The Phenomenon - Rick Ankiel
This is an autobiography of Rick Ankiel, recently retired major league baseball player. Rick was a local high school phenom around my parts and was touted as the next Sandy Koufax when he got to the majors. He had a fantastic rookie season and at 20 years old, got to start game 1 of the 2000 playoff for the St Louis Cardinals. Then it all came undone in a disastrous 3rd inning when he suddenly lost his pitching control (an ailment baseball players call the yips) and never got it back. He struggled through 5 or so years trying to pitch again in the major leagues and couldn't do it. Then incredibly, he scrapped his pitching plans and decided to become an outfielder. He made it back to the majors as an outfielder and had a very successful rest of his career. He had a terrible father growing up who caused him a lot of problems. His dad went to prison on drug smuggling charges. The baseball reporters never really talked about it but since Rick was local, I knew about some of these things. Anyway, it's an incredible story about a guy who fought through lots of adversity and personal demons.
THE PHENOMENON - Public Affairs
This is an autobiography of Rick Ankiel, recently retired major league baseball player. Rick was a local high school phenom around my parts and was touted as the next Sandy Koufax when he got to the majors. He had a fantastic rookie season and at 20 years old, got to start game 1 of the 2000 playoff for the St Louis Cardinals. Then it all came undone in a disastrous 3rd inning when he suddenly lost his pitching control (an ailment baseball players call the yips) and never got it back. He struggled through 5 or so years trying to pitch again in the major leagues and couldn't do it. Then incredibly, he scrapped his pitching plans and decided to become an outfielder. He made it back to the majors as an outfielder and had a very successful rest of his career. He had a terrible father growing up who caused him a lot of problems. His dad went to prison on drug smuggling charges. The baseball reporters never really talked about it but since Rick was local, I knew about some of these things. Anyway, it's an incredible story about a guy who fought through lots of adversity and personal demons.
THE PHENOMENON - Public Affairs