Short of winning the World Series, it’s the happiest I’ve seen our club. – Tony Larussa, St.Louis Cardinals’ manager on a home run by a 28 year old ‘rookie’ outfielder.

Way off topic here – but this made my night last night.

Seems like for some time there has been no shortage of scandalous and just plain bad stories out of the world of sports – deep questions over ‘tainted’ records, Tour De France not going a day without a new doping revelation, NFL players off-field shenanigans, and so on.

Last night gave us a great, and very rare, genuine James Brown level FEEL GOOD moment in sports. Rick Ankiel hit a 3-run homer in his first game back in the major leagues after just over two years down in the minors.

That doesn’t sound very exceptional so far.  Read on to see why it really is …

Here’s the thing – back in 2000, Rick Ankiel was a rookie pitcher. Not just any rookie pitcher, but one who looked like a lock to become a serious ace, a superstar. He had all the tools - a mid-90s fastball, a nasty curveball, a heavy sinker, and 194 strikeouts in 175 innings in his first big-league season!

Then, in the 2000 playoffs, he had an astounding and very public meltdown. He just plain lost the ability to throw the ball over the plate. He threw 5 wild pitches in one inning (still an all-time record). He had one more horrific playoff outing, and then similar results in spring training the next year. By then he was ‘spooked’ or whatever it is that accounts for a supremely gifted pitcher with no physical or mechanical problems, just suddenly losing the most basic of pitching skills, control.

The Cardinals stuck with him through numerous stints in the minor leagues struggling to regain his form, elbow surgery, and a continued failure to regain his control and ability to pitch.

In 2005, Ankiel and the Cardinals mutually gave up on the idea of his chances of ever getting back to being a major league pitcher. Ankiel didn’t give up on baseball though. He switched to playing as an outfielder in the Cards minor league system, at the age of 26!

These stories don’t usually end well, and maybe this one ultimately won’t either.  But last night, at the age of 28, Rick Ankiel made it all the way back to the big leagues, at a very different position to the one he was ‘born to play’, and homered in his first game back, in St. Louis.

A lot of historic home runs have been hit this week. But none of them made me feel as good as Ankiel’s last night. In fact, I can’t remember the last time a single homer, in a meaningless game, got me so worked up.

Here’s hoping that Ankiel is back to stay, and has many more great swings to share with us.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Related posts:

1. World Cup – Very Good Final
2. Review: Napoleonix, A Rare Special Treat for the Pocket PC
3. Sprint Mogul Owners: The Rumors Are True (Maybe)!
4. The Story continues and befuddles!
5. UMPC + OneNoteMobile = Great Story at OnTheRun