Top 53 Sparky Anderson Quotes
#1. Say what you want about Hitler, but he trained killers. You train kids in their early years and you can do anything you want with that child. - Sparky Anderson, manager of the Detroit Tigers, trying to explain why he prefers younger ballplayers
David James Duncan
#2. Sparky Anderson wasn't just my favorite manager ... he was my mom's favorite manager.
Tucker Elliot
#3. Sparky Anderson taught me this a long time ago: 'There's three ways you can treat a person. You can pat 'em on the butt, you can kick 'em in the butt, or you can leave 'em alone.'
Pete Rose
#4. It took exactly one month of regular season play for fans to accept Sparky [Anderson] - posting a 16-6 record out of the gate has that kind of effect.
Tucker Elliot
#5. As the late baseball manager Sparky Anderson put it: Losing hurts twice as bad as winning feels good.
L. Jon Wertheim
#6. If you have to choose between power and speed and it often turns out you have to make that choice, you've got to go for speed.
Sparky Anderson
#7. The trick is to realize that after giving your best, there's nothing more to give.
Sparky Anderson
#8. Am I a great manager? Huh. I was blessed to have a front office that found great talent, and then I was smart enough to stay the hell out of their way.
Sparky Anderson
#9. 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.
Sparky Anderson
#10. The only reason I'm coming out here tomorrow is the schedule says I have to.
Sparky Anderson
#11. Success is the person who year after year reaches the highest limits in his field.
Sparky Anderson
#12. It's a terrible thing to have to tell your fans, who have waited like Detroit's have, that their team won't win it this year. But it's better than lying to them.
Sparky Anderson
#13. Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut.
Sparky Anderson
#14. Explaining why he was forced to cut a utility player: You just got caught in a position where you have no position.
Sparky Anderson
#15. 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.
Sparky Anderson
#16. 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 Anderson
#17. I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it's more than there'll be a tomorrow, it's that I want there to be a tomorrow. That's the big difference, I want tomorrow to come.
Sparky Anderson
#18. Pete (Rose) doesn't run with celebrities and he can't stand the phonies. His big buddy in LA ain't Sinatra, it's a funny old groundskeeper.
Sparky Anderson
#19. I've changed my mind about it (DH) - instead of being bad, it stinks.
Sparky Anderson
#21. The day I got a hit off (Sandy) Koufax was when he knew it was all over.
Sparky Anderson
#22. People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I've got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There's no future in it.
Sparky Anderson
#23. I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that.
Sparky Anderson
#25. 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.
Sparky Anderson
#27. I don't know why the players make such a big fuss about sitting in the first class section of the plane. Does that mean they'll get there faster?
Sparky Anderson
#29. My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work.
Sparky Anderson
#30. Success isn't something that just happens - success is learned, success is practiced and then it is shared.
Sparky Anderson
#31. Managing is not running, hitting, or stealing. Managing is getting your players to put out one hundred percent year after year.
Sparky Anderson
#32. The great thing about baseball is when you're done, you'll only tell your grandchildren the good things. If they ask me about 1989, I'll tell them I had amnesia.
Sparky Anderson
#33. You can be whoever you want to be, you just have to want it bad enough.
Sparky Anderson
#34. Inner peace is not found in things like baseball and world championships. As long as I feel I've done the best job I possibly could, I'm satisfied.
Sparky Anderson
#35. Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings.
Sparky Anderson
#36. Problem with (John) Wockenfuss getting on base is that it takes three doubles to score him.
Sparky Anderson
#37. I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench.
Sparky Anderson
#38. Every 24 hours the world turns over on someone who was sitting on top of it.
Sparky Anderson
#39. If I ever find a pitcher who has heat, a good curve, and a slider, I might seriously consider marrying him, or at least proposing.
Sparky Anderson
#40. Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players and if you keep them in the right frame of mind then the manager is a success.
Sparky Anderson
#41. You're gonna lose some ball games and you're gonna win some ball games and that's about it.
Sparky Anderson
#42. The only thing I believe is this: 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.
Sparky Anderson
#43. You give us the pitching some of these clubs have and no one could touch us, but God has a way of not arranging that, because it's not as much fun.
Sparky Anderson
#45. 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?
Sparky Anderson
#46. The players make the manager, it's never the other way.
Sparky Anderson
#47. Just give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts; I'll win a pennant every year.
Sparky Anderson
#49. He's (Willie Stargell) such a big strong guy he should love that porch. He's got power enough to hit home runs in any park, including Yellowstone.
Sparky Anderson
#50. Casey 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 even caught on to yet.
Sparky Anderson
#51. Chris Pittaro is the best rookie I've had in 15 years.
Sparky Anderson
#52. Mike Laga will make you forget about every power hitter that ever lived.
Sparky Anderson
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