Page 14
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1979
Lyle enjoys memories of ‘Bronx Zoo’
By MILTON RICHMAN
UPI Sports Editor
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. —
Sparky Lyle was talking one day
about all the screeching, scrapping
and back-biting that went on in the
New York Yankees’ clubhouse and
suddenly the phrase came out
naturally, almost automatically.
It was just like “the Bronx Zoo,”
he said.
That was long before the second
half of last season, when he pitched
so little he nearly died of neglect
and couldn’t wait to get out of the
Bronx Zoo.
Now that he has, would you be
lieve this — he misses it.
“I’m happy here,” he says, mean
ing with the Texas Rangers, who
dealt for him last November, “but I
had a good rapport with all the guys
over there. That’s what you miss
most, the guys you spent so much
time with. There’s a bunch of nice
guys here, too. I’ve got a lotta
memories from my time over there.
Good and bad. But you know how
that is. You forgive and forget.”
Among the better memories is
how Lyle led the American League
twice in saves while he was with the
Yankees and how he won the Cy
Young Award as the No. 1 pitcher in
the circuit two years ago.
Among the bad ones, is how he
hardly ever was called upon to pitch
after last year’s All Star break. A
year before, whenever the game
was on the line, the call would go
out to the bullpen for him. Last
year, Goose Gossage was the one
who always got the call.
Lyle never complained once. He
caught up on a lot of sleep in the
bullpen because he knew he
wouldn’t be called upon.
“People wondered why I wasn’t
bitching” he said, toweling his chest
after showering in the Rangers’
clubhouse. “It’s so simple. Who are
you gonna pitch if one guy is making
four-fifty and the other guy is mak
ing one-thirty? You pitch the guy
making four-fifty. I’d have done the
same thing. George (Steinbrenner)
didn’t have any choice. They
would’ve crucified him if I had
pitched and done well.”
The “four-fifty” Lyle was talking
about was the $450,000 a year being
paid Gossage, and the “one-thirty”
was the $130,000 being paid him.
Lyle’s salary always was a source of
unhappiness with him, particularly
after he became the first relief
pitcher ever to win the Cy Young
Award in 1977.
If you ask the 34-year-old lefthan
der the last time he pitched last
year, other than his one brief ap
pearance in the playoff with Kansas
City, he says he doesn’t remember.
Press him on it, and he tries to think
and then says he still doesn’t re
member.
“It bothered me at first but after
awhile, it didn’t anymore,” he ex
plains regarding his inactivity. “I
knew I was gonna be traded at the
end of the season. I knew it almost
from the beginning. When the deal
finally was made, I was happy. It
was something I wanted. I don t
want to waste what years I do have
left just sitting around and not doing
anything.”
Lyle, who still has one of the best
hard sliders in the business, put his
spare time to some use last year by
collaborating on a book about his
experiences with the Yankees.
“It’s not gonna be a Ball Four or
anything like that,’’ he says.
“They’re calling it The Bronx Zoo.
The publishers picked the name
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out, not me. It’s kindoftai
guess.”
For the most part, Lyle I
the problems that aroseintll
kees’ quarters were not thall
different than those in anj|
clubhouse.
“The same two guys whol
each other in the clubhousel
be fighting side by sides
field,” he says. “The imp
thing is what goes on behJ
white lines, and in that i|
those guys (the Yankees) werl
pletely united. Whatever[
ences they had in the
were the same ones you’ll |
every clubhouse. They’d just
right out and say it straight Ii
face, and I think that makes
better club.”
Sparky Lyle can’t see aft
beating the Yankees inthefft
Division this year. ^
“I think they’ll win ;ui HOfo
says. “Who’s gonna stop enyBdnes<
d five
srth pf
Guthrii
to race
at TW!
United Press International I
HOUSTON — Race carl
Janet Guthrie Tuesday
crashes in stock car races wer^BJ
for the gate but not necessari^Bt
for the future of the motorstH
“I really believe the spa
who comes hack race afte
The C
comes there to see the goodift^
the exciting driving and nft v (
crashes,” said Guthrie as she
break in her preparation fori j
US AC race of the year.
“I believe,” she said, “tle^B ^
tators who come to seethecfP 1) j
are temporary and will goa«^F a
find more gratifying, ^F u1
participatory violence, i.e.
key or boxing.” ^Bde
igtotr
More competitive racesimflftt,
all the participants was nee^Biat
improve the gate on a Ion: Mayo
basis, she said. She added oncem
believed the governing botercent;
race car driving were striv:ihAul
that goal.
“The cost of championshi^Bfo
petition has gotten out o! Hoi
That’s why you see such a
tween front runners and b Mhlity
ners,” Guthrie said. “In any leakt ra
racing more money buysr 6 :
speed. In NASCAR moren^Fh
buys smaller increments ai
(than in championship radn;IB us
believe US AC is moving in ll^ft 6
rection. This will be extreme! ! ^S e 1
fol to competition. folder
Guthrie’s decision to n %
United States Auto Club i%^ a "
dropped its “conflict rule”Wft>
unexpected offer of a spoiis(F re(
Hold,
“^ys
Janet
Guthrie
for Sunday’s Aggieland 250
Texas World Speedway. Befo
got the offer, the first womanl]
in the Indianapolis 500 was [
ing already for this year’s ]
and Tom Bigelow drove new(|
Ontario two weeks ago.
“We both have new
Cosworths, the same kind
all three 500-mile races
she said. “Before we tooktkl
two weeks ago we would nol
believe it if someone had
that we would have run rightj
(Indy) qualifying times despit|
12 inches less boost than wail
last year. We are both abso]
tickled.”
Despite her sponsor beini
out from under” her in 1978,|
He still showed the passion |
helped convert her from phyii]
race car driver in the 1960s.
“Racing is not a sensible!
vocation,” she said. “It’s son
you do when you cannot
otherwise.”
Guthrie, 41, said the laij
years have been good to her]
cially.
“But I would probably
ahead of the game if I had (
to be a physicist,” she said. 1
job in that field was working!
advanced orbiting solar obseii
where she had to convince!
modynamicist that “he didntl
two-inch hold in the sun-faciif
of the observatory.”
She has recently appeal]
television ads for a motor oill
explained that the endorsemf|
part of her package deal tfflj
sponsor, a major oil company!
“I still make more (mone|
ing,” she said.
She does not believe l
down speeds will make
pionship car racing any safer I
My opinion is that the diflij
between 195 and 200 mpl 1 ]
percent,” she said.
fex;
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