sexual assaults on the rise at the nation's prestigious military academies. >> i remember him turning off the lights and me asking what are you doing? >> women who feel betrayed by the military they committed to serve. and the pentagon's battle to do something about it. freeing the chimps. >> so this is the infamous dujen. >> these research chimps are getting their first taste of freedom. but what about the unlucky ones still behind bars? the last season. at 39, he's banking his career on a risky experiment. >> i would lay in bed and think, am i delusional? >> one man's willingness to do anything for one last chance to play a sport he can't live without. revealing investigations. fascinating characters. stories with impact.

this is "cnn presents" with tonight's hosts, randi kaye and drew griffin. >> defense secretary leon panetta announced new policies to combat sexual assault in the military. zero tolerance is the message from the pentagon's top commander. >> but ground zero for battling the growing problem may start at the nation's most prestigious military academies. >> reports of sexual assaults rose by nearly 60% in the past year. out of the 65 cases reported, only one resulted in court-martial. >> that is why two young women are coming forward. in a lawsuit filed, they allege they were raped in their first year at the academies. tonight, they speak to keira phillips for the first time. >> reporter: west point, the naval academy. the air force academy. prestigious military institutions, tasked with training future officers

ethically, spiritually and morally. but for these high school honor students, their experience would be far different. >> i remember him turning off the lights and me asking what are you doing? >> in the middle of the night, i did come to and he was on top of me. >> reporter: carly and annie say they were raped. raped by fellow classmates they trusted and ignored, they say, by a chain of command that promised their parents they would be protected. >> and nobody, not a single person, not one, was looking out for her best interest. typical teenage girl. that's her, cage fighting at 18.

an all-star rugby player. a championship swimmer. an honor student. carly could have gone to college anywhere. what was it about west point that drew you to that academy? >> just knowing you kind of have your future set, having that structure and discipline, but at the same time, having people look at you, like wow, you're doing something great for our country. >> her sister was a mid shipman at the naval academy. her father, a marine. to her, they were heroes. everything she wanted to be. do you think west point let you down? >> yeah. i wanted to be there. it was my dream. >> reporter: a dream that was shattered her first year when an upper classman showed up at her door to talk girl troubles. >> i kind of felt a little cool

that an upper classman wanted to be friends with me and was seeking my advice. >> reporter: after sharing a drink, she says he convinced her to come h his room. since he was an upper classman, she trusted him. >> i remember getting more and more intoxicated and my judgment really started to become impaired. i remember him turning off the lights and me asking what are you doing? and then he proceeded to rape me. >> reporter: she says she woke up disoriented, in physical pain and afraid to come forward. >> i was scared i was going to ruin my career. i was scared if i said anything that there would constantly be a target on my back. i reached out to people and they weren't there. i just didn't want to leave my room. i mean, he was right across the hall. >> reporter: and you still had to work under him? take out his trash? why?

>> it was part of our duties. >> reporter: chain of command? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: chain of command. military ranks where senior students have authority over the one immediately below. so every day, she had to face the man she says raped her. but weeks later, she finally found the courage to come forward and filed a report and requested an investigation. >> the reason i ended up telling someone is because i didn't want that to happen to anyone else. >> reporter: annie describes herself as a girly-girl, who never imagined joining the military. an honor student, and one of the best high school soccer players in the country, she was heavily recruited by top ivey league schools. but the naval academy was the most convincing. >> all their graduates that graduated from the soccer team

went on and became pilots and marine officers and it just sounded like those women are so powerful and so well respected and i wanted to be that woman. >> reporter: her goal was to fly f-18s. but it wasn't long after arriving she realized that wasn't going to happen. >> i could tell that there was definitely a bias towards the women. i mean, you're a female entering into a fraternity. a giant frat. >> reporter: she says there were no derogatory names for the men. but for the women, they were called dubs. what does that mean? >> dumb ugly bitch. >> reporter: it was definitely a different culture. when she got invarietied to go to an off campus party, she was in. >> i was like okay, cool. i can live the college life for one night. >> reporter: but annie says she

had way too much to drink. so when a fellow mid shipman offered a place to crash, she accepted. >> i was like okay, i trust you. you're an upper classman. that's who they teach you to trust. >> reporter: tell me what happened once he took you back to the room. >> i just laid down and went to sleep. at one part in the middle of the night, i did come to. and he was on top of me. i remember saying no. but then i just passed out again. >> reporter: annie was afraid to come forward. why were you scared? >> i didn't want to be the girl that got the athlete kicked out. because we had been told stories about how that had happened in the past. and i didn't want to be that next story. >> reporter: for two years, annie battled depression and thoughts of suicide. she had a secret she couldn't keep anymore. and finally called her father.

