The all-time great Angels player who got robbed of Silver Sluggers during steroid era

During the early 2000’s, the Angels were one of the most successful teams in the sport. They had rock solid pitching, exemplary position players, and a loaded coaching staff. The peak of this era came in 2002, when the Angels won their lone world series. Barry Bonds almost single-handedly stopped them, but the Angels persisted. 

When the Angels were an annual playoff contender, steroids were running rampant in the big leagues. Bonds is one of the most notorious examples of a player boosted by steroids - so much so that he was kept out of the Hall of Fame despite being the home run king - and many other players at this time boosted their numbers on their way to many accolades, including the Silver Slugger Award. 

FanSided has partnered exclusively with Louisville Silver Slugger to announce this year’s recipients of the award, and as a part of that we’ll be taking a look at one Halo who deserved the award at the turn of the millennium, but got beat out due to steroid users. 

The all-time great Angels player who got robbed of Silver Sluggers during steroid era

In 2001, Garret Anderson was in the midst of his prime for the Anaheim Angels. He was coming off a 2000 season that saw him rake in 35 home runs and 40 doubles. He was a key cog on an Angels team that won 82 games and finished third in the American League West. Anderson and the Angels alike were right on the cusp of achieving an ultimate goal, but fell short. In 2001, Manny Ramirez - -who was caught multiple times throughout his career using performance enhancing drugs -- took one of the outfield spots for the Silver Slugger Award in 2000. This prevented Anderson from joining teammate Darin Erstad as one of the American League recipients for the Silver Slugger. 

In 2001, it was much of the same. Anderson hit 39 doubles and 28 home runs, but drove in a remarkable 123 RBI. He was entering his absolute prime as a baseball player, finding his own groove alongside the entirety of the Angels. Ramirez once again won a Silver Slugger in 2001, shutting the door on Anderson’s chances again. 

Anderson would eventually get his own, though. In 2002 and 2003 he would win the Silver Slugger Award, amassing 105 doubles, 58 home runs, 239 RBI, and hitting .310 over those two seasons. So while he did get his duo of awards, steroids got in the way of a potential four-year run for Anderson through the early 2000’s as well as stopping him from adding to the Angels' already impressive Silver Slugger collection.