2,000 WINS FOR SPARKY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160098
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short
2,000 WINS FOR SPARKY
It was classic baseball. It was Sparky Anderson's kind of game.
Anderson notched his 2,000th victory Thursday. And he did it the way he loves best. Right to the end, he was pushing all the right buttons, moving players like pieces on a chessboard.
Finally, Chad Kreuter's pinch-hit double in the ninth inning drove in Skeeter Barnes and the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2, putting Anderson in a class with the elite.
The only names ahead of his on the list of baseball's winningest managers are Leo Durocher, Walter Alston, Joe McCarthy, Bucky Harris, John McGraw and Connie Mack.
"When I started, I never believed I'd win 2,000 games," Anderson said. "The first one is the only one I really remember."
Anderson won his first game April 6, 1970, when Cincinnati beat Montreal. He soon will pass Durocher, who is sixth on the list with 2,010 wins.
Anderson's past 1,137 victories have come with the Tigers.
The Tigers trailed 2-1 and were facing Dennis Eckersley (0-1) to open the bottom of the ninth.
Rob Deer singled to start the Detroit rally and Gary Thurman ran for him. Thurman stole second and moved to third on Mickey Tettleton's groundout to second.
Scott Livingstone singled Thurman home to tie the score and Barnes ran for him. Kreuter, pinch-hitting for Milt Cuyler, lined a 1-2 pitch up the alley in left-center scoring Barnes and tagging Eckersley with his first blown save of the young season.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB