ANAHEIM — It’s a day of mourning in the Los Angeles Angels organization.
On Friday morning, the Angels announced that Garret Anderson had passed away.
Anderson was the embodiment of what it meant to not only be a professional athlete, but a great person, spending 15 of his 17-year career with the Angels and being a role model on and off the field.
Anderson was a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger winner, a key member of the Angels winning their first World Series in 2002, and is a member of the club’s Hall of Fame.
There is a good reason as to why Anderson is in the Angels Hall of Fame, leading the club in multiple categories as an all-time hitting leader for RBIs (1,292), doubles (489), hits (2,368), and total bases (3,743).
When he finished his career, he transitioned into a broadcasting role back with the club he grew up with as a player.
Anderson was quick to find himself partnered with someone he spent most of his playing career with, playing on the opposite side of the outfield, in Tim Salmon.
Salmon was choked up this afternoon when speaking about Anderson and said the two had so many similar life experiences throughout their playing careers.
“We had very similar upbringings,” Salmon said. “Single moms, stoic grandmothers that helped raise us. We both married our college and high school sweethearts. Our wives were pregnant at the same time, our kids grew up together.”
Both Salmon and Anderson were born in the Los Angeles metropolitan area as Salmon was born in Long Beach and later moved to Phoenix Arizona. Anderson stayed in Los Angeles during his youth and played baseball at John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills.
The two became members of the Angels organization together in 1990 when Anderson was selected by the Angels in the fourth round.
Salmon recalled the first time he met Anderson was in spring training, in a brand-new Mustang.
“I was at Gene Autry Park, and I remember being in the outfield, … I just remember seeing this kid drive in, in this really nice Mustang. He must’ve spent his entire signing bonus on it,” Salmon said jokingly about his former teammate. “Beautiful Mustang, and here comes this tall, lanky kid. Looks like he was more of a basketball player at the time. He was super skinny, and I was like, ‘Oh, what kind of attitude are we gonna have here?’ And it was the complete opposite.”
Anderson did, in fact, turn out to be the complete opposite of what Salmon initially thought. He was one of the quieter players; he did not say much, and always went about his business the right way.
Salmon recalled Anderson being mild-mannered, quiet, and infectious.
“When he talked, you were like ‘Oh well, he’s talking,” Salmon said. “He became a favorite of his teammates.”
While Anderson was important to the Angels organization during his playing career, he was just as important during his post-playing career.
Three-time American League MVP Mike Trout said he found out the news of Anderson’s passing this morning and called it devastating.
Trout recalled always seeing Anderson with a smile on his face.
“Seeing highlights, and watching him. He holds every record here for such a long time. He meant a lot to this Angels organization,” Trout said.
Trout said this morning he spoke with Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver, who were both former teammates of Anderson’s during the latter part of his career.
Weaver and Hunter were both in the primes of their career when Trout came up to the Angels as a rookie in 2011.
Whenever Anderson was brought up in conversation with Trout, he always recalled the moment, hearing nothing but great things about who he was as a player and a person outside of baseball.
Despite being known as a quiet individual, Trout said he would approach Anderson at the ballpark and strike up a conversation with him.
“It was one of the things going up to him, starting a conversation,” Trout said. “He would let us use his boat down by his house in the dock. He was an awesome dude.”
Angels outfielder Jo Adell said the team was left speechless when they found out about Anderson’s death.
When Adell did come across Anderson and had the chance to speak with him, he made the most of it as he considered him special.
“When you’ve won a World Series, it’s something everybody’s taking notes of,” Adell said. “What you did, and how you were able to do it. You know, for him and the longevity of his career, how he was able to continue to come out every day and play a brand of baseball that was at the highest level and to be that consistent.”
“I remember seeing him for the first time. You’re definitely picking that brain of somebody who could do that.”
During the Angels’ 2002 World Series run, manager Kurt Suzuki was a freshman baseball player, attending Cal-State Fullerton.
One of Anderson’s most iconic moments in his career happened in Game 7 of that World Series.
With a tie score at 1 and the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the third, the Angels were looking to get the lead.
Anderson was known during his career for making good contact on the ball, hitting doubles, and getting RBIs.
He did just that, by clearing the bases on a ball hit towards right field to give the Angels a 4-1 lead over the San Francisco Giants.
Suzuki remembered watching Anderson being a key part of bringing the first World Series trophy to Anaheim.
“I remember those thundersticks they had and remember watching those games on TV,” Suzuki said. “(Anderson) was a big part of this organization; he was a big part of that World Series team.”