2019 Sportlots purchases: Sparky Saturday

With a couple hours to kill until Michigan's second straight night game I thought it would be fun to go back to my unposted Sportlots stuff and see what I wanted to show off today.  In the spirit of the Fall Classic I chose a guy who guided his teams to five pennants and three World Series wins:  George "Sparky" Anderson.

Sparky's managerial career was a very good one, and it started off on the right foot with the Reds reaching the World Series in his first season, 1970.  They'd repeat that feat in '72 before the Big Red Machine won it all in 1975 and '76.  The Tigers were fortunate enough to acquire his services in 1979, and he became a franchise icon thanks to his 17 years in Motown, highlighted by the wire-to-wire '84 champs.  Though he led the Tigers to just one more playoff appearance in 1987, he left the team after 1995 having won more than he lost, and he'll forever be remembered for the magic of 1984.

That's where his career ended, but some of you may have seen an interesting story recently about how he almost became the skipper of the Angels with their new manager Joe Maddon getting set up as heir apparent.  If you didn't catch that I highly recommend checking it out.

Ok, time for some cards, with a quick note that I have a couple more of him to show off in a future post.

There's a nice mix of Reds and Tigers cards today and I'm cool with that, especially since it highlights Sparky becoming the first to manager World Series winners in both leagues.  Up top, a couple Topps parallels--'87 Tiffany and '92 Gold Winners--bookend '88 Pacific Legends, a product we'll see a bit more of in this series.  A '96 Upper Deck checklist--which I saw in someone else's post a month or two ago and knew I had to have--is the last vertically oriented card made during his career.  What a great photo!

With those covered it's time to get into the main course:  products that tend to focus on retired MLBers, legends, and HOFers.  The second and third iterations of Fleer's always excellent Greats of the Game are right down the middle, one each for both teams he skippered.  And the bottom brings a terrific 2003 trio of Fleer's Fall Classics, SP Legendary Cuts, and Topps Gallery HOF.  Topps hasn't produced anything matching that Gallery product lately but I sure do appreciate the ones that appeared in the early aughts.

The classy and attractive '03 Sweet Spot Classics leads off this scan, and it's joined by a 2014 A&G base at the bottom as the only clear Tigers cards; 2012 Panini doesn't clearly depict or list a team.  From there it's the franchise where Sparky enjoyed the most success.  2004 is represented by SP Legendary cuts once again, and then one of his three appearances in a set I still love:  Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams.  I have a post in this series planned covering just that product and I'm looking forward to it!

2005's lone representative is from Upper Deck Classics while that same manufacturer's 2008 Goudy product uses an image that looks very familiar for some reason.  2013 Panini Golden Age and 2017 Topps Archives join the previously mentioned Cooperstown and A&G cards as the only ones from this post made this decade.

We'll close out the post with a trio of horizontals, the first two of which are the lone vintage cards today.  Up first is the '75 Topps checklist, not that I had to point that out to any of you thanks to that set's instantly recognizable design.  I was fine with the condition considering the low price but thought I might share the back of this one since

one of its owners used it as originally intended!  Who needs pristine when you have fun stuff like this?  I wonder if this person ever tracked down the last two he needed for his team set.

Sticking with vintage is an issue that isn't a checklist, from '78 Topps, one of my favorites given its bevy of four-player prospect cards, many of which star my favorite Tigers.  This one covers his stats as a player, including his one MLB season with the Phillies.

Last up is a 1993 Topps Gold parallel that pairs him up with fellow manager Art Howe, then of the Astros.  '93 would be the last of the latter's tenure with Houston, but he'd go on to manage the Moneyball A's from 1996-2002, and then the Mets for a couple seasons after that.  Suffice to say that his career pales in comparison to Sparky's!

Stay tuned for more Sportlots pickups, most of which will feature more Tigers greats and fan favorites.  In the meantime I'll be putting together my Michigan gameday post for the Wolverines/Irish tilt tonight and keeping my scanner busy.