MLB player Rick Ankiel, Author of The Phenomenon

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview MLB player Rick Ankiel, Author of The Phenomenon.

Rick Ankiel was a Major League pitcher and outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, and several other teams. He retired in 2013 as the first player since Babe Ruth to win at least ten games as a pitcher and hit fifty home runs. He is currently a studio analyst for Fox Sports Midwest. With his wife, Lory, and sons Declan and Ryker, Ankiel lives in Jupiter, Florida.

About The Phenomenon:   

The Phenomenon is the story of how St. Louis Cardinals prodigy Rick Ankiel lost his once-in-a-generation ability to pitch—not due to an injury or a bolt of lightning, but a mysterious anxiety condition widely known as “the Yips.” It came without warning, in the middle of a playoff game, with millions of people watching. And it has never gone away.

Yet the true test of Ankiel’s character came not on the mound, but in the long days and nights that followed, as he searched for a way to get back in the game. For four and a half years, he fought the Yips with every arrow in his quiver: psychotherapy, medication, deep-breathing exercises, self-help books, and, eventually, vodka. And then, after reconsidering his whole life at the age of twenty-five, Ankiel made an amazing turnaround: returning to the Major Leagues as a hitter and playing seven successful seasons.

This book is an incredible story about a universal experience—pressure—and what happened when a person on the brink had to make a choice about who he was going to be.