GOODYEAR, Ariz. — For Ryan Ludwick, it is not only a dream come true, it is rebirth, his own version of "Starting Over."
It would be enough that he is now wearing the uniform of the Cincinnati Reds, a team he grew up rooting for and following.
There is, though, a bonus for him in that former Reds outfielder Eric Davis works for the Reds and dresses down the hall in the coaches room.
“I idolized Eric Davis,” Ludwick said. “That’s who I wanted to be when I grew up. I even imitated his stance with my hands held low and standing upright. People don’t realize how good that guy was and could have been without the injuries.”
And Ludwick, now 33 and a solid candidate to play left field for his chosen team this year, knows all about career interruptus when it comes to injuries.
In 2008, he played 152 games for the St. Louis Cardinals and hit .299 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI — definitely Eric Davis-like figures.
Then came 2009 and 2010.
“I was leading the league in home runs in 2009 when some nagging things happened (strained right hamstring) to slow me down,” he said.
He finished with 22 homers and 97 RBI.
“And I was in the top 10 in home runs early in 2010," he said, "but injuries hit again (strained left calf) and slowed me down.”
What slowed him down even more in 2010 was a trade to the San Diego Padres, occupants of mammoth Petco Park, where deep fly balls that are home runs elsewhere die in the outfield grass. It is baseball’s version of Death Valley.
“That’s where things came completely unraveled for me,” he said.
He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates late last season and languished on the bench. His swing became as rusty as the old Pittsburgh iron works.
But it is a new day, a new life for Ludwick.
“I don’t think things could go any better for me than they are right now,” he said. “Instead of being traded, I had a chance to pick my team. And this is where I want to be. I’m with a team with a chance to win a championship. At this stage of my career, that’s what it is all about — winning a World Series ring and putting that puppy on your finger.”
Ludwick was a military brat, born in Satellite Beach, Fla., and a resident of armed forces bases all over the country.
His grandparents lived in Georgetown, Ohio, near Cincinnati, “And they were huge Reds, Bengals and Ohio State fans. It rubbed off,” he said.
It was the late 1980s when he saw his first Reds game. His father was stationed in Las Vegas, and they drove to Los Angeles to see a Reds-Dodgers game, “And got to see Eric Davis play in person for the first time," Ludwick said.
Trying to imitate Davis worked for a while, but Ludwick laughed and said: “The higher up I went in the baseball world, the more I realized I couldn’t hold my hands down low the way Eric did. And I had to eventually raise them up.”
Davis knew Ludwick was one of his fans.
“Because a couple of years ago I signed a jersey for him at a charity event,” said Eric the Red.
“He is going to help us,” Davis added. “He is a real professional.”
About Ludwick mimicking the low-hands stance, Davis said, “Every picture they took of me hitting, I had my front leg up and my hands down as I loaded up my swing. But they didn’t take pictures when I planted my foot and my hands were up for the swing. But I just rolled with the myth.”
And Davis knows about injuries that curtailed careers, too.
“If, as a hitter, you can’t generate your normal bat speed because of some injury, you try to compensate,” he said. “Success or failure in hitting is a matter of an inch or two, and that revolves around bat speed. I compensated a whole bunch of times in my career and I’m sure Ludwick had to do it a few times the last couple of years.”
Manager Dusty Baker is a member in good standing of the Ryan Ludwick fan club.
“He looks good, real good,” Baker said. “He has fit in with the guys, and he has action on this team.”
Asked how Ludwick fell off the baseball map the last couple of years, did a disappearing act in plain sight, Baker said: “It happens, man. I don’t know what happened. I was surprised St. Louis let him go in the first place.
“Sometimes things happen. People always want to know reasons. Sometimes it is mental, and sometimes it is physical.”
For Ludwick, it was both. Injuries derailed him two years in a row, and then the vastness of Petco Park destroyed him mentally. Great American Ball Park’s cozy dimensions should ease his pain.
“Petco Park certainly had to be part of it,” Baker said. “That park would mess with any hitter. He is used to doing some home-run trotting. And then he wasn’t playing as much because he got hurt. All those things nick at your year.”
It’s a new year and a new team, a team for which Ludwick always wanted to play. And for an added boost, he can talk to Eric Davis any time he wants.
