As Garret Anderson celebrates his 37th birthday as an Atlanta Brave and not an Angel- he is in the middle of his 16th year in Major League Baseball, having played in 2068 games.
While his on-base percentage sits at only .327 and his slugging percentage at .467 - GA has stuck around long enough to rack up 2423 hits, 501 doubles, 276 home runs and 1319 RBIs.
There plenty of moments when GA was considered a disappointment during his Angels’ career – and he was playing every day, putting up some solid numbers, et al. Back in the late 1990s, he was viewed as a complimentary player who was not as good [maybe rightfully so] as Tim Salmon or Jim Edmonds [perhaps].
Angels fans can say how much GA was loved by the Anaheim faithful and give him a token nod of our appreciation now - but if you asked Angels’ fans [not just the bandwagon types who came along after 2002] about GA’s Angel career, the knee jerk reaction was to label him a lazy player [regardless of whether the perception was reality or not].
GA was a guy indicted for his style of play - which seem to border in-between passive and lazy, even to longtime Angels' fans. It appeared, GA never showed the grit of a Darin Erstad or the desire of an David Eckstein.
It wasn’t until after 2002 did GA get any sort of respect from Angels’ fans - and post championship season, GA was still sort of an ‘acquired taste,’ especially when he started to break down and his numbers started to dip in his last several years with the organization.
While his on-base percentage sits at only .327 and his slugging percentage at .467 - GA has stuck around long enough to rack up 2423 hits, 501 doubles, 276 home runs and 1319 RBIs.
There plenty of moments when GA was considered a disappointment during his Angels’ career – and he was playing every day, putting up some solid numbers, et al. Back in the late 1990s, he was viewed as a complimentary player who was not as good [maybe rightfully so] as Tim Salmon or Jim Edmonds [perhaps].
Angels fans can say how much GA was loved by the Anaheim faithful and give him a token nod of our appreciation now - but if you asked Angels’ fans [not just the bandwagon types who came along after 2002] about GA’s Angel career, the knee jerk reaction was to label him a lazy player [regardless of whether the perception was reality or not].
GA was a guy indicted for his style of play - which seem to border in-between passive and lazy, even to longtime Angels' fans. It appeared, GA never showed the grit of a Darin Erstad or the desire of an David Eckstein.
It wasn’t until after 2002 did GA get any sort of respect from Angels’ fans - and post championship season, GA was still sort of an ‘acquired taste,’ especially when he started to break down and his numbers started to dip in his last several years with the organization.
In 2009, GA is still doing his thing, even though it seemed like he was done early in the season - hopefully he heats up in the second half and if he decides to hang them up after this years, goes out with a bang.
You know - I never realised that Garret had shaved off his mustache. Not the player he once was but still a great player.
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