The pressure got so much for Rick Ankiel following his meltdown in the 2000 playoffs, he turned to alcohol.
Right before he took the mound.
The former major leaguer admitted to downing vodka before his first two starts of the 2001 season with the Cardinals, in an attempt to settle his nerves.
“Before that game … I’m scared to death. I know I have no chance,” he said Monday on 590 The Fan, according to ESPN. “Feeling the pressure of all that, right before the game I get a bottle of vodka. I just started drinking vodka. Lo and behold, it kind of tamed the monster, and I was able to do what I wanted.
“I’m sitting on the bench feeling crazy I have to drink vodka to pitch through this. It worked for that game. I had never drank before a game before. It was one of those things like the yips, the monster, the disease … it didn’t fight fair, so I felt like I wasn’t going to fight fair either.”
Ankiel, 37, suffered a historic meltdown in the 2000 postseason. In the Division Series, he became the first major league pitcher since 1890 to throw five wild pitches in one inning. In an NLCS start against the Mets, he threw two wild pitches and issued three walks and failed to escape the first inning.
Ankiel won his first start of the 2001 season, beating Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks. He also drank vodka before his second start, he said, but the Steve Blass-style control problems returned in that game. He soon realized alcohol couldn’t repair his broken psychology.
“I think the overall lesson from the book is about getting back up,” he said of a memoir, “The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life,” co-written with sports writer Tim Brown, that will be released on April 18. “You’re going to get knocked down … everyone gets knocked down.”
Ankiel made a total of six starts in 2001. He ended up remaking himself as an outfielder and returned to big leagues for good in 2007. He played outfield for the Cardinals, Royals, Braves, Nationals, Astros and Mets before retiring after 2013.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
