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 Talent and Character is a powerful combination.
The struggling St. Louis Cardinals recently received a boost in their lineup: outfielder Rick Ankiel. Ankiel did not start his career as an outfielder. He was a pitcher, but not any ordinary pitcher.
In 1997, USA Today named him as the High School Player of the Year. His last year of high school he went 11-1 with a 0.47 ERA. He also struck out a phenomenal 162 batters in 74 innings.
His first full season with the Cardinals was 2000. He went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA. He struck out batters at a rate of 10 strikeouts per nine innings, second in the National League behind Randy Johnson. Sportswriters compared him to Steve Carlton. He was 20 years old.
Then the bottom fell out.
The Cardinals made the playoffs that year and elected to pitch Ankiel in the first game. Things were going fine until the third inning when Ankiel lost control. He threw five wild pitches, some of them careening several feet over the catcher’s head. His next game he only threw 20 pitches and did not make it through the first inning.
After the season, the Cardinals demoted him to the minor leagues, and there things got worse. In one 4-inning stint, he walked 17 batters and threw 12 wild pitches. After four years of frustration, he finally decided he would pitch no more. Instead, he would try to make it as a position player. The Cardinals agreed, and he began the long, arduous route back to the big leagues.
A few weeks ago, he got a call to report to St. Louis; he had finally made it back. When he stepped into the batter’s box, the crowd greeted him with a thunderous applause. Every time he batted that night, the Cardinal fans greeted him the same way. It paid off. In his fourth at-bat, he hit a rocket into the left-field stands for a home run. Busch stadium went crazy.
Few people have the talent to play in the Major Leagues. Even fewer have the talent to play as a pitcher and then as an outfielder. But to also have the character to face humiliation, defeat, and injuries, and still keep going, that is a rare combination.
Everyone has talent. Everyone has God-given gifts and abilities that are unique. But not everyone has character. But when you put the two together, it is a powerful combination.
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