Notes From The Nat

So by now you’d have to be an Anaheim fan not to have heard that certain players plan to wear Jackie Robinson’s long-retired #42 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier.

Ken Griffey Jr thought it up, and now other players (such as Oakland’s Milton Bradley) plan to do likewise. The Dodgers are even tossing around having their whole team wear the #42.

So what did Anaheim Angel Garret Anderson have to say about wearing #42 when it was offered to him a week ago?

‘Not gonna happen.’

From the LA Times:

MILWAUKEE ? To honor the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, all 25 Dodgers players will wear the former Brooklyn Dodgers infielder’s No. 42 on April 15.The first Angels player asked by the team to wear the number declined.

Outfielder Garret Anderson said that although he has a great appreciation for Robinson, he won’t do it because Ken Griffey Jr., among others, thought of it first.

"It wasn’t my idea, and I’m not the type of person to jump on the bandwagon because someone else is doing something," Anderson said. "If I did it just because someone else was doing it, it would seem kind of empty to me."

Right, Garret. Because it’s all about you.

Even assholes of the caliber of Gary Sheffield and Barroid Bonds are joining this celebration, so too will Willie Randolph and Derek Lee… but they’re all apparently far too sheep-like for Garret. Unoriginal. Non-unique. Not Andersonian.

Coco Crisp, Dmitri Young, Mike Cameron, Josh Barfield, Orlando Hudson - they’ll all wear #42. But they’re just being trendy. The real man of independent thought is G. Anderson of The Angels Angels of Anaheim.

So I’ve decided I’m going to be like Garret Anderson from now on. No, I won’t be intentionally lowering my OBP - rather, since I didn’t think up Christmas, I won’t be celebrating it from here on.

And I certainly didn’t choose my wife’s birthday, so I’m calling off the party planned for next week. If she wants me to celebrate her birth, she’ll have to be a little more original about it. Maybe she could have it on February 31st or something.

Also, it wasn’t my idea to end World War II, so I won’t be honoring the fallen with a moment of silence on Armistice Day. I mean… it’d just be kind of empty to me to do it just because every thinking human being on the planet does it.

4th of July? I’m having it on the 6th of September, because that’s what I thought up just now. That way it’ll mean something, because I thought of it, and it’s all about me.

Me and Garret Anderson.

The LAist blog says it best:

In our opinion Anderson is a punk who doesn’t deserve to wear Robinson’s number. Anderson is everything that Jackie wasn’t, he’s the modern day selfish athlete who doesn’t care about baseball traditions, history, the African American struggle, or common fucking sense.

Garret Anderson is Barry Bonds minus 500 homers but fully equipped with the You-Owe-Me attitude that nearly ruined baseball. Now in his 14th season, you’d think that GA would have gotten it by now, that the $50 million that he’s earned over the years in baseball would have made him feel somewhat grateful. But no, he chose to take this moment to spit on the memory of a fellow Black man who paved the way for him.

Heck of a job, brotha.

On a sad, sad side note, the Angels have asked Gary Matthews Jr, who is still under a drug investigation, if he’ll wear the #42 in Anderson’s place.

Thanks Garret. Way to honor the memory.

Cross-posted on Athletics Nation