Mr. Anderson's style is as direct and down-to-earth as a hard, clean slide into second . . . Sparky! gives us not only a vivid portrait of baseball's most successful manager but also a refreshing view of a guy who has his head screwed on right.--The New York Times Book Review. Now available in paperback. 20 photographs.
I love Sparky. And he loves baseball and has a mancrush in Pete Rose. But he needed someone to guide him through the process of writing a book.
As much as I enjoyed all the stories he told, he did repeat himself an awful lot, contradicted himself a bit, and the book didn't have an easy flow to it, it just jumped all over the place.
My favorite chapters were about his All Star team picks, baseball legends, and his take on every major league ballpark.
Overall, it felt like someone's papaw telling old stories with a random stream of thought.
I really wanted to like this book because everything I've heard about Sparky makes me like him, and this book did still add to that. But the book was difficult. He contradicted himself, talked in circles, jumped around, repeated himself both within paragraphs and between chapters. The stories of his life are fascinating, but this book didn't really hold my attention.