Earlier this week I was reading a Facebook post from a good friend with whom I worked many years ago in Illinois. He was reminiscing about a few things from our days in the workplace and mentioned some names that brought back wonderful memories. My boss, Dick Brautigam, was one of the nicest persons I have ever known. I wrote about some of my memories of him a while back and will share those again during this Thanksgiving week.

When I was a young reporter on the Decatur (Ill.) Herald and Review, my boss Dick Brautigam was a huge fan of baseball’s Cincinnati Reds. He was a native of Ohio and had been a Reds supporter all of his life. When I first signed on he knew I was from Kansas and he used to tease me unmercifully about how much better his team was compared to the Kansas City A’s, which he assumed was my favorite. He was correct on both counts--I had been an A’s fan since they moved to Kansas City in 1955 and the Reds certainly were by far the better team.

Then came the dark days--1968 when there was no major league team in Kansas City. The A’s had moved to Oakland after the 1967 season and the Royals weren’t in existence until 1969. In the void I did what most young employees would do, root for the boss’s team. The Reds didn’t fare badly in that year, but weren’t championship caliber either. They finished in fourth place as the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League. It had been eight years since the Reds made it to the World Series, but my boss predicted they would be there again soon. He was so right.

When the Royals started up in 1969 I was on board to cheer their exploits, but as an expansion team they were years away from being a contender in the American League. I found myself going the brownie point route and doing some cheering for Cincinnati. All this is simply introduction to the real topic of this discussion--former Reds and Detroit Tiger manager Sparky Anderson. Anderson became the Reds manager in 1970. My boss was skeptical at first. After all, Sparky at the ripe old age of 36, was a youngster as far as managers go. The Reds had just gotten rid of a young manager--Dave Bristol, who was 33 when he was given the Reds job in 1966. Dick Brautigam had never been very happy with the way Bristol managed his team. Bristol hadn’t played Major League Baseball and Anderson had only played one year, 1959 with the Philadelphia Phillies. By the way, I had Anderson’s card in my no-longer existing collection.

There was something about Sparky Anderson that gave long-time Reds fans like my boss some hope. And he was inheriting a team that had a lot of young stars who would go on to form the nucleus of what was known as the Big Red Machine. Oklahomans will remember that Johnny Bench from Binger was at the beginning of his Hall-of-Fame career. Tony Perez, another future Hall-of-Famer, was at third base. And of course, Pete Rose, who would be in the Hall-of Fame except for his gambling indiscretions, was a member of the team. In Anderson’s first year Cincinnati won 102 games, but lost in the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles. The year was so good that most Reds fans were Sparky Anderson fans forever. He managed in Cincinnati until he took a similar job with the Detroit Tigers in 1979. He ended his Hall-of-Fame career as manager of the Tigers in 1995. The one thing I will always remember about Sparky is that when he walked out on the field he would always be careful not to step on a chalk line. He believed to do so would bring about bad luck.

The subject of Sparky Anderson came up last week as I saw something on a Facebook feed about the “wisdom” of Sparky Anderson. I had never really thought of Sparky as having been a philosopher on the level of Yogi Berra. But what I read indicated that there were many things Anderson said that were worthy of note. So I did what I am prone to do--looked it up.

What I found is a long list of things attributed to Sparky Anderson and I agree that they are certainly worth recognizing. He had great respect for the managerial style of Casey Stengel, who won so many championships with the New York Yankees.

One thing he said about Casey: “Casey Stengel knew his baseball. He only made it look like he was fooling around. He knew every move that was ever invented and some that we haven’t caught on to yet.”

About himself: “Me carrying a briefcase is like a hot dog wearing earrings.”

Other things attributed to him:

“You can be whoever you want to be, you just have to want it bad enough.”

“My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work.”

“They say the first World Series is the one you remember most. No, no no. I guarantee you don’t remember that one because the fantasy world you always dreamed about is suddenly real.”

“A baseball manager is a necessary evil.”

“The man I marvel at is the one that’s in there day after day, and night after night and still puts the figures on the board. I’m talking about Pete Rose, Stan Musial, the real stars. Believe me, especially the way we travel today, flying all night with a game the next night and then the next afternoon, if you can play one-hundred and sixty-two games, you’re a man.”

“You’re gonna lose some ball games and you’re gonna win some ball games and that’s about it.”

“He’s (Jose Canseco) built like a Greek goddess.”

“The trick is to realize that after giving your best, there’s nothing more to give...

Win or lose the game is finished. It’s over. It’s time to forget and prepare for the next one.”

“A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules”.

“The day I got a hit off (Sandy) Koufax was when he knew it was all over.”

“I understand people who boo us. It’s like going to Broadway show, you pay for your tickets and expect to be entertained. When you’re not, you have a right to complain.”

“I don’t believe a manager ever won a pennant. Casey Stengel won all those pennants with the Yankees. How many did he win with the Boston Braves and Mets?”

“The only reason I’m coming out here tomorrow is the schedule says I have to.”

“Success is the person who year after year reaches the highest limits in his field.”

“I hope the car they (Sport Magazine who awarded it to the World Series MVP) give him (Brooks Robinson) has an extra-large glove box.”

“Our pitching could be better than I think it will be.”

“I’m beginning to see Brooks [Robinson] in my sleep. If I dropped a paper plate, he’d pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first.”

Sparky’s wisdom is a little different than Yogi’s but it has proven to be worthy of an examination.