In a summer filled with grim sports news, from an NBA referee’s gambling to Michael Vick’s dogfighting, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Rick Ankiel offered a story sunny enough to melt the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge — or even a Cubs fan. A budding star on the mound back in 2000, he suffered bizarre bouts of wildness that, along with an arm injury, eventually ended his pitching career. But last month, at age 28, he made it back to the majors — as a power-hitting, cannon-armed outfielder who had nine homers and 29 RBIs in just his first 25 games.
But the story took a dismal turn Friday when the New York Daily News reported that in 2004, Ankiel bought human growth hormone from a Florida pharmacy that is under criminal investigation. According to the story, he had a doctor’s prescription and got a year’s supply of the performance-enhancing drug. As Cardinals General Manager Walt Jocketty said, “If it’s true, obviously it would be very tragic.”
Whether the charge is true remains to be established. If so, the good news for Ankiel, such as it is, is that the shipments occurred before Major League Baseball banned HGH in 2005, so he may not have violated the rules — and, since he reportedly got it with a prescription, he may not have broken the law.
The other good news is that the alleged purchases took place three years ago, before he abandoned pitching. So even if the story holds up, Ankiel may have made his comeback cleanly. Unfortunately, since there is no effective test for HGH, that may never be known.
For now, the allegation takes much of the luster off his magical saga of struggle and redemption. At worst, if proved, the story will cause an exponential increase in public cynicism about sports stars. Not many people had warm feelings about Barry Bonds even before he was implicated in steroid use, but lots of baseball fans suffered with Ankiel when he couldn’t find the plate — and were powerfully moved by his dazzling resurrection. If it turns out to have been fueled with illicit substances, they’ll feel duped.
So Ankiel would be well-advised to go public with the whole truth. Most observers are doubtless hoping he can refute the charges. If not, he owes fans a full account of what he did, he owes them an apology and he owes them an acceptance of any punishment he may have coming from MLB. He can ill afford to emulate that other Cardinals slugger, Mark McGwire, who made himself a pariah by refusing to confirm or deny using steroids on his way to breaking Roger Maris’ home run record.
As Ankiel knows, Americans love to see people overcome adversity, even if it’s self-inflicted. But as he knows better than anyone, you don’t make a comeback by cutting corners.
