Garret Anderson

Lore & Background

A three-time All-Star, Anderson drove in the championship-winning runs in the 2002 World Series, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 2003 All-Star Game. He holds Angels franchise records for career games played (2,013), at bats (7,989), hits (2,368), runs scored (1,024), runs batted in (RBIs) (1,292), total bases (3,743), extra base hits (796), singles (1,572), doubles (489), grand slams (8), RBIs in a single game (10) and consecutive games with an RBI (12), as well as home runs by a left-handed hitter (272).

In Their Own Story

The evening sun drops low behind the Rockies' right-field wall, painting the Coors Field grass in amber. The stands are half-empty now, the season winding down, and the only sound is the dry crack of a bat meeting a fastball. Anderson stands in the left-handed box, knees bent, eyes locked on the pitcher's release. The ball leaves the hand, and for a half-second the whole ballpark seems to hold its breath. Then the swing—clean, compact, the barrel meeting the sweet spot with a sound that carries to the upper deck. The ball rockets toward right field, and somewhere in the crowd a fan who has watched this man hit for four straight years lets out a quiet, satisfied exhale. No fireworks. Just the steady, reliable crack of a bat doing what it was built to do, night after night, at ten thousand feet.

Reader's Guide

Anderson attended Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, California. He was a three-sport star in baseball, football, and basketball. The Angels selected Anderson in the fourth round of the 1990 MLB draft. He signed with the Angels rather than enroll at Fresno State. He made his major league debut on July 27, 1994. He played for the Angels from 1994 to 2008, then for the Atlanta Braves in 2009, and for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010. He retired on March 1, 2011. Anderson died on April 16, 2026, at his home in Newport Beach, California. The cause of death was later revealed to be acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

Did You Know?

• Anderson was named the American League Player of the Month for July 1995.
• He hit a career-high 35 home runs in 2000.
• On August 21, 2007, Anderson drove in a team-record 10 runs in a game.
• He became the 89th MLB player to reach 2,500 base hits on October 1, 2009.
• Anderson was inducted into the Angels' Hall of Fame in 2016.