This article was originally posted by Anup Sinha who is the Executive Editor of Bucs Prospects. He also happens to be a former writer here at Baseball Reflections for a short time!

I realize this (the origin of this article is the site Bucs Prospects) is a Pittsburgh Pirates blog and perhaps the older fans don’t share my fondness for the man whose Big Red Machine ran over the Pirates in three separate National League Championship Series (1970, 1972, and 1975).  But I think Sparky Anderson is one of those special figures whose appeal goes beyond the cities where he managed.  Baseball fans as a whole were touched not only by the greatness of his clubs but by his unique style and charisma.

I, of course, came across Sparky years later as a Tigers fan growing up in Detroit.  I watched my first Tigers game on TV on May 31^st, 1979, and Sparky was hired exactly two weeks later.

Photo taken from Google Images

Just as Lance Parrish was my definition of a catcher and Lou Whitaker the epitome of a second baseman, Sparky was the only manager I knew for a long time.  I assumed all managers had white hair, big ears, and talked in double negatives.  I assumed they all told stories and half-truths and made reporters chuckle.

I assumed they were all funny and warm and endearing and loved the game as much as life itself.

It was many years later before I realized that we had something special in Detroit.

Normal catchers weren’t 6’3”, 240 lb pieces of granite who hit the ball to the moon and carried a howitzer under their right shoulder.  Normal second basemen didn’t hit lefthanded and turn double plays by shooting bullets to first base in their sleep.  Normal pitchers weren’t as scary and intimidating as Jack Morris.

And normal managers were nothing like Sparky Anderson.

Photo taken from Google Images

While the fans and the local media were excited when the Big Red Machine legend managed his first game on June 14^th, 1979, the players were rather upset over GM Jim Campbell’s firing of previous manager Les Moss.  Moss had managed many of the young Tigers in the minors and was a baseball lifer, immensely popular with the team.

But over the years, many of the same players grew to accept and love Sparky Anderson.  Kirk Gibson was just quoted as saying that he and Alan Trammell were determined to “keep Sparky alive” as the 2011 managerial brain trust of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Gibson is the same bull-headed young outfielder who once knocked the old manager down after he feigned a football-style tackle while Gibson was jogging in the outfield.  Gibson also once jumped the manager’s desk to grab his throat after Sparky told him he was being benched.

It became apparent to me over the years that Sparky wasn’t always the lovable grandfather he appeared to the cameras, he could actually be quite hard on his players and the clashes weren’t all that uncommon.  There’s no way Sparky would have won three World Series rings if he wasn’t much tougher behind closed doors.

Still, he worked hard to cultivate his cuddly image, knowing the influence he had as a role model and as the face of the Detroit Tigers.  There are countless Detroit-area kids like myself who grew up in the 1980s and were impressed upon by his generous public nature.

I’d like to share a personal story, of my only meeting with Sparky Anderson.

Back in January of 2007, I was working for the St. Louis Cardinals and weeks away from moving out of southern California.  I’d lived there three years and had accepted a new role with the club in Jupiter, Florida.

While at a baseball scouts banquet, I mentioned to a couple at the table that my one regret of leaving southern California was that “I never got a chance to meet Sparky Anderson”, who was living in Thousand Oaks.

Both of their eyes lit up.  “You know he’s going to be speaking at the College of the Canyons Hall of Fame Banquet next week, don’t you?”

It turned out this couple couldn’t make it, but they were good friends of Mike Gillespie’s daughter.  Gillespie was the long-time baseball coach for the University of Southern California, another person I thought highly of, and he was being honored by the College of the Canyons for his years as their baseball and football coach prior to USC.  Sparky was going to be the headline speaker.

So I put on a suit and went to the College of the Canyons banquet.  I came early and within a half hour, Sparky walked in right beside me.

I worked up the nerve to say “hello” but after two sentences it was like we were old friends.  I told him I was a scout for the Cardinals, but I’d grown up a Tigers fan and that he and his teams were a big part of whom I’d become as an adult.  I was the son of Indian immigrants who grew to love and make a career out of baseball because of those teams.

