Sparky Anderson, Hall of Fame manager

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Anderson

WASHINGTON (CNS) — George Lee "Sparky" Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager who managed three World Series-winning teams, died Nov. 4. He was 76.

Just two days before, his family issued a statement that Anderson, a Catholic, was in hospice care as he was suffering from the complications of dementia.

When he retired from managing following the 1995 season, he was third all-time in the number of wins he had managed, at 2,194.

He was the first manager to guide teams to 100-win seasons in both the American and National leagues, first with the Cincinnati Reds in 1970, 1975 and 1976 and the Detroit Tigers in 1984.

Anderson also was the first manager to win the World Series in each league, first with the Reds Mark Pattison Catholic News Service winning consecutive World Series titles in 1975 and 1976, and with the Tigers in 1984.

Known to most people inside and outside of baseball as Sparky, Anderson led the "Big Red Machine" to eight winning seasons in nine years, four NL pennants, two World Series championships and a .596 winning percentage.

Anderson's Tigers teams grew mediocre during the last seven years of his 17-season tenure, but he became only the second manager in history Mark Pattison Catholic News Service after Miller Huggins' 1927 "Murderers Row" New York Yankees Mark Pattison Catholic News Service to keep his team in first place from the start to the end of the season, as the 1984 Tigers got off to a still-record 35-5 start.

Anderson became a Catholic, he told Catholic News Service in a 1996 interview, so he could still get to church on the Sundays when he was playing ball.

"I was a Methodist. And the Methodist church (service) starts at 11 o'clock. And we always played doubleheaders on Sunday Mark Pattison Catholic News Service in those days. Always. I never could go to church," he recalled.

Born Feb. 22, 1934 in South Dakota, Anderson went to high school in Los Angeles. After graduation, he spent six years playing minor league baseball.

He flourished as a minor league manager, got a job as a coach with the expansion San Diego Padres in 1969, then signed on to manage the Reds in 1970.