• When Ankiel was just a kid, he traveled a whole lot with his baseball teams. He made all of the all-star squads and matured quickly.

  He remembers coming home from one of those trips when he was 13 years old. His parents were sitting in the living room and asked Rick to sit down. They then told him that his best friend, Dennis, had died in a car accident. Rick says that is the last time he cried.

  "You hope it is a dream and that then you'll wake up. And you don't. Then it hits you," Ankiel said. "It made me realize reality. It made me grow up way faster than I would have if it wouldn't have happened."

• In high school in 1997, Rick went 11-1, 0.42 with 162 srikeouts in 74 innings, walking just 22 and allowing only 21 hits for Port St. Lucie High School.
• In August 1997, he signed with the Cardinals for a $2.5 million signing bonus—three days before attending his first college class.
• In 1998, Rick set a new Prince William (CAR) single-season strikeout record. And he held the league to a .134 batting average. And he was the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

• Ankiel has a big body, so he will always have to watch his weight. But he works hard. The day after he pitches, he runs 20 minutes to loosen his muscles. If his arm feels all right he'll throw some long toss, playing catch with a teammate from 50, then 100, then about 150 feet away. This drill built his velocity from 84 mph to 90 between his sophomore and junior years of high school, and it helps him maintain strength during the season, when he does little weightlifting.

  A pitcher's arm should have long, loose, thin muscles, not short, tight ones. Long toss is one of the ways that a pitcher can strengthen his arm without lifting weights or doing something that's not natural to throwing a ball.

• In 1999, he was named Baseball Weekly's Minor League Pitcher of the Year. And he was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year.

• Rick has remained the same guy he was before he became a millionaire. "I still have the same friends I always had. A lot of them are gone to college when I'm home in the winter, so that's different."

  DAD IN AND OUT OF JAIL

• Rick's father, Rick Sr., was arrested 15 times from 1975 to 2000.

• On Sept. 28, 1999, Rick's father, Richard Patrick Ankiel, age 42 at that time, was accused with three other people of distributing marijuana and cocaine. He was sentenced to nearly six months in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to two counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

  He helped a drug ringleader import hundreds of pounds of drugs into the country. He was convicted and given five years in prison, which he was to enter in June 2000. Rick seemed to handle it well. "I'm OK, because there's nothing I can do about. It's just reality, you know."

  Mr. Ankiel then was arrested for waving a 9mm handgun at someone driving in their car May 10 and was put in jail a month early.

• Rick's parents got divorced in 2000.
• Rick's Dad has a rap sheet four pages long. He was arrested in 1975 for marijuana possession, and for the next 25 years did time for everything for burglary, aggravated assault, conterfeiting, carrying a concealed weapon, and fleeing police to numerous charges of driving while intoxicated. It was not until the above arrest for his involvement in a Bahamian smuggling ring that his troubles became public.
• All his life, Rick had to watch his father lie, steal, use and sell drugs and engage in sometimes-violent arguments with his mother. No longer does he have to worry about anyone but his mother, Denise Turton, who now lives alone in the two-bedroom, $44,000 house they had shared. No longer does Rick have to lie to himself or tell friends that his Dad was a fisherman or a self-employed drywall specialist.

• With all that has gone on in Ankiel's life, he found the pitching mound to be an oasis. Rick himself was arrested twice as a juvenile. He faced charges of petty theft and criminal mischief shortly before his 14th birthday and at 16, charges of grand theft and burglary. Rick says he was hanging out with the wrong people.

  But he graduated from high school with a 3.0 grade-point average.

• He still feels close to his father. He won't talk of his Dad's long history of convictions. "I don't know. You keep your personal life personal and your business life business," he said. He seems happiest when his Mom, Denise, is in town to watch him pitch. "I talk to my Mom every day. Every day." And he talks to his Dad on the phone two or three times a week. "Pretty much all we talk about is baseball." 
• In 2005, Rick purchased a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home near the Cardinals' training complex in Jupiter, Florida.

• On New Year's Eve in 2006 (with the party lasting until New Year's Day 2007), Rick got married to Lory Bailey, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and current advertising executive. The wedding took place on the Atlantic Ocean.

  In 2009, Rick and Lory were planning on starting a family. And Rick was seriously considering changing his name to Dick Ankiel.

• Ankiel reportedly had a year's supply of human growth hormone delivered to him in 2004. Rick responded that any drugs he received in 2004 were prescribed by a licensed physician to help him recover from reconstructive elbow surgery. But he refused to list his various prescriptions.

