Best Atlanta Braves Comeback Stories

Andres Galarraga

Before joining the Atlanta Braves in 1998, Galarraga had already earned two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, three All-Star appearances, and finished in the top 10 MVP voting five times. As a Braves fan, I rejoiced when the Braves signed Big Cat to a three-year deal.

Galarraga’s first year with the Braves proved to be a wise investment on the part of John Schuerholz and Atlanta’s front office. He finished the ’98 season with 44 home runs and an incredible slash line of .305/.397/.595!

His performance during the ’98 season with the Braves earned him his fourth All-Star appearance and a sixth-place finish in MVP voting. But something unexpected was about to rear its ugly head.

Galarraga began experiencing back pain in early 1999. Nothing seemed to alleviate the pain and so Galaragga visited an oncologist in the Atlanta area.

Andres Galarraga learned that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. He would miss the entire 1999 season, but Big Cat was not going without a fight!

Galarraga returned to the Braves in 2000 and had one of the greatest moments in Braves’ history during his first at-bat after a year away battling cancer. You just cannot make this stuff up.

As Billy Beane, or at least Brad Pitt said, “It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball.”

Galarraga finished the 2000 season with 28 home runs and a .302/.369/.526 slash line. He would become a free agent after the 2000 season, but Andres Galarraga remains one of my all-time favorite Braves’ player to this day.

I would like to end this portion of the discussion with an anecdote. My first trip to Turner Field was in 1996 as the Braves hosted the Colorado Rockies. The Braves lost to the Rockies 7-9, but Andres Galarraga hit two home runs, and it was impressive!

The ball just sounded different coming off of his bat. I love that we all got to enjoy more time with The Big Cat in a major league uniform and that he continues to be well in 2020.

John Smoltz

John Smoltz is, easily, one of the most prolific pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. His incredible skills as a pitcher and competitor continue to make him a household name even today.

It is even more interesting to discuss how fans remember John Smoltz – starter or reliever?

Older Braves fans will remember John Smoltz as the 1996 NL Cy Young award winner and a member of the most accomplished starting pitching trio of all time (Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine).

Younger fans will remember the lights dimming at Turner Field and AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ blaring through the speakers as Smoltz came in to close out another win.

But while many fans discuss the career strikeouts or the fact that John Smoltz is the only pitcher in the history of baseball to have more than one stolen base in the postseason, they often forget about the year that was not for John Smoltz.

After injury-plagued seasons in 1998 and 1999, Smoltz underwent Tommy John surgery on March 23, 2000. He would miss the entire season for the Atlanta Braves.

Smoltz struggled upon his return to the starting lineup in 2001. He would start five games before he was moved to the Braves’ closer role as it was recently vacated by John Rocker.

Smoltz would go on to win many awards and set all sorts of records for the Atlanta Braves as a closer. Here are just a few of his accomplishments as a closer:

• Rolaids Relief Man of the Year (2002)
• Second in Braves’ history for number of saves in a career (154 – Craig Kimbrel holds the record)
• Braves’ record for most saves in a single season (2002; 55 saves)

Smoltz would close for the Braves for three full seasons and would dominate the entire time.

Between 2002 and 2004, Smoltz recorded 144 successful saves, 248 strikeouts, and two all-star appearances (2002, 2003).

Smoltz returned to the Braves’ starting lineup in 2005 and picked up where he left off from 1997. Over the next three seasons, Smoltz served as the Braves’ workhorse – amassing more innings pitched than any other Braves’ starter during that time.

In 2006, Smoltz led the National League in wins (16) and games started (35). He easily could have amassed 20 wins in ’06 if not for the fact that Braves’ relievers blew six save opportunities where Smoltz would have served as the pitcher of record on the winning team.

In 2008, Smoltz would return to the Braves’ bullpen, but injuries cut his season severely short. That would be his final season in a Braves’ uniform.

John Smoltz and his ability to succeed as a starter, and as a closer, is what makes his career and comeback from Tommy John surgery so impressive.

Tommy John surgery has been around for decades, but even with that knowledge, coming back from a Tommy John surgery in 2000 was anything but certain – as it remains to this day.

His resolve to overcome the pain and intense rehabilitation process are admirable. This is easily explained by Smoltz’s own admission, and the admission of his friends, that he wants to be the best at everything he does. He had unfinished business.

Because of his will to dominate, he is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to record 200 wins and 150 saves. He is also the first man to be welcomed to the baseball Hall of Fame with a Tommy John surgery scar.

John Smoltz will now forever be known as a winner and one of the best to ever play the game.

Rick Ankiel

Rick Ankiel refused to give up on playing the game of baseball. His resolve in the face of such overwhelming adversity is admirable and the reason he made this list of incredible comeback players.

