Sparky Anderson

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#dcdcdc
bgcolor2=#dcdcdc
textcolor1=black
textcolor2=black
name=Sparky Anderson


width=
position=Second Baseman / Manager
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1934|2|22
Bridgewater, South Dakota
debutdate=April 10
debutyear=1959
debutteam=Philadelphia Phillies
finaldate=September 27
finalyear=1959
finalteam=Philadelphia Phillies
stat1label=AVG
stat1value=.218
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=104
stat3label=RBI
stat3value=34
teams=As Player
*Philadelphia Phillies (Baseball Year|1959)As Manager
*Cincinnati Reds (Baseball Year|1970-Baseball Year|1978)
*Detroit Tigers (Baseball Year|1979-Baseball Year|1995)
highlights=
*World Series titles (1975, 1976, 1984)
*National League pennants (1970, 1972)
*1984 and 1987 AL Manager of the Year
*5th on the all-time win list for managerial wins
*Cincinnati Reds #10 retired
hofdate=Baseball Year|2000
hofmethod=Veterans Committee

George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (born February 22, 1934 in Bridgewater, South Dakota) is fifth on the all-time list for manager career wins in Major League Baseball (behind Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox) and is the first manager to win the World Series while leading clubs in both leagues. He piloted the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League.

Anderson has resided for many years in Thousand Oaks, California. He was universally known as "Sparky" during his time in baseball, but in private life goes by his given name of "George". Anderson is famous for his superstition of not walking on the foul lines on the baseball field. His superstitious is so great that he used to nearly trip on the field to avoid walking on the foul lines, as if we would trip on them. Besides his love of baseball, Anderson is an avid, lifelong golfer.

Playing career

Anderson was a "good field, no-hit" middle infielder as a player. After playing the 1955 season with the Texas League Fort Worth Cats as an apprenticeship in the farm system of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he played one full season in the major leagues, as the regular second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in Baseball Year|1959. However, a .218 average with no power ended his big-league career at that point.

He played the next four seasons with the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League, but never got a second chance in the majors. Finally, in Baseball Year|1964, Anderson moved into the manager's job in Toronto and later handled minor league clubs at the A and Double-A levels, including a season (Baseball Year|1968) in the Reds' minor league system.

During this period, he managed a pennant winner in four consecutive seasons: 1965 with Rock Hill of the Western Carolina League, 1966 with St. Petersburg of the Florida State League, 1967 with Modesto of the California League and 1968 with Asheville of the Southern League. It was during the 1966 season that Sparky's club lost to Miami 4-3 in 29 innings, which remains the longest pro game played (by innings) without interruption.

He made his way back to the majors in Baseball Year|1969 as a coach for the San Diego Padres. Finally, in Baseball Year|1970, Anderson was named manager of the Reds.

Manager

Anderson won 102 games and the pennant in his first Major League season as manager, but then lost the World Series in five games to the Baltimore Orioles. After an injury-plagued Baseball Year|1971 season, the Reds came back and won another pennant in Baseball Year|1972, but lost to the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. They took the National League West division title in Baseball Year|1973, then finished a close second to the Los Angeles Dodgers a year later.

Finally, in Baseball Year|1975, the Reds blew the division open by winning 108 games, swept the National League Championship Series and then edged the Boston Red Sox in a drama-filled, seven-game World Series. They repeated in Baseball Year|1976 by winning 102 games and ultimately sweeping the New York Yankees in the Series. Over the course of these two seasons, Anderson's Reds compiled an astounding 14-3 record in postseason play against the Pirates, Philles, Red Sox and Yankees, winning their last 8 in a row in the postseason after triumphing against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, and then winning seven straight games in the 1976 postseason.

During this time, Anderson became known as "Captain Hook" for his penchant for taking out a starting pitcher at the first sign of weakness and going to his bullpen, relying heavily on closers Will McEnaney and Rawly Eastwick.

When the aging Reds finished second to the Dodgers in each of the next two seasons, Anderson was fired. The Reds won the division title again in Baseball Year|1979 but lost three straight to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the League Championship Series. They would not make the playoffs again until they won the World Series in Baseball Year|1990 by sweeping the heavily favored Oakland A's.

Anderson moved on to the young Detroit Tigers after being hired as their new manager on June 14, Baseball Year|1979. The Tigers became a winning club almost immediately, but did not get into contention until Baseball Year|1983, when they finished second.

In Baseball Year|1984, Detroit opened the season 35-5 (a major league record) and breezed to a 104-58 record (a franchise record for wins). They swept the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and then beat the San Diego Padres in five games in the World Series for Anderson's third world title. After the season, Anderson won the first of his two Manager of the Year Awards with the Tigers.

Anderson became the first manager to win a World Series for both a National League and American League team. Either manager in the 1984 Series would have been the first to win in both leagues, since San Diego Padres (NL) manager Dick Williams had previously won the series with the Oakland Athletics (AL) in 1972 and 1973. Anderson's accomplishment was equalled in the 2006 World Series, when St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russaemdashwho had previously won the World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1989, and who considers Anderson his mentoremdashled his team to the title over the Detroit Tigers. Coincidentally, having won a championship while managing the Florida Marlins in 1997, Tigers manager Jim Leyland could have achieved this same feat had the Tigers defeated La Russa's Cardinals in the 2006 World Series.

With a 9-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on July 29, Baseball Year|1986 Anderson became the first to achieve 600 career wins as a manager in both the American and National Leagues.

Anderson led the Tigers to the majors' best record in Baseball Year|1987, but the team was upset in the ALCS by the Minnesota Twins. He won his second Manager of the Year Award that year. After contending again in Baseball Year|1988 (finishing second to Boston by one game in the AL East), the team collapsed a year later, losing a startling 103 games. During that 1989 season, Anderson took a month-long leave of absence from the team as the stress of losing wore on him. First base coach Dick Tracewski managed the team in the interim.

In Baseball Year|1991, the Tigers finished last in batting average, first in batting strike outs and near the bottom of the league in most pitching categories, but still led their division in late August before settling for a second-place finish behind the rival Toronto. The team featured a power-packed lineup of sluggers Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton, and Rob Deer, which led the league in home runs and walks that season.

Anderson retired from managing after the Baseball Year|1995 season, reportedly disillusioned with the state of the league following the 1994 strike that had also truncated the beginning of the 1995 season. It is widely believed that Anderson was pushed into retirement by the Tigers, who were unhappy that Sparky refused to manage replacement players during spring training in 1995. He finished with a lifetime record of 2194-1834, for a .545 percentage. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in Baseball Year|2000. His Hall of Fame plaque has him wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform. He spent the larger portion of his career managing the Tigers (1970-78 with the Reds, 1979-95 with the Tigers), but he won two World Series with the Reds and one with the Tigers. He was also inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame the same year. A day in his honor was also held at Detroit's Comerica Park during the 2000 season.

On May 28, Baseball Year|2005, during pre-game ceremonies in Cincinnati, Anderson's jersey number, 10, was retired by the Reds. Anderson's number in Detroit, 11, has been inactive since 1995. However, it has not been officially retired by the Tigers.

In Baseball Year|2006, construction was completed on the "Sparky Anderson Baseball Field" at California Lutheran University's new athletic complex. In 2007, Anderson was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Media appearances

* In 1979, Sparky guest-starred as himself on an episode of (appropriately enough) "WKRP in Cincinnati". The episode (titled "Sparky"), features Anderson as a talk-show host on the fictional station. Eventually Sparky is let go, which causes him to say, "I must be crazy. Every time I come to (Cincinnati) I get fired!"
* Anderson appears as himself in the 1983 Disney Channel movie "Tiger Town."
* Since his retirement from baseball, he has occasionally appeared in the sports media with comments about the Tigers.
* He was often paired with Jack Buck on radio coverage of post-season action during the 1980s and 1990s.
* From 1996 to 1998, was an announcer for the Angels cable broadcast.
* Threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Game 2 of the 2006 World Series at Comerica Park.

Watch

[http://www.scvtv.com/html/sg012507-sports.html "Interview with Sparky Anderson"] (10 min., free)

Notes and references

ee also

* 1984 Detroit Tigers season

External links

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