  "I'm not going to go into the list of what my doctors have prescribed for me," Ankiel said. "I've been through a lot emotionally and physically. There are doctor and patient privileges, and I hope you guys respect those privileges."

  The New York Daily News reported in their September 7 editions that Ankiel received eight shipments of HGH from January to December 2004 from Signature Pharmacy, under investigation for illegally distributing prescription medications. The performance-enhancing drug was banned by Major League Baseball in 2005, but a test has yet to be developed.

  Citing records the newspaper obtained, the Daily News said Ankiel got HGH shipments that included Saizen and Genotropin, two injectable drugs. Florida physician Dr. William Gogan signed Ankiel's prescriptions, providing them through a Palm Beach Gardens clinic called The Health and Rejuvenation Center (THARC), the newspaper reported.

  The drugs were shipped to Ankiel at the clinic's address, the paper said.

  On December 6, 2007, Major League Baseball announced that Ankiel had not violated baseball's drug policy and would not be suspended or anything.

• Rick was asked if he ever has wished he could roll back his life on videotape and go back on the mound in the 2000 playoffs?

  "No," Ankiel said. "I don't go back."

  Asked if he felt any self-pity, Rick again replied, "No. I had a lot of good fortune. I know a lot of people who weren't lucky like me."

• Ankiel was one of the most respected, well-liked players in the Nationals clubhouse. Harper considered him one of his foremost mentors. On occasions when many players would go to an over-21 club on the road, Ankiel would frequently tag along with Harper, 19, to a restaurant he could enter.

• May 3, 2013:  Rick Ankiel is still only 33. Or he's already 33. It's hard to know which way to look at it.  Ankiel is on his fifth team and roughly his third career since breaking into the Major Leagues at age 20, so if it seems like he's been around forever, he kind of has. But to anyone who saw him blaze like a comet across the National League in 2000, with searing heat, a knee-buckling curveball and more than a little cockiness, the beginning of Ankiel's career seems like yesterday.

• When Ankiel took stock of a baseball life with no real parallels, it was obvious that the swashbuckling kid with the high socks is long gone. He's an elder statesman on a young team, brought to Houston in part to serve as a mentor. If the change seems jarring to an outsider, well, it is for Ankiel as well.  "It's strange in a way, just because it happened so fast," he said. "All of a sudden you blink, and you're like, 'Wow, I'm the older guy here.'  I'm not that old either," he added with a laugh.

  Almost 15 years ago, Ankiel was baseball's top prospect as a pitcher.  After the playoffs in 2000, everything went awry. In 2005, he stopped pitching and became an outfielder. He starred for the Cardinals in 2007 and '08 before fading in '09 and leaving as a free agent. Since then, he's played for the Royals, Braves, Nationals and Astros, been released once and traded once. He made this year's Astros after signing as a Minor League free agent.  He was once cocky and brash. The game knocked him down, repeatedly, and now he's softer around the edges.

  "When I [talk about his] success, I'm talking about his overcoming the failures as well," said manager Bo Porter. "Because to me, that is success. It is tremendous, because a lot of these guys have played baseball at a high level, been very successful, and then they get to the big leagues and this may be the first time they've faced failure."

  Since leaving St. Louis, he's become just a ballplayer, in the best possible sense. He comes to the park, does his work, and goes home.  He's even begun thinking about what comes after his playing career. And while he once thought he might just disappear into a life of fishing and family, Ankiel now thinks he might like to stick around as a coach.

  His time away from the game last summer showed him that he's not ready to be a man of leisure just yet. Ankiel was released by Washington shortly before the birth of his second child, so he elected to stay at home to tend to the baby and his wife, Lory. He loves being a husband and dad, but also quickly realized he's not ready to do just that and nothing more.

  "At that point, I was like, 'Let's take the time to see what this is going to be like,'" he said. "I was fishing quite a bit. And that was about a month, and I was like, I'm ready to play. So I think I'll miss it too much. I'll miss the guys. Since that, I feel like I might stick around."

  If nothing else, it's a bit startling to hear Ankiel admit that he's begun to think about what's next. He has never been known as one for introspection; it's another indication of the new, mellower Ankiel.

  He even acknowledges that he might be open to a book or movie treatment of his remarkable life in baseball. It's an idea he dismissed out of hand in past years, but these days it holds a little appeal. And what a story it would be. The game has nearly chased him off twice, and he's stuck around. He's beaten long odds several times over.  "I'll play as long as I can," he said. "Until they take the cleats off. I'm just enjoying it." (Sattell - mlb.com-5/03/13)

• Rick Ankiel became the Nationals' new life skills coordinator when arrived at the team's spring facility in 2015.  He spent his first day on the job introducing himself to some players while getting reacquainted with others. 

