Departing from the Key West theme to give props to my man, Sparky Anderson, who died on Thursday. I was introduced to him once and he could not have been nicer to me. I loved to hear him fracture the language, and I wish there were baseball guys like Sparky and Yogi in the game today to entertain us with their interviews. My very vivid memory is of Sparky at his managerial best. Tigers vs. Red Sox. Young Roger Clemens (in his prime) on the mound and mowing us down. Looks like there is no hope this day until Clemens walks a Tiger. There must have been no score. Clemens is worried about the runner and either throws over or makes a funky move to the plate. Anyway, Sparky flies out of the dugout and enters into a long tirade with the umpire about the balk move he thinks Clemens has committed. Sparky's one-sided argument goes on and on until he decides it's over. What happened next? You guessed it. Clemens can't find the plate. When he finally does, the Tigers jump on him and eventually win.
I was reminded of my favorite Sparky quote in a Free Press obituary. He had a tendency to hype young players and was frequently telling the fans that this or that young player was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. Well, a rookie makes the squad coming out of spring training (could be Torey Lovullo) and Sparky says, "If you don't like him, you don't like ice cream." That's how I felt about Sparky.
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