Anderson Wishes Waiting Would End : Baseball: Detroit manager, three victories shy of his 2,000th, considers himself lucky.

ANAHEIM — Another night, another ballpark, another game, another case of the jitters for Sparky Anderson. If they weren’t there, he’d worry.

After all these years, those trembling hands and sweating palms offer nightly reassurance to Anderson. Some time soon, he’ll get it worse than usual, though.

Another milestone beckons. Another moment Anderson could never have fathomed when he when first became a major league manager in 1970 is drawing near.

In a matter of days, Anderson, a career minor-leaguer who never bought a house in Cincinnati because he figured he wouldn’t be around that long, will gain his 2,000th victory as a manager. The Detroit Tigers’ 7-5 loss to the Angels Friday at Anaheim Stadium, kept him at 1,997 victories.

Only six others have surpassed the mark, a fact that is not lost on Anderson.

“You have to appreciate the moment when it happens,” Anderson said before Friday’s game. “I think any guy in his right mind would be lying if he said he didn’t think about it. You’re walking in a different league there.

“I know this: It will probably be one of the most nervous games for me. Even though you know you’re going to do it--it’s like the guys who are about to pass 3,000 hits--you’d like to get it over with.”

It could come as early as Tuesday in the Tigers’ home opener against the Oakland Athletics, which would suit Anderson just fine. As soon as he gets No. 2,000, he’ll set his sights on 2,010 and Leo Durocher, sixth on the all-time list, then 2,040 and Walter Alston, No. 5. Anderson wants to pass Alston’s mark most of all.

“I loved Walter Alston for how he treated me,” Anderson said. “He was nicer to me than any other man. He treated me like I’d been around forever. When I came up from the minors (to manage the Reds), he said, ‘Don’t change a thing. Do just what you’ve been doing.’ ”

When the Reds named Anderson manager, he had only one season of major league experience to call on, having endured 10 of his 11 seasons as a player and his first five years as a manager in the bush leagues. Toronto, Rock Hill, S.C., St. Petersburg, Fla., Modesto, and Asheville, N.C., were his managerial stops before the Reds hired him.

“I was very fortunate,” he said. “I went over to a bunch of professionals. Pete Rose, Tony Perez . . . I was very fortunate that first season.”

The Reds won 70 of their first 100 games in 1970, finished with 102 victories and lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

Since then, he has moved among the all-time greats in most categories. No other manager had playoff sweeps in each league. Or won World Series titles in each league.

You hang around long enough and that’s what happens, said Anderson, who spent nine seasons in Cincinnati and is managing his 15th season in Detroit. In all, he has led his teams to seven division titles and reached the World Series five times, winning three.

“Things happen perfectly with guys who’ve had longevity,” he said. “It’s all happened in perfect spots for me.”

So what’s left for Anderson to accomplish? Quite a bit, it turns out.

“One, I want to fall asleep in the dugout like Casey (Stengel) did,” he said, laughing. “Two, I want to manage long enough so I don’t have to go on the road trips during spring training. Just send the coaches all around.”

He also continues to rail against the designated hitter rule whenever he can.

“The DH is the worst thing that’s ever happened to baseball,” he said. “If you start managing in this league and go over to the other league, they’ll just bury you for the first year. You have to understand pitching over there. That is real baseball. This is like we’re going to play soccer and they’re playing rugby.”