Richard Arlen Anderson (born November 29, 1956) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and coach. He played for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) from 1986 to 1988. He served as the pitching coach for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

of MLB from 2002 to 2020.

Amateur career

Anderson attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Huskies in 1978.

New York Mets

Anderson was drafted in the 24th round (580th overall) of the

1978 Major League Baseball draft The 1978 Major League Baseball draft was held June 6–8, 1978, consisting of 48 rounds, during which a total of 779 players were selected by 26 Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. The first overall selection was Bob Horner, drafted by t ...

out of the

by the

. Anderson would see mediocre results in the minors, finishing with a 60–51 record over parts of 11 minor league seasons, as he possessed only average stuff and struck out an extremely low average of 3.5 batters per nine innings. Despite this, he would be promoted to Triple-A Tidewater at the end of the 1980 season. Anderson would spend the next six seasons shuttling between Double-A

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

and Tidewater, being continually passed up for promotion to the majors while more promising prospects (such as future all-stars Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez,

Ron Darling Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is a retired American professional baseball pitcher and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from to , including as a member of ...

Rick Aguilera Richard Warren Aguilera (born December 31, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1985 to 2000. Aguilera won a world championship as a member of the ...

Randy Myers Randall Kirk Myers (born September 19, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Bl ...

, and

Roger McDowell Roger Alan McDowell (born December 21, 1960) is an American former professional baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1985 to 1996. He played for the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Do ...

) debuted with the big club. After pleading "All I want is one chance to prove myself" to Mets assistant general manager Joe McIlvaine prior to the 1986 season, Anderson's wish was granted. He made his major league debut on June 9 against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

, pitching seven innings and allowing only one

unearned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

while striking out five in a no-decision. His first win came on August 6, in the second game of a double header against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. For the season, Anderson went 2–1 with a 2.72

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and one save in 15 games (five starts). Pitching rich in , Anderson was left off the Mets' postseason roster and was only able to celebrate their eventual World Series championship as a spectator on the bench.

Kansas City Royals

On March 27, 1987, Anderson was traded to the

, along with Mets backup catcher Ed Hearn and minor league pitcher

Mauro Gozzo Mauro "Goose" Gozzo (born March 7, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and current manager of the Gastonia Ghost Peppers. He played all or parts of six seasons in the majors, from until . Career Playing He was selected in ...

, for future star pitcher

David Cone David Brian Cone (born January 2, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, and current color commentator for the New York Yankees on the YES Network and Amazon Prime as well as for ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball.

and minor league outfielder Chris Jelic. In retrospect, with the all-star career of Cone and the journeyman careers of Anderson, Hearn, and Gozzo, this trade is often listed as one of the most lopsided in major league history. Anderson split two seasons between Kansas City and AAA

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, going 2–3 with a 6.89 ERA at the major league level, before retiring following the 1988 season.

Coaching career

After retiring, Anderson accepted a job as pitching coach for the Gulf Coast League Twins. After thirteen seasons as a minor league coach, the last seven at the AAA level, he was named the Minnesota Twins' pitching coach for the season, where he coached with former Met, and minor league roommate, Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire. From 2002 to 2010, Twins pitchers posted the third-lowest ERA in the American League, at 4.11. Anderson's philosophy for the pitching staff was to pitch to contact and limit walks in order to win. Consequently, no major league team was more stingy with free passes. For instance, from 2008 to 2010, the Twins issued 1,255 walks; the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

were a distant second on that list, at 1,433. In fact, from 2003, Anderson's second year, through 2010, the Twins issued the least or second least walks every season, although in the preceding six seasons (1997-2002, Anderson's first season and the five preceding seasons), they were no worse than the fifth least walks allowed. From 2011 to 2014, they ranged from fifth to eleventh fewest free passes. On October 2, 2014, following the termination of Gardenhire, it was announced that Anderson would not be returning as the Twins pitching coach. On November 2, 2017, Anderson was named the bullpen coach for the

for the 2018 season. On June 27, 2018, Anderson was promoted to pitching coach for the Tigers, following the firing of Chris Bosio.

Personal life

Anderson graduated from Mariner High School in 1975 and attended Everett Community College before graduating from the University of Washington. He and his wife, Rhonda, have two daughters, Cortnie and Ashley, and one son, Ricky.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Rick 1956 births Living people Baseball coaches from Washington (state) Baseball players from Washington (state) Detroit Tigers coaches Everett Trojans baseball players Jackson Mets players Kansas City Royals players Little Falls Mets players Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Minnesota Twins coaches Minor league baseball coaches New York Mets players Omaha Royals players Tidewater Tides players University of Washington alumni Washington Huskies baseball players 20th-century American sportsmen