Sawt Falasteen - Anderson retires after 10 MLB seasons after 'too much pain'

The 10-season MLB veteran played for the Chicago White Sox from 2016-2023, Miami in 2024 and for the Los Angeles Angels last year until being released in May 2025.

"The game brought a lot of good moments but also brought a lot of pain," Anderson said in a phone call with reporters. "Throughout playing, there definitely were a lot of dark moments. I lost a lot of people. It got to the point where I really couldn't enjoy being in that setting. It just wasn't the same."

In 2017, Anderson's best friend was shot and killed in Alabama.

"Even as I sit here and try to have an open conversion to be more calm and comfortable to talk about baseball, it's not really there no more. I still love the game, but it has just brought too much pain to me, so going back to play is probably not for me right now."

He finished with a .276 career batting average, 1,088 hits including 98 home runs and drove in 350 runs as well as stealing 122 bases.

Anderson will retire as a member of the White Sox, who will pay tribute to him and other players on September 17.

"I'm getting emotional now because we're talking about something that I worked my whole life to get there," Anderson said.

"Nobody knows what I sacrificed and what the body felt every day, what I was leaving at home from my kids to my wife, through some of the decisions I made. I still kept going and I had my moments where it bothered me.

"But I couldn't show it and it got to a point where it started showing out loud and I couldn't control it.

"I'm kind of happier, waking up and being able to be around my kids and really living a real life, because life is bigger than trying to make people happier with a bat and a ball."

M.Qasim--SF-PST