So Ankiel is hanging up the wild curveball. Its a bold move, but are the Cardinal faithful really suprised? I mean, not at the announcement but at anything that Rick Ankiel does? He's nothing if unpredictable. He won't be a Cardinal on April 2, that's for sure. He can't make the team as a fielder at this late date and sending him to AAA is a sure bet for another team. The real question will be if he will try to pitch for the team who claims him off waivers? Who will it be? Good luck, Rick. You've been the next Koufax, maybe you'll be the next Musial- or Ruth. Can I recommend that on the journey to greatness, that you make a stop in some psychotherapy?
Little new on my other fronts. I'm still picking up dog crap, congress is spending time and money to investigate steroid use which is as useful as picking up dog crap. How, in a country with no universal healthcare, with a federal deficit in the kagillions, with a growing crisis of homeless and jobless families, and with constant casualties in Iraq, our government can spend probably millions to investigate whether grown men tried to be better at children's games than others by putting needles in each other's asses?
How does this affect the public again? Who of these players in their right mind would show up for such a farce? Why no congressional hearings into WMDs in Iraq or into Bush's involvement in Enron?
Yes, the world will be a safer place when Rafael Palmeiro tells John McCain that the strongest thing he keeps in his bloodstream is Viagra. And Curt Schilling can bring along 3D diagrams of his temporary surgical procedures that allowed him to help win another World Series- talk about friggin performance enhancement!! What the hell is going on in this country?? Why are my clients getting cut off of utility assistance while milloinaires interview millionaires on their pharmaceutical habits?
Last time I checked, fans just don't care. Everyone loves razzing Barry, everyone who lives outside of the Bay Area anyway. He's our favorite King-domed villian. But honestly, I don't care if he used steroids. I'll be skeptical but I DO NOT CARE. McGwire? Yeah, I'm sure the neckful of pockmarks is a result of normal acne outbreaks in your 30s. Hope I can avoid it, being 30 now. I'm pretty sure I'm safe. IF you strip them of the their records, who gets them? Second place- Sammy Sosa. Sure, he's as clean as a baby's butt too. Canseco? HA. Nomar? A-Rod? Pudge? You never know.
I've spent more time talking about roids in this blog than the damned members of congress should have. PLEASE PEOPLE!!! Can we shift to the cure for breast cancer? Peace in the Middle East? ANYTHING but this. You all make me sad I pay taxes.
Good night, number 66. We'll always remember 2000.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's been suggested that sportswriters don't root for a team; they root for a story.
That's true, to a point. Most sportswriters actually do have a favorite team, for which they root in varying degrees of obviousness. But when that favorite team isn't one of the teams being written about, then yeah, they – we – root for the story. As fans, we simply enjoy good stories. And as writers, we know that good stories lead to good (or at least more compelling) writing.
All of which serves as my preamble to this: I'm rooting for Rick Ankiel to make good as a professional hitter, but the odds against him are long. Mighty long.
Rick Ankiel is spending most of his time this spring in minor-league camp.
You think Ankiel's the first A-1 athlete who suddenly couldn't pitch, and thought he'd make his fortune swinging the bat? For a pitcher, hitting's like golf. Half the pitchers in the majors think that if only they really applied themselves, they could make the PGA Tour. "I've got a 3 handicap!" they think. "And if I could work on my short game instead of wasting all this time in pre-game meetings …" It's fun to think about, but when's the last time you saw an ex-major leaguer on TV holding up one of those big fake checks?
It's the same thing with hitting. All of these guys were the best hitters on their teams in high school, and some of them were the best hitters on their teams in college (not to mention the star of the basketball team, quarterback on the football team, and all-around Big Man on Campus). It must be a wonderful feeling, to know that you're the best at everything you try.
But a round at the local country club isn't Pebble Beach, and good college pitchers aren't Ben Sheets and Josh Beckett. There really was a time when some men were good enough to both pitch and hit in the major leagues, but that time is long past. The last of these supermen was probably Wes Ferrell, whose career ended before World War II. More recently, Ken Brett – George's big brother – might have been good enough, if he'd given up pitching and focused solely on hitting. Brett pitched in the 1970s.
It should be said that in the last half century a couple of major league pitchers did switch to hitting and made it work.
In the middle of the 1964 season, Los Angeles Angels reliever Wonderful Willie Smith became an outfielder, and he was pretty good for a few years.
In 1962, 19-year-old Bobby Darwin started a late-September game for the Angels, got hammered and spent six seasons toiling in the minors. Finally, in 1969 he reached the majors again, this time with the Dodgers, but the stint was a brief one. And in Triple-A Spokane that summer, Darwin got murdered: 0-6, 6.49 ERA.
So in 1970, Darwin became an outfielder. He was 27, and it worked. With Bakersfield in the California League, Darwin batted .297 with 23 home runs in only 86 games. There'd been little hint of this ability before – prior to this, he'd batted .234 with decent power in 410 minor-league at-bats, only a few of them above Double-A ball – but he'd done well as an outfielder and pinch hitter back in 1966, and somebody thought it was worth a shot.
As it turned out, those 23 home runs in 1970 were no fluke. Darwin was traded to the Twins shortly after the 1971 season, and over the next three seasons he hit 65 homers against American League pitchers. He also led the American League in strikeouts in each of those seasons, after which his career petered out fairly quickly.
Heck of a story. I'm just not expecting, anytime soon, another one like it.
The major leagues are loaded with brilliant athletes – men so talented that if you were able to stand next to them while they do what they do, you would wonder if you and they really sprang from the same gene pool. And yet with all those brilliant athletes, it's been roughly 30 years since one of them showed 1) the ability to thrive as a pitcher in the major leagues, and 2) the shadow of an ability to thrive, or at least survive, as a hitter in the major leagues. (And no, I'm not counting Brooks Kieschnick. He's in the majors because he survives in both roles; if he had to choose one or the other, he'd be preparing for another season in the Pacific Coast League. Or Japan's Pacific League.)
Yes, it's possible that Rick Ankiel is the sort of player who comes along every 15 or (now) 30 years. Wes Ferrell, Don Newcombe, Ken Brett … Rick Ankiel. Hey, anything's possible. And I'll be rooting for him every step of the way.
Senior writer Rob Neyer writes for Insider two or three times per week during the offseason. To offer criticism, praise, or anything in between, send e-mail to rob.neyer@dig.com.
Post a Comment