When I first heard about this series, I loved the idea—almost all sports fans are, more or less, homers for the underdog. Rarely do we sit down for an important match/game and root for the favorite unless the favorite happens to be OUR team.
Otherwise, we're usually rooting for the little guy to pull an upset—the more memorable the better.
Every now and then, the meek delivers.
The Miracle on Ice, NC State over Phi Slamma Jamma, the Snakes finally biting the Evil Empire, the Football Giants tripping up the Pats right before the perfect season finish line, and on and on.
As I was thinking about all the wonderful possibilities, Rick Ankiel faceplanted into an outfield wall.
I'd warn you off the clip except Ankiel seems to have survived the ordeal no worse ( permanently) for the wear. He's off the Disabled List and doubled in his first game back with the St. Louis Cardinals...then promptly sat out with residual soreness in his shoulder.
Understandable, considering the awkward angle at which he jammed his face into a relatively immovable object. Going full speed.
Ouch.
Amazing as Ankiel's recovery is from such a horrific-looking accident, this story is not about that ordeal. The clip simply reminded me of how Rick Ankiel is one resilient hombre.
Take a look at Rick's baseball-reference.com page and you'll see there's something more to the dude than overcoming such simple adversity as a brutal injury.
Or maybe you won't—that's why I'm here.
Take a gander and you'll see the 30-year-old (in July) came up in 1999 at the tender age of 19. You'll see the outfielder stayed up in the Show until 2001, disappeared until 2004, and then disappeared again before resurfacing in 2007 to stay.
You'll also see that, from '99-'04, Rick Ankiel registered 87 at-bats while collecting almost twice as many (172) in just '07. Odd.
The clarifcation—of sorts—comes further down the page where you'll see Ankiel's pitching record for those first four seasons (or partial seasons) in the Big Leagues. The 51 games on the hill explain what those familiar with his story already know.
Rick Ankiel was a blue-chip pitching prospect when he originally came to the Majors.
His career on the mound peaked in 2000 when Rick made 30 starts and went 11-7 for a playoff-bound Redbird team. Along the way, the young stud struck out 194 batters in 175 innings while only walking 90, posted a 1.30 WHIP, and a 3.50 earned run average.
Rather dandy for a kid who turned 21 in the middle of the season.
Unfortunately, Ankiel's pitching career cratered the same year. In the playoffs to be precise, after St. Louis had wrapped up the National League Central pennant.
While the Cardinals were sweeping away the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series and before they ultimately bowed out to the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series, the 2000 dream season turned into a nightmare for Rick Ankiel.
Those of us who follow baseball closely remember it all too graphically.
At first it was just a funny glitch—one wild toss to the backstop. Then another, followed by some more giggling. Then another and Cardinal fans stopped laughing. Then another, and the rest of us started to cringe.
After a fifth wild pitch (against only eight batters retired), Rick Ankiel's inaugural postseason start was over. And an unmitigated disaster—2.2 IP, 4 hits, 4 ERs, 6 walks, 3 Ks, and 5 excruciating wild pitches.
WILD pitches—almost every one straight to the netting with zero hope of finding leather. Or even one of his catcher's pads.
Give Tony LaRussa credit. The Redbirds advanced despite the rough outing (winning that particular game, in fact) and Tony ran Ankiel right back out there in the next round, not wanting to lose the youngster for good.
Except that's precisely what happened.
Ankiel started Game Two and couldn't make it out of the first—after striking out the lead-off hitter, Rick proceeded to walk three and allow a double while throwing two more wild pitches.
Before the NLCS was over, he'd make a final appearance after Game Five was out of reach and the pressure of the limelight had seemingly abated. No such luck—Ankiel would toss two more offerings to the backstop and walk another couple while recording only two outs.
When the dust settled—and it took a while—Rick Ankiel's stellar 2000 regular season came to a thundering end with four agonizing frames in the postseason. He threw 175 superb innings from April through September and it all unraveled in the span of 12 October outs.
His final line—4 IP, 11 walks, 5 Ks, a 4.00 WHIP, a 15.75 ERA, and 9 wild pitches. After throwing 12 wild ones in 31 regular season appearances, Rick Ankiel threw nine uncatchable balls in 3 postseason trips to the bump.
And it shattered his confidence. Completely.
The next year ('01), he threw five wayward pitches in six appearances while walking a batter an inning in a very short stint with the pro club. After trying to work through the mental problem in the minors, Ankiel returned to the Bigs in '04 and clearly wasn't the same.
The control issues were seemingly eliminated, but his edge went with them. St. Louis gave him 10 innings worth of leash, but the shelling he took was too much. He got the hook and then the boot.
Rick Ankiel's Major League Baseball career was over.
As a pitcher.
Because, as I mentioned, the man is now an outfielder for those same St. Louis Cardinals. And a pretty good one.
His defense is impressive, as illustrated in the clip, and his offense very good in a vacuum—757 career ABs, .260 average, .325 OBP, .803 OPS, 117 Rs, 37 doubles, 40 HRs, and 130 RBI. When you consider Ankiel spent his first 22 years preparing to throw the pitches rather than hit them, his work with the splinter at baseball's highest level is staggering.
But what earns him the most admiration in my eyes is the mental fortitude it must've required to beat back the voices in his own head.
Rick Ankiel had to know one golden opportunity had already slipped right through his fingers. He had to have serious doubts as to whether he'd ever be able to perform any task in the Show—I'm talking walking and chewing gum.
And then there's the issue of learning to hit Major League pitching, which is no piece of cake for guys who practice all their life to do just that.
It must've taken resolve the likes of which most mortal men/women will never possess to endure the inevitable slumps destined for all baseball players on every diamond. When Ankiel suffers the totally normal 0-20s, when other ballplayers are just trying to find a light at the end of the tunnel, the thought has to ambush Ankiel from time to time—"Is this the one? Is this what starts it all over again?"
Hitting a baseball thrown by a Major League pitcher is already supposed to be the hardest thing to do in all of the sporting world. Doing so without full cooperation of your inner demons must be a damn sight more difficult.
Yet, there's Rick Ankiel— patrolling the big green in the Show and holding his own in the batter's box.
Killing giants one successful at-bat at a time.
- Login to post comments