Sparky Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager died on Thursday. He was 76. The ace scripted history in his lifetime, and his memorable feat was the back-to-back wins in the World Series championships at the helm of affairs in Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in 1975-76. Sparky also had the honour of winning the World Series at two major leagues, and he followed his Cincinnati heroics with another title in Detroit. 1984 saw the victory of the Detroit Tigers under Sparky.

Sporting luminaries are grieving over the loss in the community. Others in the Hall of Fame include the likes of Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman , Johnny Bower and Ted Lindsay. The level of brilliance that Sparky Anderson brought to the game was unmatched.

His vintage genius came with a quirky sense of humour that wowed sports interviewers the world over. He was famed for his infectious charm and the atmosphere he built prior to games shall always be remembered.

Sitting in his Tiger Stadium office, Sparky was known for regaling sports interviewers with tales of his Toronto stint and cracks in how ice hockey would be a fun game if only all those lines were erased off the face of the ice to jazz up the game.

Sparky Anderson was always inspirational for players and could accosted errant umpires for good measure. He once joked about the Rock Hill incident when he had pinned an umpire to the ground and was sitting on top of him to choke him. His humour and unheralded talent shall be sorely missed.

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