Even if Ankiel had not played 47 games in 2010 with the Atlanta Braves I still would have wanted to sneak him into this list – his story, in my opinion, is just that cool.

Rick Ankiel was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals (mortal enemies of the Braves until we can avenge our game 5 loss from the 2019 NLDS) in the 2nd round of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft. The next several years would be a roller coaster of injuries and emotions for the young ballplayer.

Ankiel was a pitcher by trade when drafted by the Cardinals. His first two years in the majors (1999, 2000) showed promise to the Cardinals organization – Ankiel would finish second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2000.

Ankiel developed control issues at the end of the 2000 season, but during the 2001 season Ankiel’s control issues became a real problem. After starting six games for the Cardinals in 2001, Ankiel had accumulated the following stat lines:

• 7.13 ERA
• 2.083 WHIP (walks + hits per inning)
• 9.4 H9 (9 x hits divided by inning pitched or 9 x H/IP)
• 2.6 HR9 (9 x home runs divided by innings pitched or 9 x HR/IP)
• 9.4 BB9 (9 x walks divided by innings pitched or 9 x BB/IP)

The 9.4 BB9 is the most telling stat of them all. In 1999 and 2000, Ankiel had averaged 4.2 BB9! He more than doubled the amount of batters he was walking in the span of one baseball season.

No one knows why Ankiel lost his control at the end of the 2000 season. Ankiel was sent down to the minor leagues to work out his control issues, but that control he once knew continued to elude Ankiel.

I believe the idiom, “add insult to injury” was reversed in Ankiel’s case in 2002 and became “add injury to insult.”

Ankiel missed the entire 2002 minor league season with a left elbow strain and then required Tommy John surgery in July of 2003.

But again, Ankiel refused to give up on playing the game he loved at the highest level. Ankiel rehabbed and made his way back to Busch Stadium in 2004 and appeared to have recovered from his control issues.

Before the 2005 season, Rick Ankiel decided that in order to continue to play the game he loved he would need to consider a new position. So in March 2005, Ankiel announced that he was going to make the transition to the outfield.

After another missed season in 2006 due to a left knee injury, Ankiel returned with a vengeance in 2007 – as an outfielder per his 2005 decision. He would finish with the following slash line in Triple-A before being recalled to the majors in August – .267/.314/.568.

Ankiel would never look back to his days on the mound.

At the trade deadline in 2010, the Atlanta Braves traded Jesse Chavez, Gregor Blanco, and a minor league pitcher to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth.

Ankiel only played 47 games with the Braves, but it was a treat for fans to witness the man Charles Krauthammer once compared to Robert Redford’s iconic character, Roy Hobbs, from the 1984 film “The Natural.”

Ankiel would become a sojourner for the remainder of his career. After several more years with several different teams, Ankiel would announce his retirement from baseball in March of 2014.

I was excited once again by Rick Ankiel in August of 2018, as he made the announcement on Fox Sports that he was attempting to make a return to baseball

This excitement was short-lived as he ended his return to baseball in July of 2019. But you have to have so much respect for this man who refused to give up on his first love of playing baseball.

Again, fans love a great comeback story. And Rick Ankiel was one of the great comeback stories of the 21st century.

Honorable Mentions

It is difficult to compile a list that will please everyone. In an effort to avoid excluding any of your favorite players, here is a list of honorable mentions:

• Jonny Venters
• Adam Duvall
• Chipper Jones
• Brian McCann (for the sheer fact that he came home to finish his career!)
• Kris Medlen
• Peter Moylan
• Ron Gant (dude should let someone else drive!)
• Josh Donaldson (I ate my words after the 2019 season)
• Anyone I forgot that you care about.

Venters is someone worth mentioning a little more about as he’s the only player in the history of the game that I know of to have three-and-a-half Tommy John surgeries and still come back.

The lefty had his first TJ surgery in 2005 before becoming a dominant reliever for the Braves and even making an All-Star appearance as a set-up man in 2011 when he posted a 1.84 ERA in 88 innings with 96 strikeouts.

He had back-to-back TJ surgeries in 2013 and 2014. The Rays would take a chance on him in 2016 but Jonny continued to battle injuries before having what he calls “half Tommy John.”

It worked and he was able to return to the big leagues in 2018, and he fully returned as the Braves traded for him midway through that season.

He started the 2019 season with the Braves but was ultimately released. However, he was picked up by the eventual World Series champs in the Washington Nationals, so hopefully JV got that ring.

We certainly love Venters and wish him all the best. His story is truly a remarkable one.

It is hard to quantify the number of men who have never made it back to playing the game we all love so much. They all have their reasons, and for many of them, it is heart-wrenching when they just cannot make a return to The Show happen.

But the men on this list were able to persevere and overcome tremendous obstacles – injuries, cancer, etc. And we as fans are grateful for their resolve and for their stories.