Baseball LEGEND Sparky Anderson DEAD At 76

[Segami]

:cry::cry::cry:


With his native baseball wisdom, ungrammatical eloquence and perpetual charisma - plus that tanned, vibrant face topped by silver hair - Sparky Anderson became the most compelling and enduring figure ever to manage the Tigers.


When Anderson took over the Tigers in mid-1979, he became their sixth new manager in the last 17 seasons. After he stepped down in 1995, six men managed the team in the ensuing 11 years.

Given that turnover on either side of him, Anderson has emerged as the Tigers' FDR. Throughout his 17 seasons at the helm, Detroit's baseball entry traveled the continent often billed as “Sparky Anderson and the Detroit Tigers.” Even when the team sank to last place, he was their headliner, their legitimacy, their link to glory.


Anderson died Thursday at age 76 because of complications from dementia, according to a family spokesman.

He managed the Tigers for three more seasons and 200 more victories than anyone else has.


<http://www.freep.com/article/20101104/SPORTS02/101104060/1050/Tigers-legend-Sparky-Anderson-dies-at-76>

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Sad....That is an excellent article.

[Dawgs]

2. That's terrible. He was the manager when I was a young fan back in the 70's and 80's.

I lived in Toledo, OH at the time.

:cry:

[Gaedel]

3. Bless you boys nt

[Bozita]

5. Didn't Al Ackerman start that whole "Bless you boys" thing?

[RockaFowler]

12. Yes he did

1984 was such a great season all the way around. I used to love Al's show with Sparky (Sparky & Al) on WDIV. They always had such a great friendship. Just so sad :(

[Blue_Tires]

4. r.i.p.

[SidDithers]

6. Those mid-80's Tigers teams were something else...

Going 35-5 to start the '84. Coming from 3.5 back in the last week of 1987. As a Jays fan, I hated when we were playing the Tigers.

That's how I remember Sparky.

Sid

[Segami]

14. I recall that comeback quite well. That Tiger comeback was the second Jays collapse within a two

year spread. In 85, the Jays held a commanding 3-1 games lead in the 1985 ALCS against the Royals with Bobby Cox coaching the Jays. The Royals came back to sweep the next three games and send the Jays packing. Anderson's Tigers two years later repeated the same shocking result (only differently) against the Jays and their fans.

[SidDithers]

17. Injuries killed us the last week of '87...

The Bill Madlock "slide" that broke Tony Fernandez' elbow with 9 games to go, and Ernie Whitt's ribs that kept them both out the last week.

Ah well. We'll always have Winfield's double in 1992 and "Touch 'em all Joe" in 1993.

Sid

[gmoney]

7. Hard to believe he was "only" 76

I would have guessed he was closer to 96 by now... He did a great job with the many talented players of the Big Red Machine back in the 70s.

[tuckessee]

8. RIP, Sparky.

As a fan of the Rhinelanders who saw them often at Riverfront during the Big Red Machine days I'm gonna miss him.

Nobody could butcher the English langauage like ol' Sparky.

If you see old clips or photos of him arguing with an umpire you'll notice that he usually has at least one hand in his back pocket. He did this so he wouldn't touch or push the umpire.

One of my favorite Sparky stories concerns Sparky's use of chaw. His own 13 year old son (an avid chewer himself who had a spitoon set up in his bedroom) was quoted in the press critcizing his dad because Sparky had to wrap his chaw in bubble gum to make it palatable. The son thought his dad was a wimp because he couldn't handle chaw straught-up.

[tuckessee]

9. oops! double post

[Scurrilous]

10. RIP Sparky. n/t

[RockaFowler]

11. Nooooo

I'll miss you Sparky

What a great manager and a great guy. I met him in 1984 while he was on the Sparky & Al show on WDIV in Detroit. What a wonderful man. Rest in Peace Mr Anderson. You will be missed!!

[cbdo2007]

13. He was a nice guy. I met him a bunch times when I use to hang around our stadium in KC

for autographs.

RIP Sparky!

[dmr]

15. I remember when he join the Tigers he got Bill Freehan's old number

and saying that's good luck right there.

RIP, Sparky, say hello to Ernie for us. You both will be in the hearts of Tiger fans forever.
:cry:

[Bozita]

16. Sparky would flirt endlessly on camera with Carmen Harlan

She's gonna take this hard.

[county worker]

18. He managed the Big Red Machine

I use to be a Cincinnati Reds fans back in the days of the Big Red Machine.


The nickname was introduced in a July 4, 1969 article by Bob Hertzel in The Cincinnati Enquirer,<4> but gained prominence in reference to the 1970 team,<5><6><7><8> which posted a regular season record of 102-60 and won the National League pennant.<9> Rookie and future-Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson headed the team,<10> which at its peak featured Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez, and was supported by George Foster, César Gerónimo, Ken Griffey, Sr., and Dave Concepción.<11> The eight players most frequently referenced as members of the Big Red Machine include baseball's all-time hit leader in Rose;<12> 3 Hall of Fame players in Bench, Peréz and Morgan; 6 National League MVP selections; 4 National League home run leading seasons; 3 NL Batting Champions; 25 Gold Glove winning seasons, and 63 collective All-Star Game appearances.<13> The starting lineup of Bench, Rose, Morgan, Pérez, Concepción, Foster, Griffey, and Gerónimo (collectively referred to as the "Great Eight") played 88 games together during the 1975 and 1976 seasons, losing only 19.<14>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Red_Machine

I seem to remember that he was selling used cars when the Reds hired him.