Sparky Anderson, Hall of Fame Manager, Passes Away

Thursday was a sad day for Major League Baseball, as they lost a Hall of Fame manager.

George “Sparky” Anderson passed away on Thursday at the age of 76 due to complications from dementia. According to his family, he had been placed in a hospice a day earlier.

Anderson managed in the Major Leagues for 26 years with the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers. He won World Series titles with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and with the Tigers in 1984.

His Reds teams were considered some of the best of all time. Ironically, I believe his '84 Tigers team is the most underrated of all time. That team steamrolled through the regular season and won 104 games, but is never talked about as an all time team.

In terms of personal memories, I really don’t have too many regarding to Anderson, so I am not going to pretend to have any. I didn’t grow up in Detroit and I was born in 1977, so I don’t have any memories of his Big Red Machine teams.

Anderson will go down, and will always be remembered as, one of the greatest managers of all time. A lot of people will say he just had some great players. While that may be true, not everyone can manage talent.

He had the respect of everyone he managed. When you have great players who want to play for their manager, that’s a lethal combination.

Anderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000 and ranks fifth all time in wins by a manager.

In another sad note, I would also like to take this time to say goodbye to Shelly Rosenberg. Shelly passed away Thursday night and was a major part of not only the Ocean Beach, NY softball community, but the entire Ocean Beach community as well.

Shelly was a great guy and a big loss to everyone who is associated with Ocean Beach softball.