Room for Redemption

They say there is no crying in baseball, but apparently, there are second chances.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about players who, after a lot of fanfare, flame out and slide into oblivion. I mean, what happens to those guys? Are they relegated to life as used car salesmen, forever wondering what could have been?

While major league dreams end in "real jobs" more often than players and fans would care to admit, it turns out that some players, after failing at the first shot at success, get lucky enough to take a second.

• Perhaps the most well-documented case of a player getting a second chance is Rick Ankiel, the former pitching phenom for the St. Louis Cardinals. As a 20 year-old in 2000, the left-handed Ankiel won 11 games and later finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
  
  But it was what happened in the postseason that led to Ankiel's downfall. In Game 1 of the Divisional Series against the Braves, Ankiel inexplicably lost the ability to throw a strike. He walked four and threw five wild pitches, all over the course of two-thirds of an inning.
  
  As a pitcher, Ankiel never recovered. He was like Mark Wohlers, only worse, and it seemed like Ankiel's days in the majors were over.
  
  Then something cool happened. Ankiel decided to convert to an outfielder, and the St. Louis Cardinals went along with the plan. That was in 2005, and Ankiel has yet to crack the big league roster. But he's close.
  
  The near-tragic story has turned Pacific Coast League pitching into a comedy, with 19 home runs and 53 RBIs so far this season. Many predict Ankiel will earn a promotion this summer, and I can only imagine the response he'll get when he trots back onto a big-league field again, this time bypassing the mound and heading for the friendlier confines of the outfield.
  
  


• A New York Times story printed yesterday highlights the travails of former #1 draft pick Matt Bush.
  
  Bush was selected by the Padres with the top pick out of high school in 2004, and he projected to be a great shortstop in their organization someday. But as often happens, reality proved a harsh blow to Bush's and the Padres' plans.
  
  After struggling mightily in the lower levels of San Diego's minor league system, Bush decided to give pitching a shot. Though he had entertained visions of grandeur as a shortstop, the former high school ace came to realize that he was not the next Ozzie Smith.
  
  Like Ankiel, Bush has not made it to the major leagues yet. According to the story, though, Bush throws a 95-m.ph. fastball and could be positioning himself to become a closer in the future.
  
  If you find the notion of an infielder-turned-stopper a bit far-fetched, look no further than future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman.
  



• One last story, and this one might be the best. Jeff Pearlman writes of the Long Island Ducks, an independent minor league team that has given second chances to a large handful of major league castoffs.
  
  Edgardo Alfonzo is there, laboring away. Remember him? He's a career .284 hitter that played in a World Series with the Mets. Carl Everett, Donovan Osborne, Damian Rolls, and Danny Graves are there, working their tails off for one more shot at the Big Show.
  
  And you know what's great about this story, about the two stories above, and all the other ones like it? What's great is that even though many of these players will never realize their full potential again (or in Bush's case, for the first time), a few of them will.
  
  These stories serve as a tangible reminder of the truth that it's not falling down seven times that matters, but getting up the eighth. And as much as I loathe cliches, these guys prove this one true.