Sparky Lyle
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Sparky Lyle
Albert Walter "Sparky" Lyle (born July 22, 1944) is an American professional baseball pitcher who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1967 through 1982. He was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago White Sox. A three-time All-Star, he won the Cy Young Award in 1977, the first American League reliever so honored. He led the AL in saves in 1972 and 1976. With the Yankees, Lyle was a member of the World Series champions in 1977 and 1978, both over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lyle co-authored, with Peter Golenbock, ''The Bronx Zoo'', a 1979 tell-all book that chronicled the dissension within the Yankees in its World Series Championship seasons of 1977 and 1978. From 1998–2012, Lyle served as manager of the Somerset Patriots, an independent baseball team of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Lyle is credited, alongside Rollie Fingers, with expanding the role and importance of the ...
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TD Bank Ballpark
TD Bank Ballpark is a 6,100-seat baseball park in Bridgewater, New Jersey, that is the home of the Somerset Patriots, a Double-A level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team affiliate of the New York Yankees in the Eastern League (EL). The Patriots previously competed in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB). The ballpark hosts 70 Patriots games as well as Patriots playoff games, in addition high school and corporate events are held each year. TD Bank Ballpark is named for TD Bank, N.A., which purchased Commerce Bancorp in 2009. Formerly called Commerce Bank Ballpark, the original naming rights were sold to the institution in July 2000. The ballpark was originally known as Somerset Ballpark. Its first regular season baseball game was held on June 7, 1999. Since its opening, more than eight million fans have attended games at the stadium. History Construction on the ballpark commenced on April 28, 1998, with Epic Construction as the general contractor. ...
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AL Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford C. Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick, the award was given to one pitcher in each league. Each league's award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). Local BBWAA chapter chairmen in each MLB city recommend two writers to vote for each award. Final approval comes from the BBWAA national secretary-treasurer. Writers vote for either the American League or National League awards, depending on the league in which their local team plays. A total of 30 writers vote for each league's awards. Writers cast their votes prior to the start of postseason play. As of the 2010 season, eac ...
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1977 New York Yankees Season
The 1977 New York Yankees season was the 75th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 100–62 and won the World Series. The series victory was the 21st title in franchise history and the first under the ownership of George Steinbrenner. New York was managed by Billy Martin and played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The season was brought to life years later in the book and drama-documentary, '' The Bronx is Burning.'' The Yankees also hosted the 1977 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. To date, this is the most recent time the All-Star Game host team has won the World Series the same year. Offseason The Yankees signed Reggie Jackson to a five-year contract, totaling $2.96 million, on November 29, 1976. Upon arriving in New York, Jackson asked for uniform number 9, which he had worn in Oakland and Baltimore. However, that number was being worn by third baseman Graig Nettles. So, noting that then-all-time home run leader Hank Aaron had just retired, Jackson ...
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The Bronx Zoo (book)
''The Bronx Zoo: The Astonishing Inside Story of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees'' is a nonfiction book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Sparky Lyle and Peter Golenbock. A memoir of Lyle's tenure with the New York Yankees, the book documents the 1978 New York Yankees season, including the 1978 World Series and conflicts between players. The book was published by Crown Publishers in 1979. The term "Bronx Zoo" became a nickname for the Yankees teams of the late 1970s through early 1980s. Background and synopsis The New York Yankees won the 1977 World Series. Sparky Lyle, their closer, won the American League Cy Young Award that season, given to the league's best pitcher. However, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner acquired relief pitcher Goose Gossage from the Pittsburgh Pirates that offseason, giving him a larger salary than Lyle's. Though the Yankees wanted to have both Lyle and Gossage work late innings in games, it became apparent that the team would cho ...
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Peter Golenbock
Peter Golenbock (born July 19, 1946) is an American author. He is noted for his many books about baseball and other sports. Many of his books have been bestsellers. Career Golenbock initially worked as a lawyer for Prentice Hall, a publishing house. He began his writing career after convincing an editor to let him write a book about the Yankees. The book, ''Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964'', was chosen by Joe Torre as one of the best books on baseball, in a 1997 ''New York Times'' article. ''The Bronx Zoo'', which Golenbock coauthored with Yankees pitcher Sparky Lyle, was a ''New York Times'' bestseller and, in 2003, was chosen as one of ''Sports Illustrateds Top 100 Sports Books of All Time. ''Personal Fouls: The Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams of Big Money Basketball at Jim Valvano's North Carolina State'' was controversial when it was published. The original publisher, Simon & Schuster, dropped the book, and the North Carolina attorney general threatened a la ...
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Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and used other monikers before settling as the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce crosstown Dodgers-Yankees rivalry, rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise's first title in 1955 World Series, 1955. The Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. Another major milestone was reached in 1956 when Don Newcombe ...
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World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best-of-seven playoff (except in 1903 and from 1919–1921, when a best-of-nine format was used), is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy. The series is traditionally played in October, although before expansion of the regular-season schedule from 154 to 162 games the event occasionally started in late September (most recently in ) and the entire series took place early in that month due to the World War I "Work or Fight" order forcing an early end to that year's regular season, while some more recent editions have been contested into November due to in-season delays and expansion of earlier postseason rounds. Because the series is played in the fall or autumn season in North America, it is often referred to as the Fall Classic. Before the A ...
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Save (baseball)
In baseball, a save ( SV or S) is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain circumstances. A save can be earned by entering a game in which his team is leading by three or fewer runs and finishing the game by pitching at least one inning without losing the lead; entering the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases and finishing the game; or by pitching at least three innings in relief and finishing the game regardless of how many runs your team was winning by when entering the game. The number of saves or percentage of save opportunities successfully converted are oft-cited statistics of relief pitchers, particularly those in the closer role. The save statistic was created by journalist Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic in 1969. The save has been retroactively tabulated for pitchers before that date. M ...
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American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League (original), Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to Major League Baseball, major league status. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season, 25 years after the formation of the National League (baseball), National League (the "Senior Circuit"). Since 1903, the American League champion has played in the World Series against the National League champion with only two exceptions: 1904, when the NL champion New York Giants (baseball), New York Giants refused to play their AL counterpart, and 1994, when a 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, players' strike resulted in the cancellation of the Series. Through ...
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Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball (MLB), Baseball Commissioner Ford C. Frick in honor of Baseball Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick, the award was given to one pitcher in each league. Each league's award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). Local BBWAA chapter chairmen in each MLB city recommend two writers to vote for each award. Final approval comes from the BBWAA national secretary-treasurer. Writers vote for either the American League or National League (baseball), National League awards, depending on the league in which their local team plays. A total of 30 writers vote for eac ...
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Relief Pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection (sports), ejection, high pitch count, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather delays or pinch hitter substitutions. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as Closer (baseball), closers, setup men, middle relief pitchers, left-handed specialist, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. Whereas starting pitchers usually pitch count, throw so many pitches in a single game that they must rest several days before pitching in another, relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch in more games with a shorter time period between pitching appearances but with fewer innings pitched per appearance. A team's staff of relievers is normally referred to Metonymy, metonym ...
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Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional baseball league in the world. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round Major League Baseball postseason, postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained le ...
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