Joe Sparks (coach)
| Joe Sparks | |
|---|---|
_-_Omaha_Royals_-_1980.jpg) Sparks in 1980 | |
| Coach | |
| Born: March 15, 1938 McComas, West Virginia, U.S. | |
Bats: Left Throws: Right | |
| Teams | |
|
Joseph Everett Sparks (born March 15, 1938) is an American former
, Sparks batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 195 pounds (88 kg) during his active career.Sparks managed in minor league baseball for all or part of 20 seasons (1970–78; 1980–83; 1986–88; 1991–94) in the
American Association championships while at the helm of the Indianapolis Indians, then Montreal's top affiliate. He also won the championship of the Class A Northern League in 1970, his maiden season as a manager.[1]
Sparks served one-year coaching terms in Major League Baseball with the White Sox (1979), Cincinnati Reds (1984), Expos (1989) and New York Yankees (1990), and was an advance scout for the St. Louis Cardinals for eight seasons (1996–2003). He then served in the same role for the Oakland Athletics.
His son, Greg, a former minor league first baseman, manager and hitting instructor in the Athletics' minor league system, has been the assistant MLB hitting coach of Joe Sparks' former longtime employer, the White Sox, since 2016.[2]
References
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, ed., The Minor League Register. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1994.
- ^ Baseball America Annual Directories, 1986–2008 inclusive. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
External links
- Retrosheet
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)