Minor-league veteran Robinson Cancel has been a stabilizing force for the Springfield Cardinals' pitching staff since his arrival. Steve J.P. Liang / News-Leader

Crash Davis (right), played by Kevin Costner, works with pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) in the 1988 movie "Bull Durham." Gannett News Service

The Robinson Cancel file Age: 29 Born: Puerto Rico How obtained: Signed free agent contract, April 2005 Career: Cancel was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1994. The latest: Cancel was hitting .358 for the Springfield Cardinals through Sunday. Timeline 1994 Drafted by Milwaukee Brewers. Hit .171 in 29 games with their rookie-league team in Arizona. 1995 Played 46 games for Helena of the Pioneer League and hit .240. 1996 Assigned to Beloit of the Low-A Midwest League and hit .220 in 72 games. 1997 Returned to Beloit and hit .300 in 17 games, then promoted to Stockton of the High-A California League. He hit .280 in 64 games. 1998 Back in Stockton, Cancel hit .188 in 11 games, and then was sent to El Paso of the Double-A Texas League and hit .323. 1999 Cancel played in Double-A, Triple-A and had a 15-game stint with the big-league Brewers, hitting 182. He did hit .368 for Triple-A Louisville. 2000 Played for Huntsville of the Double-A Southern League and hit .268. 2001 Cancel split time between Huntsville and Indianapolis of the Triple-A International League. He was granted free agency after the season. 2002 Signed by Oakland, Cancel spent the entire year in Midland and hit .281 with 12 homers and 64 RBIs. It was a career year. He had 21 doubles and two triples, to boot, but was not re-signed in the offseason. 2003 Dumped by the Tigers in the final week of spring training, Cancel returned to professional baseball in May but would not be part of affiliated baseball. He split the season between Somerset and Pennsylvania, teams in the independent Atlantic League. 2004 Signed by Tampa Bay, Cancel split the season between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham. He also played six games for Somerset.       Crash   Years in the minors: 12 Position: Catcher Minor league HRs: 246 Ever a Durham Bull? Yes, in the 1988 movie "Bull Durham," but the Bulls were an A-ball team. Ever play in 'The Show'? Yes, and "they were the 21 greatest days of my life." Believes in: "I believe in the soul .... the hangin' curveball ... high fiber ... good scotch. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a Constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot ... opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days." Some parts omitted, of course, for Little Leaguers out there.       Cancel   Years in the minors: 12 Position: Catcher Minor league HRs: 45 Ever a Durham Bull? Yes, 18 games in 2004. The Bulls, by the way, are now Triple-A Ever play in 'The Show'? Yes, 15 games with Milwaukee in 1999 Believes in: "Until they take my uni off, I won't quit."

But Cancel believed. No one called to ask if he had anything better to do this summer. No one checked up on him and offered a job, not even in a role as a two-bit, backup catcher in a place that would make Double-A baseball seem like the big leagues.

There his catcher's mitt sat at home, alone and hardly dusty.

There Cancel sat at home, too, pushing 30 with a wife and a couple of kids.

Life as a minor leaguer can play with the mind, sadden the heart and bruise an ego. But Cancel believed.

"I was pretty sure someone was going to pick me up sooner or later," Cancel said.

He talked about this Sunday afternoon, in a busy corner of the Springfield Cardinals clubhouse, glad to pause for a moment in the mad rush to stuff a gym bag and get ready for a 14-hour, overnight bus ride from the Ozarks to the frontier plains of West Texas.

Maddening as it was, what with teammates bumping by as they pushed through the entryway and headed toward a cruiser that would help leave behind a disappointing stretch of losses, somehow it all seemed comforting to Cancel.

He has called a lot of clubhouses home, spent a lot of summers under the sun and seen his share of winning nights and losing days in towns where sometimes the plinkity-plink neon sign of the only late-night diner is switched off well before midnight.