He mentioned how glad he was for us and for Tony LaRussa becoming the second manager to win the World Series in both leagues just a few months before.  I was a little surprised he rooted against the Tigers and he added with a swat of the hand, “Oh, I was just tired of being the only manager to win in both leagues!”

Someone had to whisk him away and I thought to myself that if I didn’t hear another word from Sparky, it would still be one of the most memorable evenings of my life.

Later on, I heard him talking to someone about Pete Rose, a story I must have heard a hundred times already between radio and television.  I sort of meandered behind him when he stopped in mid-sentence.

“This young man here,” he started, while putting a hand on my shoulder.  “He’s a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Sparky opened up his trademark smile and his hand shivered on my shoulder in a way that made me feel like Kirk Gibson after he hit the 1984 World Series-winning home run off Goose Gossage.  For just a moment, I felt all the magic and charisma that was Sparky Anderson and I still get a goose bump when I remember it today.

Photo taken from Google Images

Later that evening, Sparky signed his autobiography for me and we got someone to snap the picture of us together.

I guess I never rooted against Sparky, he was always on my side.  I can only imagine what Pirate fans felt like in the 1970s, thrice missing the World Series because of his Big Red Machine.  The Bucs finally beat the Reds in 1979, but Sparky had moved on to Detroit.  Would he have been able to out-manage Chuck Tanner and stop The Family from going to the Series?

I’m sure the Dodgers and their fans harbored the same bitterness in the earlier part of the decade having to play in the same division.  I often wondered if anyone would have heard of Tommy Lasorda had Sparky not been fired by the Reds!

Nevertheless, I hope that all of his old rivals can appreciate just what he’s done and how he’s done it.  Whether you rooted for him or not, whether you thought he was a good manager, there’s no question Sparky was great for Baseball.  To borrow Sparky’s own lingo, “There won’t ever be no other.”

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3 — Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox (95-67)……………………..1 point

Without a legitimate SS for most of the year, with neither Penny nor Smoltz working out, the David Ortiz difficulties for the first 49 games of the season and the shutting down of Matsuzaka for the better part of the year, it’s amazing the Sox were still Wild Card winners. Francona has continually found a way to keep his players loose, focused and hungry throughout a 162 game season.

2 — Ron Washington, Texas Rangers (87-75)…………………….3 points

I honestly don’t know if this vote should go to Washington or team president and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan as the change in pitching philosophy and NOT their once potent offense is what turned this team around. They have changed how pitchers train, letting them throw more and I personally hope that it catches on. I’m tired of how pitchers are babied and i hope it overflows into their use of the bullpen, too. It was only their second winning season in the past 10 years, the other was in 2004.

1 — Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim (97-65)……5 points

Angels Manager Mike Scoscia

I have two words for you…Nick Adenhart! How many teams recover from this sort of tragedy, let alone win their division with 97 wins? This was Scioscia’s 10 season managing the Angels and in that time he has proven to be an excellent manager as most catchers are in my opinion. In those 10 seasons he has managed the Angels to 90 wins or more six times hitting 100 wins last year (2008). And this year he didn’t have his typical bullpen or closer. Scot Shields was either ineffective or hurt and Fuentes is no K-Rod or Percival either. He normally excels in strategy and use of his pitching staff, especially his bullpen corps.

The big question for Astros fans (and Astros bloggers) today is, with about 15 hours of hindsight, what happened to Cecil Cooper? By every single account, Cecil Cooper is a good man. By almost every paragraph following that statement, Cecil Cooper was a pretty terrible baseball tactician, and also had issues communicating with his players. I’ve been waiting for Cooper to get fired for about two months now, but I’m kind of sad he’s gone; because while he didn’t really do anything to save his job, he was put in a precarious position.

Many in the Houston media see this as a referendum on Ed Wade, who made splashy moves like trading five players for Miguel Tejada…the day before the Mitchell Report was released. Or signing Kaz Matsui, who has been a complete flop. Or signing Mike Hampton. Or signing Russ Ortiz. Or in 2008, when he signed Shawn Chacon, who later choked him in the clubhouse. Cooper just tried to win with them, and did (171-170 record at the time of firing), just not enough.

To me this is more of a referendum on hands-on owner Drayton McLane, who has now fired 18 managers since 2000 (approximately). McLane has never been one to rebuild, a plan that should have been in action two seasons ago – or at least before Carlos Lee got $100 million. It was Ed Wade who offered Randy Wolf $29 million over three years in the last off-season before that offer was pulled. McLane wants the Astros to contend, and is willing to spend to do it – the 2009 payroll is around $107 million – but it just was not spent well. In this post from April 5 (http://www.astroscounty.com/2009/04/breaking-down2009-payroll.html) Astros County broke down the 2009 payroll to see where it was spent. Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Lee, and Miguel Tejada made 61.3% of the total payroll. That might work for GoldmanSachs, but it doesn’t work so well for a baseball team. It was just noted that Coop’s record was 171-170. Setting aside the 2007 season, which he finished after Phil Garner got canned, Coop managed the Astros to a 156-154 record. If you go by the Pythagorean W-L, the Astros should have gone 142-168.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

That said, there were four instances I can think of off-hand that were handled poorly this season with Cecil Cooper. (1) April 19 – Astros pick up Cooper’s option for 2010. This was – obviously – a terrible decision. Not only do the Astros owe Cooper $850,000 to not manage the team next season, it only shows that whomever comes in to replace Cooper isn’t going to have a stable job. McLane/Wade could sign Miller Huggins to a 10-year deal, and in the back of Huggins’ mind, he would wonder about getting canned 18 months into it.

(2) May 15 – The Houston Chronicle called out Cooper for continually running reliever Geoff Geary out to the mound, even after he complained of soreness. Geary was placed on the DL on May 14, activated on June 10, and sent to Round Rock – and didn’t pitch in Houston again. This is actually part of a larger issue in which Cooper mishandled his pitching staff. Jerking Felipe Paulino back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen; doing the same with Russ Ortiz; continually sending Jose Valverde out to the mound with a bum leg, leading to a more-extended stay on the DL than perhaps necessary; letting Brandon Backe throw 20 more pitches in his first start since coming off the DL than his previous two appearances…combined; letting Wesley Wright throw 51 pitches in relief at Wrigley Field at the end of July, resulting in Wright suffering from dehydration and leaving the clubhouse in an ambulance. You can list Geoff Geary, Russ Ortiz, and Brandon Backe as three pitchers who had an issue with Cooper, or had questions about their usage, who are not on the 40-man roster.

(3) May 26 – Cooper throws Roy Oswalt under the bus. Oswalt tried to stop a comebacker with his pitching hand, which was bruised by said comebacker. Oswalt got shelled in the next inning and was pulled. Cooper said, “With your (ace) on the mound, you figure if you don’t have it you got a pretty good chance of getting it. And we let two leads slip away there. We just need him to step up to be who he’s supposed to be.” This was not the first – nor would it be the last – instance in which Cooper was in trouble for handling his players in the media. Five days later Nick Cafardo said, “Cooper has the rap, true or not, that he throws players under the bus in the media and never fully has their trust.” That’s hard to live down. Later in the season, Cooper would have to apologize in a team meeting for not congratulating Pudge Rodriguez after he broke the all-time record for Games Caught. Is that nitpicky? If Cooper had the support of his players, would it have happened? Maybe not. But you have to know when you’re treading thin ice, and take advantage of opportunities to increase your standing among the guys who can get you fired – and Cooper did not do that.

(4) Aug 11 – Cooper walks Nick Johnson to get to Hanley Ramirez, who hit an RBI single that broke open an 8-6 Marlins win. This was actually the second stupid walk in eight days, as on August 3, Cooper walked Albert Pujols to get to Matt Holliday, who was then hitting .586 with the Cardinals. As fans without access to the manager, it’s hard to know when a managerial decision pays off and wins a game. But sometimes it’s pretty easy to spot the decisions that lose you a game.

The bottom line is that Cooper looked overmatched throughout the season and never seemed comfortable. It’s not hard to see why, because Tracy Ringolsby put him on the hot-seat on January 30 (http://www.astroscounty.com/2009/01/tracy-ringolsby-is-gunning-for-coops.html), and he was on the chopping block approximately ten minutes after the Astros picked up his option. So am I sad that Cooper is no longer managing the Astros? Not necessarily – Cooper wasn’t given much of a chance, though the chances he was given were not taken advantage of. I just hope the next manager gets a little more support and integrity from the organization – from Drayton to the players themselves.

The thinking behind this, or so I’m told, is that Shields is 0-3 against Boston in Fenway this year and Kazmir has a good record against the Red Sox, even at Fenway. Some have speculated that Shields may be hurt, but I didn’t see evidence of that in game 1. He was just barely out-pitched in that game by Matsuzaka. Both men pitched well enough to win!

I hope the Rays aren’t counting their chickens before they hatch by making this move to better position their rotation for the World Series. Things have a tendency to come back to haunt you when you do things like that and some have mentioned something about a curse in Boston before. Could Joe Maddon and the Rays be creating their own curse by making such a move? You decide…

Recent history has told us that when you have Boston down, don’t give them any room to breathe! Just ask the 2004 Yankees and last year’s Indians about doing that. I don’t think they’d recommend it.

My prediction, the Sox will win tonight against Kazmir. He just hasn’t been pitching well as of late.

The first team to win the coveted fourth game in this series will host the 2008 NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies and in my opinion, either way, this World Series match up is a win for baseball. What do you think?

Meanwhile, it looks as if overworking CC Sabathia finally caught up to the Brewers this weekend as he didn’t even last 4 complete innings this weekend. I wonder how former Brewer’s manager Ned Yost is feeling today? After non being in the playoffs since 1982, the team formerly owned by Commissioner Bud Selig have been eliminated in the first round by the Phillies. Will Robin Yount be their manager in 2009? To hear the outcry from Milwaukee, please check out Brewers Bar who have an easy going approach to the end of their team’s playoff push as written HERE and Brew Crew Ball was pretty laid back, too; check it out HERE .

Both NL Central teams are out if it early!

Both the White Sox and the Angels have stayed alive for one more game as both teams won their game 3′s against the Rays and the Red Sox. I still think that the ALCS will be an AL East rematch for the pennant between the Red Sox and the Rays. It should be a great series. The Sox should win tonight with Lester going against Lackey, but the Rays might have to go to 5 with Sonnanstine going against Floyd this afternoon. We’ll just have to wait and see…

The Seattle Mariners are said to be interested in interviewing the Dodgers assistant GM. Why would this be newsworthy? Because Ms. Kim Ng would be the first woman to become a GM in Major League Baseball! What does USS Mariners have to say about this?

The Brewers beat out the Mets for the NL Wild Card! The Mets have now NOT made the playoffs after having a 3½ game lead with 17 games to go fo two years in a row!

With Yankees starter Mike Mussina’s win yesterday, he has become the oldest pitcher to record his first 20 win season.

The Angels notched their 100th victory this weekend! They end the regular season with the best record in baseball for 2008!

The Washington Nationals fired 5 coaches after loosing 102 games, leaving only manager Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire in place for 2009.

The Mariners lost 101 games in 2008. Look for more coaches to loose their jobs there as well.

Let’s take a look…

In my opinion, you have 4 types of catchers:

1. The defensive minded catcher: He can’t hit his way out of a paper bag so why is he north of Single A? He can field the position better than most!
   • Some examples of this sort of catcher would be (sorry guys): David Ross, Yadier Molina (even though he hit .275 in 2007), Miguel Olivo (who admittedly does have some pop in his bat), etc.
2. The offensive minded catcher: He can hit the seems off the ball, but when it comes to fielding the position, a 90 year old grandmother would be more suited for the job!
   • Some examples of this sort of catcher would be (sorry again guys): Mike Piazza, Jason Kendall, Michael Barrett, etc.
3. The catcher that can handle a pitching staff, knows opposing batters, etc. This catcher often can’t hit his way out of a paper bag either.
   • Some examples of this sort of catcher would be (sorry once again guys): Brad Ausmus, Yorvit Torrealba (even though he came up big in the 2007 playoffs), etc.
4. Then there’s the catcher that can do it all! These are diamonds in the ruff! So sign them to long term contracts, but be aware that the production might go south at a rapid pace and without warning due to the beating these guys take year in and year out.
   • Some examples of this sort of catcher would be:Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Varitek & Jorge Posada, etc.

Sometimes categories 1 and 3 are the same player and sometimes categories 2 and 3 or even 1 and 2, but rarely does a player provide a team with all three attributes!

The Catcher’s Position:

The baseball catcher has the best view in the park. He can see everything from where he squats. The only person with a better spot on the field is the home plate umpire (what a waste ). Some of the best baseball managers have been catchers in their playing days (see this article from MLB.com for some neat tidbits on this topic). Men like Joe Torre, Mike Scioscia, Clint Hurdle, Joe Girardi, Eric Wedge, Bob Melvin, Jack McKeon and Bob Brenly to name a few of the more recent examples.

Look at it this way, they have to study the game, especially their opponents batters if they are going to call a good game. They need to know what to call in a given situation, because you need to pitch to certain hitters differently in different counts and game situations. A good catcher needs to know this! He needs to optimize the scouting reports and put in the time and effort to hone his craft, giving his team an edge. He is likened to a football QB. He calls the shots and he will usually take the blame for requesting the wrong pitch on a gopher ball and the pitcher will often admit to shaking off his catcher as being the reason why he gave up a big hit (like Boston’s Curt Schilling did after losing his no hitter in Oakland in 2007). Current players like Jorge Posada, Pudge Rodriguez and Jason Varitek all have the makings of being real good major league managers once their playing careers are over.

**I could probably go on and on, but we’ll stop here and open it up for further discussion in the comments. If they’re good, I’ll try to add them to the bottom of this post as they come in.**

A reader, Pete’s Rose’s Mom, asked the following question in a comment back in October:

    “I’d be interested in learning more about the managers of the 8 teams who made it into the playoffs. How do they compare with one another? What does it take to become a manager let alone a good manager?”

First, sorry for the late reply, but the first 4-8 weeks of starting a blog like this one, they say, are real time consuming & you find yourself working on the look & feel of your site more than you do about posting to it. I’m at about week 4 so please bear with me for a few more weeks or so. 

            I will try to answer this question by breaking it down into sections. I’ll have to admit that I’m not an expert at this or else I wouldn’t be writing this blog, I’d be a major league manager myself! 

What does it take to become a Major League Manager?

            Honesty, I don’t know for sure, but I do know this: Some men get into it simply by being a former major league player who happens to know every aspect of the game. They sometimes are seen as having an advantage to someone without that experience. Some people become major league managers after working in popular High School & College/University programs. Others get into an organization, work hard and climb the ladder until they get a position as a minor league coach, then manager until they move up to a triple A manager & the next step from there is a major league coach or right into becoming a major league manager. In one bad season or decision, it can all be lost. It can be a thankless job that often becomes a scapegoat.

What does it take to be a good Major League Manager?

            This depends or changes from situation to situation. In my opinion, a “good” manager is one who does well in any situation they find themselves in. I’ll explain this point in more detail later in this section. For now, let’s define some of those situations a big league manager might find himself in.

• A Young Team – a team that is mostly comprised of younger players & there are possibly a number of rookies in the starting line up on a daily basis (like the 2007 Diamondbacks)
• A Veteran Team – a team that is mostly comprised of veteran payers & probably doesn’t have any rookies in their starting line up (like the 2007 Yankees)
• A Team in a Small Market City – a team which has a low budget restraint that they need to work within (like Oakland, Kansas City, Colorado & the Diamondbacks)
• A Team in a Big Market City – a team that does not have many budgetary restraints & can almost spend at will (see the Yankees & Red Sox)

A “good” manager would be able to manage in any of these 4 situations, but not all managers are god managers. Jimy Williams (former major league manager for the Red Sox & Astros) was known for being great in the fundamentals & his teaching skills which work well with a young team, but caused some problems when managing a veteran team that no longer needs those managerial skills. They already know, or “should” know the fundamentals. It becomes more complicated when dealing with a big or small market team.

A small market team has to be wise with their spending & also need the backing of ownership & upper management (Baseball Operations & the General Manager) to build a team that will work best in this setting. Oakland GM Billy Beane does a good job at this by optimizing statistical analysis known as Sabermetrics (see the definition of this term in my definitions page). To learn more about Sabermetrics, I recommend the book Moneyball, which was written in part by Bill Beane or better yet, it is a sort of biography of the operations of the Oakland organization during Beane’s tenure as GM (a position in which he still holds with the team). To sum it up, you need to get the most out of your players without spending a lot of money. To do this, you need to figure out your team’s philosophy to winning games. Once that’s done, you build your team around that premise, looking for bargains in the player pool & especially in the draft. There are not usually a lot of star players here; therefore, a manager is typically dealing with players without much of an ego (which seems to haunt star players like a plague sometimes).  Some teams build around base running & speed, while others around on base percentage & even others rely upon the long ball (home runs), while still others rely upon good solid pitching & above average fielding. These just name a few.

A big market team usually has more star players who make considerably more money & with that usually comes bigger egos. What it also attracts are more intense media coverage & sometimes that can be the biggest intangible that a big league manager has to deal with. The dizzying egos & the often relentless baseball media can make even the toughest men want to find a rock to crawl under when things go bad. Likewise, if they are not good with handling people, they are probably not going to fare well with the egos some of these superior athletes have. Terry Francona & Joe Torre both do an excellent job with these elements!

But again I will stress, a “good” major league manager will do well no matter what situation they find themselves in while others are much better suited for just one or possibly two of these styles. You be the judge! If you want my take on a certain manager, post a comment & I’ll reply with a comment of my own! 

Also, I find that former catchers usually make the best managers (see Torre, Scioscia, Girardi, etc.)! They are generally good strategists if they are good at handling a pitching staff!

Who were the 8 managers in the 2007 Playoffs?

• Bob Melvin – Arizona Diamondbacks (NL West Champs)
• Terry Francona – Boston Red Sox (AL East Champs & World Series Champs)
• Joe Torre – New York Yankees (AL Wild Card)
• Eric Wedge – Cleveland Indians (AL Central Champs)
• Charlie Manuel – Philadelphia Phillies (NL East Champs)
• Clint Hurdle – Colorado Rockies (NL Wild Card)
• Mike Scioscia – Los Angelas Angels of Anaheim (AL West Champs)
• Lou Piniella – Chicago Cubs (NL Central Champs)

How do they compare with one another?

            I honestly do not know much about Melvin, Hurdle & Manuel so I can’t really speak much about them. If anyone has an opinion of them they’d like to share, feel free to comment below.

            Torre is great at managing the media & egos of a team and is not a bad strategist, but I don’t care for his handling of a pitching staff, especially his bullpens. I think he over uses them. I don’t care much for how bullpens are used these days in general with lefty specialist, et al. But that’s a post for another day!

            Scioscia is also very good and would be even if he managed a NL team. The Angels have a good bullpen and he typically manages it well. He plays small ball very well (manufacturing runs). 

            Wedge is also very good but has a young team. I expect his skills to only get better along with his team.

            Piniella:  let’s just say that he is very experienced, but I don’t care for his temper & antics with players or umpires.

            Francona seems to shine in the playoffs. Most of his moves work, but in the regular season he sometimes gives me fits. He can stay with a player too long (for example, Kevin Millar in 2005), but this year, sticking with the rookie Pedroia, Francona looked like a genius to stick with him after Pedroia gave such a poor showing in April. He also handles the players’ egos & the baseball media very well.