Premiere Speakers Bureau

Legendary baseball manager Sparky Anderson is the fourth winningest manager in baseball history. Starting with the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 and ending with the Detroit Tigers in 1995, he has guided his teams to success despite several hardships.

Named Manager of the Year twice in both the NL and the AL, Anderson won more than 800 games in each league and was also the first to win World Championships in both leagues. After winning the NL pennant in his first season, Anderson won five division titles, four pennants, and two world championships with the Reds, only once finishing below second place.

After spending six seasons in the minor league farm system of the Dodgers, Sparky Anderson was traded to the Phillies and became their regular second baseman in 1959. In his only big league season, Anderson hit .218 and Philadelphia finished in last place. He returned to the minors and eventually became a manager in the minors with Toronto in 1964. Following four more seasons as minor league manager, he returned to the NL in 1969 as a coach for San Diego. He accepted a coaching post with California for 1970 but then was hired to manage Cincinnati.

Sparky's Reds won 70 of their first 100 games en route to a 102-win campaign that netted them a division title, and eventually the NL pennant. Anderson would spend nine seasons with the Reds, compiling the highest win total (863) and best winning percentage (.596), of any manager in team history.

Despite his success as a Red, Sparky Anderson was fired on November 27, 1978 after two consecutive second-place finishes, but he decided to sign on with the Tigers, where he won a World Championship in 1984 and a division title in 1987. By the time he left in 1995 he had set franchise records for most seasons (17), games (2579), and wins (1331) by a manager.

Sparky Anderson is the only manager in history to win a World Series in both the American League and the National League and the first to win 100 games in a season in both leagues. Sparky is an ambassador for baseball and a much sought-after speaker.

A committed philanthropist, he founded the charity CATCH in 1987 to aid underprivileged children in Detroit.