In his 11 seasons in pro baseball, his career has taken him to Helena, Beloit, Huntsville, El Paso, Huntsville again,and he's been in the big leagues briefly and in the lowest rung of baseball, the independent leagues, more than once.

You name the league, he's probably played in it.

So, when Cancel looked around the Springfield clubhouse Sunday, he couldn't help but appreciate the opportunity that St. Louis' player development staff afforded him when it rescued Cancel from the unemployment line and offered him a free-agent contract late last month.

After all, the guy got released in spring training.

• From the Chicago Cubs.

• From their minor league camp.

• On the very last day of the spring.

"When you get released like that, it makes you go harder," Cancel said. "You feel like you were able to compete and, when stuff like that happens, you try to come out and do more."

All Cancel has done is, oh, win a heck of a lot of respect.

He's here because Gabe Johnson couldn't be, because Johnson wrecked a knee in the season's second week and isn't expected back until sometime around the July 4 fireworks shows. Not only did the Cardinals lose an 18-homer talent, but a player expected to be a clubhouse leader whose departure, more or less, ripped a hole the size of Johnson's two locker stalls straight through the team's collective heart. There's a good reason why the Cardinals haven't hit well so far this season.

Yet, Cancel has been a rock to lean on.

"He's done a great job," Springfield pitching coach Blaise Ilsley said, and that says a lot. He has entrusted Cancel with what, basically, is Ilsley's pitching staff.

"He makes you believe in yourself," Springfield starter Jeremy Cook said, and that says a lot, too. For a month, Cook had been erratic until he followed a nearly seven-inning effort with an eight-inning effort last Friday. "He makes me believe in my fastball and makes me get beat with that as opposed to predictable pitches. I was looking at my stats the other day, and I threw 60 fastballs and only maybe 35, 40 offspeed."

That Cancel has earned trust since his arrival April 28 is significant. Now on staff is right-hander Stuart Pomeranz, all of 20 years old and a $570,000 bonus baby the organization really likes. He may soon be joined by right-hander Chris Lambert, the franchise's top draft pick last summer who is burning up the Florida State League and signed for $1.525 million.

Still, Cancel has more value than only his role as the handler of the pitching staff. His bat has caught fire, too. On Sunday, he had two singles in three at-bats and drew a walk that led to a run, a run he scored despite running through the stop sign of Cardinals manager Chris Maloney.

Maloney should have known better. There is little stopping Cancel now. The average climbed to .358 with Sunday's effort. His second single was his 17th hit in 45 at-bats and concluded a homestand in which Cancel caught every game but one.

Remember the 10-6, 12-inning loss to Wichita a week ago Tuesday? It was Cancel who carried the Cardinals all afternoon and nearly to victory, for he hit a two-run homer in the second inning and an inning later pounced on Wichita's laboring starter, Thad Markray, by working the count full and then drawing a two-out walk. That led to a four-run outburst and a 6-2 lead.

Unfortunately, Cancel's efforts were left for dead in the box score, and his 11th-inning at-bat went down as an unassisted putout by the first baseman. He had worked the count full, then too, and the out came six pitches after Cancel launched a shot that hugged the left field line until it broke left and foul. A game-winning homer it was not.

"About a foot foul," Springfield hitting coach Dallas Williams called it.

It was impressive anyway. Cancel was in the midst of catching all 12 innings, and doing so after he caught all nine innings the night before.

Cancel stood there in the clubhouse Sunday and shrugged it off as nothing.

"They pay me to play baseball," Cancel said. "I don't mind doing it."

Really, he has no idea what he'll do after this season, and who knows what will happen should Johnson return to Springfield. But to Cancel, there are thoughts he still has a lot of good years left, a lot of time still left in the game. Yeah, he's thought about going into coaching, giving back to what was given to him when he grew up in Puerto Rico.

Of course, to him, that's a long, long time off.

"Until they take my uni off," Cancel said, "I won't quit."

No, because he believes. He believes he belongs.