The Phenomenon

February 15, 2017
A former Major League Baseball player offers an affecting account of his unique professional career and dramatic personal life.Most baseball memoirs hold little appeal for readers who are not already devoted fans. With assistance from sports journalist Brown (co-author, with Jim Abbott: Imperfect: An Improbable Life, 2012), Ankiel offers more, providing candid accounts of his abusive father, battered mother, and criminal brother; the dilemma he faced at age 18 regarding whether to attend college or immediately enter professional baseball, which involved becoming an instant millionaire; his amazing success as a pitcher in the minor leagues after attaining wealth overnight; his dizzying rise and equally dizzying fall with the St. Louis Cardinals; his seeming retirement from baseball, only to work his way back as an outfielder instead of a pitcher; and his final retirement at a young age to spend time with his wife and sons. Despite all those narratives, the memoir hangs together well, as the author uses the story of his sudden anxiety disorder to explore universal experiences of human vulnerability, regardless of a person's level of accomplishment. All the way through his teen years, Ankiel could pitch a baseball with extraordinary speed and accuracy. Suddenly, though, in the middle of a Cardinals playoff game in 2000, his skill rapidly deteriorated. There was certainly anxiety, but also a seemingly inexplicable mind-body disconnect. One of the most intriguing figures in the book is sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, who died in 2011. Dorfman did everything he could to help Ankiel through his problems, and he also served as a father figure of sorts while Ankiel's cruel biological father spent time in prison. Cameos by numerous MLB players, managers, and coaches from the six teams that Ankiel played for add interest for baseball fans. A solid sports memoir that explores more than just sports.

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April 1, 2017

Local legend, high school superstar, big league talent--there, in a nutshell, is Ankiel (b. 1979). After being drafted to the minor leagues straight out of high school in 1997, Ankiel was promoted to the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999. In his first full season with the Cardinals, he started 30 games with a 11-7 record. But in the third inning of the 2000 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves he developed the yips, or focal dystonia, which prevented him from throwing strikes. Lifted for a reliever in the third inning, Ankiel pitched again in games two and five of the championship series against the New York Yankees, again walking batters and throwing wild pitches. He was never again successful as a pitcher but reinvented his game as an outfielder and hitter, spending seven seasons with six different teams. His story, told here with sportswriter Brown, is beyond compelling, mixing tragedy with humor. Ankiel beat the odds as a rookie pitcher and, again, as a position player. VERDICT For Ankiel, baseball became more than a game to be played on the field, and his journey is reading well spent.--Boyd Childress, formerly with Auburn Univ. Libs., AL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2017
Ankiel was a 21-year-old rookie phenom for the St. Louis Cardinals when he was tapped to pitch the opener of the 2000 NLDS at home against the Atlanta Braves. With one out in the third inning, the Cards leading 6-0, Ankiel's forty-fourth pitch of the game bounded past the ankles of batter Andruw Jones to the backstop. Ankiel's pitching career would never recover, the pitcher giving up five wild pitches, four walks, two hits, and two runs in the inning, and joining Steve Blass, Chuck Knoblauch, Mackey Sasser, and a few other Major Leaguers who famously lost their ability to throw a baseball straight. Far more tragically for Ankiel was a childhood marred by an abusive, often-absent father, painfully detailed here, along with the mystery of his throwing affliction and his failed efforts to fix it. Remarkably, though, Ankiel would extend his Major League career another seven years by turning himself into a bona fide outfielder/hitter. Better, he would find a way to move beyond the Pitch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)