>> she said, i was raped. i couldn't breathe. >> reporter: still ahead, the battle to change the system. how do you get it through these men's heads, if they rape, they will pay the price? ♪ ♪ ♪ and i never thought i'd feel this way ♪ ♪ the way i feel about you [ male announcer ] it's time to clean out your garage for a car that's worthy of being the 2012 motor trend car of the year. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ it must be love ♪ love, love

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point and the naval academy, two young women say they risked their careers to come forward and request an investigation. they wanted the men they say raped them to be prosecuted. one year later, they're still waiting. keira phillips continues our investigation. >> reporter: when carly came forward to say she was raped at west point, she believed her case would be investigated. >> i remember the investigators meeting with my parents and they promised my parents that if he wasn't going to jail, they could at least get him kicked out of west point with the evidence they had. >> reporter: but he's still there? >> but he's still there. >> reporter: annie says she too believed her allegations of rape would be investigated. >>is like, great, they're going to get him. good. >> reporter: but they say their alleged perpetrators were never punished. so now they've filed a lawsuit

naming former secretary of defense robert gates, the former superintendents of west point and the naval academy, secretary of the navy ray mabis and secretary of the army, john mccue. the lawsuit claims there was limited support from commanders and failure to ensure sexual predators were prosecuted and incarcerated for their crimes. they are not alone. reports of sexual assault at the academies are up nearly 60% and of the 65 reports investigated last year, only one resulted in a court-martial. >> i ache for those former cadet midshipmen who have had their lives torn up. it shouldn't be that way. >> reporter: congresswoman jackie spear has gone to the house floor 19 times. >> we need to overhaul this system.

>> reporter: demanding that congress and the military change the way sexual assaults are prosecuted. >> you report everything through your chain of command. so i'm raped. i go to my commander and say i've been raped. my commander can say to me, well, i'm not going to pursue this. or take an aspirin and go to bed. as long as it's going to be in the chain of command, there's always going to be a conflict. >> reporter: her bill, the stop act, would take investigations away from the chain of command and turn them over to an impartial council of civilian and military experts. >> if you're not going to have your assailant prosecuted, why would you want to come forward? you're basically setting yourself up to lutz your career in the military. >> reporter: spear says for years her calls to action have gone unanswered until secretary of defense leon panetta took office. >> we got to train commanders to

understand that when these complaints are brought, they've got to do their best to make sure these people are brought to justice. that's the only way we're going to prevent this in the future is to show people can't get away from it. >> how do you get it through these men's heads, if they rape, they will pay the price? >> this place operates by command authority and it has to begin at the top and it has to go down to the bottom. >> reporter: still, panetta will not take investigations away from the chain of command but he is changing the rules, announcing new initiatives just one week after our interview. >> what i will do is change the way these cases are handled in the military. >> reporter: here's what panetta is doing differently. he created a special victim's unit to investigate sexual assaults. now, instead of slowly making their way up the chain of command, all cases will begin at

the level of colonel. >> everybody has to do due diligence. commanders have bosses. if that commander is not doing their job, you relieve them. you have to look at this every single day and you have to take what every victim says seriously. i want our victims to come forward. >> reporter: but the changes in policy come too late for carly and annie. their military careers are over. >> that hurts me to hear that, because we betrayed their trust and didn't take care of them and we need to do a much better job. >> reporter: according to the lawsuit, as a result of the rape, carly became depressed and suicidal. unable to handle the stress of seeing her alleged perpetrator every day. she resigned from west point. >> it was like i felt like a blem i believe. >> reporter: because they knew you reported the rape?

>> uh-huh. >> reporter: annie says she too became suicidal. she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and according to her lawsuit, was then forced to leave the academy. >> it hurts the message we're trying to get out there. >> reporter: panetta couldn't comment specifically on nar cases because of privacy issues. but he makes clear that blaming the victim needs to stop. personality disorder, academic separation? >> i think that's part of the syndrome we're dealing with, which is that once a decision is made that somehow this prosecution is not going to move forward, then you basically turn on the victim who brought that complaint and try to do everything possible to make sure that that victim doesn't hang around. or really diminish them by accusing them of having psychological problems, that syndrome is what we have to break out of.

