Howard in minors hoping for last shot
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Ryan Howard was once one of baseball’s most feared sluggers, an MVP and World Series champion, the toast of Philadelphia.
So what’s he doing in the sprawling suburbs of Atlanta, a minor leaguer at age 37, playing alongside a bunch of 20- somethings, enduring bus rides and sparse crowds?
“There’s more in the tank,” he said bluntly. “If you walk away, don’t walk away with something still left in the tank. Then you’re wondering like, ‘ Man, what could I have done?’ When I’m done playing, I want to leave it all out on the field.”
Howard certainly could’ve retired after an inglorious, injuryplagued, pitiable end to his Phillies career, more than content with a legacy that produced enough mementos to fill an entire room in his home. Many people, in fact, just assumed he was done after a rousing, retirement- like send- off before last season’s final game in Philadelphia.
But Howard wasn’t ready to walk away.
“It’s been interesting,” Howard said on a balmy spring afternoon, relaxing in the dugout at Coolray Field, home of the Class AAA Gwinnett Braves. “Once you leave the minor leagues, you want to not come back. But it’s the path that I’m on, the journey that I’m on.”
Signed to a minor league deal by an organization that is Philadelphia’s division rival, Howard has impressed the Gwinnett Braves with his work ethic, arriving early for games and going through every drill with his younger — in some cases, much younger — teammates.
Howard is off to a slow start with Gwinnett, hitting just .188 through nine games. He did launch his first home run against the Bulls, a tworun shot that showed he’s still got some power, but hardly anyone saw it.
The announced crowd was 1,295.
Howard’s focus is firmly on getting back to the big leagues.
“Get your work in, do what you need do, and get back up top,” he said. “I’m a little bit behind the curve as far as not really having a spring training, so you’re trying to get your work in, trying to work on things, and at the same time, you’re also going out there trying to be competitive.”
When Howard was called up to the Phillies more than a decade ago, he ushered in one of the greatest eras in team history with his prodigious power. In 2006, his first full year starting in the majors, he put together one of the greatest stat lines in baseball history: 58 home runs, 149 RBI, a .313 average, an MVP award.
The Phillies would go on to win five consecutive NL East titles, a stretch that included two trips to the World Series and a championship in 2008. Howard averaged 41 home runs and 129 RBI during that run, finishing in the top 10 of the MVP voting every season.
But his career was forever altered on the very last play of the 2011 division series against the St. Louis Cardinals, an excruciating 1- 0 loss in Game 5 that ended with Howard tearing his Achilles tendon running out a grounder for the final out.
He hasn’t been the same since.
Even so, Howard was the last remaining holdover from the Phillies’ era of dominance, a convenient symbol of what the team once was and what it had become. He hobbled through five seasons plagued by injuries, dwindling production and a rising chorus of boos from a fan base that once worshipped him. It finally ended with the Phillies declining to exercise a $ 25 million contract option for 2017 after Howard batted a career- worst .196 while still showing flashes of power with 25 home runs.
“You don’t just write off something like that,” Howard said of his time in Philadelphia. “Obviously that’s something that’s been a big part of my life, my career. There’s always going to be that time to pay homage. But right now, as I’m currently still playing, you put that chapter behind you for the time being.”