Veterans select Sparky Anderson, Bid McPhee and Negro League star Turkey Stearnes. He has long been the master of overstatement, innocently assigning credit where it never belonged. He once immortalized an eminently forgettable left-handed pitcher by claiming if you did not like Dave Rucker, you simply did not like ice cream. The only person Sparky Anderson never elevated to epic proportions was Sparky Anderson himself. On Tuesday, the Hall of Fame did it for him. The Veterans Committee elected Anderson to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, along with 19th century second baseman Bid McPhee and Negro Leagues star Turkey Stearnes. For the first time since 1993, the committee did not elect a major league player from the 20th century. "If there is anything better in the world than the Hall of Fame," Anderson said, "I haven't seen it yet." Anderson, the only manager to win a World Series in both American and National leagues, said he would be enshrined wearing the cap of the Cincinnati Reds. It will make for a Red-letter day at Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 23. Anderson will be inducted along with former Reds slugger Tony Perez and Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, who were previously elected along with Boston catcher Carlton Fisk. McPhee also played his entire career in Cincinnati. The son of a house painter, Anderson made little money during his first two decades of baseball. He used to pass the time and save money between seasons by painting and re-painting the family home. He said his wife would often come outside and catch him far off in thought while on a ladder. "I used to dream about everything. My wife would come outside to bring me a lemonade and she'd say, "What are you dreaming about now?' I'd say, "Honey, I'm dreaming about this club. I think this club " Anderson said. "But never in my wildest days did I dream about the Hall of Fame. I think the Hall of Fame is beyond anything you can come up with." Anderson managed 17 years in Detroit and only nine in Cincinnati, but made a name for himself as skipper of the legendary Big Red Machine. A weak-hitting second baseman who lasted one year in the majors with the Phillies in 1959, Anderson was an unknown when hired by Bob Howsam to take over the Reds in 1970. Cincinnati would go on to win five division crowns, three league championships and two World Series titles in the next seven years. When he was through managing in Detroit after the '95 season, Anderson was third on the all-time victory list with 2,194 behind Connie Mack and John McGraw. "Bob Howsam hired a 35-year-old nobody knew. He had the courage and fortitude to do that," Anderson said. "Had he not done that, I doubt very much in all honesty, if I would have ever managed in the major leagues. I owe that to him." While he has World Series championship rings from 1975-76 with Cincinnati and 1984 with Detroit, Anderson said he has never worn them. He's given two to his children and one to a grandson. The ring he will be given at the Hall of Fame will not go anywhere. "I will wear this ring until I die," Anderson said. "That to me is how much difference there is between a World Series and the Hall of Fame." While Anderson's election was expected, the committee shocked even itself by failing to decide on a former player. Red Sox outfielder Dom DiMaggio, Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges, Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski and Twins outfielder Tony Oliva were the leading vote-getters. With 14 of the 15 committee members present (Buck O'Neill is recovering from a hip injury), it took 11 votes for election and there was not enough support for any one candidate. "The problem was there were too many candidates," said committee member and baseball's official historian Jerome Holtzman. "All of the candidates were borderline guys. They might have made it if they were the only candidate out there, but the votes got split among all of them." Stearnes was a left-handed hitting outfielder who batted .352 over 18 seasons in Detroit, Louisville, Kansas City and Chicago. He won seven home run titles and was credited with a .351 batting average in exhibitions against major league teams. McPhee's career spanned from 1882-99 and he was one of the last major leaguers to perform in the field without a glove. Yet he finished first in the league in fielding average nine times. He is the only 19th century second baseman in the hall. "He was the top second baseman of the 19th century," committee member Allen Lewis said. "This guy was still leading the league in fielding even after all the players started wearing gloves."