Sparky Anderson Born in Bridgewater, South Dakota

On February 22, 1934, George Lee Anderson was born in Bridgewater, South Dakota. He would earn the nickname "Sparky" in the minor leagues and become the only manager in baseball history to win the World Series in both the National and American Leagues.

Anderson's family moved to Los Angeles when he was eight years old. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1953 and spent years grinding through the minor leagues before the Philadelphia Phillies gave him a shot at second base in 1959. He played 152 games that season, hit .218 with no home runs, and was sent back to the minors. That single big league season was the entirety of his playing career.

Managing suited him far better. The Cincinnati Reds hired Anderson as their manager before the 1970 season, when he was just 35 years old. He led the Big Red Machine to four National League pennants and back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976. Those Reds teams, built around Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez, are remembered as one of the strongest collections of position players ever assembled. Anderson managed the talent without ego, deflecting credit to his players at every opportunity.

After the Reds fired him following the 1978 season, the Detroit Tigers hired Anderson in 1979. He rebuilt the franchise and won his third World Series in 1984, when the Tigers started the season 35-5 and never looked back.

Anderson finished his career with 2,194 wins, placing him among the top ten managers in baseball history. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000, the first year he was eligible. He died on November 4, 2010, in Thousand Oaks, California. The kid from Bridgewater who hit .218 as a player built one of the most successful managerial records the game has seen.