The Underground Insight 8.27.07: Let the Good Times Roll, Part 1
Posted by JD Koziarski on 08.27.2007
In the year Barry Bonds tarnishes the most hallowed record in sports (and the other major sports aren’t doing so well either), baseball still has some feel-good stories. This week and next, the Insight looks at a few of those stories.
The Show
The Reformed
I'm a numbers guy. I won't try to deny that. When I evaluate players and teams and who is doing – or is likely to do – what I rely heavily on the data because the data tells the story. Maybe it doesn't tell the whole story, but it tells enough.
But there is another part of the game of baseball that statistics don't measure. It's an aspect that some people feel has more predictive and informative value than it really does, but that is not to say it has no value. It's the intangible, the beautiful, that unexplained thing that just makes baseball such a great game.
With the first overall pick in the 1999 amateur entry draft, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected outfielder Josh Hamilton out of Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, NC. Hamilton was considered to be on the fast track to stardom and a key piece in the Devil Rays youth movement. In 2000, Hamilton won the MVP for the MLB All-Star Futures Game.
Following a car accident that cost him most of the 2001 season, Hamilton's much-publicized battle with drug addiction began. As it had with Len Bias, the story of the incredibly gifted athlete trading in his talent for addiction appeared to prevent the sports world from enjoying the future accomplishments of another tremendous individual.
In March 2007, John Strubel penned a two-part column about Hamilton's early career, his battle with drugs, and his rededication to clean living and a productive baseball career. It's a fantastic and inspirational story, but Strubel's story ended in March. It ended with Hamilton about to crack a Major League roster for the first time.
Anytime a recovering addict makes it through another day without a relapse, the story is positive. But what makes Hamilton's story even better is that he is thriving for the Cincinnati Reds. He is becoming the player everybody knew he could be.
The 26-year-old Hamilton has guaranteed himself some Rookie of the Year votes. Through Saturday, Hamilton had posted a .292/.380/.564 line. Injuries cost him part of his rookie year, but he still is on pace for more than 20 home runs.
Hamilton is one of those guys I hope makes it. I hope he continues to battle his demons. I hope he continues to pound the baseball out of the Great American Ballpark. When you think about it, Hamilton is a great American. He's fought adversity – self-imposed or not – and he's come out on top.
The Natural
In 2000, the National League Rookie of the Year was Atlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal. People like to say that you never remember who came in second place, but this may be one point to the contrary. That year, a 20-year-old phenom named Rick Ankiel helped pitch the St. Louis Cardinals to the National League Central division title. A flurry of injuries left Ankiel as the team's starter in Game 1 of that series. The play-by-play from Retrosheet of the third inning of that game tells the story:
Greg Maddux walked; Rafael Furcal popped to Will Clark in foul territory; Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Maddux to second); Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Maddux to third); Andruw Jones walked; Ankiel threw a wild pitch (A. Jones to 2nd); Chipper Jones was called out on strikes; Andrés Galarraga walked (Maddux scored on wild pitch by Ankiel; A. Jones to 3rd); Brian Jordan singled to Ray Lankford (A. Jones scored, Galarraga to 2nd); Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Galarraga to 3rd, Jordan to 2nd); Reggie Sanders walked; Walt Weiss singled to Lankford (Galarraga scored, Jordan scored, Sanders to 2nd); Mike James replaced Ankiel; Javy López popped to Fernando Viña; 4 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Braves 4, Cardinals 6
Four walks and five wild pitches. The third inning of the 2000 NLDS was Ankiel's Harriet Bird. He made appearances with the Cardinals in 2001 and 2004, but his control was gone. His days as a pitcher were done. In fact, his days in baseball were nearly done.
In Spring Training 2005, Ankiel retired as a pitcher and began his career as an outfielder. What people don't realize is how close Ankiel came to leaving the game completely. Such a key point is merely a throwaway line in Matthew Leach's column for MLB.com. Leach writes, "Ankiel approached La Russa on Tuesday and said he had had enough of pitching. The organization offered him the opportunity to pursue a second career as an outfielder, and he accepted."
If it wasn't for Walt Jocketty approaching Ankiel and persuading him to try the outfield, the modern-day Roy Hobbs wouldn't be doing as he did in 2000. That year it was his arm that helped the Cardinals reach the playoffs. Seven years later, his bat could do the same thing.
In just a couple weeks since being recalled, Ankiel has hit a handful of home runs and with another month of solid play could get some consideration for comeback player of the year. His outfield play is solid and he has energized – not in the silly "he makes everybody better" way but by producing and creating runs – the Cardinals offense.
I know that I'm not the only baseball fan who saw Ankiel went deep in his first game as an outfielder and thought, "That's pretty cool." It is cool. And it shows that it might take a while for one to discover purpose. For twenty, maybe twenty-five years, Ankiel was a pitcher. That was his calling. And as it turns out, he was wrong. Playing in the outfield for the Cardinals could be what he's meant to do and now he's doing it.
Just keep him away from redheads named Memo.
Enter the Sandman
In part 2 of this column next week, I'll take a look at two American League players who are tremendous stories this season. I've spent a lot of time talking about one of those guys already, and the other one might be the best story in all of sports this season. Have a fantastic week everybody.
