Skip to main content

Sparky Anderson


Sparky Anderson managed the National League Cincinnati Reds from 1970 - 1978, and then the American League Detroit Tigers from 1979 - 1995. During this time he led the Reds to four pennants and two World Series titles, and the Tigers to one pennant and one World Series title, becoming the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. Anderson's overall record of 2194 wins (currently 6th all-time), 1838 losses, and two ties resulted in a winning percentage of .545.

During Anderson's tenure with the Reds they became known as the Big Red Machine, a team that dominated the National League. The 75 and 76 Reds teams are still widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. Those teams featured the "Great Eight'" consisting of Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Sr., Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, Dave Concepcion, and Cesar Geronimo. The 75 and 76 Reds are the only National League team to win back-to-back World Series in the last 75 years. What a GREAT time it was to be a Reds fan!


First sheet top row: 70 Topps of Anderson's first season as Reds manager (with what I assume is an air-brushed cap); 72 Topps; and a 73 Topps (with Red HoFer Ted Kluszewski).

Middle row: 74 Topps (again with Big Klu); followed by 75 and 76 Topps team cards.

Bottom row: 77 Topps team card; 78 Topps (love the inset photo from his playing days); and 79 Topps team card.


Second sheet, Top row: 78 SSPC; 81 Donruss with the Tigers; and 81 Topps Tigers team card.

Middle row: 82 Donruss; 83 Topps; and 84 Topps.

Bottom row: 84 Fleer Tigers Checklist; 86 Topps (the cool colors and Sparky's smile make this a great card); and 87 Topps.


Last sheet, top row: 86 Topps Tigers Leaders; 88 Topps; and 89 Topps.

Middle row: 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game; 2005 Upper Deck Classics; and 2008 Goudy/Upper Deck in the same pose as the 05 UD Classic card.

As a member of both the National Baseball and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame's, I am still actively collecting Anderson cards, but mostly only those from his days as a Red. Of course, a card from his playing days would be a bonus that I'll have to focus on at some point.

I just looked up his playing "career." Sparky played only one year in the majors - 1959 with the Phillies. He played in 152 of the Phillies 154 games (bested only by HoFer Richie Ashburn's 153 games), batted .218 with no home runs and 34 RBI. He was returned to the minors the next season and never returned to the majors as a player. It's interesting how marginal players can become outstanding major league managers, as exemplified by Anderson, Walter Alston, and others.

Be well!

CinciCuse Bill
Labels:

Comments

  1. FujiJanuary 5, 2020 at 12:45 PM

    Pretty much all of my memories of Sparky are of him managing the Tigers. It wasn't until years later that I discovered he managed The Big Red Machine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CinciCuse BillJanuary 5, 2020 at 9:34 PM

    He was also known as "Captain Hook" for removing his starters early in the game and going to his bullpen. I guess he was ahead of his time and would probably be successful in todays game.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2020 at 4:53 AM

    If you click on picture during post editing, you can enlarge it. I usually use X-Large.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ballplayers Turned Announcers, Actors, Writers, Etc.

  We all know of ballplayers that become announcers, actors, or writers. This post shows cards for a few notable examples, as well as a few other players with occupations that you may not be aware of. Announcers 1952 Topps card #227. Not only was Joe Garagiola a catcher for parts of nine season with four clubs, but he was also an announcer, writer, and host of numerous television shows. Joe was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding broadcasting accomplishments and he was named as the 2014 recipient of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented once every three years by the Baseball Hall of Fame for positive contributions to Major League Baseball.     1965 Topps card #65. Tony Kubek played for the Yankees for nine seasons, winning the 1957 Rookie of the Year award and selected to three All-Star games. Kubek played in six World Series in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starting in 37 World Series games. U...
6 comments
Read more

Welcome to my first post!

Original, well-loved, cards from my youth. Rose: "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." My Story: I started collecting sports cards back in 1970 when I was about 9-yrs old. If I recall correctly, the first packs I opened in 70 and 71 contained a card of Pete Rose. Rose became my favorite player because of his hustle and desire to win, and he was one of the main cogs of the Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine, my favorite team. (I still consider Rose to be one of the best players ever, but I have no respect for what he has done outside of the white lines) I collected a lot of cards up until mid 1975 which is when my interests changed, but I never got rid of those cards (nor were they thrown away by mom or dad, thankfully). I got back into collecting, on and off, from the mid 80's up to this day, but only baseball cards. Over the years, I realized I had a fairly decent collection of player cards from those days and started to organize my co...
9 comments
Read more

Retired Numbers - Oakland Athletics

  Continuing with my posts on retired numbers, below are card scans of former MLBers whose numbers have been retired by the Oakland Athletics to forever be revered. No. 9 Reggie Jackson 2013 Topps Commemorative Patch Card #RCP-7 No. 24 Rickey Henderson 1991 Bowman #692. There are so many great, great Henderson cards that I had a hard time picking out just one for this post. Well the '91 Bowman really stood out to me. No. 27 Catfish Hunter 1976 Laughlin #7. As noted here , Hunter is one of only 6 players ever that went directly from HIGH SCHOOL to the major leagues and NEVER played in the minor leagues. No. 34 Rollie Fingers 1976 Hostess #104. No. 42     Jackie Robinson 1980-1987 SSPC HoF #89. I love how Oakland's green and gold colors stand out in the border of this card. No. 43 Dennis Eckersley 2014 Panini HoF Induction Class of 2004 Autograph #78. Who do you think will be the next former Oakland A to have their uniform number to be retired? Vida Blue? Dave Ste...
8 comments
Read more