Sparky Anderson Marquee Hall of Fame 2000

That season is the whole of his playing record: 104 hits in 477 at-bats, 34 runs batted in, not one home run, and every one of his 152 games at second base. He was twenty-five and never played in the majors again.

What he is here for is twenty-six seasons, 2,194 wins against 1,834 losses and seven first-place finishes: Cincinnati from 1970, Detroit from 1979 to 1995. He won a World Series with each, which no manager had done before him, and the writers named him Manager of the Year twice.

He was called Captain Hook for how quickly he changed pitchers, and he said of himself that he had never played a lick and knew it. The Veterans Committee elected him in 2000, five years after he stopped, and he lived another ten.