12.10.2011

Card Show Find: The Main Spark

I had a chance to pop in on my old favorite regular card show while traveling over Thanksgiving and found a few good buys, including some great shape 1978s as a chip away at my first childhood set. I also found a nice $1 box and grabbed a heapin' handful - and was thus discounted.

I'll feature a few of these over time, although posting may be sporadic or nil during our pre-holiday move to our new home.

One card I had actually never seen before features one of my all-time favorite baseball men. I had nearly named this blog after him in some way. This card is so generic, yet I love it. The non-descript hat, the scowl, the white sideburn...
This one is a bit rough but that seems to fit the man.
Sparky Anderson managed my favorite team during the time that I first found my love of baseball cards. (Click that there link for a bit more about that time of my life.)

Sparky was the king of baseball to me. As a whippersnapper, I read his autobiography, "The Main Spark". Sparky won a couple of World Series, of course, while he was in Cincinnati.

A few years later, Sparky ended up in Detroit, and won another World Series.

My family had always gone to Cincinnati when I was young, to see the Reds. That's how I became a lifelong fan. Later, in my teens, my Dad and I made the trip up to Detroit many times. Sparky was still king in my book.

Dad and I used to hang out after the games at Tiger Stadium where the visiting team would walk out to their bus. I had a few encounters with big league players as a result. Dave Stieb smiled. Jim Rice scowled.

But what I most remember is the night that Sparky Anderson drove by and gave us a nice wave.

When Sparky passed away last year, it was - well - it was just a particularly sad one to absorb.

2 comments:

  1. hey dude -

    about your sparky anderson card. i have the same one myself, and imho its a bit better shape than the one in your post. at least, the corners are less chewy. if you wanna upgrade, i'll be happy to send it over your way.

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