I got the marketing email for Tim Anderson retirement day and was kinda like...almost anti-. Kinda curious how you all feel.

Prior to the year maybe a game which reminded us of a team were we used to know some of the players names was exciting.

There was a time where Tim Anderson was remarkable to me. I'd often point out that the sox player development strategy in 2010-2022 was like mr. glass in unbreakable where you just keep blowing up trains and seeing who can survive. Tim was drafted in a pretty terrible draft as a longshot, had a bad hitting profile but extraordinary hands. Was often times horrible at short and then sometimes brilliant. The kind of player who never puts it together for us and then he probably hit his 99th percentile outcome. And then it came screeching to a halt.

But he was also the poster child of a truly miserable era for me. 2022 I went to many games amazed at how the park was trying to will that team out of its lethargy and they just couldn't do it. They were all rich, lazy and injured.

When TA did TA stuff and tried to start a fight with Jose Ramirez and got knocked out cold in one punch and never could get up...I mean was there ever a better metaphor for that white sox group?

This team seems to be the opposite. They were not crowned early, they were not paid early. Many looked down and dusted, and they've kept coming back.

TA was the one guy in all of that group that rose to heights not dreamed of. Him and Abreu definitely deserve celebration from that era...but I just don't really want to remember that era at all right now.

Yeah, feels like this could have waited another 5 years.

2018-2021 Tim was a ton of fun to watch. The ascension into a legit big league SS, batting title in 2019, looking like an MVP candidate in the shortened 2020 season before Jose running away with it, the Field of Dreams walk off in 2021, first Sox division championship in 13 years. He was the first truly national marketable player for the Sox in a long time....and then BOOM it all crumbles fast. Tim had some off field issues in his private life and it sounds like form his interview today that he is doing well personally, so that is good to hear.

Excited for the return of the Southside uniforms that night though.

He had one of the most historic falloffs of all time and seems pretty sensitive. Maybe they are just trying to make him feel better.

Can’t stand it and can’t stand him… but almost everyone deserves an infinite chance for a clean slate.

There were so many things behind the scenes with TA that derailed him, the team, and his growth as a player/human. I will never pretend to understand those things. On the field TA gave me many reasons to cheer for him. He actually was one of the few in that rebuild who reached most of his potential.

His falloff was also quick and dramatic. The whole Jose Ramirez thing was overblow because Ramirez landed a lucky punch as he was back tracking, BUT that signified that White Sox team and TA during that year.

I have no problem recognizing him BUT I'm sure others will (and outside of some White Sox fans, people will make fun of TA for his issues and getting knocked down by Ramirez).

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by 2Deep

5 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Can’t stand it and can’t stand him… but almost everyone deserves an infinite chance for a clean slate.

Couldn't imagine why you feel this way.

Just now, nrockway said:

Couldn't imagine why you feel this way.

Feels like at least 3-5 years away...

Did they ever recognize Ray Durham, for example?

No way.

No.

Tim Anderson, the player, was awesome. The guy brought us so many great moments. That is what I intend to remember him as. He is scum off the field for sure, but his issues in regards to that has 0 to do with my fandom of him.

22 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

He had one of the most historic falloffs of all time and seems pretty sensitive. Maybe they are just trying to make him feel better.

I unno. Him and Jonathan Schoop were always compared when they came up. Both hit similar cliffs.

Basically I think the white Sox should operate as if time as a franchise went

1894-2012

2025-present

I loved TA. Dude made himself into an all-star SS after primarily growing up as a PG. The off of the field stuff was sad, but his legs and the perpetual injuries just killed his biggest asset.

The Field of Dreams game is one of my all time baseball moments. Still remember exactly where I was.

The definition of "too soon." A central theme of this season has been exorcising the demons of the post-2021 implosion. Now we dedicate a night to that team's posterchild? Not to mention celebrating the "retirement" of somebody who's still playing age is odd, basically a celebration that he's officially completed his tragic flameout. That said, I'm all for celebrating TA as a player when the time is right. Really like him a lot.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by 35thstreetswarm

Sox fans stopped caring about him when he couldn’t hit anymore and had an increasing amount of defensive lapses. The baby mama on the side didn’t help, considering she was posting pictures of him on social media as if he didn’t even care what his wife would think. Getting knocked out like a clown by Jose Ramirez was probably the last straw.

1 minute ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Sox fans stopped caring about him when he couldn’t hit anymore and had an increasing amount of defensive lapses. The baby mama on the side didn’t help, considering she was posting pictures of him on social media as if he didn’t even care what his wife would think. Getting knocked out like a clown by Jose Ramirez was probably the last straw.

