MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Natural

The road that Rick Ankiel has traveled as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals organization is a long one. But it is an incredible story. It is a story about talent, potential, success, achievement, struggles, anxiety, doubt, redefining oneself, determination, and finally redemption.

Do you remember the movie, “The Natural”, starring Robert Redford? In the film, Redford played a star baseball player named Roy Hobbs. Hobbs was an up and coming pitcher and a bit of a phenom. He was on the path to be one of the greatest that ever played the game, and early on in the film, challenged the top slugger in the game (a character obviously patterned after Babe Ruth). He proceeds to strike him out. As the story unfolds, he faces adversity and problems and disappears for a long time. But then, he redefines himself and makes it to the Big Leagues as a power hitting outfielder. Hmm, kinda sounds like someone we know doesn’t it?

Rick Ankiel is a real life “Natural.” He was drafted in 1997 by the Cardinals and quickly became an important part of the starting rotation. In 2000, he was easily one of the best up and coming left handed pitchers in the game. His curve was just nasty (picture Wainwright’s curve only from a lefty). He went 11-7 that year with an ERA of 3.50, striking out 194. In game 1 of the playoffs, everything changed in an instant.

The Cardinals were playing the Braves. I remember that game like it was yesterday. The Cardinals got an early lead and it looked like it was going to be a good day for the Cardinals and Ankiel. But then, in the 3rd inning, he threw a record 5 wild pitches and walked 4 out of 8 batters. Later in that post season, he threw 4 more wild pitches in a game. He was never the same after that. The following year, 2001, he was 1-2 while trying to regain his control. He suffered through injuries the next couple of years and even underwent Tommy John surgery. In 2004, he made a triumphant comeback to the Cardinals, briefly pitching as a reliever late in the season. Things looked as if they were going to be okay. Then, early into spring training the next year, 2005, he announced that he was retiring from baseball as a pitcher and had plans to continue his baseball career as a position player.

That meant going away for a while from the Major Leagues, again. That meant starting all over. That meant redefining himself. That meant he had a tough road ahead of him. Tony La Russa, Dave Duncan, and the Cardinals’ management never doubted him though. They wanted to give him every chance to succeed. I remember feeling bad for him that he couldn’t make it as a pitcher, and hopeful that I would one day see him again. He tore through the minor leagues until he missed much of 2006 with a knee injury. This year was to be his do or die year. The plan was to put him at AAA Memphis and see what he could do. Sending Rick to Memphis meant that I would get to see him up close and personal quite a bit. I cover the Memphis Redbirds for MVN too, so I watched him and followed his progress daily as he found his stroke this season. He was a good outfielder, playing center field most of the time and occasionally right field. Critics and doubters in the media said that he struck out too much. They said the same thing about Chris Duncan and look how valuable he has been to the Cards this season. So I continued to root for Rick. He was such a nice person on top of everything else, how could you not root for him. He smashed 32 home runs for Memphis through this Wednesday.

Late into the movie, “The Natural,” Roy Hobbs is up to bat and the game is on the line. He smashes a home run to win the game that seems to go forever, rounding the bases as the power and lights are knocked out. It is my favorite scene from any movie. And the music to that scene has become a soundtrack to baseball fans everywhere.

Thursday, the Cardinals purchased the contract of Rick Ankiel. He did it! He had realized his improbable dream of a return to Major League Baseball. I was driving back from St. Louis when I heard the news and I was ecstatic to say the least. He is one of my favorite players, so I was so happy for him. And just like the movie, the Cardinals found themselves in a close game. Rick Ankiel stepped to the plate in the 7th inning and hit one out for a home run to right field, a 3 run shot. You know, it doesn’t really get any better than that. The usually unemotional Tony La Russa was visibly moved and embraced Rick upon returning to the dugout. La Russa said after the game that “other than winning the World Series that this was the happiest he had seen his team.”

Rick’s call up comes at a time when the Cardinals need an emotional boost. Despite their record and the adversity they have faced, oddly enough, they are still in the race in the NL Central. They are currently 5 1/2 games out with about a month and a half to play. That is plenty of time for a team that has new life breathed into it by a story of this magnitude. It isn’t every day that something like this happens. The good guy finishing first.

With all the mixed opinions regarding Barry Bonds and his breaking of Hank Aaron’s home run record, it is refreshing to see a story like Rick Ankiel’s unfold. Rick is “The Natural” as far as I am concerned. If he never does anything else, he can say that against incredible odds, he did it…more than once. But knowing Rick Ankiel, I would guess that the story is far from over, so stay tuned Cardinal Nation.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Rick Ankiel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.