>> reporter: and for the two, if coming forward helps with that mission, they want to be a part of the battle. >> i know with at least one person coming forward, there will be others. >> because then they might get their perpetrators put behind bars, which is where they should be. >> west point and the naval academy say they couldn't comment on their allegations because of privacy issues. both women have requested copies of their case files. to learn more about why the men they say raped them are still in the military. coming up, from the lab toir to freedom, the journey of a group of chimps that get a new lease on life. s. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ] for too long, people have settled for single miles. with the capital one venture card, you'll earn double miles on every purchase, every day! [ visigoths cheer ] hawaii, here we come. [ alec ] so sign up today

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the disney film "chimpanzee" shows the cute creatures enjoying life in the wild acting like us. but thousands being used for research here in the united states are cooped up in cages. there's a fierce debate over whether they should be forced to endure that kind of captivity. a bill before congress would ban invasive research on chimps. john zorella follows a group of chimps whose research days are over. >> reporter: winter snow came early. melting now under a warming

december sun. a new season begins and for some, the beginning of a cross country journey. to freedom. you hear them. long before you see them. when you see them, their features are unmistakable. ten chimps are here, with names like bart and sara. >> sara, you want to play? no. bart wants to have all the attention. >> reporter: they've lived most of their attention behind these walls. some for decades. they were research chimps used to test everything from the toxicity of pesticides in hair sprays to cures for ards and hepatitis. now, these are the last of 266 to leave thi one-time biomedical lab, the kolston foundation, in new mexico. for jen firestein, director of the save the chimps foundation,

it is a promise fulfilled. >> failure was never an option for us. the only thing that's ever slowed us down sit takes a long time for the chimps to get used to living in family groups because they didn't have that opportunity -- >> >> reporter: she's finishing a dream begun by carol noon, her late boss, to give these animals a life in a place where they can be, quite simply, chimps. >> did i get you? >> reporter: a decade ago, frederick kolston lost federal funding. in one case, three limps cooked to death when their enclosure heated to 140 degrees. kolston, now deceased, denied abuse accusations during a 1995 interview with cnn. >> we don't abuse animals.

we try to treat them according to the regulations and the law and even beyond that. >> reporter: facing bankruptcy, he sold the facility and animals to save the chimps. it was the beginning of a great migration. for ten years, a dozen or so at a time have left the cold walls and steel bars for a new home, an island sanctuary. >> this is the last crew. >> reporter: the last crew. >> this is the crazy, young, wonderful, vivacious crew. >> reporter: they're mel row right now. joslyn checks her charges. >> what i want to do now is i want to go over each one and make sure they're healthy. >> reporter: bart was born here. he turned 20 january 14. like most of the chimps, his records are sketchy at best. >> we don't know what the study was for. we just know that he was in a study. >> reporter: experts say every chimp has its own personality. bart's is spit and vinegar. he interrupts my conversation.

>> that's the testosterone. >> reporter: he was getting a kick out of his annics. the concrete and steel enclosures have been mod feed. they can visit with each other, play, rough house. it wasn't that way before save the chimps took over. >> reporter: so this is the infamous dungeon. >> and this is a small cage that they lived in. >> wow. >> reporter: like a prison, one cell after another, chimps lived this way sitting day after day, year after year. until needed for a research project. what do you feel like when you walk in here? >> it's almost like it's haunted. it's a really dismal place. there's not a lot of good memories here for any of us. >> reporter: here, at least, it's just memories. the story is much different a few miles down the road at

holloman air force base. before humans flew in space, a champion named ham did. not that he had a choice. the old footage shows is chimps being trained, examined, playing, and dying. a chimp strapped into a form fitting shell is secured inside a cylinder on a rocket sled, propelled down the track to test survivability after a sudden stop. the answer is evident in the lifeless body. once no longer needed, most of these air force chimps ended up in the hands of, you guessed it, frederick kolston. by the mid '90s, he ran two facilities just miles apart. a rare air force tour in 1997 shed light on the research they were subjected to under kolston. >> that animal was --s a been

inoculated with hiv. >> reporter: the chimps are now owned by the national institutes of health, nih. there is a moratorium on using or for that matter retiring some or all of the 170 chimps housed at holloman until an expert panel weighs in. >> they're not involved in research. like others that are inactive are waiting for recommendations from this working group on how many would be needed in the long-term. >> reporter: what's troubling to me is why do you need somebody to tell you how many you need when you folks have been funding it and been responsible for it, why do you need sof somebody else to tell you your business, how many you need? >> the nih seeks input from the public in my different ways. >> reporter: so until a decision is made whether they're needed for future research, they sit caged, in limbo. it is estimated these and other federally owned chimps cost tax

i paers $30 million a year. while their fate remains uncertain, down the road, it's now moving day for bart, sara, and the others. >> bart, come on. >> reporter: coming up, the journey to freedom continues. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. ♪