How do you really feel?

1 minute ago, 2Deep said:

How do you really feel?

Not sure what you mean. I just posted what actually happened. The guy made over $40 million in his 10-year career. He just flamed out a year or two early.

17 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

There were so many things behind the scenes with TA that derailed him, the team, and his growth as a player/human. I will never pretend to understand those things. On the field TA gave me many reasons to cheer for him. He actually was one of the few in that rebuild who reached most of his potential.

His falloff was also quick and dramatic. The whole Jose Ramirez thing was overblow because Ramirez landed a lucky punch as he was back tracking, BUT that signified that White Sox team and TA during that year.

I have no problem recognizing him BUT I'm sure others will (and outside of some White Sox fans, people will make fun of TA for his issues and getting knocked down by Ramirez).

I have no idea what happened with Ramirez, or why TA felt compelled to fight. The famous Ventura/Nolan Ryan dustup has been fully explained. The team decided first guy hit charges the mound. That was Robin. TA wasn't a fighter, either. We've all been taught to box in one form or another. Dad, gym class, park district, CYO. TA's right-handed, and he came at Ramirez backwards, leading with his right. That just all probably sprung out of such a deep frustration with where he was, and all. He also got it a bit from other teams, calling him Jackie, and all. He made some mistakes, and had to carry the weight of that, too.

8 minutes ago, bmags said:

Basically I think the white Sox should operate as if time as a franchise went

1894-2012

2025-present

That basically wipes out Abreu Sale Rodon Crochet as well...Chris will be going to the HoF as what? A Red Sox? Brave? No hat?

3 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I have no idea what happened with Ramirez, or why TA felt compelled to fight. The famous Ventura/Nolan Ryan dustup has been fully explained. The team decided first guy hit charges the mound. That was Robin. TA wasn't a fighter, either. We've all been taught to box in one form or another. Dad, gym class, park district, CYO. TA's right-handed, and he came at Ramirez backwards, leading with his right. That just all probably sprung out of such a deep frustration with where he was, and all. He also got it a bit from other teams, calling him Jackie, and all. He made some mistakes, and had to carry the weight of that, too.

Josh Donaldson

I recall writing on this site during his prime that I couldn't wait to never watch him play again. I remember being told I would have to wait a really long time for that, it was even faster than I had hoped.

In my meaningless opinion, he never played the game the right way, flicked off fans multiple times, never put in the effort to get better, never even had the desire to learn proper footwork defensively, thought he was bigger than the game and that his raw talent was enough to net him a 9 figure payday.

Tim was already cooked when Jose laid him out (to me it was the bad Hanser Alberto play where he jacked up his knee that truly was the beginning of the end), but the fact that Jose Ramirez, who to me exemplifies the way baseball is meant to be played putting the final nail in his coffin was the storybook ending that Tim deserved.

10 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Not sure what you mean. I just posted what actually happened. The guy made over $40 million in his 10-year career. He just flamed out a year or two early.

It was meant in jest

5 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I have no idea what happened with Ramirez, or why TA felt compelled to fight. The famous Ventura/Nolan Ryan dustup has been fully explained. The team decided first guy hit charges the mound. That was Robin. TA wasn't a fighter, either. We've all been taught to box in one form or another. Dad, gym class, park district, CYO. TA's right-handed, and he came at Ramirez backwards, leading with his right. That just all probably sprung out of such a deep frustration with where he was, and all. He also got it a bit from other teams, calling him Jackie, and all. He made some mistakes, and had to carry the weight of that, too.

I have to say that any serious focus on the Ramirez incident - other than as a joke - is goofy meathead BS. This idea that his character was somehow exposed because a bigger player beat him in a fight is ridiculous, even if that's what happened in that 5-second incident. (In fact it looked like he just took a glancing blow as he was losing pulling/falling back out of a typically fake pro-sports skirmish.)

Not directed at this poster, by the way, but at the outsize importance I've seen this take on with some fans.

Yeah, way too early for something like this. He just turned 33. He was an All-Star for the Sox in 2022. If things went as everyone expected, he'd still be playing for the Sox. He was a teammate of Davis Martin.

Him having a "retirement night" in 2026 is basically celebrating the failure that was the last rebuild. Way too soon.

37 minutes ago, bmags said:

Basically I think the white Sox should operate as if time as a franchise went

1894-2012

2025-present

poor Jose