Thomas Frank "Tully" Sparks (December 12, 1874 – July 15, 1937), was a former professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1897 to 1910. Sparks played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Giants, and Boston Americans. He was an alumnus of Beloit College.
In 1899, while with the Pirates, Sparks led the National League in relief innings pitched and ERA.
Secret marriage incident[]
In 1908, he supposedly deserted a woman named Mabel Winter, who he had secretly married. This incident apparently caused Winter to go insane. The story gained a lot of public attention at the time upon being leaked. In October of 1910, Sparks filed for a divorce claiming that she had abandoned him.