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Andres Galarraga, take a bow
Posted: Tuesday May 02, 2000 10:09 AM
As an English sports fan living in the United States, I've grown to appreciate the finer points of Major League Baseball. Working at CNN headquarters means living in Atlanta, so I've been fortunate enough to learn the sport from the Braves -- the perennial pennant contenders. This year, early in this first season of the new century, I consider myself not so much fortunate as blessed to have the opportunity to witness the inspirational feats of Venezuelan slugger Andres Galarraga. This is the man who missed all of last season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma of the back. This is the man who has defeated cancer and returned to major league action in a fashion the Brothers Grimm would find hard to fathom. Galarraga smacked 10 home runs by the end of April to lead the National League. Many of them were crucial blows as the Braves set off on their headline-grabbing winning tear. Apparently, with the nickname of the Big Cat goes an equally big heart. It's had me thinking about just how many athletes have been forced out of their sports for any length of time, only to return in such stunning style. Galarraga's batting rhythm hasn't skipped a beat in his absence. Connecting the round bat with the round ball so sweetly, surely one of the most difficult tasks in all of sport, is coming as easy as ever to the 38-year-old. It could be the greatest comeback of its kind. What do you think ? Here are a few names I came up with to throw into the discussion.
Monica Seles was at the height of her tennis powers when she was stabbed in Germany. She was out of the game for 27-and-a-half months. But she won her first tournament on her return to the WTA Tour -- the Canadian Open -- when she set records for the least number of games played by an eventual champion in this event and least number of games played in the final, which she won 6-0 6-1 against Amanda Coetzer. Seles then reached the U.S. Open final, losing to Steffi Graf. So she made an immediate impact on her comeback, a la Galarraga. While it remains to be seen what the Braves first baseman can achieve from here on, we've all seen Monica fall short of attaining her dominant brilliance of the early '90s. American cyclist Lance Armstrong fought cancer and won, then took on the Tour de France field last year and whipped all-comers there as well. It was an astonishingly fast rise from his sick bed to the top of the podium in one of sport's most grueling events. A story for the ages. Others have made a slower, but nonetheless admirable, climb back onto that winning tier. Cancer-survivor Paul Azinger, a major golf winner in his prime when he was struck down by illness, only gradually felt his way back onto the professional circuit. In time, he was a champion again. But he rode a more gentle recovery curve than Galarraga. Hockey great Mario Lemieux rebounded quickly from his treatment for Hodgkin's disease to return to the NHL ice. But he carefully planned out is comeback routine so as not to play every game at first. Thus, the chance to produce early Galarraga-type heroics wasn't quite so easy. Baseball's had its examples too. How about such superstars Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio going off to World War II, missing several years of major league action, then returning to sparkle just like before ? People far more steeped in baseball history than Brits like me also tell me of pitcher Tommy John having ground-breaking elbow surgery, missing a season, then coming back to pitch almost as many innings as his last successful year...or Orlando Cepeda, whose comeback from injury gained momentum throughout the season until he had reached as lofty an average as before. But coming straight out of the big-time blocks with home runs, great defensive plays, team leadership and a smile that belies the misery of last year takes some beating. Andres Galarraga take a bow. Phil Jones is a co-host of "World Sport," the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International. |
