Tim Anderson had no idea where Decatur was. He had never heard of East Central Community College.
Yet, the Hillcrest (Ala.) High School basketball and baseball product had no other college offers.
However, ECCC baseball coach Neal Holliman found out about Anderson from one of his own players. The two started developing the relationship from there.
“I told him that we would come and see him once he got out of basketball,” Holliman said. “Of course, they go on and win a state championship. So it was late when he got out. And the first night I watched him, he hit two home runs. It’s not something magical or mystical evaluation about how we found out about it. He was just hidden because he had had those injuries in high school. He hadn’t been on the travel ball circuit because he had been focusing on basketball. That’s how we got blessed and wound up with him.”
Anderson went on to have a breakout baseball career at ECCC, helping the Warriors to win a state championship in 2013 and then earning a 17th overall draft pick, going to the Chicago White Sox. He later made his major league debut in 2016 and then went on to win the MLB batting title in 2019.
Anderson said it meant a lot to him to be able to win the batting title coming from the JUCO ranks. Although it was tough at times, Anderson said he was willing to go there to because he wanted to play baseball.
Despite the tough times he had with Holliman, Anderson said his coach never left his side.
“(Coach Holliman) taught me everything I needed to do and he was on me from day one,” Anderson said. “I didn’t understand it the first two weeks. I was ready to head back home to Alabama, and I told him that. From that day forward, he was there every step of the way. Some days were tough. Some days were good. Some days it was what it was. But he was there every step of the way all the way from my freshman year all the way up to my sophomore year. When the scouts came and different agents, he was there. He took me to the draft and still comes up to games. The relationship there is bigger than baseball.”
