Sparkyisms
Sparky Anderson was an all time favorite, not only because he was a winner for both the Reds and Tigers, my two favorite teams, but also for his always interesting commentary, which I’ll dub as “Sparkyism’s” in light of last week’s blog on “Yogisms”. Sparky always spoke positively about just about everything; as this was his motto:
“Learn to treat people well — it doesn’t cost a dime.” or as evidenced by this gem: "I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench."
Many of his comments were real exaggerations. For example, here’s some Sparkyisms about players who never quite made it up to his view of their potential:
"Mike Laga will make you forget about every power hitter that ever lived."
"Barbaro Garbey is another Roberto Clemente."
"Mike Ivie has the hitting mechanics of Steve Garvey."
Probably the only negative comment I’d ever hear him speak was after losing a bad game:
"You can’t put a tuxedo on a pig.”
Sparky hated losing but was usually philosophical:
“I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it’s more than there’ll be a tomorrow, it’s that I want there to be a tomorrow. That’s the big difference, I want tomorrow to come.”
And after a rainout:
"It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.”
Sparky lasted only one season as a player in the majors. Here’s his rookie card:
On his playing career, Sparky commented. "I never hit a home run in the majors. But I took (Don) Drysdale deep. Foul, but deep.” He also said, "I don't know whether I'm a big leaguer or not, but I want to find out, and if I can't do it, then I'll be a minor leaguer the rest of my life.” At age 30 in 1964, Sparky became the manager of AAA Toronto at the time, where he had been playing as a minor leaguer after his one season playing with the Phillies. Five years later he was the Reds manager, leading them to two World Series victories. At the time, the Cincinnati Enquirer headlines read “Sparky Who.”
For sure, we now know who Sparky was.
During his Hall of Fame induction ceremony which began with the audience giving him a standing ovation, Sparky told them, "Please sit down. I learned a long time ago in baseball when they stand up, they’re getting ready to boo."
More Sparkyisms...
Told once he was "one of a kind," Anderson replied: "You know what? That's good. The world couldn't take two of me."
"I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that."
"Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings."
"I once sold used cars," he was fond of saying, "but not many." His honesty compelled him to tell people which ones were lemons.
When asked about John Wockenfuss, a utility catcher with his Detroit Tigers who couldn’t run the bases for his life: "Problem with Wockenfuss getting on base is that it takes three doubles to score him."
"People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I've got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There's no future in it."
On the designated hitter: "I've changed my mind about it. Instead of being bad, it stinks."
On managing: "A baseball manager is a necessary evil."
His line of admiration about Willie Stargell: "He's got power enough to hit home runs in any park, including Yellowstone.”
One of my favorite Sparkyisms I used with my son when he was a kid, “Pain don't hurt"!!!!He appeared once on the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati:
My favorite Sparky moment came during the 5th and final game of the 1984 World Series when the Tigers were playing the San Diego Padres. He almost swallows his gum communicating with Kirk Gibson before he hits the series winning home run; click here. Just listen to Sparky go at it in the background. Turn up the volume!
More about last week’s Yogi Berra blog:
Yogi won a record setting 10 World Series championships as reflected in these rings from each series compared to Tom Brady’s six Super Bowl rings.
It’s widely accepted that the cartoon character Yogi Bear got his name from Yogi Berra. But how did Berra become “Yogi” in the first place? As it turns out, Berra (whose first name was actually Lawrence) got the nickname as a teenager playing American Legion Baseball. A friend who had just seen a travelogue about India noticed how similar a Hindu yogi’s cross-legged pose was to Berra’s when he sat on the ground awaiting his turn at bat.
“I’m going to call you Yogi,” Berra’s friend reportedly said. The rest is, well, you know.
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