Sparky Anderson
Andy Travis, program director of Cincinnati radio station WKRP: "Does the name Sparky mean anything to you?"Johnny Fever: "Does it? Black and white collie. Ran away from home and broke my heart."
In addition to being the very short-tenured host of the WKRP sports program "The Bullpen with Sparky Anderson: brought to you by Sunluxe Petroleum, makers of gas, heating oil, and a crude but hearty wine," Sparky Anderson, who died today, was also an accomplished baseball manager. He was the first, and still only one of two skippers, to win a World Series in both leagues, and to win more than 700 games with two different clubs. He retired as the third-winningest manager in Major League history in 1995.
Most fans will come across the ESPN or AP story about Anderson's life and death, but I thought I would show you a surprisingly-detailed item from the St. Louis newspaper today, which has a Cardinals angle, of course, but gives you some behind-the-headlines-type information about the man. Part of my motive, I admit, is to make a point about the information source itself. Sparky really had no baseball connection to St. Louis. He wasn't from there, didn't play there, and he didn't even come to town as a visiting manager for the last 17 years of his 26-year career, though he did manage Cardinals farm clubs for two years during the mid-'60s.
Anyway, that point is that the Post-Dispatch, I think, is one holy hell of a baseball newspaper. In fact, it has to be the best. But also, the story speaks to how beloved a personality Anderson was around the game. Everyone's describing him today in the most glowing terms, and it seems he was very much a man of the people, and a man of the fans. Hell, during the '70s, he had even memorized the section, row, and seat where WKRP receptionist Jennifer Marlowe sat at all the Reds' homes games.
posted by CM @ 9:05 PM
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