Simers on Anderson

When considering the number of outfielders in the number of games across the number of years who dove for baseballs to make plays, and even the number of times that Davis dove for balls in his amateur and pro career, you would not consider the reality of “1” versus untold hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions, of chances to be somewhat of an exaggeration of the risk in and of itself?

I would submit that the odds are much higher for injury just driving a car to the park. So the injury card is a canard.

on the same play.

These are pro athletes at the pro level, where big opportunities are at stake in nearly every play. If not at the pro level, where else should we see – with every opportunity – the principals behind aphorisms such as “Go big or go home”, “Fortune favors the bold”, etc.?

We do not expect baserunners to err on the side of caution (hence “going from first to third”). We do not expect batters to err on the side of caution (stand there with the bat stuck to their shoulders). Why do we expect left fielders to err on the side of caution? Ok, sure, maybe a knucklehead such as Manny Ramirez who we know is a lousy fielder, but if GA is such a stellar fielder why do we reserve caution for his play at that position? Early in his career, this should have been a “coaching up” opportunity if there ever was one.

Meanwhile…
Willie Mays: 22 seasons, 3000 games, 11,000 AB’s, 7100 putouts.
Carl Yastrzemski: 23 seasons, 3300 games, 12,000 AB’s, 3941 putouts.
Hank Aaron: 23 seasons, 3300 games, 12,600 AB’s, 5539 putouts.
Dave Winfiled: 21 seasons, 2400 games, 11,000 AB’s, 4975 putouts.
Rickey Henderson: 25 seasons, 2800 games, 11,000 AB’s, 6500 putouts.

The idea that hanging out in a wide open manicured park of perfect grass, with occasional moments of Flying Wallenda, is some kind of inherently risky profession that results in career-shortening wear and tear is a myth invented by apologists. It is a projection based on hope, like “running good routes”, and “saving inside the park home runs”. (Or, I do confess, it is the reality of playing your career on astroturf, which Anderson did not do.) And, of all outfield positions, is not left field considered the easiest? Why would the easiest also be, apparently, the riskiest? After all, nobody worried about all the grass stains Tim Salmon earned for himself in right field.

Each night during the regular season we see daily highlights that include outfielders laying out to make great catches. They happen all the time. Without a plague of injury reports. And without a plague of inside the park home run highlights on that same nightly reel. The reason for the imbalance is because the risk of getting your pants stained is not as high as you are advertising. If it was that high, we would see far more ITPHR’s each night, and far fewer highlight grabs as more fielders played as cautiously as GA to mitigate that risk.

So, using Baseball Tonight as yet another indicator, It is true that we never saw a defensive lapse by Anderson result in an inside the park homer highlight. It is also true that, in nearly 4200 chances, we never saw a Garret Anderson defensive highlight moment on Baseball Tonight either.

If your takeaway from all this is that GA is a master at resource management, I will allow you your opinion. But to suggest that my interpretation of the evidence and my opinion of the result – not to mention what I saw with my own eyes – is some form of “scurrilous and false accusation” is something that will provoke a response from me.