nice column on Ankiel
in [St. Louis Cardinals]
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From: Tom on 23 Aug 2007 19:04 On Aug 23, 5:51 pm, Lance Freezeland <freezelandlaw.nos...(a)consolidated.net> wrote: > On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:53:57 -0000, Tom <drso...(a)aol.com> gave us: > > >On Aug 23, 12:49 am, Jeanne Douglas <hlwd...(a)NOSPAMpacbell.net> wrote: > >> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR200708 > >> 1601687.html> > >The link's not working for me, Jeanne. Is this the Charles Krauthamer > >(sp?) column from Sunday? > > Yes. > > In case others have trouble, here it is: > > Return of the Natural > > By Charles Krauthammer > Friday, August 17, 2007; Page A23 > > In the fable, the farm boy phenom makes his way to the big city to > amaze the world with his arm. At a stop at a fair on the train ride to > Chicago, he strikes out the Babe Ruth of his time on three blazing > pitches. Enter the Dark Lady. Before he can reach the stadium for his > tryout, she shoots him and leaves him for dead. > > It is 16 years later and Roy Hobbs returns, but now as a hitter and > outfielder. (He can never pitch again because of the wound.) He leads > his team to improbable glory, ending the tale with a titanic home run > that, in the now-iconic movie image, explodes the stadium lights in a > dazzling cascade of white. > > In real life, the kid doesn't look like Robert Redford, but he throws > like Roy Hobbs: unhittable, unstoppable. In his rookie year, > appropriately the millennial year 2000, he throws it by everyone. He > pitches the St. Louis Cardinals to a division title, playing so well > that his manager anoints him starter for the opening game of the > playoffs, a position of honor and -- for 21-year-old Rick Ankiel -- > fatal exposure. > > His collapse is epic. He can't find the plate. In the third inning he > walks four batters and throws five wild pitches (something not seen > since 1890) before Manager Tony La Russa mercifully takes him out of > the game. > > The kid is never the same. He never recovers his control. Five > miserable years in the minors trying to come back. Injuries. > Operations. In 2005, he gives up pitching forever. > > Then, last week, on Aug. 9, he is called up from Triple-A. Same team. > Same manager. Rick Ankiel is introduced to a roaring Busch Stadium > crowd as the Cardinals' starting right fielder. > > In the seventh inning, with two outs, he hits a three-run home run to > seal the game for the Cardinals. Two days later, he hits two home runs > and makes one of the great catches of the year -- over the shoulder, > back to the plate, full speed. > > But the play is more than spectacular. It is poignant. It was an > amateur's catch. Ankiel ran a slightly incorrect route to the ball. A > veteran outfielder would have seen the ball tailing to the right. But > pitchers aren't trained to track down screaming line drives over their > heads. Ankiel was running away from home plate but slightly to his > left. Realizing at the last second that he had run up the wrong prong > of a Y, he veered sharply to the right, falling and sliding into the > wall as he reached for the ball over the wrong shoulder. > > He made the catch. The crowd, already delirious over the two home > runs, came to its feet. If this had been a fable, Ankiel would have > picked himself up and walked out of the stadium into the waiting arms > of the lady in white -- Glenn Close in a halo of light -- never to > return. > > But this is real life. Ankiel is only 28 and will continue to play. > The magic cannot continue. If he is lucky, he'll have the career of an > average right fielder. But it doesn't matter. His return after seven > years -- if only three days long -- is the stuff of legend. Made even > more perfect by the timing: Just two days after Barry Bonds sets a > synthetic home run record in San Francisco, the Natural returns to St. > Louis. > > Right after that first game, La Russa called Ankiel's return the > Cardinals' greatest joy in baseball "short of winning the World > Series." This, from a manager (as chronicled in George F. Will's > classic "Men at Work") not given to happy talk. La Russa is the > ultimate baseball logician, driven by numbers and stats. He may be > more machine than man, but he confessed at the postgame news > conference: "I'm fighting my butt off to keep it together." > > Translation: I'm trying like hell to keep from bursting into tears at > the resurrection of a young man who seven years ago dissolved in front > of my eyes. La Russa was required to "keep it together" because, as > codified most succinctly by Tom Hanks (in " A League of Their Own"), > "There's no crying in baseball." > > But there can be redemption. And a touch of glory. > > Ronald Reagan, I was once told, said he liked "The Natural" except > that he didn't understand why the Dark Lady shoots Roy Hobbs. Reagan, > the preternatural optimist, may have had difficulty fathoming tragedy, > but no one knows why Hobbs is shot. It is fate, destiny, nemesis. > Perhaps the dawning of knowledge, the coming of sin. Or more > prosaically, the catastrophe that awaits everyone from a single false > move, wrong turn, fatal encounter. Every life has such a moment. What > distinguishes us is whether -- and how -- we ever come back. > > ========= > > And on this last point, Krauthammer certainly speaks from experience. > > -- > Lance Thanks Lance. Not that it's any of my business, but I've wondered about Mr. Krauthammer's disability. I infer from your closing comment that it is from an injury, not genetic or a birth defect. Tom
From: Greg Barnes on 23 Aug 2007 19:11 In article <1187910278.567618.148420(a)i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, Tom <drsoong(a)aol.com> wrote: >Thanks Lance. Not that it's any of my business, but I've wondered >about Mr. Krauthammer's disability. I infer from your closing comment >that it is from an injury, not genetic or a birth defect. From his Wikipedia entry: }In his freshman year at Harvard Medical School in 1972, Krauthammer was }paralyzed in a serious diving accident. Greg Barnes gsbarnes(a)drizzle.com http://www.drizzle.com/~gsbarnes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't count on it, monster man!
From: Lance Freezeland on 23 Aug 2007 19:32 On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:11:06 +0000 (UTC), gsbarnes(a)drizzle.com (Greg Barnes) gave us: >In article <1187910278.567618.148420(a)i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, >Tom <drsoong(a)aol.com> wrote: >>Thanks Lance. Not that it's any of my business, but I've wondered >>about Mr. Krauthammer's disability. I infer from your closing comment >>that it is from an injury, not genetic or a birth defect. >From his Wikipedia entry: >}In his freshman year at Harvard Medical School in 1972, Krauthammer was >}paralyzed in a serious diving accident. And finished med school nonetheless, earning his MD from Harvard in 1975. -- Lance "I believe in the Church of Baseball" Annie Savoy ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----
From: Jeanne Douglas on 23 Aug 2007 22:20
In article <1187906037.832102.3880(a)z24g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, Tom <drsoong(a)aol.com> wrote: > On Aug 23, 12:49 am, Jeanne Douglas <hlwd...(a)NOSPAMpacbell.net> wrote: > > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR200708 > > 1601687.html> > > > > -- > > JD > > > > "...if you think the 'Star Wars' prequels are a disease, then > > 'Serenity' is the cure." > > > The link's not working for me, Jeanne. Is this the Charles Krauthamer > (sp?) column from Sunday? Yes. -- JD "...if you think the 'Star Wars' prequels are a disease, then 'Serenity' is the cure." |