Sparky Lyle was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago White Sox.
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33 Facts About Sparky Lyle
2.
Sparky Lyle co-authored, with Peter Golenbock, The Bronx Zoo, a 1979 tell-all book which chronicled the dissension within the Yankees in its World Series Championship seasons of 1977 and 1978.
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3.
Sparky Lyle is credited, alongside Rollie Fingers, with expanding the role and importance of the reliever in professional baseball beginning in the 1970s.
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4.
Sparky Lyle was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania on July 22,1944, but grew up in nearby Reynoldsville.
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5.
Sparky Lyle's father was a carpenter and general contractor, and his mother a seamstress at a coffin factory.
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6.
Sparky Lyle attended Reynoldsville High School where he played varsity football and basketball.
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7.
Sparky Lyle once struck out 31 batters while pitching 14 of 17 innings in a state tournament game for DuBois.
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8.
Sparky Lyle was brought in for a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates alongside Bruce Dal Canton.
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9.
Sparky Lyle did succeed in catching the attention of George Staller who was a scout for the Baltimore Orioles at the time.
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10.
Sparky Lyle signed with the ballclub as an amateur free agent on June 17,1964.
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11.
Sparky Lyle spent the opening half of his first professional campaign in 1964 with the Bluefield Orioles.
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12.
Sparky Lyle was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the first-year draft on November 30,1964.
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13.
Sparky Lyle progressed up the Red Sox farm system as a relief pitcher, with stops in Winston-Salem in 1965, Pittsfield in 1966 and Toronto in the first half of 1967.
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14.
Sparky Lyle was called up to Boston after Dennis Bennett was sold to the New York Mets on June 24,1967.
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15.
Sparky Lyle was left off Boston's World Series roster due to a sore arm.
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16.
Sparky Lyle registered 64 saves during the next four years, serving as the team's closer from 1969 to 1971.
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17.
The transaction proved to be one-sided as Sparky Lyle became the Yankees' bullpen ace, establishing himself as one of the best relief pitchers of the 1970s.
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18.
Sparky Lyle played a major role in the Yankees' three straight pennants from 1976 to 1978, and World Series titles in the last two of those years.
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19.
In 1972, Sparky Lyle became the first southpaw to collect 100 saves in the American League.
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20.
Sparky Lyle again led the league in saves in 1976, and in 1977 became the first AL reliever to win the Cy Young Award.
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21.
Sparky Lyle was named an American League All-Star in 1973,1976 and 1977.
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22.
Sparky Lyle knew the 26-year-old Gossage was a rising star who would eventually become the go-to reliever, and Sparky Lyle was not okay with a reduced role in the Yankees' bullpen.
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23.
Sparky Lyle was left off the team's postseason roster after suffering a varicose vein flareup in his pelvic area.
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24.
One of Sparky Lyle's desired destinations was the Texas Rangers, and he believed that a deal would be done "before Christmas".
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25.
Sparky Lyle signed a new contract with the Rangers shortly after he was acquired, with the intention of him finishing his playing career in Texas and being paid $50,000 for each of ten years as an analyst on Rangers telecasts.
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26.
However, Sparky Lyle was not the same pitcher he had been in his All-Star years and it showed.
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27.
Sparky Lyle was nearly dealt along with Johnny Grubb from the Rangers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tug McGraw, Bake McBride and Larry Christenson at the 1979 Winter Meetings in Toronto, but the proposed transaction was never executed because Lyle's post-retirement deferred money issue went unresolved.
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28.
Toward the end of the 1980 season, the Rangers cut ties with Sparky Lyle and traded him to the Phillies for a player to be named later.
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29.
In 1998, Sparky Lyle became the first manager of the Somerset Patriots, an independent baseball league team based in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
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30.
Sparky Lyle managed the team to Atlantic League pennants in 2001,2003,2005,2008 and 2009, and was the Patriots' manager until November 27,2012, when he became manager emeritus.
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31.
Once, as he noted, he got revenge on Yogi Berra for using his toothpaste before games by injecting liniment into the tube; Sparky Lyle said that once the liniment came in contact with Berra's mouth it literally caused smoke to pour from his gums.
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32.
Sparky Lyle loved giving "hotfoots", a time-honored baseball trick where a player will sneak up on another player or reporter while they are giving an interview in the dugout.
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33.
Sparky Lyle enjoyed the final result, usually a startled yelp in the middle of a serious conversation.
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