  Washington hired Ankiel to the new position in January 2015, and he is hoping to use the wealth of his experiences in the Majors to impart wisdom through the team's Minor League system.

  "I'm a resource and a confidant for these guys," Ankiel said. "Anything they need help with. If they want to talk about stuff on the field or they want to talk about something off the field, whatever it may be, I'm just here for them to lean on and pass along the things that I've learned along my way.

  Players can speak with him on a voluntary basis. He plans on stopping by each of the club's Minor League teams at least once a month throughout the season in order to offer advice if someone is in the midst of a slump at the plate or on the mound.

  "I felt like when I was a player it was kind of taboo in a sense," Ankiel said. "Almost people like, 'Oh, I must have a problem if I'm going to talk to somebody,' and it's not that way at all. I think everybody's just trying to sharpen their senses out there and sharpen their blades and get better at what they're doing."

  "That takes great intestinal fortitude to be able to do that, because it certainly isn't easy," manager Matt Williams said. "And everything that he went through as a pitcher, our guys respect it. They understand it because they play the game every day. He's here to lend that experience to us and be available.

  "If anybody has an issue, he has, from a baseball perspective, pretty much experienced it. The drive, the disappointment, the frustration, the success, the transition, all of those things he brings with him, and that's a great thing to have as part of your organization. He will do great work." (Collier - mlb.com - 3/3/15)

• Rick's wife Lory developed ourbaseballlife.com, a website and app that provides answers to questions families may have as they transfer from one baseball team to a new city's team.  Doctors. Realtors. Babysitters. Entertainment. Restaurants. Amusement parks. Churches. Museums. Hair salons.

  "You name it -- anything you need when you move to a city, I try to put it on there," Lory said.  Lory invented the site and the app, and she runs everything herself. It's a private site set up exclusively for wives and families, and they have to apply for entry. It has approximately 500 members, which accounts for about 70 percent of all Major League players.

  The wives contribute suggestions for each city based on their experiences. A recommendation will be posted only if it comes directly from a baseball family.

  "Some cities are a lot more full than others," Lory said. "You can't just Google 'Detroit' and put something on there. I want there to be some integrity to it, so people know, for example, 'This doctor was great with our schedule and understands our lifestyle.' I want people to know they can trust the recommendations that are on it." 

  There is no financial benefit to this. Lory is supporting the venture on her own, intending solely to help young families make their way throughout a season and a career. Though most identify baseball players with fame and fortune, there is another side to living this life, and logistically, it can be overwhelming.  (Footer - mlb.com - 3/5/15)

• If there is a problem with the historical narrative connecting Ohtani and Ruth, it's that it's incomplete. It excludes players who could have possibly preceded Ohtani as the game's first modern two-way player -- or those who at least possessed the skills to do so. It excludes players like Rick Ankiel.

  "I'm thankful, because it's about time teams gave someone a chance to do this," Rick said. "I think it's the greatest thing ever for the game."

  Ankiel was five years removed from one of the most unusual careers in big league history in 2018. By the time it earned him an induction in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, on May 24, 2018, Ankiel's story was well chronicled. A phenom when he helped the Cardinals to a National League Central title in 2000, Ankiel fought anxiety issues for years after famously losing his ability to throw strikes that postseason. The most extreme case of "the yips" in recent decades forced Ankiel to leave the mound four years later. In '07, however, Ankiel returned to the big leagues as an outfielder, playing seven more seasons.

  Ankiel described his battle with anxiety -- what he calls "the monster" -- in a tell-all memoir published with Yahoo! Sports baseball writer Tim Brown in 2017, and he is currently interviewing production companies interested in turning his book into a movie. 

  "I don't think it's just for baseball fans. I think it's a life story. I think it's a story of going through your ups and downs," Ankiel said. "All the places it took me, and how I overcame it, and how I got to now. It's a story of perseverance."

  Ankiel uses the word "courage" when recalling his decision to return to the big leagues in what was, at the time, an unprecedented way. He and Ruth are the only players in Major League history to make 30 starts in one season and hit 25 home runs in another.  (Trezza - mlb.com - 5/24/18)

             TRANSACTIONS

• June 1997: The Cardinals chose Rick in the second round, out of Port St. Lucie High School in Florida. 

