Garret Anderson
Encyclopedia
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
) is a former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
. He played most of his career with the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
(appearing with the team under all three of its recent names
History of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
'The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city that was their original home, Los Angeles, and was inspired by a...
). He is the Angels' franchise leader in games played, at bats, hits, total bases, singles, doubles, grand slams, extra-base hits, career RBIs, single-game RBIs, and consecutive games (12) with an RBI.
High school career
Garret Anderson attended Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, California. While there, he was a three-sport star in baseball, footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. In baseball, he won two All-Los Angeles City honors and two All-League Honors, and as a junior, helped his team win the Los Angeles City Championship. In basketball, as a senior, he won All-Los Angeles City honors and All-League honors.
Los Angeles Angels
Anderson was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the fourth round of the 1990 MLB Draft and made his Major League debut on July 27, 1994. He had two hits in four at-bats in that game, recording his first career hit on a single to right field off of Oakland AthleticsOakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
pitcher Ron Darling
Ron Darling
Ronald Maurice Darling, Jr. is an American former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics and Montreal Expos...
in the bottom of the third. He appeared in only five games with the Angels in 1994, getting five hits in 13 at-bats.
In 1995, he was called up to the team on April 26 and spent the rest of the year in the Majors. He hit his first career home run on June 13 against Kevin Tapani
Kevin Tapani
Kevin Ray Tapani is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs from 1989 to 2001.-Early life:...
of the Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
. He hit .321 in 106 games with 16 home runs and 69 RBIs and finished second in the Rookie of the Year
MLB Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
voting in to Marty Cordova
Marty Cordova
Martin Keevin "Marty" Cordova [cor-DOH-vuh] , is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder. He played for the Minnesota Twins , Toronto Blue Jays , Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles...
of the Twins. From that point forward, Anderson became a mainstay in the Angels' lineup.
Over the next eight seasons, he accumulated at least 600 at bats every year, breaking 90 RBIs and 20 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s five times while compiling a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
near .300.
While he was hitting home runs in 2000, he wasn't taking many walks. He is one of only seven players who have concluded a 30-homer season with more homers than walks (35 HR, 24 BB), the others being Alfonso Soriano
Alfonso Soriano
Alfonso Guilleard Soriano is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Chicago Cubs....
(39-23 in 2002), Ryan Braun
Ryan Braun
Ryan Joseph Braun is an American right-handed Major League Baseball left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. A perennial standout, he was ranked No...
(34-29 in 2007), Pudge Rodriguez (35-24 in 1999), Joe Crede
Joe Crede
Joseph Taylor Crede is a Major League Baseball third baseman who is currently a free agent. Crede attended high school at Fatima High School in Westphalia, Missouri which he led to 3 district championships and two final four berths as a pitcher...
(30-28 in 2006), Javy Lopez
Javy López
Javier López Torres is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played from through for the Atlanta Braves , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
(43-33 in 2003), and José Guillén
José Guillén
José Manuel Guillén |San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic]]) is a Major League Baseball outfielder who is currently a free agent. A prototypical league journeyman, the Giants were the tenth team for which Guillén has played since his major league debut in 1997....
(31-24 in 2003).http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4200075&name=stark_jayson
In , when the Angels won their first World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
championship, Garret finished fourth in the MVP voting after compiling a .306 average with 29 home runs and 123 runs batted in. Anderson also scored a career-high 93 runs, however the fact he has never scored 100 or more in a season is a result of his main weakness as a player: an inability to take walks and thus a low on-base percentage. Anderson had a similarly strong performance in , he became an American League All-Star. That All-Star weekend, he stole the show by becoming the Home Run Derby
Home Run Derby
The Home Run Derby is an event played prior to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It is a contest among the top home run hitters in Major League Baseball to determine who can hit the most home runs. The event is currently sponsored by State Farm Insurance...
Champion and voted the Most Valuable Player in the All Star Game, the first player to win both the Derby and All-Star MVP since Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr. , nicknamed "Iron Man", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles ....
in 1991.
On April 13, 2004, Anderson agreed a $48 million, four-year contract extension through 2008. The deal included a team option for 2009 with a $3 million buyout.
