A new era in Cincinnati Reds’ baseball began in 1970 as the Reds moved from their longtime ballpark of Crosley Field to the brand new Riverfront Stadium in the middle of the 1970 season and at the end of the 1969 season, they replaced Dave Bristol as manager with a relatively unknown George Lee “Sparky” Anderson. So much was an unknown commodity that Anderson was, one of the headlines was “Sparky Who?” It wouldn’t take long for Sparky to endear himself to Reds fans as he guided Cincinnati to 102 wins and the National League pennant in his first season and ultimately led them to back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.

To commemorate the opening of Riverfront Stadium on June 30, 1970, Hall of Fame Manager Sparky Anderson was presented with this plaque. Bordered with a fancy red pattern, this plaque has “CINCINNATI RIVERFRONT STADIUM” across the top in black print. “First Nighter” is in red and below is printed “Be it known to sports fans everywhere that on the night of Tuesday, June the Thirtieth, Nineteen hundred and Seventy”, “George Anderson” “witnessed the first official event…a National League baseball game between the” “*Cincinnati Reds*” “and the Atlanta Braves…to take place in the Riverfront Stadium, in the city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio, The United States of America. For being present at this historic occasion, the Cincinnati Reds, Inc., hereby proclaims this fan to be a “First Nighter.”” “June 30, 1970”. The Reds logo seal is on the bottom right corner and a silhouette of Riverfront Stadium is on the bottom left corner. Facsimile signatures of Francis Dale, Bob Howson and George Anderson close out this memento. This comes with a LOA from the family of Sparky Anderson.

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