2008 Woodie Awards
Look up Ankiel history before you judge
Zachary Groves
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Opinion
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel may apparently be innocent by legal standards for owning human growth hormones, so he should not be convicted in the court of public opinion, either.
All the stories published this past weekend, whether it be the Associated Press or the New York Daily News, indicate that while Ankiel did receive the drugs that are currently linked to several other major league ballplayers, he received them legally. Human growth hormones, or HGH, were banned by Major League Baseball in 2005, a year after Ankiel received the shipments.
Keep in mind, though, that according to Ankiel, the drug was prescribed by a doctor in an effort to heal from the reconstructive elbow surgery he had in 2003, before he quit pitching.
What does HGH, in the case of pitching, have to do with his hitting?
Were people born just yesterday, or did they forget that the pitcher-turned-outfielder could hit like a star before he reportedly started taking HGH?
In 2000, according to www.baseballreference.com, Ankiel smacked two home runs and drove in nine runs while batting .250. As a pitcher.
Not bad for a guy who didn't have to play in Colorado to achieve those numbers.
During his disastrous 2001 season on the mound, he was still hammering the ball. For minor league ballclub Johnson City Cardinals, in just 41 games Ankiel cranked 10 homers and drove in 35 runs with a .286 batting average.
He even earned an Appalachian League All-Star appearance as a designated hitter, according to www.thebaseballcube.com.
Let us not forget his high school days, when he was a teen and hit a home run that soared more than 400 feet in his final high school game, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz. He also tore up opposing pitching when he wasn't on the mound that summer, hitting .386 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.
Reports also indicate that HGH is not proven to increase strength or work in a manner that steroids do.
I can understand if a person is jaded right now because of the number of bad things that have happened this year to the Cardinals. Manager Tony La Russa's DUI, reliever Josh Hancock's death, which involved drugs found in his car and the simple fact that the team, despite sitting just three games back of first place in the National League Central Division, is playing sub .500 baseball.
Additionally, the year 2007 has just been a lousy year for everyone, whether it be on Capitol Hill or the Virginia Tech University campus.
However, before you throw rocks at Ankiel for being a cheater, look up his stats and you will see he had the swing all along.
People say that numbers do not lie, so take his at face value. Always proceed with caution, but do not automatically write off Ankiel just because everyone else is allegedly doing bad things.
All the stories published this past weekend, whether it be the Associated Press or the New York Daily News, indicate that while Ankiel did receive the drugs that are currently linked to several other major league ballplayers, he received them legally. Human growth hormones, or HGH, were banned by Major League Baseball in 2005, a year after Ankiel received the shipments.
Keep in mind, though, that according to Ankiel, the drug was prescribed by a doctor in an effort to heal from the reconstructive elbow surgery he had in 2003, before he quit pitching.
What does HGH, in the case of pitching, have to do with his hitting?
Were people born just yesterday, or did they forget that the pitcher-turned-outfielder could hit like a star before he reportedly started taking HGH?
In 2000, according to www.baseballreference.com, Ankiel smacked two home runs and drove in nine runs while batting .250. As a pitcher.
Not bad for a guy who didn't have to play in Colorado to achieve those numbers.
During his disastrous 2001 season on the mound, he was still hammering the ball. For minor league ballclub Johnson City Cardinals, in just 41 games Ankiel cranked 10 homers and drove in 35 runs with a .286 batting average.
He even earned an Appalachian League All-Star appearance as a designated hitter, according to www.thebaseballcube.com.
Let us not forget his high school days, when he was a teen and hit a home run that soared more than 400 feet in his final high school game, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz. He also tore up opposing pitching when he wasn't on the mound that summer, hitting .386 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.
Reports also indicate that HGH is not proven to increase strength or work in a manner that steroids do.
I can understand if a person is jaded right now because of the number of bad things that have happened this year to the Cardinals. Manager Tony La Russa's DUI, reliever Josh Hancock's death, which involved drugs found in his car and the simple fact that the team, despite sitting just three games back of first place in the National League Central Division, is playing sub .500 baseball.
Additionally, the year 2007 has just been a lousy year for everyone, whether it be on Capitol Hill or the Virginia Tech University campus.
However, before you throw rocks at Ankiel for being a cheater, look up his stats and you will see he had the swing all along.
People say that numbers do not lie, so take his at face value. Always proceed with caution, but do not automatically write off Ankiel just because everyone else is allegedly doing bad things.
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