Sparky Anderson memorial Thread

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

[D-Day]

In 1984 I was pretty young, and baseball was one of the most important things in the world, and Sparky Anderson was the greatest leader who ever lived. Because that's just how things are when you're that age. And of course, some part of that never really left me.

[D-Day]

In 1984 I was pretty young, and baseball was one of the most important things in the world, and Sparky Anderson was the greatest leader who ever lived. Because that's just how things are when you're that age. And of course, some part of that never really left me.

That's really quite a beautiful sentiment.

[D-Day]

get ready for a fond, folksy yet ultimately reverential stemwinder from Maudlin Mitch. He probably already has it in the can.

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

Yeah, its a sad one.

Looking back at his last good year - how he got 85 wins out of the 1993 team is unbelievable. Besdies a few aging and pretty much crippled names, and Fielder, Fryman, Tettleton and Phillips, here is a sampling of what he was working with:

Scott Livingstone, Dan Gladden, Milt Cuyler, Skeeter Barnes, Chris Gomez, Gary Thurman, Danny Bautista, Rich Rowland


Same goes for the staff. The #1 and #2 starters (Moore and Gullikson) had ERAs over 5.00. Outside of David Wells, this is what it looked like:

Tom Bolton, Bill Krueger, Bob McDonald, Kurt Knudsen, Mark Leiter, Buddy Groom, storm Davis, Dave Haas, Joe Boever, Greg Gohr, John Kiely, Mike gardiner, Dave Johnson, Mark Grater, Mike Munoz, John deSilva

The staff may be worse than 2003...

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

Yeah, its a sad one.

Looking back at his last good year - how he got 85 wins out of the 1993 team is unbelievable. Besdies a few aging and pretty much crippled names, and Fielder, Fryman, Tettleton and Phillips, here is a sampling of what he was working with:

Scott Livingstone, Dan Gladden, Milt Cuyler, Skeeter Barnes, Chris Gomez, Gary Thurman, Danny Bautista, Rich Rowland


Same goes for the staff. The #1 and #2 starters (Moore and Gullikson) had ERAs over 5.00. Outside of David Wells, this is what it looked like:

Tom Bolton, Bill Krueger, Bob McDonald, Kurt Knudsen, Mark Leiter, Buddy Groom, storm Davis, Dave Haas, Joe Boever, Greg Gohr, John Kiely, Mike gardiner, Dave Johnson, Mark Grater, Mike Munoz, John deSilva

The staff may be worse than 2003...

I remember that team well. I still have giveaways from some of the Sunday games stashed in a box somewhere in the house.

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

Yeah, its a sad one.

Looking back at his last good year - how he got 85 wins out of the 1993 team is unbelievable. Besdies a few aging and pretty much crippled names, and Fielder, Fryman, Tettleton and Phillips, here is a sampling of what he was working with:

Scott Livingstone, Dan Gladden, Milt Cuyler, Skeeter Barnes, Chris Gomez, Gary Thurman, Danny Bautista, Rich Rowland


Same goes for the staff. The #1 and #2 starters (Moore and Gullikson) had ERAs over 5.00. Outside of David Wells, this is what it looked like:

Tom Bolton, Bill Krueger, Bob McDonald, Kurt Knudsen, Mark Leiter, Buddy Groom, storm Davis, Dave Haas, Joe Boever, Greg Gohr, John Kiely, Mike gardiner, Dave Johnson, Mark Grater, Mike Munoz, John deSilva

The staff may be worse than 2003...

I remember that team well. I still have giveaways from some of the Sunday games stashed in a box somewhere in the house.

That was my first season of Fantasy baseball. a 4x4 league that we received weekly stats from a mailing service every wednesday. We paid him like $500/year. I am sure the person who ran that business thought he was in on the front line of a growing boom that would never end.

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

Yeah, I zeroed in on his age too. My dad's a year older.

get ready for a fond, folksy yet ultimately reverential stemwinder from Maudlin Mitch. He probably already has it in the can.

He'll work him into the Ernie play no doubt.

[D-Day]

Yeah, I zeroed in on his age too. My dad's a year older.

