There’s a good chance that Sparky Anderson’s personal code of ethics ruined his career as a baseball manager.
Memories of Sparky have taken on the rose-colored tinge of time, with his number being retired by the Detroit Tigers after his death, and celebrated with a sleeve patch. He is now considered one of the all-time greats, and our website’s very name is a nod to his memoir about the 1984 victory season (though the “Bless you boys” phrase, of course, originated with broadcaster Al Ackerman). None of this is to say Anderson doesn’t deserve all his accolades — he certainly does — but the end of his career with the Tigers was very much a direct result of his actions during the 1994 strike season.