs and 205 RBI.
The Reds and Major League Baseball did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tad Thomas, Ruf’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
