This is the last week of the season for the Orioles, and a time that I usually find myself waxing a bit nostalgic. The journey's almost over for this year. The boys and men that comprised the 2001 Baltimore Orioles, that lifted our spirits, disappointed us, made us wince, made us proud; a team that provided us with soaring highs and comedic lows. A season twice interrupted by tragedy, one local and not especially serious, except economically, the other one worldwide and horrifying. A season that brought me to a new place, too, with new friends (and new enemies, as it turned out), and new challenges (some days I still can't believe I'm hosting this thing.)
And now, a large part of it is coming to a close. The friendships and memories endure, but the season itself is but a few days played out, usually in resignation, this particular season with an unusual sense of lost innocence, joy and sorrow...at the change in the world as we know it as Americans, and at the end of the career of Cal Ripken.
As the week goes along, I expect to write about various aspects of the season, saving Cal for around Thursday or so, probably before I see him again in person on Friday and Saturday (early weather reports...possible rain Friday, cold and overcast on Saturday.)
Today, I want to talk about another Oriole who we see at the end of his career, possibly...Brady Anderson.
There are a lot of facets to Brady, a number of which I find personally unpleasant. There have been rumors for years about the clique of Brady and Cal forming divisive influences in the clubhouse. Brady has also been observed publicly dissing manager Ray Miller, a man whom the players did not respect, but only Brady had the bad taste and petulant attitude to take it public with his bunting fiasco of 1999. Brady's been called a hot dog, an underachiever, a prima donna...and there have been calls for him on a ongoing basis to be replaced as the team's leadoff hitter.
But this season has taken the cake. Brady talked in the spring of working with the kids, of enjoying the challenges of being part of a rebuilding club. Whether that was all lip service or the spouting of clichés, I can't tell. But at least he said those things.
He's gone on, however, to have a simply spectacularly miserable season, resting under the Mendoza line, of all places, for 90% of the season. Whenever this happens to a player, he can expect criticism. As Cal says, it's just part of the game.
But I feel compelled to say that I feel that the invective and disdain I've intuited for Brady on this site, at other baseball sites, and on the radio, had done Brady Anderson the player, and the fans of the Baltimore Orioles a disservice.
When Brady signed his last contract, most all savvy fans knew it was probably one season too long. However, it's not like every player the age Anderson would be in the last years of the deal were finished. It might not have been the soundest of decisions for the management team, but considering Anderson's popularity, the feeling that the team might have one more run in it (which it did), and the consideration that he was a seven-year player coming off a 50 home run season, it was one that both parties made with their eyes open.
It appears that Brady may have petered out as did Dale Murphy , in a spectacular and seemingly premature fashion. This is a disappointment to all Oriole fans, and assumedly to Brady himself. I've always wondered about the concept of booing someone after a strikeout. Do fans assume the player wanted to strike out?
Did Brady Anderson want to have a horrible year? I don't imagine he did. But the fans have been unmerciful towards him, even though the player they are dumping on was the best Oriole player of the 1990's.
Considering the offensive problems the farm system has had, one might say this is damning with faint praise, and in some measures, it may be. But Brady Anderson put up some awfully good years for this ballclub, and not just 1996.
The only two bad seasons Brady had in the Camden Yard Era were both injury-riddled, 1995 and 1998. in 1992, he and Mike Deveareux were the entire offense for an O's team that was in the race until it finally faded in late September. This was the season he became the first 20-50-75 player in AL history. He had solid positive offensive years on 93 and 94, and then the monster 1996. Would the O's have made the playoffs without his 50 home runs? In 1997, he was the offensive lynchpin of the wire-to-wire team...Raffy was injured part of that season, and not his usual self. Again, as in 96, it was Brady Anderson and Robbie Alomar who shouldered the offensive load for the AL East champs. In 1999, Brady rebounded from a bad year in 1998, and he put together a good 2000 as well (he and Charles Johnson had the best offensive winning percentages on the team.)
Baseball is a game, as are they all, of "what have you done for me lately?"
But Brady seems to have taken an unfair rap, from this vantage point. I've even heard fans talking about "the reason he's still playing is because he'll pout or cause trouble if he doesn't." Like pouting would make his play any worse? This is a reason Mike Hargrove would play him? Perhaps it was because he didn't exactly have a bench full of guys who should be playing in front of even a slumping major league hitter? Or because perhaps he, like many managers, played Anderson to see if he could "snap out of it"? Or to see if he could possibly be counted on at all in 2002, or just released in the off-season? How can one be certain of these things if the player doesn't play?
And, for heaven's sake, it's not like the 2001 Orioles were going anywhere, that Brady's miserable season brought this team to its collective knees. Cal and Jerry and the rest of the no-hit wonders had plenty to say about this team not scoring runs.
Would I like to see Anderson back next year? I have no idea. Certainly not the 2001 Anderson. But that's not what this is all about. This is about an appreciation for what a player has done on the field.
Brady Anderson was one of the best lead-off men on the 1990's. He was a slap-hitting failure his first few years who transformed his game into something electric...walking, stealing bases, hitting, hitting with power...and once upon a time, playing a deadly left field.
The man was the best the Orioles had to offer on offense during the 1990's...he earned a couple of All-Star berths...he gave us a lot of thrills...and he sold a lot of posters. :)
Thanks for the ride, Brady. You'll be remembered by many as a solid ballplayer who helped the Orioles to five winning seasons in the 90's, and you played on five teams who were in races in September...the only five races I've gotten to see as a personal fan of the Orioles. You've got your (at the time) record setting 1992 season, and you've got your 50 jacks. You've let those pitchers hit you again and again, and you never stopped crowding the plate.
I'll miss you, Brady. Thanks for all you gave the Orioles, even if you are done. We're all done sooner or later. Maybe that's what we don't want to recognize in our athletes...mortality. If so, maybe we'd all be served well by the recent demystification of athletes. My hair grows out of my ears now, not on my head...and Brady can't get around on the good heater anymore. I hope no one boos me when they see the hair in my ears. :)