If statistics alone were the measure of a man's worth, it would be impossible to set a value on Sparky Anderson's accomplishments. He managed two teams, the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds, for 26 Major League seasons; only Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Bucky Harris managed longer, and only Mack and McGraw posted more lifetime wins. He is the only manager to pilot World Series championship teams in each league, the only one to win 100 games during a season in each, and the only manager to lead two different franchises in total victories.

As this invitingly likeable hybrid of a book makes clear, such achievements don't begin to scratch the surface of his story. For all the accomplishments, Anderson, one of the most colorful baseball characters of recent years, remains a regular guy with simple tastes and unaffected values worth applauding. Still, with Anderson, "regular" does not mean "uninteresting" or "unenlightened."

Structurally, They Call Me Sparky plays in two different leagues. Its chapters alternate Anderson's first-person observations and bits of inspiration with the more straightforward third-person biographic narrative of longtime Tigers PR director Dan Ewald. It's a technique that scores; Sparky's never forced to brag about what he's done, and he gets to retain the quirkiness of his own voice. And it is quirky. "I ain't no martyr," he tell us. "I ain't no hero. And I don't want no bowl of chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and cherries just for doing the right thing... I know I did the right thing in 1995," by refusing, in that strike spring, to capitulate to the owners and manage a team of replacement players. "How many people get the chance to stand up for everything they've believed in since they were a kid?" That Anderson can still equate baseball with decency, which he does unashamedly throughout, deserves more than the plaque that will one day be dedicated to him in Cooperstown. --Jeff Silverman

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