Captain Hook

George "Sparky" Anderson died yesterday
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=5765088

Once again showing my age, people may not remember the manager of the 1970's Reds who won five division titles in the NL and two World Series. It would be hard to argue that the Big Red Machine wasn't one of the best teams to ever play the game. With players like Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey Sr., Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Davey Concepcion, Bobby Tolan and Cesar Geronimo you would very hard pressed to put a better team on the field. He got his second nickname "Captain Hook" because he was quick to change pitchers and when he got out of the dugout he usually pointed to his arm for a righty or lefty as needed.

That could have been a Hall of Fame career by itself, but Sparky went on to coach the 1980's Tigers and led them to a World Series sweep in 1984. Only one other manager, Tony LaRussa, has managed world champions in both leagues. That's it, the list, two people. He once described his managerial technique this way: “I got good players, stayed out of the way, let ’em win a lot, and then just hung around for 26 years.” Great advice for today's managers in business and sport. RIP Sparky, we lost a great one yesterday.