Detroit Tigers fans have waited for this day to come for a long time.
Today the Tigers will retire Sparky Anderson’s jersey number 11 just before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Comerica Park.
Sparky Anderson was the Tiger’s manager from 1979 to 1995. He managed the Cincinnati Reds before coming to Detroit.
He brought a championship to Detroit in 1984. That season the Tigers began by posting a 35 – 5 record. They ended up with 104 wins. He led the Tigers to baseball’s best record in 1987.
He won the Manager of the Year award twice while with Detroit (1984 and 1987).
He led both the Reds (The Big Red Machine) and the Tigers to championships. The Reds retired the number he wore while with them — number 10 — in 2005.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
The Tigers raised a flag in his honor on Opening Day. The players will continue to wear a patch that bears his name on their uniform sleeve for the rest of the season.
The ceremony will take place today at 12:45 p.m.. In fact, the Detroit Tigers are asking fans who plan to be in attendance to be in their seats by the time the ceremony begins.
According to the Tigers official website:
Among the Tigers who played for Anderson who will attend the ceremony are Tom Brookens, Rod Allen, Dave Bergman, Darrell Evans, Mike Henneman, Larry Herndon, Dan Petry, Dave Rozema, Frank Tanana and Milt Wilcox. They will join Anderson’s family, along with Tigers owner Mike Ilitch and team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski. Hall of Famer Al Kaline will also be in attendance.
Also, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, along with his bench coach Alan Trammell will attend the ceremony, too. Both played for Sparky in Detroit.
Today Sparky will join these Tiger’s greats to have their number formally retired by the organization: Willie Horton (23), Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg (5), Charlie Gehringer (2), Hal Newhouser (16), and Al Kaline (6). Ty Cobb played with the Tigers before jersey numbers were adopted.
Sparky Anderson passed away on November 4, 2010. (DeeTown Tigers)
~Skip
