St. Louis Cardinals: Rick Ankiel Drank Before Pitching in 2001

Former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel admitted to drinking alcohol before a couple of games in 2001 after his infamous collapse in 2000.

The St. Louis Cardinals had one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball during the late 90’s and he made his major league debut in 1999. Every Cardinals fan knew of Rick Ankiel because of his talents but by the year 2001, every baseball fan knew of him for his epic collapse in 2000.

Ankiel won 11 games and struck out 194 batters in 175 innings in the year 2000. He was a 20-year old rookie who threw hard and threw from the left side. He was highly coveted by the Cardinals organization and was a fan favorite.

He ended up being named the Game 1 starter of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves. His collapse began here when he made history by throwing five wild pitches in one inning. By the end of the postseason, Ankiel totaled nine wild pitches in only four innings. After that, he was never the same.

On Monday, Ankiel opened up about the experience on 590 The Fan. He was on the show discussing his upcoming book “The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life,” that will be released in mid April. The book is also co-written with sports writer Tim Brown.

While discussing the book, Ankiel recalled that infamous playoff experience and talked about how he ended up turning to alcohol before his first two starts in 2001. His first game in 2001 was against the Arizona Diamondbacks and elite lefty Randy Johnson. Ankiel was the winning pitcher and he said before that game he drank vodka in hopes to calm his nerves.

“Before that game … I’m scared to death. 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,” he said during the radio interview.