Write On Sports LLC - "Rick Ankiel: The Natural?" by Troy Somero

Rick Ankiel: The Natural?

2007-08-15 00:36:40 | By: Troy Somero

Drunk driving. Drug addiction. Death. A 55-60 record in one of baseball's worst divisions. It has been a rough year for the St. Louis Cardinals organization to say the least. However, just when pundits figured that the Cardinals were dead and buried in the NL Central, a spark plug has emerged from the most unlikely of all places. Seven years ago, the Cardinals' (then-pitcher, now-outfielder) Rick Ankiel experienced one of the most memorable meltdowns in modern baseball history. Now, the surprising Cardinal crusher is gearing up to help lead his team on a late-season pennant run. While the comparison is relatively obvious, Rick Ankiel is re-writing his life story to mirror that of Robert Redford's character Roy Hobbs' in the baseball classic The Natural.

The Early Years

At the start of The Natural viewers learn that a middle-aged Roy Hobbs was once (twenty or so years earlier) the best pitching prospect in the game. During a trip to Chicago for a tryout in the big leagues he once struck out the Babe Ruthian "Whammer". Whenever someone asked Roy Hobbs how good he could be, he told people, "I want them to say, 'There goes Roy Hobbs, the best baseball player who ever lived'." At the start of the film it is apparent that Roy Hobbs may very well be on pace to become the best baseball player who ever lived.

Like Hobbs, Rick Ankiel's early career seemed to be an indicator for his destiny of fame and greatness. During his senior year of high school in Florida, Ankiel was named the High School Player of the Year by the USA Today and a First-Team High School All-American pitcher. A year after being drafted by the Cardinals in 1997, Ankiel was named a Carolina League All-Star starting pitcher, voted the best pitching prospect in both the Carolina and Midwest leagues, and was Cardinal's Minor League Player of the Year. In 1999 Ankiel was named the Minor League Player of the Year by both USA Today and Baseball America. By the time he was called up to the majors by the Cardinals in the summer of 1999, many experts saw Ankiel's potential to be a real life Roy Hobbs – the best pitcher of all time.

The Incident

While traveling to Chicago for his big tryout, Roy Hobbs is seduced by Harriet Bird (played by Barbara Hershey). When Hobbs enters her hotel room, she shoots him in the stomach and he collapses to the floor. When the movie fast-forwards from the flashback, the audience learns that Hobbs has spent his life since the accident struggling with his own self-identify and destiny in both the game of baseball and life. One fall into temptation doomed nearly two decades of Roy Hobbs life. While Hobbs was victimized by his own temptations, Ankiel was victimized by his own emotions. In Game One of the 2000 National League Divisional Series against the Atlanta Braves, Ankiel suffered a physical and mental meltdown on the mound. In the third inning he allowed threw five wild pitchers, walked four batters, and allowed two hits in two-thirds of an inning. After allowing four runs, Ankiel was pulled from the game and his career would never be the same. In Game Two of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets he threw twenty pitches before he was pulled in the first inning, including five more pitches that passed by Cardinals' catcher Eli Marrero. After the 2000 Playoffs Ankiel struggled mightily in the Majors, ultimately falling down to the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League in the winter of 2004-05. One horrendous inning doomed the next five years of Ankiel's career.

The Turning Point

After returning to the game in his 30s by playing semi-pro ball, Roy Hobbs earns a major league contract with the New York Knights as an outfielder. In fact, the only reason that Hobbs is signed in the first place is because a team scout is in cahoots with the Knights' owner, who is attempting the sabotage the team's chances so that he can obtain sole ownership of the franchise at the end of the season. Considering the Hobbs is viewed as an old man in the baseball community, the scout figures that Hobbs is perfect player to ruin any chance the Knights might have at the pennant. Hobbs spends the first couple weeks of the season riding the bench, not even earning so much as batting practice due to the fact that team manager Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) thinks that Hobbs' signing is an attempt by team management to undermine his winning chances. After a heated argument with Fisher, Hobbs earns his spot in batting practice prior to a team game. While in the cage Hobbs hits mammoth homerun after mammoth home run using Wonderboy, his homemade bat. This display ultimately earns Hobbs some actual playing tiome, where in his first at-bat he literally knocks the cover off the ball. After starting leftfielder Bump Bailey dies on the field, Hobbs solidifies his starting role on the Knights and leads the team back into the pennant race with his monstrous swing.

In an eerily similar situation to that of Hobbs, Rick Ankiel announced on March 9, 2005 that he was switching to the outfield. Ankiel posted a .514 A average and a .515 AA average in 55 games. After enduring a season-ending injury in early 2006, Ankiel was invited to Cardinals' 2007 spring training. Although he did not make the big league roster, Ankiel lit up AAA with 32 home runs, 89 RBIs, and a starting AAA All-Start appearance as of August 8. On August 9, Scott Spiezio's drug problems opened up a roster spot in St. Louis, which was filled by Ankiel. In Ankiel's first Major League game as an outfielder on August 9, nearly seven years after his playoff breakdown, he hit a home run against San Diego reliever Doug Brocail and received a standing ovation from the St. Louis crowd. Two days later against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ankiel hit two home runs (which earned him two more standing ovations) and made a spectacular diving catch in the outfield to preserve a Cardinals' victory. As of August 13, Ankiel is hitting .375 with a .412 on base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage. Ankiel's return has sparked the Cardinals, who are 3-1 with a 25-4 run margin in his four games.

The Future

During the Knights' journey to the pennant crown, Hobbs endured injuries and fought a constant battle with temptation as the season progressed. After falling in love with a conniving Memo Paris (Kim Basinger) and being offered several bribes by the Knight's owner, Hobbs is poisoned and is told he can never play baseball again. Despite the doctor's warnings, Hobbs returns for the last game of the season and hits the pennant-winning home run to cement the Knights' regular-season crown. Hobbs is able to eradicate his past demons and become the hero of the franchise and the movie.

Unlike Hobbs, nobody knows what the future will bring for Ankiel. However, there is no mistaking the fact that Ankiel is well on his way to destroying his old demons in the same way that Hobbs destroyed them. The real-life pitcher-turned-outfielder may not become the best baseball player who ever lived, but his comeback to the big leagues makes for a fairy-tale story come true. Fans of baseball myth can only hope that Ankiel can serve up a homer or two with his own personal Savoy Special come the end of the season.