Anderson Doesn't Take Stardom for Granted

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Anderson Doesn't Take Stardom for Granted

By Richard Obert

The Arizona Republic

Aug. 20, 1999

As much as the season grinds, pitcher Brian Anderson doesn't take anything for granted, although he's beyond the awe stage in his big-league career.

"I'm not going to be this guy who says, "Every day I wake up and I pinch myself,' " Anderson said. "That's not even reality. But there are times that I sit around and I look around and I think just how fortunate I am, how fortunate we are to be doing what we're doing. You think about it, they pay us an exorbitant amount of money to play a game.

"Every day, we don't feel too good, physically or mentally. We're human beings, too. We're not robots."

But Anderson says, even when things in the job get him down, the smart thing to do is not complain and press on.

"People in the real world aren't going to feel sorry for us," Anderson said. "My father (Jim) still owns a ma-and-pop tire shop in Geneva (Ohio) and he works 10 times harder than I do and doesn't make anything. Guys like that have a hard time looking at us, saying, 'You guys have it so rough.'

"Maybe it's relevant to our lives, but it's not going to go over too well in the public. It's better to just keep your mouth shut."

QUOTE, UNQUOTE:

Anderson On Anderson: "Just to be able to pitch was really something, and I thank the Lord for that ball not hitting me in a bad spot in Chicago. Without that, I wouldn't have even been out there. As for the game, teams have been loading up with left handers, but I changed my delivery a little and came at them from a different release angle, and that helped. As for the rotation, I know that with Stott coming back that gives us five starters, and we go with a five-man rotation, so I can do the math. I was real good at it in high school and college."

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