D-Train and other great MLB players to come out of retirement
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Dontrelle Willis is making a comeback after signing a minor-league contract with the San Francisco Giants last week. Willis, who turned 32 on Sunday, last pitched in the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 2011. After making a name for himself in his rookie season in 2003, D-Train had just two strong seasons after that.
In the wake of the Willis signing, here's a look at some other interesting stories of players who returned to the MLB after being at least two years removed from the pros.
Julio Franco
Franco made his debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1982 as a 23-year-old shortstop and went to hit .300 six times from 1985 to 1994. After the 1994 strike, Franco signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Pacific League, before signing with the Cleveland Indians in 1996. In 1997, Franco was dealt from the Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers, but only hit .241 with the ladder club in 42 games. With age playing a factor, Franco took the 1998 season off before playing a single game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Franco toiled in the Pacific League, Mexican League and Korean League from 1997 to 2001 before deciding to take another crack at the MLB at age 43. He made his unlikely return in 2001 - and was remarkably productive in doing so, averaging .289 the next six seasons while starting for the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. After declaring for free agency in October of 2007, Franco signed with a Mexican League team to wrap up a remarkable 31-year professional career.
Ted Williams
As a 20-year-old rookie in 1939, Williams finished fourth in MVP voting with the Boston Red Sox, posting a league-best 145 RBI. In two of the next three seasons, Williams finished runner-up for the MVP — losing to Joe DiMaggio in 1941. No player had more runs than Williams' who crossed home plate 410 times in that span, His .406 batting average of 1941 still remains the last time a player hit at least .400, and his 1942 winning of the Triple Crown put him in the elite category of just 14 players in MLB history.
But in January of 1942, just a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Williams was drafted into the military, putting him out of baseball for three years. Williams went on active duty in 1943 and became a second lieutenant of the United States Marine Corps in 1944 as a naval aviator, where he carried out 39 missions.
Williams returned to the majors in 1944 where he continued his Hall-of-Fame career — he posted another Triple Crown in 1949 (one of two players in MLB history to do so multiple times), won two MVP awards and was a member of the All-Century Team.
Rick Ankiel
Rick Ankiel was Baseball America's No. 1 rated prospect in 2000 and was called the Can't-Miss Kid by Sports Illustrated a year before. He was said to posses a "knee buckling" curveball, a heavy sinker and a 95-mile-per hour fastball with late movement that was compared to Mariano Rivera's. As a 19-year-old, he went 6-0 in Double-A with the Arkansas Travelers, posting a 0.91 ERA and was named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America.
Success as a pitcher followed in the major leagues — early on, at least. As a 20-year-old rookie in 2000, he went 11-7 and posted an ERA of 3.50, tenth in the MLB that year. But that would be the first and only year he would have success as a pitcher at the MLB level. In the 2000 post-season, he allowed seven runs on 11 walks in the 2000 NLCS, and so the demise began. The following season he had an ERA of 7.13 in just 24 inning pitched.
After spending the 2002 season out with a left ankle sprain, Ankiel was demoted to Double-A in 2003, where he posted an ERA of 6.29, and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in July. Ankiel had one final go at pitching in 2004 where he posted a 5.40 ERA before making a a career-defining move before the 2005 season: Changing positions to the outfield.
From 2003 to 2005, Ankiel spent time in Class A and Double-A before a knee injury prevented him from playing in 2006. In 2007, Ankiel finally made his return in the MLB with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he hit .285 in 47 games. Over the course of his last seven years, Ankiel enjoyed moderate success, posting a career batting average of .250 and averaging 10 home runs right up until the 2013 season.
Andy Pettitte
Pettitte entered the majors with the New York Yankees in 1995, where he finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year running with 12 wins and 114 strikeouts. From 1996 to 2003, Pettitte finished in the top five for AL Cy Young three times and won three World Series Championships. In 2003, Pettitte signed with the Houston Astros, where he posted a career-low 2.39 ERA in 2005 and won his fourth World Series. In 2007, he returned to the Yankees, winning another World Series in 2009 and becoming the winningest pitcher in post-season history with 19 victories.
After a year away from baseball, Pettitte retired from the game in January 2011 at the age of 38 after losing the desire to compete. But Pettitte returned in 2012, after wanting to add to his ring collection. Although that didn't happen, he did push his post-season innings pitched count to 276.2 - the most of all-time - and had two strong years with the Yankees, with ERAs of 3.11 and 4.13, respectively.