“I can’t believe they pay us to play baseball – something we did for free as kids.”

“I don’t want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench.”

“If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win—unless, of course, it doesn’t have enough talent to win, and no manager can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?”

“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.”

“I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that.”

“I’ve changed my mind about it (DH) – instead of being bad, it stinks.”

“Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings.”

“Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut.”

“The players make the manager, it’s never the other way.”

“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.”

on the Reds jerseys for the 2011 season.

I wasn’t around to watch you, but I know the stories. You are the greatest.

:(

Sad for baseball, loosing someone who obviously loved the game and loved teaching it.

Sad for the Reds, who lost their greatest manager.

Sad for me; I was just 7 years old when the Reds hired him. I grew up with the BRM, and despite his quote above, he seemed every bit as important to their success as any of the players.

Everyone thought the press conference was to announce the Reds had signed free agent Von Joshua. When it came down that Sparky was fired, I almost stopped being a Reds fan.

Well said, Pete. Well said.

Rest in peace, Spark.

Read it.

he held most dear to any in his collection. He got both Sparky and Bench to sign it and it hung in his television room prominently above the TV. It’s honestly one of my oldest baseball-related memories. For sentimental value it’s one of my favorite pictures ever.

Now, my two favorite of Sparky, though, are these. I think they embody the two sides of the man the best:

I was born a few years after the Big Red Machine days, and growing up in Iowa we didn’t pay much attention to the Reds.

I’ve been reading up a lot on Reds history over the last few years though, and he seemed a truly special man. Some of the quotes Slyde was tweeting today were some of the greatest baseball quotes I’ve ever seen.

My father had a stroke when he was in his early 40s, and now 10 years later he’s showing some early signs of dementia. I’m getting a taste of what that’s like, and I feel nothing but the utmost compassion for Sparky and his family and what they must have been going through these last few years. I wish them peace in their loss.

There’s a reason he’s the best baseball writer in America.

1. Got to shake his hand as a little kid when he was signing his book “The Main Spark” at Readmore Books in Middletown. Just remembered he seem like a nice old man (when he wasn’t THAT old). I still have two autographed copies of that book.

2. One of the more sad days of my young baseball nerd life came a few years later. I was around 12 or 13 I think. My dad lived in Florida, and he arranged for me to fly down there on a Friday night and then go to the Tigers clubhouse in Lakeland and meet Sparky. I was sooo excited by the trip. Then of course there’s mechanical problems with the plane…the last one out for the evening, so I got bumped to the next morning, which meant not getting to Florida in time to meet Sparky. I was so upset.

Anyway I have heard and read countless Sparky stories……not ashamed to say I shed a tear after hearing of his passing.

        Sparky was managing when I became a RED fan. Yeah, it was the machine that got me hooked, and Bench was my favorite. My mom liked Pete Rose. I didn’t realize how cool it was to have a mom who was a baseball fan until I became an adult. I think I’ll tell her that next time I see her. Probably not because of Sparkys passing as much as the effect of staying here for longer than 5 minutes and reading everything.
        
        Got a group of great fans here

        RIP Sparky, loved you too.