For the first nine years of his career, Carl Crawford played for the Tampa Bay Rays on the unforgiving artificial turf at Tropicana Field. He went on the disabled list once, when he yanked a tendon out of place on a swing, an injury that could have happened no matter what field his team called home.
In the six subsequent years, Crawford has been on the disabled list seven times — twice because of a hamstring injury, once each because of injuries to his back, wrist, elbow, hamstring and oblique. In that span, he has played for the Boston Red Sox and the Dodgers, teams that play on grass.