Personally, I'd rather remember that he's the same age as Al Kaline instead.

[D-Day]

I just saw that Sparky Anderson died.

Not a big surprise, but still sad.

He was the same age as my dad.

Yeah, its a sad one.

Looking back at his last good year - how he got 85 wins out of the 1993 team is unbelievable. Besdies a few aging and pretty much crippled names, and Fielder, Fryman, Tettleton and Phillips, here is a sampling of what he was working with:

Scott Livingstone, Dan Gladden, Milt Cuyler, Skeeter Barnes, Chris Gomez, Gary Thurman, Danny Bautista, Rich Rowland


Same goes for the staff. The #1 and #2 starters (Moore and Gullikson) had ERAs over 5.00. Outside of David Wells, this is what it looked like:

Tom Bolton, Bill Krueger, Bob McDonald, Kurt Knudsen, Mark Leiter, Buddy Groom, storm Davis, Dave Haas, Joe Boever, Greg Gohr, John Kiely, Mike gardiner, Dave Johnson, Mark Grater, Mike Munoz, John deSilva

The staff may be worse than 2003...

Skeeter!!!!!!!

I remember that Opening Day game like it was yesterday, for some damn reason. We shellacked Oakland, with a huge barrage of home runs in one of the innings.

[D-Day]

Sparky should have his own thread, too.....

Normally, I tend to shy away from these types of discussion but I think in this instance maybe it might fit......I thought the whole Harwell field thing was over the top

Since Sparky will, in all likelihood, be the only representative in the Hall of Fame from the 1984 team and he's the all-time winningest manager in Tigers history. Does he deserve a statue at Comerica Park? Does he deserve his name on the outfield wall along with the others?

I say he gets a statue......every other Tigers championship except for 1984 has been commemorated with a statue somewhere in the park
1935 - Greenberg
!945 - Newhouser, Greenberg
1968 - Kaline, Horton
1984 - ?????

It'll probably never happen, though.....obviously the wrath of the pizza man is long and Sparky's refusal to manage the 1995 replacements has never been forgiven. Otherwise the name Anderson would have appeared on that outfield wall long ago.......like when the freakin' stadium was built

[D-Day]

2:29 -- Great 10+ minute interview on WLW from today between an obviously distraught Marty Brennaman and Bill Cunningham about Sparky and his time here in Cincinnati. Good listen....

http://www.700wlw.com/cc-common/mediaplayer/player.html?redir=yes&mps=bill_cunningham.php&mid=http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/CINCINNATI-OH/WLW-AM/101104_3_willie.mp3?CPROG=PCAST?CCOMRRMID&CPROG=RICHMEDIA&MARKET=CINCINNATI-OH&NG_FORMAT=&NG_ID=&OR_NEWSFORMAT=&OWNER=&SERVER_NAME=www.700wlw.com&SITE_ID=1209&STATION_ID=WLW-AM&TRACK=

[Mulligan]

A couple summers in college I spent working at a warehouse in Oak Park which happened to employ both of my parents (yay nepotism!). I would drive them in to work and WJR was always on the radio. (Earworm Cooper Tire commercial: Cooper quality goes a long, long way; made with care and pride in the USA.)

I don't know if JP interviewed Sparky every morning, but if he didn't it sure seemed like it. And every time Sparky must have been sleeping two minutes before the interview started. He was half-asleep every single time. But he was Sparky and it was great. My parents and I always laughed about it. I'll have to call them tomorrow and reminisce. My mom has never given a hoot about sports but she loved Sparky.

[Mulligan]

I was just looking at his stats on baseball-reference.com. He only played the one season in the bigs for Philly in 1959, but he was 10th in the NL in double plays grounded into (15), fifth in caught stealing (9) and first in defensive games at 2B (152). He made his mark as a player, though probably not in the way he would have liked. As they say, Those who can't do -- teach.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... sp01.shtml

[caseyc]

For comparisons, cinci reporters reminisce (gotta love the typo in the lede of the first one...wow):

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2010 ... /311040113

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 134&Ref=AR