He's OK

Rick Ankiel is OK.

He's out of the hospital, where he was taken after banging his head into the outfield wall against Philadelphia last night.

Rick Ankiel is OK on a whole other level, too.

He's a starter in the Cardinals outfield nearly a decade after breaking in with the team as a phenom pitcher, a nearly inconceivable transition in this era of sports specialization.

In 2000, Ankiel finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting and was a solid member of the St. Louis rotation heading into the playoffs.

He started against the Braves and future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who pitched uncharacteristically poorly and surrendered six runs in the first inning.

But Ankiel suddenly developed what's become known around baseball as "Steve Blass disease": He couldn't throw the ball over the plate. In the third inning, he recorded five wild pitches, something that hadn't happened in 110 years, let alone the postseason. Manager Tony La Russa was forced to relieve the rookie after 2 2/3 innings, during which he also walked six batters.

Despite Ankiel's problems, the Cardinals beat the Braves in the opening playoff series, advancing to face the Mets. La Russa opted to start Ankiel in the second game, but he walked twok threw a wild pitch and gave up two runs in just 2/3 of an inning.

La Russa used Ankiel again in mop-up duty as the Cardinals lost 7-0 to the Mets in the fifth and deciding game. According to Retrosheet, "Ankiel's last warm-up throw went to the backstop; during (Mike) Bordick's at bat the crowd chanted 'wild pitch' to Ankiel." The crowd was prophetic. Bordick walked, was sacrificed to second, and scored after two wild pitches. Ankiel then walked Edgardo Alfonzo and was relieved.

Ankiel won two more games in the majors, one each in 2001 and '04, but a series of injuries ended his pitching career. He announced he was going to switch to the outfield, but no one took that very seriously until he re-emerged in St. Louis in 2007.

Since then, he's hit 38 home runs in 666 at bats, not bad for a former hurler!

Here are some other players from way back when who made the switch from pitcher to batter:

• George Herman Ruth (as if you didn't know). Keep in mind that Ruth was regarded as the best left-handed pitcher in the American League when he made the switch. In 1916, he hurled nine complete-game shutouts, still the AL record for lefties, later tied by Ron Guidry. And don't forget the 29 2/3-inning scoreless streak in the World Series.


• George Sisler. The Hall of Fame first baseman always said his greatest thrill was, as a young pitcher, beating Walter Johnson twice. But Sisler's St. Louis Browns needed his bat more than his arm, and he compiled a lifetime record of 5-6 with a 2.35 ERA.


• Francis "Lefty" O'Doul. The future batting champion, who still co-holds the National League record for hits in a season, was a marginal major-league pitcher with the Yankees and Red Sox in the early '20s, compiling a 1-1 record in 34 relief appearances. In 1923, he set a 20th-century record by allowing 13 runs in a single inning.


• "Smokey Joe" Wood. Howard Ellsworth Wood was a pitcher of legendary prowess during the Dead Ball era, winning 81 games before he turned 23, including a 34-5 season for the Series-winning Red Sox in 1912. He hurt his arm the following spring, and despite leading the AL in earned run average in 1915, decided he was through pitching. He came back as an outfielder with Cleveland and played in the 1920 World Series.


• James "Cy" Seymour. In his first two full seasons with the New York Giants, 1897-98, Seymour was a 20-game winner. In 1898, he struck out 239 batters, an extremely high total for the era. He also walked 213, eclipsing any single-season mark of the 20th century, and his career totals show 655 bases on balls in 1,043 innings. By 1905, he was a full-time outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds and nearly won the Triple Crown, posting a .377 batting average with 121 RBI and finishing second with eight home runs. He also led the NL in slugging, hits, doubles, triples and total bases.