April 11, 2022

East Central Community College alumnus Tim Anderson, a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., will be inducted into the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies Tuesday, April 26, at the Hinds Community College Muse Center in Pearl.

Anderson is a 2013 graduate of ECCC and the current starting shortstop for Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox.

During his freshman season at East Central in 2012, Anderson batted .360 with four home runs, 37 runs batted in, and 30 stolen bases in 30 attempts. He had a breakout sophomore season in spring 2013, leading all junior college baseball players with a .495 batting average and helping the Warriors to the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges State Championship. He was named a first-team National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-American in 2013 and NJCAA All-Region 23 and MACJC All-State both seasons. He was the NJCAA Male Athlete of the Year in 2013.

Anderson was drafted by the White Sox in 2013 as the 17th overall selection in the MLB Draft. He moved up through the White Sox’s minor league system before joining the big league club and making his debut on June 10, 2016, doubling in his first at-bat in a win over the Kansas City Royals. He played 99 games his rookie season, starting 97 at shortstop and recording 33 multi-hit games.

He spent his first full season in the major leagues in 2017, hitting .257 with 17 home runs. In 2018, Anderson became the first shortstop in White Sox history to record 20-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases in a season. He also had a career-high 64 RBI in 2018. During the 2019 season, he won the Major League Batting Title with a .335 average, with career-highs of 167 hits and 32 RBI. In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, Anderson would hit .322 with 10 homers in just 49 games.

Anderson would make his first Major League All-Star Game debut during the 2021 season. On August 12, 2021, that season in MLB’s Field of Dreams Game in Iowa he hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to help the White Sox beat the New York Yankees 9–8. Overall in 2021, Anderson hit .309 with 17 home runs, 61 RBI, and a career-best 94 runs scored.

Anderson and his wife, Bria, reside in Chicago and have two daughters: Peyton and Paxton.

The couple established Anderson’s League of Leaders in 2017 in memory of Tim’s best friend Branden Deon Moss. Anderson’s League of Leaders builds leadership skills in youth affected by violence through scholarships, community partnerships, baseball camps, free haircuts and school supplies, and other projects in Chicago and Tuscaloosa.

Anderson was inducted into the ECCC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.

Category: