Sparky Anderson

George Lee "Sparky" Anderson was born on February 22, 1934, in Bridgewater, South Dakota, and moved to Los Angeles at age eight. He worked as a batboy for the USC Trojans and attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School. After graduating, he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent. His American Legion team won the 1951 national championship, held at Briggs Stadium (Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. He married Carol Valle on October 3, 1953; the two had known each other since fifth grade.

Anderson began his professional playing career as a shortstop for the Santa Barbara Dodgers in the Class-C California League. He moved to second base with the Class-A Pueblo Dodgers and later played for the Double-A Fort Worth Cats, where a radio announcer gave him the nickname "Sparky" in 1955 for his feisty style. He climbed to Triple-A with the Montreal Royals and later played for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, he returned to Montreal.

On December 23, 1958, the Dodgers traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for three players, including outfielder Rip Repulski. Anderson started at second base for the Phillies in 1959, his only full MLB season, but batted .218 with no home runs and 34 RBIs in 152 games. He spent the next four years in the minors with the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs. Leafs owner Jack Kent Cooke noticed Anderson's leadership and teaching ability and urged him to manage, offering him the job.

Anderson became manager of the Maple Leafs in 1964 at age 30. He later managed Class-A and Double-A teams, including a 1968 stint in the Reds' system. Over four consecutive seasons (1965–1968), his clubs won pennants: the Rock Hill Cardinals, St. Petersburg Cardinals, Modesto Reds, and Asheville Tourists. In 1966, his St. Petersburg team lost 4–3 in 29 innings, the longest uninterrupted professional game ever played. He briefly managed the Navegantes del Magallanes in Venezuela during the 1964–65 season but was fired after a 3–14 start, replaced by Chico Carrasquel. He returned to the majors in 1969 as third-base coach for the San Diego Padres in their first season.

After the 1969 season, California Angels manager Lefty Phillips—who had signed Anderson as a teenager—hired him as a coach. Within a day, Anderson was offered the Cincinnati Reds managing job, replacing Dave Bristol. He was named manager on October 8, 1969, reuniting him with Reds general manager Bob Howsam and player development director Sheldon "Chief" Bender, for whom he had managed in the Cardinals and Reds minor leagues. At 35, he was the youngest manager in baseball, and headlines the next day read "Sparky Who?" In his rookie season, he led the Reds to 102 wins and the National League pennant, becoming the third manager to win 100 games as a rookie. The Reds lost the 1970 World Series in five games to the Baltimore Orioles. That season, the team became known as the Big Red Machine.

After a fourth-place finish in 1971 due to injuries, Anderson's Reds won another pennant in 1972, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in five games in the NLCS but losing the World Series in seven to the Oakland Athletics. They won the NL West again in 1973 but lost a five-game NLCS to the New York Mets. Anderson led the Reds to World Series championships in 1975 and 1976, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers. He was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. Over his 26-year career, he had only five losing seasons. His 2,194 wins rank seventh all-time among MLB managers, and his 1,331 wins with the Tigers are the most in franchise history. He was named American League Manager of the Year in 1984 and 1987, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. Anderson died on November 4, 2010.