Sparky Anderson Dies at 76

[SlowNeasy]

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/11/04/sparky-anderson-dies-at-76-hall-of-fame-manager-led-big-red-mac/

George "Sparky" Anderson, a born storyteller who became the first manager to lead teams from both the American and National Leagues to World Series titles, died Thursday at his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 76.

Anderson died as a result of complications from dementia. His family announced on Wednesday that he had been placed in hospice care.

"The baseball world lost one of its best today with the passing of Sparky Anderson," said Tigers owner Mike Illitch in a statement. "His success as a manager, both with the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds, was about far more than wins and losses, it was about the character of the man. He cared about his players, he loved the fans and he put his heart and soul into the community. He will always be a favorite among Tigers fans and an important and memorable part of this incredible sports town." ....

if you follow baseball at all you know who sparky anderson was. who can ever forget the big red machine? it's not often that you get to know a manager's name as well as his hall of fame players. i was living in sterling heights, mi (detroit suburb) when sparky came to detroit. those first few years there were like a dream to detroit tigers fans. sparky took them all the way to become world series champions, just as he had the reds in cincinnati. such a pity he got dementia before passing on. RIP Sparky

note: i posted this here because i didn't think the checkered flag was appropriate. the only driving sparky ever did was driving umpires nuts. <g>

 

[Mopardh9]

I won't forget the 75 Series, being there for the 7th game, Sparky was cool , and a great story teller.

 

[Spike]

RIP.

 

[Benevolent One]

He always seemed like a really great guy. Of course I didn't know him personally, but those who did always had something great to say about him. He was obviously a great manager, but his legacy will be more about his personality and character.

I remember he played himself on an episode of WKRP In Cincinnati once. The episode was about him being hired to do a local sports talk show on WKRP. It was a great episode and he just seemed like a great guy. Of course I loved the Big Red Machine and WKRP was probably my favorite show ever so it was a natural that I would like it.