"Atlee Hammaker easily could look back on his big-league career with great pride or great disappointment. Pride comes from the fact that the former Giants left-hander put together a dominant 1983 season in which he led the National League with a 2.25 ERA, and that he overcame several injuries to spend a dozen years in the majors. Disappointment would come from the fact that those injuries prevented him from having the type of career he might have envisioned in the early 1980s. Actually, Hammaker -- whom the Giants acquired from Kansas City in the Vida Blue deal just prior to the 1982 season -- admits he reflects on his time in the big leagues with both pride and disappointment, although disappointment isn't the word he uses. 'It was frustrating,' Hammaker said during a recent phone interview from Knoxville, Tenn., where he lives. '... It was frustrating to me, and to management. You can get labeled, He's good when he's on, but he's hard to keep on the mound. Sure, sometimes you think about what could have been, should have been, but I look at my whole career as a rewarding experience." - Chronicle Staff Writer Steve Kroner (04/17/2005, 'WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: Atlee Hammaker / Ex-pitcher looks back with pride / Injuries that bedeviled his career with Giants left him frustrated', Source)