Tim Anderson Is Here to Save Baseball From Itself

Anderson said he reached a career crossroads last April, after flinging his bat to celebrate a homer off Kansas City’s Brad Keller, who drilled Anderson with a fastball in his next at-bat. The benches cleared and the league suspended Keller for five games, while giving Anderson a one-game suspension for his use of a racial epithet during the fracas.

The incident renewed the debate about celebration etiquette in a stodgy sport, and Anderson heard criticism about being cocky and not respecting the game. Before then, he said, he had tried to stay inconspicuous in public. The backlash inspired him to take a more public persona, giving more revealing interviews and broadening his reach on social media.

“I had no other choice,” he said. “At that point people already labeled me. I had to open up and let people know who I am. Now I’m OK with being me. You’re either going to like me or you’re not, and either one is fine.”

The Royals — then managed by the decidedly traditional Ned Yost — were not fine with Anderson. Catcher Salvador Perez had jawed with Anderson in 2018 after a home run, and last May, a month after the Keller incident, another pitcher, Glenn Sparkman, was ejected for plunking Anderson in the helmet.

“We had kind of a history with him in years past, so it was more of a team thing,” Keller said last week. “But you know what? Guys play the game how they want to, and if that’s how he plays it, so be it.”

Williams told Anderson that he would have hit him, too, if he had been in Keller’s position. But that did not mean Williams disapproved of Anderson’s behavior. Reggie Jackson played with flamboyance, after all, and Williams would sneak into the Oakland Coliseum to watch him in the 1970s. He understands the appeal of expressive, passionate players.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/sports/baseball/tim-anderson-chicago-white-sox.html