Ya Gotta Love This Guy....

Even if you're not a baseball fan!!

Last summer, I wrote a post on this blog titled "Getting There By A Different Route". In it, I shared the story of Rick Ankiel, a former St Louis Cardinals pitcher who blew out his elbow, lost his spot on the team, then went home and worked hard to re-invent himself as a hitter. The following season, he re-joined the Cardinals, this time as an outfielder. He brought a lot of folks to tears when he hit a home run during his first game back.

I've watched Ankiel since then, in part to see if he really is going to "make it" as an outfielder, or if last season was just a "fluke".

Well, this is no fluke. This guy has a determination that is just amazing, and it seems to show in EVERYTHING he does! Last night, he fought off SEVENTEEN pitches from a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher before finally taking a walk to first base!!

If you're not much of a baseball fan, you may realize the significance of that. A walk, aka a free pass to first base, is given to a hitter when a pitcher throws him 4 pitches out of the strike zone.

Many times, a hitter will swing at a ball and foul it off. After 2 strikes, these foul balls no longer count against the hitter, so a hitter can "stay alive" in the at-bat by fouling off pitches.

A good hitter will do this when he gets a pitch that he knows won't go very far, but he can't just let it go by him, or he'll strike out, so he has to at least "get a piece of it" and foul it off. It is not unusual for a pitcher to throw 6 or 7 pitches to a hitter before the hitter either strikes out, gets a hit, or is walked. A 10 pitch at-bat is pretty unusual.

A 17 pitch at bat like the one Ankiel had last night is EXTRAORDINARY, and shows great patience and determination on his part. He simply would not give up! He worked a walk to first base, and a few minutes later trotted across home plate when one of his team mates hit a double.
The Cardinals won the game.

After the game, in answer to a reporter's questions, Ankiel said, "I just didn't want to strike out. Striking out doesn't help my team, and helping my team to win is what I'm here to do."

Even if you hate baseball, you gotta love this guy!!

Vicki