PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sparky Lyle was one of baseball's most successful relief pitchers.
Lyle spent 16 years in the big leagues, including parts of three seasons with the Phillies. He won the 1977 Cy Young Award while with the New York Yankees and ended his career with 238 saves.
Lyle first arrived in the big leagues in 1967 with the Boston Red Sox. He talked about developing his signature out pitch in his early days as a pro and how it impressed a Hall of Famer.
"I felt that I belonged when I developed that slider. Before that, I didn't know, because I hadn't had the chance. Nobody even mentioned the fact of me pitching in the big leagues before I developed that slider," he said.
"Ted Williams told me that if I developed that slider, he'd see me in the big leagues. Now how about that?"
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After his playing days, Lyle spent some 17 years in New Jersey as the manager of the then-independent Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. He said a longtime Phillie helped put the wheels in motion that landed him that gig.
"John Vukovich and I were good friends. He knew Steven Kalafer, the owner of [Somerset], and I wanted to buy a truck. I said, 'Don't you know a guy that has a dealership, [where] I can get a deal on a truck?' He sent me up to Flemington and what happened was, I had to order the truck," he remembered.
"In the meantime, [Kalafer] had bought a franchise in the Atlantic League. When I went back to pick my truck up, he asked me if I had ever managed before and I said no. He said, 'I want a Yankee and somebody with some notoriety to manage my team.' So we made an agreement. I signed two contracts that day, one with the bank and one with Steve Kalafer."
You can listen to the entire interview with Sparky Lyle, above, by checking out the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." For more, subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.