Although this play isn’t that old, I can’t say I remember it off-hand.
It was a game against the Red Sox in early June 2004, and Cesar Crespo – who finished the season with a .380 OPS (not OBP, mind you, OPS) – bounced one to first base with the bases loaded and one out. Royals first baseman Ken Harvey fielded the ball as pitcher Jason Grimsley headed to first base to cover.
But Harvey had a different idea, and, holy-crap-that-looks-awful, here’s what happened:
Thankfully, neither player was seriously injured, despite how ugly the collision looked. In the slow-motion replay, you can see the very moment when Grimsley realizes Harvey is going to throw home, and tries, fruitlessly, to get out of the way.
Grimsley was able to pitch just a few days later, and, although his careered ended in 2006, he did pitch himself into being traded to the Orioles in the second half of 2004, and was solid for them.
Harvey also returned a few days later, though his big league career ended the next season (which had more to do with the career .274/.322/.411 line at first base during an offensively-inclined era than it did with this particular play).
That is all to say, the collision doesn’t seem to have negatively impacted the players’ careers, so we can thus watch it for the horror that it was, without having to feel bad about it.