One of my favorite figures in all of baseball died today. Sparky Anderson was one of the great managers of all time and don't let any moron tell you differently.
He turned the Cincinnati Reds into one of the great teams in history without a legit Cy Young contending ace.
He turned around a Detroit Tigers team and put together one of the great all together ass whuppin' seasons of the past three decades in 1984.
He was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues as a manager. (He's since been joined by Tony LaRussa.)
And damn he was a funny nice guy.
I met him at a Hall of Fame function and he was chatty, friendly and was an overwhelming force of positive energy.
I reminded him that he was great on that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.
He laughed and said "How the hell did you remember that?"
Then he went on telling me how much fun the cast was.
He's gone now, but his legacy in Cincinnati and Detroit will live forever.
And in honor of the great Sparky... here's his appearance on KRP.
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