Baseball Great Is a Hit With Graduating Class

Sparky Anderson, the only manager in baseball history to win a World Series in both the American and National leagues, won the applause of his granddaughter’s classmates Friday by giving an impromptu speech to the eighth-grade graduating class at Sequoia Intermediate School.

Anderson was attending the ceremony to see his granddaughter, Danielle Anderson, 13, one of 363 graduating students who will attend Newbury Park High School this fall.

Sequoia Principal Teri Scarpino called on the former skipper of the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” to say a few words, Assistant Principal Cary Washburn said.

He spouted graduation-flavored words of encouragement, in addition to a short sermon on treating all people with respect. The general theme was that in life, as in baseball, it helps to use your head, the assistant principal said.

Anderson of Westlake who was elected this year to the Baseball Hall of Fame, ended with advice to the students and a crowd of 1,700 to treat all people fairly. He left the stage to rousing applause.

“It was very nice and very memorable for the kids,” Washburn said.