Once a highly-touted young pitcher, Rick Ankiel dealt with perhaps the most famous case of the yips of all time.
Ankiel famously melted down in the 2000 playoffs, uncorking nine wild pitches and 11 walks in just four innings over three separate appearances. He was never the same pitcher again, and he was so impacted by the playoff meltdown that he drank vodka before making his first start of the 2001 season.
“Before that game…I’m scared to death,” Ankiel told St. Louis’s 590 The Fan. “I know I have no chance. 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.
“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.”
As Ankiel noted, it did work, if only for one start. He beat Randy Johnson and the eventual World Series winning Arizona Diamondbacks, allowing two runs and walking just three in five innings to go along with eight strikeouts. The renaissance was impermanent, though, as he ended up walking 25 batters in 24 innings during that season.
Full credit to Ankiel, as he eventually became an outfielder and managed to stay in the majors until 2014. It’s still remarkable to hear what he went through as his pitching career collapsed before his eyes.
Image via Lory Ankiel/Instagram