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for chimps bart, sara and friends, a new life is about to begin. >> but there's a growing debate over the future of nearly 1,000 chimps still in research facilities, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. john zorella continues our investigation. >> all right. >> reporter: the atmosphere is excited. the staff coaxes the chimps from their enclosures into travel cages. sara is the first in. bart is not buying it. >> bart, come on. >> reporter: joslyn has to sedate him. she hides the needle in a glove. >> your' so suspicious. come here. >> reporter: minutes later, after a second injection, bart is out. as the work to coax the others continues, bart is moved into the travel cage. it's taken all day. by nightfall, the ten chimps are

loaded in the trailer. there are tears, hugs, as the staff and volunteers say goodbye. >> it's time for them to go and start their new life. it's been a long time coming, and we're timely here. >> reporter: the trip from new mexico will take two days, stops only to feed and check on the chimps. the chimp mobile moves east, passing lafayette, louisiana. home to the new research center which houses 360 chimps. it was the focus of a 2008 undercover humane society investigation. it showed primates being darted. falling over unconscious. self-mutilating. disturbing video. but not torture says thomas rowell. >> it never rose to the point of an animal welfare violation or an animal being tortured.

it was people maybe returned to do a job, not being as careful as they could have been. >> reporter: we are allowed in because the future use of chimps in research is in serious doubt. would you have invited cnn cameras in years ago here? >> again, that was not part of our mission. because it wasn't part of our mission, the answer is no. our mission is public health, not public entertainment. >> reporter: the great ape protection and cost savings act sits in congress. if passed, it would stop all invasive research using chimps. and just last year, an institute of medicine study, commissioned by the national institutes of health, found the use of chimps in most current research is "unnecessary." soon after, the nih suspended all new chimp research grants. so what happens if the approximately 1,000 research

chimps are retired? >> if we didn't have them today, we would find other ways of doing the research and i would argue better ways of doing it. >> i think some treatments for cancer, for certain auto immunedy seelses will be delayed and suffering. i think there will be increase in deaths among people. >> reporter: some researchers believe chimp also be instrumental in developing vaccines for emerging diseases we've not yet heard of. and for hepatitis c. even so, the nih insists it's doing everything it can to eliminate the need for chimps. >> just in the last year, investigators have developed a mouse model that can be infected with hepatitis c by just introducing a human gene into the mouse. so we're busy trying to create alternative models to avoid the use of chimps. >> reporter: but the nih is not ready to pull the plug entirely. >> we welcome the day when there's no need for the use of

them in research. >> reporter: but you still think that that day isn't here yet? >> i don't think it is. >> reporter: they told us they're waiting for guidance from that so-called expert panel that is evaluating for them all things chimps. >> we've asked them to consider all of those options and give us priorities. >> reporter: with not enough sanctuaries, it's clear many chimps might stay where they are, languishing for the remainder of their lives or living in these cages. >> we like the primadomes. >> reporter: about a third of the chimps live in them, the rest in cages. if laws change, they hope to be considered a sanctuary site. the future for research chimps is, at best, unclear. >> hey, everybody. >> reporter: so bart and sara and their friends, the future is crystal clear. the chimp mobile has arrived in

ft. pierce, florida. their first taste of freedom is finally here. their days in a cage over. one by one, they are released into their new housing enclosures, ten years after this great migration began, the last ten of the 266 one-time research chimps are home. they're greeted by friends who arrived in a group just before them. >> awww. that was sweet. >> reporter: the next morning, the cull mytation of a decade's work. >> are you ready? >> reporter: the doors separating the chimps from their island, from grass and sunshine, and fresh air, are open. >> hi. you did so good. you did so good. you're outside, buddy. >> reporter: you wonder, what are they thinking? is the past forgotten? do they know they are the lucky ones?

up next, how far would you go to play the game you love? one man, who is staking his career on a risky medical procedure. ♪ ♪ and i never thought i'd feel this way ♪ ♪ the way i feel about you [ male announcer ] it's time to clean out your garage for a car that's worthy of being the 2012 motor trend car of the year. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ it must be love ♪ love, love

