Wednesday, April 18, 2012

RICK ANKIEL'S LASER CANNON

Do you kids remember when Rick Ankiel pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals?
He started-out with such promise.
A highly decorated minor league pitcher, Ankiel hit the Big Club in 1999 and finished 2nd in National League Rookie of the Year voting. He was given the Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award by The Sporting News.
In the 2000 NL playoffs Ankiel completely lost his ability to locate pitches.
His pitching became so erratic that he toiled in the minors for a few years before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2003.
In 2004 he returned to the Big Leagues as a relief pitcher with moderate success.
In 2005 Ankiel decided to try the outfield.
He remained in the minors until August 2007 when he returned to the Cards as a right fielder and, promptly hit a 3-run dinger!
He has since played the outfield for the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves - and is currently playing for the Washington Nationals.
Get this - Rick Ankiel is the first player since Babe Ruth to have won at least 10 games as a pitcher and also hit at least 50 home runs! He's also the only player other than Babe Ruth to both start a postseason game as a pitcher and hit a home run in the postseason as a position player!
Since switching to the outfield, Ankiel's arm has become the stuff of legend.
The dude's got a cannon.
Or - more precisely - a laser cannon.
Check-out this video of Ankiel throwing home in Monday's 6-3 win over the Astros. Houston's Jordan Schafer fears the arm so much that he never even leaves 3rd base!!!
Complete with laser enhancement...

No comments:

Post a Comment