Sparky

Sparky Anderson, who managed the Detroit Tigers to the World Series crown of 1984 - the big year I always remember - passed away.

When Sparky left the Tigers, I lost interest in modern day Major League Baseball.

1993 (I believe) was the year of replacement players. Sparky Anderson refused to manage the Tigers if replacement players were fielded. A little know fact back then was that there was a good deal of finger-pointing between teams, each one accusing the other of wanting to field "better" replacement player teams, the object being to get such a lead in the season with the replacement team, that when the strike was finished and the real players returned, they would already be well on the way to the World Series. In essence, a major part of the replacement player scheme was to be non-competitive and offer baseball, but not baseball that was too good. (There are news articles from the time to substantiate what I have said.)
This would also include offering the paying fans what was actually a phony sport appetizer to chew on until the main course was finished.

Mike Ilitch, the owner of the Tigers, allowed Sparky to remain one more year. Sparky was too popular to fire outright. However, the deal was to manage one more year, then retire.

I have always had a feeling that this is the main reason why Sparky chose to be depicted in the Hall of Fame in the uniform of the Cincinnati Reds.

Sometimes I feel like I should really get back to seeing baseball; I used to play until I was 18 or 19 years old. But there's always something that has a bad taste (steroids came after this).
For me and for many other kids, Baseball was Iconic; the great players were epic heroes: Ulysses and Achilles and Davie Crockett. The baseball strike year exposed what the game had become in the big leagues: an entertainment, a lucrative entertainment, when the bottom-line took priority over the traditions and stories of baseball. The spirit of Las Vegas had kicked out the spirit of Flatbush Avenue, of Shibe Park, and of of Briggs Stadium at Michigan and Trumbull.
I cannot imagine what would have happened if the season had gone on in its entirety with replacement players. How could the Series be played, when everyone all along knew the sport they were presenting was a sham?
Ask yourself that: what would have happened? Well, they would have put on a dog-and-pony show of the World Series.

Sparky had Soul. Modern baseball does not have Soul. It's a good sport, there are good and great players, true, but there is no Soul no more.

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