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or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. for any professional athlete, the decision to finally quit and move on with your life is agonizing. tonight, a story about a professional baseball player who took an enormous medical risk,

spent thousands of dollars of his own money just for the chance to once again be in the major leagues, to be in what professionals call the show. at 39 years old, christopher really has no business trying to pitch in the major leagues. in baseball terms, he is a has been. just don't tell him that. >> you go as long as you can. a friend told me one time, make them tear the uniform off of you. i don't have everyone. >> reporter: his jersey collection is evidence that he has tried. >> they're almost all there. cincinnati, detroit. they're in order. houston. i went back to detroit. mets. from the mets, back to the astros. texas picked me up. within four weeks i was back in the big leagues again. it's been a roller coaster. >> reporter: so many teams hired

and fired him, the path is almost dizzying. he was a fresh faced rookie in 1995, with the cincinnati reds. then, after ten big league seasons came the final cut in the majors, the washington nationals in 2005. that only sent him looking for other jerseys to wear. >> these are my japanese jerseys, three different teams in korea. >> reporter: finally last year, the career-ending injury. he was hurt right here, pitching to high schoolers, trying to increase his velocity and he felt a twing in his shoulder. at 39, married with three kids, it was the most he should have stopped playing games, moving on like so many others. into coaching or perhaps a real job. instead, he took the biggest gamble of his professional

career. >> doing all right so far? >> i'm fine. >> i don't want you to faint on us. >> no. >> reporter: he decided on an experiment, the same experiment that produced last year's miracle comeback. pitcher bar tolla cologne was all but warbled up, until he was injected with his own stem cells and plasma. he returned to the mound, stunning the baseball world with a better than average comeback season. you think your procedure is what did it? >> i think it helped him. it gave him the ability to go back and play. certainly i think what we did certainly helped. >> reporter: last fall, nakowski decided he would pay several thousand for the same pro-sieger. first harvesting and reinjecting

his own stem cells. then his own plasma, a kind of super blood. there's no scientific proof any of this works, but his play shenlts swear by it. >> how are we doing? >> good. >> excellent. so am i. >> reporter: his critics, however, stop just short of calling him a fraud. >> we might as well be talking about crystals and healing. the fact is that stem cells hold great promise because there's real scientific and medical rational for using them. but we are ignorant about their use. we've certainly had very little experience with putting them into patients. so what we're worried about are the risks and the risks are many. >> reporter: dr. george daley is past president of the international society for stem cell research and a physician at children's hospital in boston. at our request, he examined a

long informational packet. >> if it were subjected to a critical analysis by experts in the field, it would be dismissed as unfortunately superficial and inaccurate. >> reporter: the paper you sent us we gave to george daley. >> i've heard of him and i can't dispute him because we really don't have a good uniform idea yet as to what constitutes good plasma. you can ask ten doctors and you'll get ten different answers. we need to get together and form an idea as to what it is. >> reporter: he wasn't interested in a scientific debate. just his shoulder and another chance at another jersey. when we met him last fall, he was working out, banging tennis balls to loosen up. then agility drills with his personal trainer.

finally tossing a football before getting to throw a baseball. how long from right this moment till you pitch a baseball? >> i kind of play it by ear. but the goal is somewhere around three weeks. >> reporter: but to do that means putting off major life decisions. working out instead of looking for that real job. working out day after day. after day. >> i'm trying to put him in as neutral position as possible so we maximize the strength. >> you've been working out crazy. ever lay in bed and think, am i delusional? >> there's times where you question yourself. anything you do, if you have a passion about it, you're going to do whatever it takes. doubt definitely creeps in. >> reporter: but he is is trying to make a miracle comeback. as a pitching specialist, a

sidearmer, brought in to get one or two left-handers out in the late innings. a new athlete, revived with the help of stem cells. your job would be to come in, get that lefty out, get out of the game as quickly as possible before a righty comes up, yeah. >> reporter: by december, he was at an indoor facility in new jersey, throwing a baseball again, and with some zip. >> there's some life there. i still got work to do, but i'm thrilled. >> reporter: thrilled or not, however, pitching off an indoor mound was one thing. throwing against a real hitter was another. >> what's next is to try to find a place to pitch. >> reporter: coming up -- a baseball nomad winds up in another field of dreams. or is this a pipe dream? >> i don't want to say it's been a decackle, but a lot of uncertainty from the beginning. [ camera clicks ]

