Most everyone knows about his long managerial career with the Reds (1970-78) and the Tigers (1979-95), but he was in baseball long before that.
Sparky was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953, and spent 6 seasons in their minor-league system as a 2nd baseman (except for his 1st season, when he was a shortstop).
After the 1958 season, the Dodgers traded Sparky to the Phillies, where he became their regular 2nd baseman, starting 145 games there. Because he didn't hit very well, that was Anderson's only season in the majors. He spent 1960-63 with the triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, before retiring as a player.
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Sparky spent the 1964 to 1968 seasons as a minor-league manager, before taking a coaching job with the expansion San Diego Padres in 1969. As you can see by the picture on his card, Sparky may be the first person airbrushed OUT of a Padres uniform. (Quite a change from the dozens of players airbrushed INTO Padres (and Expos, Royals, Pilots) uniforms in the 1969 set.)
After only 1 season of big-league coaching, Anderson was given the reins of the Big Red Machine in 1970, and the rest is history.
As noted on many other blogs here, Sparky Anderson passed away 3 days ago. One thing I'll remember about Sparky Anderson is that he's seems to be the only person that ever referred to Johnny Bench as "John".
Rest In Peace, Mr. Anderson!
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4 comments:
Sparky Anderson turned 36 before the 1970 season. That means he was 35 when that picture was taken. He looks much older than that.
He was, in many ways, what I expected a manger to look like and act. I hated seeing the news the other day.
RIP Sparky.
Chris,
Yes, as I was posting this card yesterday, I thought about how different (more professional?) Sparky seemed from some of his contemporaries like Billy Martin and Earl Weaver.
I think this one of the best photos of a manager on a topps card. I never dawned on me that it was probably taken at the Padres training camp. Given how the Padres were that year no wonder he was so serious.
I know a woman who worked as a bank teller in milwaukee, she said that he was a very nice man.
Wow, he looks much older. But looking just at his face, not that much older. It looks like he had white hair at 35, which makes him look like 60, but good at 60.
I never liked the teams he managed, yet I always seemed to have respect for him as a manager. He's just a permanent fixture in my memory with the Big Red Machine teams.
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