A Old Card With New Tricks

For whatever reason, the 2007 MLB baseball season has been fairly insignificant for me. This is the least interested I have been since the late nineties. I’m sure there are fairly obvious reasons for that. Moving from the St. Louis area and the busyness that has ensued since arriving in the Chicago-land area is probably one big reason for this. But to be honest, I was fairly disinterested in St. Louis’ season as early as April. Even when I was in the St. Louis area… I didn’t really watch many of the games. I really can’t put my finger on a specific reason… I just never felt a connection with this particular team.

The Cards have flirted with my emotions over the past couple of weeks. They win five games in a row… then they lose five in a row to last place teams. They score loads of runs one game… then get shut out the next two. They start to look like a decent ball club… then they lose a game on an error or mental mistake. I’ll begin to get interested, and I’ll sit down in front of my computer to watch a game… and the Cards will stink the place up and I’ll not want to watch a game again for awhile.

The last couple of weeks have changed a little bit for me. Honestly, I still don’t think this team is that good. Of course, I didn’t think last year’s team was that good either and look where they wound up. Things have changed for me because I have watched a player that I have rooted for since the 1999 season finally make his comeback. The player’s name: Rick Ankiel.

Ankiel was one of the sad stories of the sport of baseball. He was a left handed phenom who had a great 2000 season for the Cards… but for some reason, in the 2000 post season: His head and arm started to disconnect. He couldn’t throw straight. He couldn’t find the plate. Many wild pitches, news interviews and comebacks later… he finally announced that he would be giving up pitching. The catch: He would now be trying to make the big leagues as an outfielder. Most people laughed it off and suggested that he would now be a career minor leaguer.

A few years later and something strange has happened… he has continued to be promoted through the majors and this past season hit a whooping 30 homers for the Cards’ triple A team. He finally gets called up and has proceeded to hit four homers in about two weeks time. One of them against the Cubbies last Monday. I have seen him make some tremendous diving plays and I have seen him show off his cannon of an arm by making rare outfield assists.

His story fascinates me. His story reminds me of why I love this game. For every steroided indifferent superstar… there are about 10 guys that don’t have as much talent… don’t cheat… and have 100 times the heart. Rick Ankiel is one of those guys.

So I watch the Cards again… as much as I can, anyway. I root for the team, certainly. But I am REALLY rooting for this kid who has been through the fire in his professional career… and I am enjoying his success.

Here’s to the guys that play the game the right way…