• January 18, 2008: Rick and the Cardinals avoided salary arbitration when they agreed to a one-year, $900,000 contract with incentives that could add another $100,000 for him—an additional $25,000 if he reaches 350 plate appearances and the same amount at 400, 450, and 500 plate appearances.

• January 20, 2009: Ankiel and the Cards filed for salary arbitration. Rick came in at $3.3 million against the Cardinals' $2.35 million.

  On February 12, 2009: Rick and the Cards avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year contract worth $2,825,000.

• November 5, 2009: Ankiel filed for free agency.

• January 22, 2010: Rick signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Royals, with a mutual option worth $6 million for 2011.

• July 31, 2010: The Braves sent pitchers Tim Collins and Jesse Chavez and OF Gregor Blanco to the Royals, acquiring Ankiel, reliever Kyle Farnsworth and cash from Kansas City.

• December 20, 2010: Ankiel signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Nationals. Incentives could raise his income.

• February 6, 2012: Rick signed with the Nationals, again. This one-year contract is for $1.25 if added to the 40-man roster. He could make $1.5 million in performance bonuses. The performance bonuses are the same as his 2011 deal with the Nationals, plus an additional $250,000 for 400 plate appearances.

• July 27, 2012: The Nationals released Ankiel.

• January, 2013: Rick signed with the Astros.

  "We believe he’s still young enough and athletic enough and smart enough to make some adjustments and hopefully get back to where he was ,” Astros G.M. Jeff Luhnow said.

  But on May 9, 2013: The Astros released Ankiel.

• May 13, 2013: Ankiel signed with the Mets.

  June 9, 2013: The Mets released him.

• Ankiel swings the bat real well. Ankiel has a smooth lefthanded swing. When he was a pitcher, he was used occasionally as a pinch-hitter.
  
  As of the start of the 2006 season, in the 87 at-bats Rick had in the Majors—all when he was a pitcher, of course—he had a .207 average with 2 home runs and 9 RBI.
• March 9, 2005: The Cardinals moved Ankiel to the outfield. It was Rick's decision, and the team was fully supportive.|
  
  "I just felt like after Puerto Rico, coming back when I was hurt there, I changed mechanically. Just coming back, I couldn't really replicate it," Ankiel said. "Not being able to go out there and be effective, not being able to replicate my mechanics, the frustration and the way it effects me off the field—it just wasn’t worth it. I feel relieved now and I’m happy to move on."
  

• In 2005 with the Springfield Cardinals (TL), Ankiel opened some eyes by hitting 10 home runs in his final 27 games.
  

• "He's a legitimate Major League prospect," said manager Tony La Russa in 2005. "He's got a good stroke, above average speed, a good strong arm. He's highly competitive, a good athlete. He's a guy, if you saw him playing, you'd sign him as an outfielder. He's more advanced as a hitter than you would expect, than any of us expected."

• In 2006 spring training, Ankiel reflected on his move from the mound to the outfield: "It might have been hard to walk away if I was throwing no-hitters every day," Ankiel said of his March 2005 surprise announcement that he would halt his pitching career and attempt to make the Majors as a hitter. "But that wasn't the case. Pitching wasn't fun for me. It wasn't fun. This offseason, it was more exciting lifting to become a stronger hitter than it was thinking about pitching."
  
  

• He is an aggressive hitter. He has some big games now, getting some key hits with runners on base. (May 2009)

• He's one of just 12 players in history to hit their first career homer as a pitcher and later hit one as a full-time player. And he's only one of only four players to make at least 40 starts as a pitcher and hit 40 home runs, a group that includes Babe Ruth.
  

• As of the start of the 2013 season, Ankiel had a career batting average of .244 with 69 home runs and 233 RBI in 1,793 at-bats during his Major League career.

POST PLAYING CAREER POSITIONS

2015: Ankiel joined the Nationals organization as a "life skills coordinator" to mentor players in the minors.

• Rick's speed is just a tad below average.

WHEN ANKIEL WAS A PITCHER

• The lefthanded Ankiel had great breaking stuff to go with his 92-95 mph FASTBALL, superb for a lefthander. And he had a sharp-breaking, 12-to-6 CURVEBALL that he has good command of, and may be his best pitch.
  
  He added a SLIDER late in 1999 and 2000, but it is still a work-in-progress. And he has a good CHANGEUP. For someone who regularly gets 92 mph on the gun, a changeup can be a dynamite pitch

• He pitches too deep into counts. 

• His composure used to be excellent. When he got in a tough spot, he turned it up a notch.

