"Revered and treasured by his players for his humility, humanity, eternal optimism and knowledge of the game.'' — Sparky Anderson's Hall of Fame plaque.
Just above Sparky Anderson's desk were these words: ''Every 24 hours the world turns over on someone who was sitting on top of it.''
I was staring at that sign one afternoon as Sparky held court with the media, and eventually it was just the two of 
us in there alone. At some point, I said something about one of his players being difficult to deal with.
''Listen,'' he said, ''we've got some of the greatest people on earth on this ballclub. Why would you let one jerk ruin your day?''
Very few people could ruin Sparky's day. He had an optimism that was contagious and enduring. He wasn't just one of the most successful baseball managers ever. He was also one of the nicest.
Yet few managers took losing harder. Post-game press conferences after losses were brutal as reporters attempted to get more than a word or two from Sparky.
When most baseball teams stayed at the Grand Hyatt in New York, Sparky would stroll across the street for breakfast at the Howard Johnson's. He got to know most of the staff by name, and as he frequently quoted his father as saying, ''Being nice to people is the only thing in life that will never cost you a dime. Treat them nice and they'll treat you the same."
As he once told Johnny Bench, ''As long as you remember where you are from, you will always know where you are going.''
For some reason, my memories of Sparky have almost nothing to do with his great teams or the weekend he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. For me, the essential Sparky could be found in those mornings on the road when he'd have a waffle for breakfast, then go for a long stroll with Ernie Harwell.
Wouldn't you like to have been along on those walks? Wouldn't you give anything to have recorded them? Here were two of the people who left the most distinctive footprints in this game they loved. They were both decent, honorable and unfailingly polite.
And on those mornings in Kansas City and Boston and Baltimore, they'd tour the city on foot, talking baseball, talking life.
Sparky wasn't a complicated man. He once bragged he'd never read a book. He even said he'd written a book or two, and hadn't read them, either.
He would be the first to tell you that the reasons for his amazing success began with players named Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Alan Trammel, etc. He'd tell you he was the guy who got out of the way and let them play.
Yet there was something magical about Sparky. He had the ability to make players feel good about themselves, and he had a marvelous instinct in his handling of a pitching staff.
Mainly, Sparky's brilliance was in the fact that he was a decent, funny man, a man others wanted to be around, a man almost everyone liked. Players wanted to play for Sparky. My buddy from the Twin Cities, Patrick Reusse, paraphrased Sparky to describe Sparky: ''Ain't never been no better manager.''
What I loved about Sparky was his enthusiasm. He would get so carried away about some young guy that he'd compare the guy to Ted Williams, and then when the kid flopped, he'd swear he was done making outlandish statements.
Sparky would have a good laugh if he were here now and got reminded of some of the quotes Peter Gammons rounded up in 1986:
1. "Chris Pittaro is the best rookie I've had in 15 years."
2. "Mike Laga will make you forget about every power hitter that ever lived."
3. "We'd have to have a staff of nine Dwight Goodens for Mickey Mahler not to make this team."
4. "Don Gullett is going to the Hall of Fame."
5. "Kirk Gibson is the next Mickey Mantle."
6. ''If you don't like Dave Rucker, you don't like ice cream."
7. "Barbaro Garbey is another Roberto Clemente."
8. "When he's right, Freddie Norman is the best lefty in baseball."
9. " Mike Ivie has the hitting mechanics of Steve Garvey."
10. "Doug Baker is among the six best shortstops in baseball."
For the decade or so I covered the Baltimore Orioles, Sparky was such a looming, daily presence that maybe I never appreciated him the way I should. I just always assumed he'd be the guy filling out the lineup, dishing out the quotes, winning the games.
Those old school baseball guys never made much money until they became managers, and they cherished the opportunity they'd been given. Bobby Cox was like that, too.
One day in San Francisco when he got the news that some manager had been fired, he said, ''Now that's the way to go. He has two years left on his contract.''
By that time, Bobby had more money than he could ever spend and was in no danger of being fired. Sparky would understand. There was the time he and Earl Weaver were chewing the fat around the batting cage, and Sparky pointed toward his two aces, Petry and Morris.
''Earl, I ain't never gonna be fired as long as I've got them,'' he said.
He paused and smiled at Earl, who was finishing his Hall of Fame career with a terrible team.
''And, Earl,'' Sparky said, ''your best guy, he don't want no action.''
Translation: You don't have enough pitching, and the best guy you do have is a gutless dog.
Sparky loved Evans and Trammell as much as he ever loved Rose and Bench and Perez. They weren't just great pros. They were winners. He'd tell about leaving the clubhouse an hour or two after a game, and a group of his guys would still be in there talking baseball.
Sparky grew up poor in the Depression and never forgot his roots. He retreated to a modest home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., every winter. He was still living there when his health began to decline.
Sparky refused to set foot into the Hall of Fame until he was inducted a decade ago.
''I didn't ever want to go into the most precious place in the world unless I belonged," Anderson said.
He belonged there for sure, but ultimately his legacy extends beyond even the Hall of Fame, to the hearts and minds of the thousands he touched during four decades in baseball.
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A compilation of some of Sparky's greatest quotes...
''A baseball manager is a necessary evil."
"Babe Ruth is dead and buried in Baltimore but the game is bigger and better than ever."
''Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players and if you keep them in the right frame of mind then the manager is a success."
"Casey (Stengel) knew his baseball. He only made it look like he was fooling around. He knew every move that was ever invented and some that we haven't even caught on to yet."
"Don't call us (ballplayers) heroes. Fireman are heroes."
"He (Aurelio Rodriguez) probably had as good a pair of hands on him as anybody, and a great arm--the only two arms I've ever seen like that, (Travis) Fryman and him. This guy was a great third baseman."
"He's (Willie Stargell) such a big strong guy he should love that porch. He's got power enough to hit home runs in any park, including Yellowstone."
"I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it's more than there'll be a tomorrow, it's that I want there to be a tomorrow. That's the big difference, I want tomorrow to come."
"I can't believe they pay us to play baseball—something we did for free as kids."
"I don't believe a manager ever won a pennant. Casey Stengel won all those pennants with the Yankees. How many did he win with the Boston Braves and Mets? I've never seen a team win a pennant without players. I think the only thing the manager has to do is keep things within certain boundaries."
"I don't know whether I'm a big leaguer or not, but I want to find out, and if I can't do it, then I'll be a minor leaguer the rest of my life."
"I don't know why the players make such a big fuss about sitting in the first class section of the plane. Does that mean they'll get there faster?"
"I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench."
"If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win—unless, of course, it doesn't have enough talent to win, and no manager can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?"
"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."
''If I hear Bowie Kuhn say just once more he's doing something for the betterment of baseball, I'm going to throw-up.''
"If you have to choose between power and speed and it often turns out you have to make that choice, you've got to go for speed."
"I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that."
"It's a terrible thing to have to tell your fans, who have waited like Detroit's have, that their team won't win it this year. But it's better than lying to them."
"I understand people who boo us. It's like going to Broadway show, you pay for your tickets and expect to be entertained. When you're not, you have a right to complain."
''I've changed my mind about it (DH). Instead of being bad, it stinks."
"Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings.''
"My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work."
"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."
"Pete (Rose) doesn't run with celebrities and he can't stand the phonies. His big buddy in LA ain't Sinatra, it's a funny old groundskeeper."
"Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut."
"Problem with (John) Wockenfuss getting on base is that it takes three doubles to score him."
"The day I got a hit off (Sandy) Koufax was when he knew it was all over."
"The great thing about baseball is when you're done, you'll only tell your grandchildren the good things. If they ask me about 1989, I'll tell them I had amnesia."
"The man I marvel at is the one that's in there day after day, and night after night and still puts the figures on the board. I'm talking about Pete Rose, Stan Musial, the real stars. Believe me, especially the way we travel today, flying all night with a game the next night and then the next afternoon, if you can play one-hundred and sixty-two games, you're a man."
"The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules."
"The players make the manager, it's never the other way."
"They're loyal Royal all the way. But, they're not tough fans, a player does not have to worry about being insulted there."
"They say the first World Series is the one you remember most. No, no, no. I guarantee you don't remember that one because the fantasy world you always dreamed about is suddenly real."
"This game has taken a lot of guys over the years who would have had to work in factories and gas stations and made them prominent people. I only had a high school education, and believe me, I had to cheat to get that. There isn't a college in the world that would have me and yet in this business you can walk into a room with millionaires, doctors, professional people and get more attention than they get. I don't know any other business where you can do that."
"We're the best team in baseball, but not by much."
"You give us the pitching some of these clubs have and no one could touch us, but God has a way of not arranging that, because it's not as much fun."
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Mike Leach living large in Key West. Foxsports.com
