Sad news to pass along to baseball fans today … the iconic Detroit Tigers manager George Lee Sparky Anderson passed away today in his home in Thousand Oaks, CA at the age of 76. Yesterday his family revealed that Sparky was receiving hospice care due to his advancing dementia and, very sadly, he died today. It’s impossible to convey how important Sparky Anderson is to Detroit and baseball fans as a whole. We are all poorer for his loss today:
Sparky Anderson, the all-time leader among Tigers managers in victories, visibility and inimitable quotations, died today at his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 76. Anderson’s death came one day after the family announced that he was receiving hospice care at his home because of complications from dementia. The family said that at Anderson’s request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. Anderson managed the Tigers from the middle of the 1979 season through 1995. His 17 seasons are most in club history. The runner-up is Hughie Jennings, who managed Ty Cobb’s Tigers for 14 seasons in the first part of the 20th Century. Anderson beat Jennings’ record for most victories by a Tigers manager by 200 (1,331-1,131). Throughout his years near or at the top of baseball through his 2000 election to the Hall of Fame, Anderson rejected the airs of celebrity, no matter how prominent he became. He forever seemed as happy to see people he knew — and didn’t know — as they did to see him. On trips to New York, he didn’t eat breakfast at the Tigers’ fancy hotel. He’d go across the street to Howard Johnson, where he would address his waiter by name as a friend. In countless such gestures, he succeeded in a mission he once imparted to his Hall of Fame catcher in Cincinnati, Johnny Bench: “As long as you remember where you are from, you will always know where you are going.”
Sparky Anderson is synonymous with Detroit baseball and I know his death is being felt by a lot of people back home. I’m really bummed that his family does not want to memorialize him … ‘cuz I know there are many, many people who would love to be part of a memorial service for Sparky. My dad took me to my first baseball game at the original Tigers Stadium when I was about 7 years old. Now, I’m not a big baseball fan but I do enjoy the games in person. We were mere feet away from Sparky Anderson and I remember how nice the man was to every single fan, old and young, that called out to him or reached out for a handshake. They don’t come classier than Sparky Anderson. He was as genuine as they come and a true role model for young people to emulate. Despite the fact that I’m not a big sports fan, I am truly heartbroken by the news of Sparky‘s death. There will never be another man like him … he will be sorely missed :(
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