Lizard's Rant

After Rick Ankiel hit those two home runs and made that spectacular catch in the outfield on Saturday, I couldn’t help but find myself buying into all of the comparisons to The Natural. Other than the fictitious Roy Hobbs, there’s never been a ball player that’s made such a dramatic resurgence. One comment I read on AOL’s FanHouse put it best: “I keep trying to think of something to compare this story to (other than The Natural, of course), and I’m at a total loss. In terms of overall pitcher/hitter production, we’re nowhere near Babe Ruth territory or even Brooks Kieschnick territory, for that matter. But in terms of storyline and redemption? I think this one is getting pretty high on those lists.”

What about Ankiel’s collectibles? I have a SLU2 figure (pictured below) that I dug up from 2001 when Ankiel was a promising young pitcher. I remember looking at that a few years ago and thinking “this was the worst SLU ever made”. I stand corrected - it may turn out to be one of my favorite collectibles ever. On the card side of things, our own CardCollectingRambler wrote a post on his blog about a few of Ankiel’s rookie cards increasing in value (although I’m sure they’ve picked up even more in the past few days).

Whether Ankiel’s story ends akin to Roy Hobbs striking out (a-la the novel by Bernard Malamud) or knocking a game-winning home run out of the park (like in the movie), Rick Ankiel has done something amazing that all collectors and sports fans can look up to. Most people would have given up in his situation, yet Ankiel showed the power of perseverance and might just become the Cardinals new power-hitting right fielder. How cool is that?