Most of us have memories of Rick Ankiel as a highly touted prospect going totally mental during his short stint with the St. Louis Cardinals as a starting pitcher. Towards the end of his tenure as a pitcher he truly had issues even throwing the ball over the plate. Over two years later Ankiel has fought his way back to the majors, but no longer as a pitcher. Ankiel is now an outfielder and before being called up to the Cardinals he hit over 50 home runs in his last two years in the minors. Ankiel didn’t slow up in his debut as an outfielder in the majors by hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning against the Padres leading St. Louis to a 5-0 win. Two days later Ankiel hit two bombs for the Cardinals lagainst the Dodgers leading to a 6-1 victory. Ankiel and his bat are bringing new life to a Cardinals team that has suffered through tons of injuries and a very disappointing season to date. They are now 6.5 games back in the NL Central and Ankiel could just be the edge they need to turn things around.
I wouldnt put him in the Babe Ruth category just yet but this is a great story. if this kid was a PacMan or a Barry Bonds we wouldn’t be talking about him. The Cards would have let him go years ago. But…Nice guys do finish first after all.
Definitely not a Babe Ruth story, but there will be a movie made about his excellent story.
Hey lets not forget the hitter who became pitcher like Tim Wakefield. Couldn’t hit his way outta paper bag and then learned 1 pitch to stay in the major leagues 15 years.