Anderson began experiencing chronic ailments in that limited his playing time and production, including an arthritic condition
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
and plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammatory process of the plantar fascia, the connective tissue on the sole of the foot.Longstanding cases of plantar fasciitis often demonstrate more degenerative changes than inflammatory changes, in which case they are termed plantar fasciosis. The suffix...
in his feet. In , he began to see more regular time as a designated hitter
Designated hitter
In baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...
to ease the wear and tear off of his body. Anderson's production in was roughly on par with his 2005 production, with both seasons seeing him hit 17 home runs and drive in at least 85 runs.
On August 21, 2007, he drove in a team-record 10 runs, including a grand slam and a three-run homer, in the Los Angeles Angels' 18-9 win over the New York Yankees. Anderson became the 13th player in Major League history to have 10 RBIs in a game. Anderson now holds the team record for grand slams with eight and RBIs in a game with ten. This performance has been part of a general resurgence in the second half of the season, a relief to Angels fans who may have wondered if Anderson's career was near its end after a mediocre, injury-plagued first half. Instead, Anderson has led the Majors in RBIs in the latter part of '07. On September 7, 2007, Anderson drove in a run on an RBI single, to set a franchise record for most consecutive games with an RBI with 11. The streak lasted for 12 games, during which time he drove in 22 runs.
On October 28, 2008, the Angels announced they would decline their $14 million option on Anderson's contract and exercised a $3 million buyout.
Atlanta Braves
On February 24, , Anderson agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta BravesAtlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
for $2.5 million. On April 5, 2009, in the Braves first game of the season, Anderson collected the 2,369th hit of his career, and the first he had with any franchise besides the Angels.
On July 2, 2009, Anderson hit his first career pinch-hit home run of his till-then 14 season career.
On October 1, 2009, Anderson became the 89th player to reach 2,500 base hits, getting a single off of Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
pitcher Garrett Mock
Garrett Mock
Garrett Lee Mock is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. A graduate of Houston's North Shore Senior High School, Mock attended the University of Houston where he played as part of the Houston Cougars baseball team...
.
Los Angeles Dodgers
On March 3, 2010, Anderson agreed to a minor league deal with the Los Angeles DodgersLos Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. He made the 25 man opening day roster as a reserve outfielder. In his first at bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
, he hit a pinch-hit single off Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Kevin Donnelly is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He bats and throws right-handed.-Career:Donnelly was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 27th round of the 1992 amateur draft...
, who was a teammate of his with the Los Angeles Angels. His first home run with the Dodgers came on April 22, when he hit a pinch-hit 2-run homer against the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
.
Anderson was designated for assignment August 8, 2010 after hitting only .181 in 155 at-bats and granted his release on August 10.
Retirement
On March 1, 2011, Anderson announced his retirement in a statement issued by the Angels.Awards
- Three-time All-StarMajor League Baseball All-Star GameThe Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
(2002–2003, 2005) - All-Star Game MVP (2003)
- The Sporting News Rookie of the YearThe Sporting News Rookie of the Year AwardThe Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award was established in 1946 by The Sporting News .*In 1947-48, and again in 1950, a single award was given for all of Major League Baseball....
(1995) - Two-time Silver Slugger Award winner (2002–03)
- Top 10 in voting for MVPMLB Most Valuable Player AwardThe Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
(2002, 4th)
Championships and accomplishments
- From 1997-2003, was second only to Derek JeterDerek JeterDerek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
in hits among all Major League players - On the 2002 World Series2002 World SeriesThe 2002 World Series was a best-of-seven playoff series to determine the champion of Major League Baseball for the 2002 season. It was the 98th such contest between the champions of the American League and National League , and featured the AL champion Anaheim Angels against the NL champion San...
championship team - Won the Home Run DerbyHome Run DerbyThe Home Run Derby is an event played prior to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It is a contest among the top home run hitters in Major League Baseball to determine who can hit the most home runs. The event is currently sponsored by State Farm Insurance...
and All Star Game MVP known as the Ted Williams Award in 2003 - Led the American LeagueAmerican LeagueThe American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
in doublesDouble (baseball)In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
in 2002 and 2003 - Holds the club record for RBIs (broke the old mark held by Tim SalmonTim SalmonTimothy James Salmon is a former Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter who played his entire career with the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels...
in 2005) - Holds the club-record for most RBI in a single game, 10 (August 21, 2007)
- Holds the club-record for most consecutive games with an RBI, 12 (September 7, 2007)
- Collected his 2,000th career hit on July 1, 2006.
See also
- List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
- List of Major League Baseball doubles records
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions