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Sparky Anderson died

metsguyinmichigan Nov 04 2010 11:52 AM

Just seeing reports that Sparky Anderson died today. Managed Tom Seaver, and was nice to me!

soupcan Nov 04 2010 12:00 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Wow - that was quick.

Valadius Nov 04 2010 12:02 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Well, whenever they say hospice, that means death is coming soon, but yeah, that was very quick. RIP Sparky.

Frayed Knot Nov 04 2010 12:03 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

soupcan wrote: Wow - that was quick. Well, quick from yesterday's news anyway. Can't think of the last time I saw/heard from or even about Sparky prior to yesterday so this may be the end of a lengthy process.

Edgy DC Nov 04 2010 12:05 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

WKRP airwaves have gone silent.

seawolf17 Nov 04 2010 12:05 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Sparky used to be a great autograph signer through the mail. About a year ago, folks started getting notices back that his health was too poor to sign any longer. RIP Sparky.

soupcan Nov 04 2010 12:07 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Frayed Knot wrote: soupcan wrote: Wow - that was quick. Well, quick from yesterday's news anyway. That's what I meant. R.I.P. Sparky.

metirish Nov 04 2010 12:07 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

seawolf17 wrote: Sparky used to be a great autograph signer through the mail. About a year ago, folks started getting notices back that his health was too poor to sign any longer. RIP Sparky. how thoughtful that his family would consider to do that. rest In Peace

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 04 2010 12:13 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Shoulda had more time. Guess God wanted to play Captain Hook this time around. RIP.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 04 2010 12:20 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

I'm still in shock at how young he was. Growing up when the Big Red Machine was the shit, this guy was a giant to me.

Frayed Knot Nov 04 2010 12:27 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Sparky hair wasn't just going 'salt & pepper' before he was 40 but was virtually snow white. That plus some too much time in the Florida sun lines on his face always screwed up the age perception thing as he was only slightly older than the Rose/Morgan/Perez bunch he was managing.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 04 2010 12:40 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

This is him in his mid-30s. He was barely 50 with the Tigers.

attgig Nov 04 2010 12:42 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

RIP

TransMonk Nov 04 2010 01:03 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

RIP Sparky.

dgwphotography Nov 04 2010 01:18 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: This is him in his mid-30s. He was barely 50 with the Tigers. That has to be Walter Iooss' work. RIP Sparky

Willets Point Nov 04 2010 01:24 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Sparky is definitely in my earliest baseball memories. He was manager of the winning team in the first World Series I ever watched in 1984. Didn't know about his Reds career until much later in my life. RIP, Sparky.

DocTee Nov 04 2010 01:59 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Took great pride in being the first (and only?) HoFer from South Dakota. Saw a TV segment years ago that painted him as having severe learning disabilities. Still recall his Tigers getting off to that 35-5 start in 1984.

themetfairy Nov 04 2010 03:33 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

RIP Sparky

Ashie62 Nov 04 2010 03:35 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

RIP Sparky, you will be missed.

smg58 Nov 04 2010 03:44 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Willets Point wrote: Sparky is definitely in my earliest baseball memories. He was manager of the winning team in the first World Series I ever watched in 1984. Didn't know about his Reds career until much later in my life. RIP, Sparky. He was the manager off the first WS winner I ever watched, but that was 1976. He piloted some great teams. The Reds didn't really need his help, but the Tigers were a textbook case on how to play to matchups. RIP.

G-Fafif Nov 04 2010 04:54 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Steve Rushin penned a memorable profile in SI in 1993 dubbing Sparky the heir to the linguistic tango begun by Casey Stengel. To apply an old line to an old manager, Sparky Anderson doesn't have to be naked to count to 21. We know this because just the other day he mentioned the importance of mathematics. "You have to know your math," he said. "In school, I used to be finished with my math so early, I'd go to the bathroom, come back, and they'd still be workin' on it. Now, when a contractor's throwin' numbers together, I know if they add up." Sparky looks you square in the eye and taps his right index linger to a snow-white temple. "But English?" he continues. "What's the difference? If you're a writer, yeah, you gotta put it all in there or you'll get letters from teachers. But I see now they're even puttin' ain't in the dictionary, so I'm good, man." Sparky beams. "I'm covered." He is a learned man. Sparky frequently precedes his serpentine sentences with the phrase "There's one thing I've learned." There's one thing he's learned...and that one thing is something different every time. "There's one thing I've learned," says Sparky. "Live today the way today's lived. Every father walked through snowstorms to get to school. That's not today. Things change, so change with 'em." Ron Fimrite also wrote one that sticks in my mind, from the Tigers' magical 1984 season. This passage always got me: He may have lived most of his life in Southern California, but his roots are in the Midwest and his speech is heartland plain and peppered with ungrammatical homilies. Although he's capable of a certain eloquence. Sparky leads both leagues in double negatives. His politics are solidly Republican, founded on his father's as yet unproven economic theory that "the more millionaires there are, the better it is for us." In baseball, of course, Sparky finds himself bossing millionaires every day. The Captain Hook thing was perfect. He didn't necessarily have the horses to go nine, so he didn't fool around. It wasn't bullpen wizardry for the sake of innovation. He had to win games. Think about an all-time dynasty built on mostly medicore starting pitching: Billingham, Norman, Gullett (good but always battling injuries), Nolan (who never quite seemed to blossom)...Pat Zachry later...Jim McGlothlin and Jim Merritt earlier (winning 20 games with an ERA over 4.00, which was unheard of in 1970). Wayne Simpson was a comer lost to arm miseries. But what a way to mix and match with the bullpen before anybody else was doing it as regularly or effectively. I also loved that he had one set of rules for 21 Reds and individual sets of rules for Rose, Perez, Morgan and Bench. Why kid around? he asked -- they're our stars. And, of course, that he gave Les Nessman an autographed ball.

G-Fafif Nov 04 2010 08:12 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Though he was quite nasty about New Yorkers in the wake of the 1973 pennant clinching (animals, I believe he called us), I appreciated that three years later that in praising Johnny Bench he was seen as trashing as Thurman Munson. We should also appreciate his giving up early on Howard Johnson.

The Second Spitter Nov 04 2010 08:45 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

I first read the subject header as "Sandy Alderson died".

batmagadanleadoff Nov 04 2010 08:55 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

I know who my suspect would've been:

MFS62 Nov 04 2010 09:48 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

I first heard his name when he came up to the majors as an infielder. (Maybe the Phillies?) Not the greatest ability, but from the beginning, was described as a "smart" ballplayer. In his acceptance speech when elected to the Hall of Fame, he said (I paraphrase) "I was lucky to manage a lot of great players. I just got out of their way and let them play." A lot of other managers have probably done that over the years, but he smilingly admitted it. He was more than a smart player. Sounds like he was a smart person, too. RIP, Sparky. We'll miss you. Later

G-Fafif Nov 05 2010 12:24 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Keith Olbermann revisits an admirable episode from late in Sparky's career. There wasn't a lot of principle flying around in the winter of 1994-95. The owners had pushed the players into threatening to call a stupid strike. The players misjudged the owners and the public mood and struck anyway. The owners stonewalled, cancelled the rest of the season and the playoffs. All but one of the owners recruited "replacement teams" filled with minor leaguers (some of them virtually blackmailed into it) and long-retired players (some in their late 40s) and trotted them out on the field for Spring Training of 1995. And Sparky Anderson said no. The Hall of Fame manager of the Reds and Tigers passed away Thursday, and his successes with both franchises were worthy of all the accolades he's receiving posthumously. But not prominent in these recollections is what Sparky Anderson did when the proverbial rubber met the road in that dark March of 1995, when the owners were ready to put a guy who was on Anderson's first Cincinnati team in 1970 on the mound a quarter century later and pretend it was still the Major Leagues. Sparky Anderson said he didn't want to pick sides in a labor dispute, that his only interest was the integrity of the game, but he just couldn't participate in the "replacement" season. So, much to the horror of his management and the game's, he took an unpaid leave of absence as manager of the Detroit Tigers. When a court ruling forced a settlement on the owners and the "replacements" vanished, Sparky came back for a troubled year in which ownership looked at him suspiciously and even some fans took out on him their frustrations about the strike. It would be his last season managing.

G-Fafif Nov 05 2010 06:59 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Who else but Joe Posnanski to contemplate George and Sparky? Some played for his approval. Some played to spite him. Some played to live up to the ludicrous expectations he had placed on them.* Some played to prove him wrong. Before spring training in 1975, he gathered his team together and told them that there were four stars on the team — Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez — and the rest of them were turds. That was the word he used. Turds. The stars played like stars. The others had T-shirts made with “Turds” on the front and, most of them, they also played like stars. And the Reds won 108 games and probably the greatest World Series ever played. *Examples: 1. “Don Gullett is going to the Hall of Fame.” 2. “Kirk Gibson is the next Mickey Mantle.” 3. “Chris Pittaro is going to be a great ballplayer, and that’s etched in cement.” 4. “Barbaro Garbey is another Roberto Clemente.” 5. “Mike Laga will make you forget every power hitter that ever lived.” 6. “We’ve got some great hitters in Cincinnati, and Dan Driessen might be the best of them all.” Sparky had his baseball ideas, of course. He didn’t care much for the bunt. He preferred speed to power, though he liked having players who could provide both. He believed as a young man that pitchers were disposable, that if they weren’t getting outs, then it was his job as manager to find someone who would. In 1975, he went 45 straight games without allowing a pitcher to complete a game, a record in those days — the nightly hooks were so shocking that people in Cincinnati booed Sparky even though the Reds were leading the division by 10 games. “If you want to stay in the game, it’s like dance steps, boys,” Sparky would say. “You need to play the song in your head like a waltz — one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. Play it like that, and I’ll just sit right here in the dugout and enjoy it. But you start going one-two-three … four … five … well, we’ll see you later.” Funny thing: As an older manager, Sparky’s Detroit Tigers led the league in complete games once and were among the leaders several other times. His explanation wasn’t that he had changed philosophies. His explanation was that his starting pitchers were better. “I always believed Sparky hated pitchers,” his pitcher Gary Nolan said, repeating the theory often proposed by Anderson’s pitchers, “because he couldn’t hit them.” Yes, Sparky had his baseball ideas. He had his life ideas, too — he believed that ballplayers should have short hair and shiny shoes and they should wear jackets and ties when away from the ballpark. The hardest defeat he suffered — he would tell friends — was when the Reds lost to the 1972 Oakland A’s. It wasn’t because the A’s weren’t great — they would go on to win three straight World Series teams. It was because the A’s wore their hair long. He could not believe that his Reds — HIS REDS — lost to a team of hippies. Most of all, Sparky Anderson’s success was built out of the bond he created with his players. He became famous for some of his quirky sayings like “Pain don’t hurt” and “You don’t invent winning” and “I got my faults but living in the past is not one of them … there’s no future in it.” But so much of what made Sparky Anderson a successful manager was unspoken. “I don’t know why we did the things we did for Sparky,” Pete Rose said. “But we all did. All of us. Johnny. Joe. Me. All of us.” In 1975, middle of the year, Sparky Anderson asked Pete Rose to move from the outfield to third base, a position he had not played in 10 years (and had hated when he did play there briefly). And Pete Rose moved. “We wanted to win for Sparky,” Rose said. “He just had this way about him.” Players wanting to win for a manager. Imagine that. Anyway, read the whole thing. It's worth your time.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 05 2010 08:31 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

"If you don't like Dave Rucker, then you don't like ice cream." --Madden's column today

Benjamin Grimm Nov 05 2010 08:47 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Strange to think that he spent so much more time in Detroit than in Cincinnati. I primarily think of him as the manager of the Big Red Machine.

Edgy DC Nov 05 2010 09:28 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

How can you not? His Tigers never played the Mets and his Tigers never achieved dynastic status. I grew up thiinking (and the Mets TV booth helped me in this regard) that the Reds had a Hall of Famer at seven of eight positions. If you told me that they'd eventually only have three, and one of those (Perez) largely criticized, I'd've not believed you.

HahnSolo Nov 05 2010 09:39 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Struggling to come up with the seven. Bench, Rose, Morgan, Perez, Concepcion(?) and...?

batmagadanleadoff Nov 05 2010 09:46 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

There was a time when George Foster appeared to be Hall of Fame bound.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 05 2010 09:48 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Griffey?

Frayed Knot Nov 05 2010 10:00 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

According to Joe Morgan, the entire team deserved induction.

Edgy DC Nov 05 2010 10:12 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Yes, Griffiey and Foster. Foster became a Met and Griffey --- like Bobby Bonds --- had an excellent career eclipsed by siring a son who was nearly twice the ballplayer. He really kind of wasn't much as a Yankee in what should have been some prime years. You can really reduce the paths that diverged them from the road to the Hall of Fame as "Foster became a Met and Griffey became a Yankee. There you have it --- 1982 was the year the Big Red Legacy turned on itself. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the year Rose lost control of himself and Morgan first became a douchebag.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 05 2010 10:21 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Sparky as Phillies shortstop in 1959:

Edgy DC Nov 05 2010 10:24 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

He only looks about 50 there.

Frayed Knot Nov 05 2010 10:32 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

On the plus side I bet the guy was getting senior citizen discounts for shit when he was like 50 years old - without being asked to even prove it.

seawolf17 Nov 05 2010 12:43 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Frayed Knot wrote: On the plus side I bet the guy was getting senior citizen discounts for shit when he was like 50 years old - without being asked to even prove it. Hell, the guy was so distinctive, he probably got free stuff wherever he wanted.

metsguyinmichigan Nov 05 2010 01:03 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Frayed Knot wrote: According to Joe Morgan, the entire team deserved induction. Just about all of them are in the Reds Hall of Fame. I was present for the induction of Cesar Geranimo. BTW: If you ever get the chance, the Reds Hall is not to be missed. It's incredible. And they inducted Seaver, as they should.

Frayed Knot Nov 08 2010 07:09 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

About as good a one minute summation as one could ask for:

MFS62 Nov 08 2010 08:30 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

HahnSolo wrote: Struggling to come up with the seven. Bench, Rose, Morgan, Perez, Concepcion(?) and...? Hey! Don't forget Lee May, the dad of Lee May Jr. (d'oh) - a #1 draft pick of the Mets. Lee Sr. was such a good hitter they moved Tony Perez to third to make room for him at first base. When that didn't work out, IIRC they tried it the other way around for a while. Later

seawolf17 Nov 08 2010 09:54 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

MFS62 wrote: HahnSolo wrote: Struggling to come up with the seven. Bench, Rose, Morgan, Perez, Concepcion(?) and...? Hey! Don't forget Lee May, the dad of Lee May Jr. (d'oh) - a #1 draft pick of the Mets. Lee Sr. was such a good hitter they moved Tony Perez to third to make room for him at first base. When that didn't work out, IIRC they tried it the other way around for a while. Later That made me laugh. The company that owned the seats behind us when we had Ducks tickets had the most incredible collection of morons working for them. One night, while Pete Rose Jr. was at the plate, the guy behind us turned to his wife and said "You know, Pete Rose Junior is Pete Rose's son." No shit, moron.

