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White Sox' Tim Anderson Wants To Make "Boring" Game More Fun

Anderson plans to bring added energy to the field to make baseball more exciting for fansGETTY IMAGES

White Sox SS Tim Anderson is trying to "have fun" on the field, though he feels that some within MLB "don't want me to," according to Teddy Greenstein of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Anderson said, "It's cool when you bring excitement to the game and you bring something different. I think I bring something different to the game, and that's a lot of energy and a lot of excitement." Anderson in a recent SI story made a comment "comparing himself to Jackie Robinson." Anderson in the piece said about Robinson, "He changed the game, and I feel like I’m getting to a point to where I need to change the game.” Anderson yesterday "reiterated his stance that the game needs more life." He said, "The game is boring. A lot of fans don't watch, I'll admit. So you try to do something to make these fans want to come back and make these kids want to come back to the ballpark. Yeah, I'm going to do whatever it takes to draw these fans to the South Side" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 5/1). More Anderson: "Bringing fun and bat flips and different things like that to the game -- that draws interest and it's good for the youth, the youth like that. They want to be like us, so why not give them something to watch" ("White Sox Talk Podcast," NBCSPORTSCHICAGO.com, 5/1). 

CALLING OUT THE FUN POLICE: SI's Stephanie Apstein notes MLB claims it wants outgoing players like Anderson, but he "isn’t convinced." Anderson drew headlines for a bat flip last month that led to a benches-clearing fight against the Royals, and MLB’s official Twitter account after the bat flip sent out a message that read, “Keep doing your thing, @TimAnderson7.” However, a one-game suspension he received for his role in the fight may "testify otherwise about what thing exactly the game wants him to keep doing." Anderson also "sees another barrier, one he’s intent on toppling: the 'have-fun barrier.'" MLB typically "does not encourage individualism," and as other sports have "evolved to showcase their stars’ personalities, the baseball old guard has held tight to its principles." However, MLB’s recent marketing campaign has "showcased the league’s young stars and their impassioned styles," led by the “Let The Kids Play” mantra. Anderson said, “I’m bringing something to baseball that’s never been brought, as far as the swag. I love fashion, and just being different, and bringing black culture to baseball and doing it in a different way, because today’s game is boring" (SI, 5/6 issue).

THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS THEM: FORBES' Anthony Witrado wrote MLB "should be reveling" in Anderson's stance and celebrating that a "budding star has organically emerged as a face of a demographic that MLB so often loses to its competition." He could be the "start to fixing" the problem around losing fans, as long as MLB "embraces his style and promotes it." Witrado: "Anderson has all the right attributes to be one of the game's best salesman: he's a millennial (25 years old), he's black, he is good with the media, he has plenty of swag and most importantly, he's really good" (FORBES.com, 4/30). In Chicago, Vinnie Duber wrote conversations around Anderson are "vast and varied" and they "won't stop." As long as Anderson "keeps speaking up and speaking out," he can "keep the spotlight on him, where he's willing to be a crusader for a different kind of baseball" (NBCSPORTSCHICAGO.com, 5/1).

MIXING THE MESSAGE? ESPN's Sarah Spain noted Anderson is someone "you want to watch," but while he "wants to bring the fun, he may need to talk about how he's bringing that fun in a completely different way." ESPN's Jason Fitz: "Just appreciating what you're doing by trying to have fun is not nearly in the same conversation as, I don't know, what Jackie Robinson was doing" ("Spain & Fitz," ESPN Radio, 4/30). The Athletic’s Frank Isola said, “To invoke the name Jackie Robinson, you diminish the legacy of the great Brooklyn Dodger. You're going to be the Jackie Robinson of bat flips and having fun? Come on” (“Around the Horn,” ESPN, 5/1).

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