• Cardinals' minor league manager Joe Cunningham once said, "This kid has a lot of God-given talent, that's for sure. When he perfects his pitches and learns how to be in the strike zone all the time that he wants to be, and out of the strike zone when he wants to be, he's going to be dominating."

• He throws from a three-quarters arm angle. It is an effortless delivery.

• "The biggest thing with Ankiel is the quickness of his arm," Diamondbacks scout Julian Mock says. "It's like whhhhtt!, like a snake striking. It's so fluid."

• In 2000, his ERA ranked 8th in the NL. And he also was seventh in strikeouts, second in strikeouts per 9 innings, and third in opponents batting average.
  
  CONTROL PROBLEMS

• Rick's control problems are well-documented other places. But the bottom line reason he started having control problems is this: Having to deal with a different catcher. In October 2000, Mike Matheny, who had accidentally cut his hand, was not his catcher in the first game of the NL Division Series.
  
  With Carlos Hernandez behind the plate, Ankiel was not as comfortable. Hernandez had a bad back and lacked some mobility. So when he was unable to catch a pitch not real far from the strike zone, Rick said to himself, "Uh-oh," and started aiming the ball.
  
  That was the start of the problems.

• In 2000, Ankiel had a brutal postseason. His meltdown in Game 2 of the NLCS was a shock. He threw 4 of his first 14 pitches to the backstop, and 5 of his first 20. His appearance in Game 5 had 9 wild pitches, 11 walks, and 7 runs in 4 innings
  
• In 2003, Ankiel moved to the bullpen. He also made a change in his delivery, coming from a slightly lower arm angle.

• Entering the 2005 season, Rick's career numbers were: 13-10 with a 3.90 ERA. He had allowed a .252 average with just one home run in 37 innings pitched to lefthanded batters, and a .221 mark with 31 home runs in 205 innings vs. righthanded hitters.

• March 9, 2005: Ankiel moved to left field. He is a pretty good hitter.

• 2005: Ankiel was hampered by a sore back all season. And later in the year, he came down with a strained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
• February 27, 2006: Ankiel suffered a strained/partial tear of the left patellar tendon in an intrasquad game with the Cardinals. It was a Grade 2 strain, the middle of three levels.
  
  "I felt something catch," Ankiel said. "My cleat got caught when I was running down a ball. I went to turn to pivot and my cleat got caught and my knee twisted." The ball was hit by Larry Bigbie in a scrimmage game.
  
  Rick started the season on the D.L. And on May 26, Ankiel had surgery in California to repair a tear in his patellar tendon. The surgery concluded what had been three months of attempted recovery. With the club's extended spring training players, Ankiel would swing the bat, run, even track fly balls. But he struggled when it came to any explosive actions--cutting swiftly, breaking from bases. Surgery fixed the tear, but ended his season.

• May 10-21, 2007: A sore Achilles tendon put Ankiel on the D.L.

• July 26, 2008: Rick felt a pinch in his stomach while running out a double in the 8th inning of a game and played the rest of the game "in distress." The next day, it was diagnosed as a lower abdominal strain.
  
  Ankiel was limited to pinch-hitting duties for a couple of weeks because of the injury. Swinging the bat didn't bother him, but running was very painful.

• September 17, 2008: Ankiel underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia, the colloquial term for a split or tear in the abdominal wall that can cause tenderness and discomfort in the torso. Ankiel injured the area legging out a double at Shea Stadium in late July. In his next 65 at-bats, he hit .169 with three home runs and 20 strikeouts. Ankiel's surgery was less extensive than the procedure to repair Chris Duncan's sports hernia in 2007, Ankiel said.

• May 4-24, 2009: Ankiel smacked headfirst into the outfield wall while catching a Pedro Feliz fly ball. The game was delayed about 15 minutes until Rick could be from the field and taken to an area hospital for X-rays and a CT scan. He did not lose consciousness, nor did ne lose feeling in his arms and legs.
  
  The next few days he was sore all over, especially in his right shoulder, but no structural damage was found. He did go on the D.L.

• March 12, 2010: Ankiel was sidelined for over a week of spring training with a sore right ankle.

• May 3-July 22, 2010: Rick was on the D.L. with a strained right quadriceps muscle—a hamstring injury that messed up about his entire season, really.

• May 3-24, 2011: Ankiel was on the D.L. with an injured right wrist. He hurt the wrist trying to catch a fly ball against the Phillies.

• June 14-July 1, 2011: Rick had to leave a game in the second inning with a strained left intercostal (rib cage) muscle. He was placed on the D.L. the next day.

• March 26-April 14, 2012: Ankiel began the season on the D.L. with a strained left quad.