Segerstrom players before Friday’s game with Tustin. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
As Segerstrom’s baseball team finished infield practice Friday in preparation for Friday’s Golden West League game with Tustin, a Segerstrom assistant coach was thinking about the impact Garret Anderson, the former Angel Hall of Fame player had on him.
The Angels announced earlier in the day on X that the popular Anderson, a member of the Angels Hall of Fame and a member of the team’s 2002 World Series championship team, had died on Thursday, April 16 at the age of 53.
When a reporter went to the Segerstrom dugout to get lineups for the game, Segerstrom assistant coach Freddie Gonzales asked if there was any updates about Anderson and indicated how sad he was about his passing.
“It hit me good this morning,” Gonzales said in an interview of learning about the news. “I even went down to the stadium this afternoon and put flowers on his name. May he rest in peace and my condolences to him ands the family. I was supposed to go to the game today, but I’m with them {Segerstrom players} today.”
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Gonzales remarked that Anderson made such an impact on him that he named one of his sons after him. His son’s first name is spelled slightly different, Garrett, but it was clear how much of an impact Anderson had on him.
“It was the way he played the game,” said Gonzales, 64, who has been a long-time Angels fan. “He’s quiet, he didn’t complain. Don’t worry about the money, just go out and play.”
His son, who turned 25 on Friday and played high school baseball at Santa Ana, was the first one to call his father to tell him the news about the former Angels slugger, who was remembered in posts on X and Facebook throughout the day and on the Angels telecast and broadcast that evenining.
A moment of silence was held Friday before the game.
Freddie Gonzales said he became a Garret Anderson fan by “watching him play since the minor leagues and when he came up to the big leagues. He dove to the ball, he knew where the ball was going and he played the game like I think all ball players should play the game.”
Gonzales, who grew up in Anaheim close to where Angel Stadium was, said he met Anderson a while back when Anderson was a player, “and they had some sort of ceremony at the stadiium when they were rebuilding the stadium.”
Gonzales talked briefly to the Segerstrom players before Friday’s game about Anderson.
“They’re sad, some of them know him, some of them don’t,” he said.
“It’s just a tragic loss for a former MLB player,” Segerstrom center fielder Isak Landeros said before the game. “I didn’t know him too well, but I did know he was part of that 2002 Angels World Series winners. I know he was a great player and he contributed a lot to that team and helped them win the ring, but what I hear from all the players is that he was a great man and he loved the sport and he was just a great community guy.”
Tustin players were out to bring home a win in the game vs. Tustin.
“Today, all the players are going to play with our heart for him and we’re going to try and get a win for him,” Landeros said.
League-leading Tustin won the game on Friday, but the Segerstrom players battled and showed plenty of spirit in the dugout rooting for each other.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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