[MaggieCarta]

Thank you, BluesDuke and grellis.

"There is nothing in this world that you will ever do that's better than helping a child." Sparky Anderson.

Sparky's CATCH charity has helped many kids at Children's and Henry Ford.

I actually met Sparky once at a luncheon--maybe it was for CATCH, or when he wrote his book. I have to go now, I'm crying....

[BluesDuke]

Here's a story about Sparky Anderson that I love: When Jim Bouton made his brief major league comeback with the 1978 Atlanta Braves, Bouton pitched and won against a lesser club, before he faced and beat the Giants, who were well in the race. Before that game against the Giants, Anderson harrumphed about Bouton not getting to face contenders.

But Bouton got a start against Anderson's still-contending Reds and pitched strongly enough, though he lost. After the game, Anderson said, "We got two runs off him that we weren't supposed to get." Remembered Bouton, writing about the game in an update to Ball Four, "Sparky Anderson is a gentleman."