Edgy DC Nov 18 2010 01:49 PM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Reportedly, this is the second time Sparky has died. Prank on area man might have been end of road for Sparky Anderson Former minor league teammate Emerson Unzicker, of Hamilton, recalls future legend. By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer HAMILTON — Apparently hiring Bob Howsam as general manager wasn’t the key to building the “Big Red Machine.” Neither was trading for George Foster from the San Francisco Giants. Or acquiring Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo and Denis Menke from the Houston Astros for Tommy Helms, Lee May and Jimmy Stewart. The future was secured on a two-lane highway in Iowa during the summer of 1954 when George “Sparky” Anderson, who managed the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back World Championships, was a second baseman for the class-A Pueblo (Colo.) Dodgers of the Western League. Back then, minor leaguers frequently took lengthy bus trips. Since this was before air-conditioning, the ride was uncomfortable. That’s why Emerson “Emmy” Unzicker of Hamilton, a left-handed starting pitcher for the Dodgers, brewed a jug of iced tea for the road trip. He placed the tea in the luggage compartment above his seat. His roommate, George Witt, and Anderson decided that once Unzicker fell asleep, they’d sneak up the aisle, remove the jug and drink the tea while sitting in the back of the bus. Anderson, who couldn’t stop laughing at the prank, choked on the tea, stopped breathing for a minute or so — “He turned purple,” Unzicker said — and was resuscitated by teammates after the bus pulled off the side of the road. That’s how close the machine came to losing its main spark. Unzicker played with Anderson for one season. He never considered Anderson, the first manager to win World Championships in both leagues, manager material. “He was the last guy on the team you’d suspect,” Unzicker said while sitting in his Hamilton home. “He never pretended to be intelligent, but he had a lot of common sense. He was street smart.” Unzicker’s wife, Janice, called Anderson “a very common man.” Unzicker said Anderson was “a good friend” and he “hated to hear” that Anderson died Nov. 4. During the 1954 season, players on the Dodgers took their team photos around and had teammates autograph them. Years later, Unzicker realized his team picture, which included major-leaguer Maury Wills, was missing Anderson’s signature. When Anderson came to Hamilton for a dinner honoring longtime JournalNews Sports Editor Bill Moeller, Unzicker had his picture autographed. They shared a drink and a few laughs — just not at the same time. Spark of love hits baseball player Baseball players love telling stories. More than 50 years after throwing his last professional pitch in the Dodgers farm system, Emerson “Emmy” Unzicker can’t pick a runner off first base, but he enjoys spinning a good tale. Unzicker, 78, of Hamilton played seven seasons (1952-58) as a left-handed pitcher in the Dodgers organization. He never tasted the Major Leagues, but he spent one season in double-A Pueblo (Colorado), where two of his teammates were George “Sparky” Anderson, the first manager to win a World Series in both leagues, and Maury Wills, who played 14 seasons, 12 with the Dodgers. He cherishes a 1954 team picture of the Pueblo Dodgers. It’s hard to tell Unzicker from the young bat boy kneeling next to him. At the time, Unzicker, all 5-foot-8 of him, weighed 165, which was several Big Macs ago. “I couldn’t gain weight back then,” he said. “They had me putting raw eggs in milk shakes. I tried it all.” His wife, Janice, said, “It worked. Now you can’t lose.” Unzicker pitched once at Crosley Field in Cincinnati on Aug. 15, 1951, his 19th birthday. The Dodgers were in town, and they asked him to pitch batting practice. Afterward, Unzicker sat in the dugout, and he was soon joined by Jackie Robinson and a swarm of reporters. Cincinnati’s Ewell Blackwell was pitching that day, and the reporters wanted to know if Robinson, who was leading the league in hitting at the time, would rest his tired body against the Reds ace. Robinson played that day and had two hits. A love story Unzicker and his wife met in Kokomo, Ind., toward the end of his career. When he pulled his trailer into Kokomo before the 1956 season, he needed gas and a place to park. The clerk said there were two trailer parks in town, one on the north end, another on the south end, close to Highland Park Stadium. A few days later, as fate would have it, Unzicker needed groceries and a young woman named Janice was working the cash register. She caught Unzicker’s eye. When he returned later to buy more groceries and she was working, he asked her out for a cup of coffee. They dated for four months, and, after being encouraged by his manager Pete Reisner, Unzicker proposed. Sort of. It went something like this: “Pete said we should get married …” When that didn’t capture her heart, he asked, “If I ask you to marry me, will you say, yes?” They were married at home plate later that season, and they recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. “They said it wouldn’t last,” his wife said. He compiled a 68-70 record with a 3.89 ERA during his seven-season career. When his baseball career ended, Unzicker joined American Materials Gravel Co., where he worked for more than 20 years. He later became an independent house contractor. He built 30 homes and rents them out. “It’s a nice retirement,” he said. It also gives him time to tell stories.

Valadius Jan 23 2011 06:37 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

The Tigers will be retiring Sparky's #11 this year.

metsguyinmichigan Jan 23 2011 07:25 AM Re: Sparky Anderson died

Valadius wrote: The Tigers will be retiring Sparky's #11 this year. Which is almost shameful considering how long he's been retired. Both Sparky and Mike Illitch, the owner, were stubborn folks, and never put their issues behind them.