Vogelsong to be honored for his perseverance and breakout season

Vogelsong admits even he was

surprised with last year’s success BY Patrick Gordon January 27, 2012 pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com ______________________________________ Ryan Vogelsong vividly recalls running sprints in the outfield at Louisville Slugger Stadium on a

sweltering July afternoon nearly a year and-a-half ago when his life suddenly arrived at a

crossroad. Already demoted to the bullpen, he hadn't pitched for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in more than a week

when Rod Nichols approached him in the outfield. "I need to see you in the office," the IronPigs pitching coach said.

Moments later Vogelsong was packing his bags and contemplating his future in baseball as a

33-year-old journeyman that hadn't pitched in the majors since 2006. He went home and waited

for a phone call that he thought may never come.

"I didn't know if anyone was going to call and I sat home for six days," he said. "That was pretty

much rock bottom for me and my career. It was at that point that I just decided that I'd let God

lead the way and he was either going to make me have the career I wanted to have or he

wasn't. I was OK with that."

What a difference a year makes.

Vogelsong signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent last January and with minimal

expectations went on to have a breakout campaign that included a trip to the All-Star game in

Phoenix. He finished the year 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA and even received some votes in National

League Cy Young Award balloting.

A Chester County native and graduate of Octorara Area

High School, the Philadelphia Sports Writers

Association will honor Vogelsong and his 2011 season

with the Native Son Award at their annual dinner on

Monday, January 30, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, on

Route 70 in Cherry Hill, N.J.

"I can't believe it happened," Vogelsong said.

After everything he had been through, including Tommy John surgery and a three-year stint in

Japan, Vogelsong admits the success came as a surprise. "I went to spring training thinking I'll do the best I can knowing that I'm going to Fresno (Triple-A)

unless there was some major injuries in camp," he said. "I went in with really no expectations

other than to play good enough to get another chance to play in 2012."

Vogelsong performed well in spring training and joined the Giants rotation in late April. By the

All-Star break he was 6-1 with a 2.17 ERA in 14 starts, but his success kept him and his wife

Nicole on edge. For someone that only knew defeat, success was something new. "My wife and I were always on guard last season," he said. "We were waiting for something bad

to happen because we learned nothing but defeat for so long. It almost was hard to accept how

good things were going - we were always looking over our shoulder and always waiting for the

bad stuff we were accustomed to."

At this point last year Vogelsong was questioning not just his career in baseball, but also how to

handle the illness and ultimate death of his father-in-law to heart disease. "I actually spoke at his funeral last year and the one thing I said is I thought I had things tough

with having to be sent down and just not having things pan out the way I wanted them to with my

baseball career, but watching him fight something like this makes baseball seem pretty funny at

times," he said. Vogelsong agreed with the Giants earlier this month on a two-year deal worth $8.3 million. The

contract includes a $6.5 million option for 2014.

He finally has stability, but he's not going to let that trump his desire for success.

"This year I'm more focused on the task at hand because I don't want to be sitting here in the

middle of June or July listening to everyone say that I was a one-hit wonder and that my season

last year was a fluke," he said. "Mentally I'm already battling that because I want to make sure

that doesn't happen at all."

Listen to a portion of Patrick’s interview with All-Star Ryan Vogelsong