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with his stem cell injections behind him, his pitching arm rehabilitated, c.j.natkowski is about to head

to a place he's never been, but will it lead him back to the major leagues? it's the second day of the new year, and he's chasing his dream, again. this time in the capital of the dominican republic. >> it took a lot of patience, a lot of phone calls. i've been trying to get here since late october. >> reporter: he paid his own way, just to get a chance at a tryout with one of the four baseball teams still playing winter ball. >> i said if you get a team that's slightly interested, i'll come down and throw for them. >> reporter: that's why he finds himself here, outside the biggest baseball stadium in santa dmingo. waiting, checking his blackberry, not quite sure what's going to happen next. >> i don't want to sea it's been

a debacle, but a lot of uncertainty from the beginning. a month ago, i told i was had a job here, two weeks ago i was told i definitely had a job. but that fell through. >> reporter: but on this day, his perseverance pays off and he walks into the stadium. not to audition for the home team but for the visitors, the giants. and their pitching coach. >> what do you want me to do today? >> come over here. >> reporter: did you never lose the passion? >> the passion never goes away. if you lose the passion, you're done. so i never host hope. >> reporter: as the sun sets, and the team gets ready for a night game, it's time to show what the months of workouts, his stem cell therapy and rehab have delivered. but there's a problem. a good one. >> i feel fine right now. i'm ready to go. >> i don't need to have you

throw anything. no bull pen, no hitters. if you tell me that your arm is good enough to pitch in the game, that's good with me, because i know you. >> okay. >> reporter: turns out, his coach had not really known c.j. but remembered him from a spring training 15 years earlier. >> i know you, because i was with houston when you were there. 1997, '98. >> the fun, the excitement, the competitiveness that goes on at playing at a high level in any sport, it's hard to find that. >> reporter: and you still want in? >> absolutely. it's fun. you have a shelf life on your career, and it chases you. and for me, i know it's close and maybe it's over, who knows? >> reporter: in the vitz for's bull pen, he throws his pitches any way, with his new sidearm delivery. he whips a curveball to a young catcher. and throws a few more to a teenage batter. everyone here seems younger.

>> i'm almost 39 years old. what am i doing with the stem cells, why am i trying to change my arm angle? but i'm still passionate about what i do. >> reporter: the next afternoon, he's in a car for the long drive to the dominican countryside, to his new hometown, san francisco de marcarise. >> they said they'll sign me for the rest of the playoffs. i should. say for the rest. for today. i think it's probably pretty much day by day. >> reporter: this is hardly the big leagues. baseball refugees from all over are here. the clubhouse is littered with equipment bags from dozens of different teams. an hour after arriving, an assistant general manager shows is up with a contract. payday. well, not huge. >> they say $2,000 for the rest

of the playoffs. >> reporter: no problem. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> reporter: he gets his new baseball cap. and his first job in professional baseball in almost two years. >> it feels good. it's what i've worked for, just to have an opportunity. >> reporter: the fact is, he is back, but not to what he once was. >> oh, man. >> reporter: he throws sidearm now. hoping for just one more chance to climb that mound. back in the bigs. he's not as fast. and by baseball standards, he is old. in five winter league games, he pitched well enough, but after all the money, all the treatments, all the tryouts, there has been no stem cell miracle. you spent a long time getting to

this very moment right now. >> yeah. >> reporter: that phone ain't ringing. >> no, not yet. but you don't stop. there's times where i get a little down and kind of like you said, what am i doing? should i be doing this? should i be moving on? we'll see. it would be sad to me if i didn't get that chance. and so i would hate to go in retirement, forced into retirement. >> reporter: is this it, though? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: this is the year? >> absolutely, yeah. >> reporter: so far, that phone is not ringing. >> that is such a great story. the question is, did the phone ever ring. >> once. the new york mets called him down to florida. had him try out. and they never called back. but he got a different call. this is a different roll call, as it were. he's going to be in a movie, pitching to a guy portraying jackie robinson, a movie about the guy that signs jackie

robinson to be a baseball player, branch rickey. >> who is going to play him? >> harrison ford. maybe a big new start of a different kind. >> that's great. great to hear that. that's it for tonight's show. i'm randi kaye. >> and i'm drew griffin. coming up, we move to the world of boxing where, on may 5, floyd mayweather will return to the ring to battle a four-time title holder in his own right. >> over the next several weeks, as their fight approaches, an all-access look at the lives of both men as their date in the ring draws closer. "24/7" is next on cnn.