Total recall: adding a special weapon, such as the cut fastball or changeup, can revive and extend a pitcher's career.

HIS DREAM WAS SLIPPING through his fingers. His debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a 21 year old in 1978, his 10 wins in 1983, none of that seemed relevant anymore.

In May 1986, Dave Stewart found himself unemployed and facing an uncertain future. The Texas Rangers had traded him. The Philadelphia Phillies released him. At 29, he appeared finished. Time to take his parting gifts and memories and go home, another victim of an unforgiving business.

"Believe me, with some of the negative (situations) I went though in Texas and Philadelphia," Stewart said, I wondered if I was ever going to get another chance."

Stewart signed with the Oakland Athletics. All he did from 1987-90 was stage the greatest comeback this side of Carlos Santana. He went 84-45 with a 3.20 ERA. He won a World Series MVP trophy and finished in the top four in the Cy Young Award voting.

"It was about getting into a positive atmosphere, getting an opportunity," Stewart said. "I learned a lot about myself."

He also provided a blueprint that continues to be fallowed today. While football and basketball careers end with sobering abruptness, baseball offers lifelines for pitchers who have grown stale or vanished from the radar, smiling on those who come up with a new pitch or pair with the right coach.

"You are talking about people with highly specialized skills. The ability to control bat speed, you can't go to college, and you can't go to night school for that," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "When certain players possess these skills, if they can lock in again, they can dominate."