Johan Santana’s struggle with unfinished business

By Efraín Ruiz Pantin

Johan Santana was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame this past weekend, and it was clear from his speech and every interview he gave that it was a great moment for him and his family. It was also a bittersweet moment for the man with the best winning percentage in Twins franchise history among pitchers with at least 100 decisions.

Santana, known by those in Venezuela as El Gocho, announced his retirement during his acceptance speech. His retirement? Wasn’t he retired? No, he wasn’t. As crazy as it sounds, as recently as this past January Santana was seriously considering a comeback, dreaming of stepping on a major league field for the first time in six years.

Santana wanted to retire on his own terms. He wanted, above everything else, to say goodbye on the mound, as an active player and to know that that last ball he threw was going to be the last one he was going to throw in the majors.

Bad Outing

He did not want to remember Aug. 17, 2012, that terrible day in Washington when he gave up six runs in five innings as his last game in the majors. That outing was not supposed to be his goodbye. He was done for the season that day with a sore back and a tired arm. With a year left on his contract at the time he was sure that he was going to pitch in 2013.

Sadly, he tore his left shoulder capsule during spring training of 2013. It was the same injury that had already put him on the shelf for one and a half seasons from September 2010 and all of 2011.

He came back that first time and threw a no-hitter Mets fans would never forget, considering it was the first in the franchise’s storied history.

At 34 years old he went for surgery once again. It did not matter that every odd was against him, nor that he was financially set for life. Nothing was going to stop him from trying. He was determined to pitch again and leave that mound the way he wanted.

Proud Venezolano Comebacks

Santana was not only a great pitcher. He was also a proud man. He remains a proud man actually.

He couldn’t leave the mound on his own terms, he thought. That dream never materialized one last time.

He was close, especially in June of 2014. After signing with the Orioles that spring and getting back to the mound, El Gocho was supposed to throw 75 pitches during an extended spring training game when he was hit by a line drive and ruptured his left Achilles as he tried to retrieve the ball and get the out at first.

He kept trying, signing a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays in February of 2015. He pitched two innings of winter ball that fall with Magallanes in his native Venezuela, hoping for that last chance. He tried to make a mid-year comeback in 2016. Nothing.

He even said during an interview with MLB Network this past January after it was announced that he was going to be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame that he was still thinking about trying to get back in the game.

“What I would like to do is retire on my own terms,” Santana told MLB Network. “I would like to know when would that last pitch be and to throw it. I don’t want to be remembered as someone who got hurt, because that’s how people look at me. I don’t want to look at it that way”.

Remembering El Gocho

No one is going to look at it that way. No one is going to remember the greatest Venezuelan pitcher of all time as a guy that got hurt.

We could spend hours counting moments for which Santana is going to be remembered –that 17-strikeout game, the shutout against the Marlins that kept the Mets alive one more day in 2008.

We can write endless lines talking about the toughness Santana always showed, how he threw that game against the Marlins on only three days of rest and a bad knee. He went in for surgery a week later with a torn meniscus.

Santana kept throwing pitches against the Cardinals on June 1, 2012, because no one was going to get that ball from him. That no-hitter will always be the most vivid memory of Santana, who gave the franchise that developed all-time, no-hitter king Nolan Ryan and fellow Hall of Famer Tom Seaver its first no-hitter.

Featured Image: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport