Anderson Has Style, and His Own Blender

Sports Illustrated is researching a story on lead-off hitters, their role and importance to a team. It’s a statistical rating, very technical. Three days ago, the highest-rated lead-off man in 1989 was Brady Anderson.

That made Brady Anderson smile, although he probably already knew it. The lead-off hitter for the Baltimore Orioles usually knows what his batting average is, how many hits, steals, extra-base hits he has, how many reps he can do, how many vitamins he has left in his black bag and how many times a day he brushes his teeth.

“I know I’ve got less plaque than any lead-off man,” Anderson said, smiling. “I floss more than any lead-off man.”

Less plaque. More flossing. Exactly what goes through this guy’s mind on a daily basis?

The Orioles aren’t quite sure, but they don’t seem to be worrying about it now. Oh, he has only one bunt hit (they’d like to see more), and he didn’t run out an infield pop-up on a recent night in Seattle, which resulted in Oriole Manager Frank Robinson yanking Anderson out of the game after he already had run to his position in center field. Otherwise, Anderson has done all the Orioles have asked of him.

Through 24 games, he is batting .266, slugging .436 and has an on-base average of .367. He has 41 total bases, equaling Cal Ripken’s total, second-best on the Orioles to Phil Bradley’s 43. He leads the team with 12 extra-base hits and was tied for the league lead with nine doubles entering last night’s games. He has not gone hitless in consecutive starts.

His eight steals in April set a club record for the month. He leads the team in runs with 18. His headfirst slides and daring sprints from first to third base have sparked the Orioles.

To put a few things into perspective, consider that the Orioles had used seven different lead-off hitters--including Fred Lynn and Tito Landrum--through 24 games last year. Those seven were hitting .219 with 11 runs, six steals, five extra-base hits and seven walks.

To put into perspective how much better Anderson has done this year with the Orioles compared with last, when he batted 177 times for them, he already has more runs scored, doubles, triples, extra-base hits, steals and walks in 83 fewer at-bats.

No one is certain, however, why Anderson has played better. He still has an unorthodox stance and swing. He didn’t play winter ball, and he didn’t hit much during the winter because the net for his back-yard batting cage didn’t arrive until the day he left for spring training. He spent the winter working out with decathletes and studying how to be more explosive as a runner rather than how to hit a hard slider.

So far, it’s working.

Anderson is playing as he did in the minor leagues when he was considered a top prospect by the Boston Red Sox. He hit mostly third, not lead-off, in the minor leagues and was the Boston Red Sox’s lead-off hitter Opening Day 1988. He went 3 for 5 off the Detroit Tigers’ Jack Morris that day but was back in the minor leagues by June 4.

When he came to the Orioles in late July, his hamstring injury from spring training had curtailed his running game. Now, his speed is back and Anderson is making the Orioles offense go.

“I like to run. I like going first to third,” he said. “It’s discouraging when you’re not able to run. I never really knew how important it was to me until I got hurt last year.”

Anderson said last year “wasn’t a fun year,” cringing at his .212 batting average--.198 as an Oriole. That’s gone, Anderson said, and this is the year he will shine. Mainly, he said, because he is healthy.

This is a man who loves bodybuilding, who studies kinesiology even though he was an economics major at UC Irvine. Last weekend, he jokingly told Oriole trainer Richie Bancells the two should spend Monday’s day off “doing squats for 12 hours.” Seriously, he said that last winter he sometimes would go to the UC Irvine track at 1 p.m. and not leave until 8 p.m.

Here’s a guy who learned how to run faster with proper technique. He said that he became faster when he “grew naturally.” As a high school freshman, he was 5-feet-2, 105 pounds. As a senior, he was 5-11, 140. As a junior at UC Irvine, he was 6-0, 168. After his first season as a professional, 1985, he was 6-1, 182.

He’s no pesky lead-off hitter.

He is a strong man.

“I’m 6-1, 190, but not many people know I’m that big,” said Anderson. “I’m not sure why. I matured late. I grew a couple inches when I was 21.”

Last year, Anderson was quiet and removed from the rest of the team. He would carry around that mysterious black bag--it looks like a doctor’s bag--filled with health foods, supplements and a small blender to mix his health-food drinks. He isn’t one who dives into the post-game spread of burgers and fries.

Although his teammates wonder about a guy who carries around a blender, Anderson is more open with them this year. Indeed, he’s a pretty funny guy.

After Bob Milacki faced the minimum 27 hitters April 23, Anderson, who had one putout, said, “I was bored. I didn’t even have my glove on out there.”

Someone asked him about his increase in stolen bases, and Anderson said that he read a book on base stealing written by Ernie Lombardi. He was kidding. Lombardi, a Hall of Fame catcher, moved slightly faster than a glacier.

In the Red Sox media guide last year, Anderson listed his top thrill in baseball as “seeing a groundskeeper in Mexico accidentally light himself on fire three times.”

On the day Rickey Henderson broke Bobby Bonds’ record for homers leading off the first inning (36), Anderson was asked how many first-inning, lead-off homers he has hit. He said, “Counting the one yesterday . . . none.”

He was not happy when Robinson pulled him off the field Saturday night, but when he said it was forgotten “two minutes later,” it seemed credible. He said of the play, “I was jammed on the pitch. I was reliving the at-bat. I couldn’t do that in a full sprint to first.”

Anderson clearly has his own way of doing things. That still seems to concern Robinson, however slightly. Last year, Robinson said that he wasn’t sure if what he told Anderson about the game was getting through.