ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon says what happened on May 9, 2017 was both a figurative and literal "knock on the head."
While pitching in a Triple-A baseball game in Iowa, he was struck on the side of his head by a line drive. His skull was fractured and he underwent an emergency craniotomy to stop bleeding in his brain.
Miraculously, he was back pitching again in September, but with a new look on life. And now, nearly four years after the freak incident, he's publishing a book about it called "One Line Drive, A life-threatening injury and a faith-fueled comeback."
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He describes what happened that day and how it's changed him in a recent interview with Infield Chatter:
“I will be happy if I can change one life, either one life who comes to God or goes to God,” Ponce de Leon told St. Louis baseball writer Rob Rains. “That’s why I wrote the book. Just for one soul at least. I won’t know now, but maybe later on.”
Ponce de Leon, 29, is battling for a spot in the Cardinals starting rotation or bullpen to start the 2021 season.
"My path to professional baseball was a winding, pothole-filled, roller-coaster ride of ups and downs that would ultimately test my perseverance, patience, confidence and faith," Ponce de Leon writes in the book. "And, like the day I was hit in the head by that one line drive, I wouldn’t change a single thing about it."
You'll be able to hear a lot more from Ponce de Leon on Thursday evening, as he'll be the guest on our Garage Happy Hour with Tom Ackerman at 5:30 p.m. Join the conversation on the KMOX Sports Twitter and Facebook Pages:
“One Line Drive, A life-threatening injury and a faith-fueled comeback,” by Daniel Ponce de Leon and Tom Zenner can be found on Amazon and other book retailers.
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