Homer Barrage Has Anderson Thinking 62, Not 90210

It’s the old Graig Nettles routine.

The former third baseman of the New York Yankees was once asked what was best about playing in the Bronx.

“Watching Reggie Jackson play,” Nettles replied.

And the worst thing?

“Watching Reggie Jackson play,” he said.

Brady Anderson, who calls himself a cruiserweight among heavyweights in this year of the monster mash, arrived at the All-Star game as the unlikely major league leader in home runs.

He was asked what was best about having 30 at the break.

“A lot of old girlfriends call you up,” he said.

And the worst thing?

“A lot of old girlfriends call you up.”

There are two questions as the Baltimore Oriole leadoff hitter begins the second half of the season tonight:

--Will the phone keep ringing?

--Will he continue his sudden power resemblance to Roger Maris or be left with the more familiar facial comparison to the similarly long-sideburned Luke Perry of “90210”?

“Hi, 90210,” Ken Griffey Jr. said to Anderson in the American League clubhouse Monday, interrupting all the inquiring minds who kept asking about the comparison to Maris.

After all, with his 30 homers in 79 games, Anderson needs only 31 more to tie the single-season record, 32 to beat it.

Anderson shakes his head.

If the emergence of a 62nd-round draft choice named Mike Piazza as one of baseball’s most feared sluggers and most valuable player of the All-Star game in his hometown represents a storybook script, then what is this?

Anderson was not drafted as a Carlsbad High graduate, just as Piazza was not drafted out of high school. He went to UC Irvine, a school that no longer has a baseball program, and was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 1985 draft.

The Red Sox were quick to label him the next Fred Lynn, but just as quick to decide they couldn’t wait for him to develop. They went for immediate results in a 1988 trade, sending the next Fred Lynn to the Orioles for pitcher Mike Boddicker.

Anderson rode a shuttle between Baltimore and the minors for three years, the Orioles convinced that he should be more Brett Butler than Fred Lynn, although Anderson was convinced he was more basher than bunter.

In the last four seasons at the major league level, he did some of each. He never hit more than 21 homers in a season, his average fluctuating between .262 and .271, and he stole 24 to 53 bases.

Is it any wonder that teammate Cal Ripken Jr. called what Anderson has done in the first half amazing, saying he has hit pitches of all types in all locations.

“All of us have been locked in for a couple weeks or so at various stages, but Brady has been locked in for an entire half season,” Ripken said. “It’s been amazing to watch.”

In the National League clubhouse on the day before the All-Star game, Barry Bonds was talking about Anderson and said: “He’s an exciting player with a great body and all the tools. He can run and play the outfield. We have the same agent. We play basketball a lot in the off-season, and I kick his butt all the time.”

Basketball is one thing, hitting another.

Anderson, 32, says it’s simply a matter of learning to relax at the plate, becoming comfortable with who and where he is and no longer having to fight anyone else’s opinion of the type of hitter he should be.

“I’m not Brett Butler and I’m not Mark McGwire,” he said. “I feel that I’m a good player who has the ability to hit the ball hard and that I’ve improved with experience.”

Enough to be considered a legitimate power hitter?

“It’s a matter of consistency,” he said. “I’ve been in streaks where I’ve hit a lot of homers for two or three weeks, but never three months.

“The difference between 15 and 30 [homers] seems huge, but it’s really quite subtle. It’s a matter of making 15 better swings over 300 at-bats.”

No problem then, challenging Maris or the Babe?

“C’mon, I have to hit 32 more homers and I’ve never hit 21 in a season before this,” he said. “It’s very easy for me not to think about the record or get caught up in all this.

“I’ve always felt that if I hit four or five in a month, I’ve been productive. I’m certainly not getting carried away. It’s kind of amusing even to be asked about it.

“I mean, I read where Reggie Jackson had 37 before the All-Star break [in 1969] and finished with 47, and he was a legitimate home run hitter. That shows how unrealistic it is.”

Nevertheless, Anderson is stronger and smarter than the 21-homer hitter of 1992, and this may be a year for statistical aberrations, considering the depleted pitching, allegedly livelier baseballs and tighter strike zone.

Besides, wearing the in-line skates on which he commutes almost daily from his Baltimore apartment to Camden Yards and back, he is equipped to evade mounting media pressure--and old girlfriends.