Anderson: Playing for Bevos is no minor deal
Former Oriole outfielder likely to be in left field in opener against
Tucson

By Kerry Eggers Issue date: 4/11/2003 The Tribune

Brady Anderson turns 40 in January. The three-time All-Star
outfielder played 14 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. Few players
of his magnitude, at his age, would accept playing minor league baseball.
Anderson is different, in a very good way. He probably will be in
the Portland Beavers' lineup tonight for their 7 p.m. Pacific Coast
League home opener against Tucson at PGE Park, batting second and
playing left field.
"I don't find the minor leagues humbling," Anderson says. "Never
have. If you are sulking or thinking you are being treated unfair, you
are missing the point. You are playing pro baseball for a living. How
many people get to do that?
"I am on a personal quest to prove myself as a player, just like I
did when I was initially in the minors. Maybe I can enjoy it a little
more this time. The interaction with my teammates is probably the most
refreshing thing I have experienced this spring. It has not been about
a big-leaguer to minor-leaguers. It is about teammate to teammates as
equals."
No wonder Beaver Manager Rick Sweet has found Anderson almost too
good to be true as a person and team leader.
"He is very professional, a very hard worker, and he has been very
good with the young players," Sweet says. "I mean everything from
telling stories to showing them how to go about your business and how
to play the game."
Anderson has 210 home runs in the majors, and 50 came during a
glorious run in 1996, when he hit .297 with 110 RBIs, 117 runs scored
and 21 stolen bases as Baltimore reached the American League
Championship Series. Before that year, Anderson had never hit more
than 21 homers in a season; since then, he has never hit more than 24.

A year to remember

Anderson set a franchise record in '96 for homers and extra-base hits
and a major league record for homers by a leadoff hitter. He also
became the only player to have both 50 homers and 50 steals in a
season and one of three players (Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Mays are
the others) with 50 homers and 20 steals in the same season.
"I had a decade of hitting leadoff to compare with most any leadoff
hitter who ever played, but that one year is what people want to talk
about," Anderson says.
"My explanation is, it is just another example of the fine line
between success and failure at a high level. The difference between 25
and 50 home runs is so slight you can hardly tell. You are hitting one
more home run a week. In other words, it is one more good swing per
week for six months. With that comes the confidence that will propel
you to greater things.
"The weird thing is, it wasn't one of my healthiest seasons. I had
appendicitis midway through the season, and they wanted to take my
appendix out. I pulled my quad, and for nine weeks I didn't have a
stolen-base attempt. I was pretty banged up, but my swing was there
from Day One of spring training. I had seven homers that spring, and
my swing never left me."
In spring training the next season, Anderson cracked a rib. He
wound up playing 151 games, batting .288 with 18 homers.
"I had to compensate and alter my swing a little," Anderson says.
"And it kind of stuck. I have had solid years since, but nothing like
that year."

Goodbye to Baltimore

After the 2001 season, in which he hit .202 with eight homers in 131
games, Baltimore gave Anderson his release. Last year, he signed a
free-agent deal with Cleveland but hit just .163 with one homer and
five RBIs in 34 games before being released in May. He then injured an
Achilles' heel playing basketball and sat out the season.
The 6-1, 200-pound left-hander signed last December with the San
Diego Padres.
"They were the first ones to contact me," Anderson says. "(General
Manager) Kevin Towers is a very straight talker. My family lives in
San Diego. It was a pretty simple decision."
Anderson might have been able to stay on as an extra bat and
outfielder with the Padres. He felt it was better for him to play
every day at the Triple-A level with Portland.
"When I spent my first four years with the Orioles platooning and
not having a regular spot in the lineup, I made up my mind I never
wanted to watch another game from the bench," he says.
"When I'm at my best, I am out there every single day, through
slumps, through everything. For me to get the right feel, I need to
play a lot. Plus, there is a joy I get playing. It doesn't matter the
level."
Contact Kerry Eggers at keggers@....