Rest in Peace, Sparky Anderson

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.

And now it is quiet

If the Rangers bats didn’t go in hibernation, the 7th Game of the World Series would have been played tonight.

For the 7th straight year, the World Series has failed to go the distance… which is as much of a reason as any for the drop in viewership. Only one of the last 7 World Series even went to 6 games… so it is hard to build up any drama there.

Either way, the World Series has been clinched and the parade to celebrate the champions has been cleaned up.

And now we have no scores to check and empty stadiums.

OK, in places like Oakland, San Diego, Tampa and Miami there are empty stadiums year round, but that’s not the point.

It’s the off season.
Still a fun time for baseball, but it isn’t the same.

I won’t lie to you. I already miss baseball.