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Permalink Reply by Stephen Duncan on November 4, 2010 at 7:38pm

Other than seeing him on the field from the stands, that is as close as I ever got to him. He had a lot of John Wooden in him.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Westgerdes on November 5, 2010 at 4:55am

I got the chance to meet him at work. I was working at a restaurant--I think it was 2000--when Sparky can in to eat after being a guest speaker at a school fundraiser. After he finished his meal, I went to him at his able and asked if his meal was good. He said it was excellent. I asked him for his autograph after the meal and he was more than obliging... but the only thing I could find was a sheet of paper that I cut into fourths. I got the piece of paper signed. The surprising thing is that out of all the people there (5 employees and 5 customers) I was the only one who wanted his autograph. I even got a chance to talk to him about life and baseball (mostly baseball) for five minutes, which I treasured more than the auto.

I bought a 8x10 pic later that week, hoping to get the two of them together in a framed piece. I put it up and forgot about it for a few years...I later found it in my parents' house a few years ago. I still don't have it done yet...

One last thing...as soon as news of Sparky spread throughout the stores, I got a phone call from the bosses from the corporate offices. The first thing they asked:

"Was it Sparky?"...Yes.

"Did you get his autograph?"...Yes.

"Did you get him to sign his ticket?"...No. I never saw any celebrity that I recognized on third shift...and I worked on it for three years. I didn't know that if someone famous shows up at the restaurant, they are to "sign" their ticket so it can be framed at the corporate office. Add the fact that my bosses are big Reds fans and I'm lucky that I didn't get fired, or worse, give up my 'graph.

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Permalink Reply by John A Bowen on November 7, 2010 at 5:46pm

I had the pleasure of meeting Sparky at the National Autograph convention in Anaheim, CA in 2006. Since the Reds are my favorite team I had a photo opportunity with the coach. He greeted me with a big smile and I showed off my Pete Rose ballpark t-shirt. He laughed. Then I gave him a slabbed PSA/DNA rookie card of himself. He thanked me for it and laughed after I asked him if it looked familiar. Just before the photo was taken I asked him, "Which is worse Steroids or Gambling?" He squinted and said, "Don't get me started! Pete should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago!" I see where the term and nickname "Sparky" came from.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas W. Costello on November 9, 2010 at 6:54am

While in school in Boston, I had the unexpected good fortune to meet Sparky Anderson and see the last two games of the iconic ‘75 World Series, won by his Cincinnati “Big Red Machine” over the Red Sox in seven. Some consider Game 6 to be the best World Series game ever played. Baseball fans remember the NBC footage of Boston catcher Carlton Fisk “waving” fair his 12th inning walk-off home run that hit the left field foul pole.

With the Reds leading the Series, 3 games to 2, they returned to Boston on Friday, Oct 17th for games 6 and 7, scheduled for that weekend. Both games were sold out for weeks. Heavy rain forced delays until the following Tuesday, so the Reds were holed up for 3 days at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in Back Bay, about a mile from Fenway Park.

A friend and I heard where they were staying, so we went to the hotel on Saturday night. Minutes after arriving, a cab pulled up in front and Sparky Anderson and Alex Grammas, his 3rd base coach, got out. Sparky posed with us for a photo (taken by Grammas with my cheap camera), then autographed a ball (in red ink) and the cover of that week’s Sports Illustrated.

I have never forgotten what he did next…a simple gesture that spoke volumes about the man. As he turned to go into the hotel, he said, “Thanks fellas.” He thanked us, as if to say, “the honor was mine.” As reported last week in several obituaries, Sparky’s humble beginnings in South Dakota during the Depression stayed with him. The son of a house painter, he once said, "You don't know nothing if you've never been poor." He loved people, whatever their status, and made them feel important. He was always happy - even honored - to sign autographs.

That night, and most of Sunday, we patiently hung around the hotel lobby, the coffee shop and the elevator. Dodging media lights, cameras and sports reporters doing interviews, we managed to get autographs from Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey, Sr., Dave Concepcion, Don Gullett, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, Ed Armbrister, Rawly Eastwick, Will McEnaney, Clay Carroll and Pat Darcy.

We asked everyone we saw if they knew where we could find tickets. Pitcher Rawly Eastwick told us to watch for Pituka Perez (Tony’s wife) because he heard she had some. When the weekend games rained out, some Reds’ fans had to return to Cincinnati for work on Monday, so they left their tickets with the organization. It turned out that Mrs. Perez did have tickets - for seats behind the plate, about 25 rows back. She sold us four (2 for each game) at face value. How much? This you won’t believe: $15.00 each! I still have the stubs to prove it. At Tuesday night’s game, we saw her sitting in the section next to ours, together with other players’ wives.

Sparky Anderson was a baseball treasure, an original, as shown in these “Sparky-isms,” witty sayings both funny and self-effacing, in the same mold as Berra, Uecker and Dangerfield:

Told once he was "one of a kind," Anderson replied: "You know what? That's good. The world couldn't take two of me."

He stayed grounded by hanging this sign prominently in his manager’s office in Detroit: "Every 24 hours the world turns over on someone who was sitting on top of it."

"I never hit a home run in the majors," he once said. "But I took (Don) Drysdale deep. Foul, but deep."

"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.

"If I ever find a pitcher who has heat, a good curve, and a slider, I might seriously consider marrying him, or at least proposing."

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."

Anderson's Hall of Fame plaque includes the phrase: "Revered and treasured by his players for his humility, humanity, eternal optimism and knowledge of the game."

Meeting Sparky Anderson is one of my most treasured memories. He was all heart and class.

(I downloaded the photo taken with Anderson, and one of the ball he autographed in red ink, a little faded after 35 years).

- Tom Costello, East Brunswick, NJ

Attachments: No photo uploads here

• Photo with Sparky Anderson Boston 1975 Series.tiff, 5.8 MB
• Sparky Anderson Autograph 1975 Series.tiff, 3.1 MB

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Permalink Reply by scott on November 14, 2010 at 4:58pm

He lead the Detroit Tigers to victory. They used to play that song Eye of the Tiger all the time on TV.

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