By George, He Has the Man to Put a Spark in Angels

Searching for a manager, the Angels have reportedly narrowed their choices to a few theoretically good men, among them the New York Mets’ and Atlanta Braves’ third-base coaches, the Baltimore Orioles’ batting instructor and the manager the Houston Astros just fired into outer space.

My personal clout with the Angel organization and Disney corporation has the approximate influence of Ross Perot’s on rap music. Nevertheless, before it is too late, I feel compelled to put in my two cents’ worth, which is why I am here today to advocate the candidacy of George “Sparky” Anderson, the man best qualified for the job.

Bringing down Joe Torre from the broadcast booth would have been a nice move for the Angels a few years ago, and so would this. Sparky Anderson belongs in a radio booth like I belong in the Mr. Universe pageant. He’s a natural-born manager, so let him manage.

What do the Angels possibly have to lose? Is there a clamor for Mike Cubbage, Jimy Williams, Rick Down or Terry Collins as “the next great manager” in baseball, so that Anaheim would rue the day this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity got away? Do you go after the experienced Jim Leyland with everything you’ve got, then diminish the importance of experience a few weeks later?

Everybody knows the Angels have never won a World Series. Here’s something perhaps you didn’t know: No man who has managed the Angels has won a World Series, except for Dick Williams with the 1972-73 Oakland Athletics. That’s right, in 35 years, this organization has hired only one manager with a World Series championship ring on his finger.

(Whitey Herzog was only an interim Angel manager, remember.)

By hiring Sparky Anderson, you get a man who won a World Series with two clubs. No matter what nonsense is spouted about “anyone” being capable of managing Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench, the fact remains that Anderson also won more than 100 games and a title in 1984 with the likes of Marty Castillo, Larry Herndon, Chet Lemon, Dave Bergman and Rusty Kuntz.

Now, I realize that success is not everything, and that people such as Jim Fregosi and John McNamara did, at least, take a couple of teams to a World Series. And obviously, the players themselves and their employers are responsible for the triumphs an organization has, or, in the Angels’ case, the repeated failures.

Look at George Steinbrenner. He tried every experienced manager but Ted Turner in his pursuit of a Yankee championship. By the time he got to Torre, there were fans who believed Steinbrenner had become desperate. Torre’s record did not exactly rival Casey Stengel’s, no matter how many of us knew Torre as one of the sharpest guys in the game.

Ah, but remember this was also the year Steinbrenner spared no expense to win games, adding David Cone, Cecil Fielder, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry at the drop of a cap. In the end, it was better to have too many players than too few.

I can’t tell what the Angels have planned. Their first big move of the off-season was to part company with Chili Davis, a 36-year-old player who was being paid $3.8 million not to play the field. In return, Anaheim gets pitcher Mark Gubicza, who hasn’t won 13 games in a season since the ‘80s.

As blockbusters go, this one did not exactly make me tingle. But I concede that the Angels have to do something to help Chuck Finley and Mark Langston before their arms fall off, and that perhaps Chili’s departure will clear the way for someone younger and hotter. (A right-handed hitting third baseman would be nice.)

Who to manage this menagerie? OK, that’s the question at hand. Leyland, who apparently ascended from journeyman to genius when I wasn’t looking, chose the Florida Marlins over life here in Southern California, where we already have enough smoke in our air without Leyland’s cigarettes, thank you. He joins Pat Riley and Jimmy Johnson now in Miami, where stars go to coach.

Puffing here on his corncob pipe, meanwhile, with that farmer-in-the-dell face of his and sinful syntax, is my old friend George Anderson, who can manage my team any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. I know there are some who think younger is better, but Joe Torre and Bobby Cox are not exactly 35, in case you didn’t notice.

Sparky is an old Dorsey High boy who should manage one of our teams once before he’s through. A man who once said he never lives in the past, because “there’s no future in it,” Anderson is not some old fogy who refused to evolve with the times. He once had strict rules on dress code, wives traveling with the team, body-building by his players, all of which eased in time, because old Professor Anderson is not inflexible. He bends.

Look, it’s OK if the Angels choose someone else. For all I know, Williams was the real brains of the Atlanta outfit, or Down’s the reason why Baltimore hit all those home runs, or Cubbage had a lot of time to think while waiting for a Met to reach third. The thing is, I already know what Sparky Anderson can do. Let him do it.