Sparky Anderson

He left the Tigers in 1995, resisting a rebuilding project that he and the owners felt he shouldn't have to endure. After flirting with the idea of managing somewhere else, however, Anderson decided he was no longer afraid of the prospect of being out of baseball. He retired to California, the father of three, grandfather of 14 and loving husband of the girl he met in the fifth grade.

Sparky Anderson never strayed from the small town values he learned from his father as a child. He applied the same principles on the field as he did in his personal life. He became one of the most successful managers in baseball history without ever incurring a single smudge on his reputation or straying very far from his roots. "The biggest thing I'll miss," he said during his last days as a big league manager. "Is all the BS I've thrown out."