RetroSimba

(Updated Jan. 8, 2019)

Three years after he left the Busch Stadium mound with his pitching career spiraling out of control, Rick Ankiel returned to St. Louis as a confident Cardinals reliever embraced by the fans.

On Sept. 19, 2004, Ankiel made his first Busch Stadium appearance since 2001 and pitched two hitless innings against the Diamondbacks, departing to a standing ovation.

In his previous home appearance, on May 10, 2001, Ankiel regressed against the Pirates, yielding three runs, three hits, five walks and two wild pitches in three innings, departing with his head down and bolting the ballpark without talking with reporters. Boxscore

After that debacle, Ankiel went to the minor leagues and pitched there for the remainder of 2001. After sitting out the 2002 season because of a left elbow sprain, Ankiel pitched in the minors in 2003 until undergoing left elbow surgery in July.

Ankiel spent most of the 2004 season on the disabled list, returned to the minors in August that summer and was called up by the Cardinals in September. Ankiel made a pair of scoreless one-inning stints at San Diego against the Padres and at Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

Welcome home

On Sept. 19, 2004, a Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, Ankiel relieved starter Jeff Suppan to start the fifth inning. As he walked to the mound, Ankiel tipped his cap to an appreciative crowd of 41,279.

“You walk out there with the electricity of the crowd and you feel like you’re floating,” Ankiel said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s pretty indescribable.”

Mixing a 91 mph fastball with a 66 mph curve, Ankiel faced three batters _ Luis Terrero, Alex Cintron and Danny Bautista _ in the fifth and struck out all three.

“His fastball was running and sinking hard,” Cintron said to the Post-Dispatch. “His curveball _ I’ve never faced anything like it in my life. He’s the Rick Ankiel everyone expected him to be.’

Facing Ankiel in the sixth, Shea Hillenbrand grounded out, Chad Tracy walked, Chris Snyder struck out and Doug DeVore lined out to right. “He was tricky,” Snyder said to the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. “He was pretty deceptive. He had a good fastball and a good snap to his curveball.”

Said Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny: “He’s got good tempo … That curve’s amazing. You can hear it spinning all the way up there.”

Walking off the mound, Ankiel again tipped his cap to a standing ovation.

“Unbelievable … I was pretty much in the sky,” Ankiel said to the News-Democrat. Boxscore

Years later, in his 2017 book “The Phenom,” Ankiel said, “My fastball wasn’t what it was. That was by choice. It was more reliable at 89 mph or 90, at less than full effort, than it would be at 95. My career would have to be about control. I’d control my mind, which would settle my heart, and control my effort, which would guide my fastball.”

Last hurrah

In his next appearance, at Colorado, Ankiel yielded five runs in two innings. He rebounded five days later, on Oct. 1, in limiting the Brewers to a run in four innings and earning a win. Boxscore

“What became important was winning the game around the game, the one in my head,” Ankiel said in his book.

It would be Ankiel’s final big-league game as a pitcher.

In 2005, Ankiel declared he would convert into an outfielder and abandon his pitching career.

In 2007, Ankiel returned to the Cardinals and spent seven seasons in the big leagues as a power-hitting and strong-armed outfielder.

Previously: Rick Ankiel joins Babe Ruth, Joe Wood in postseason lore