Sparky Anderson

On this date in 1995, Sparky Anderson is put on involuntary leave of absence by the Tigers for refusing to manage replacement players during the players strike.

"Strange, but it was the proudest moment of my career. I couldn't believe that grown men, who are supposed to have common sense could actually come up with the idea of using replacement players. They were actually going to bring in some guys who had not played in eight to ten years and call it major league baseball! What about the history of the game? What about integrity? We were willing to sacrifice our history and everything we believed in all on account of money. Well not me. If the owners thought I betrayed them, they missed the point. That wasn't the case at all. The only thing I didn't do was betray baseball. I wasn't going to try and fool the fans who pay for the game." - "They Call Me Sparky" - by Sparky Anderson and Dan Ewald