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WILKES-BARRE — Tommy Lynch approached Sparky Lyle with trepidation.
Lynch, one of more than 425 attending Friday night’s Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick dinner at Genetti’s Hotel and Convention Center, was wearing a tuxedo, complete with a fine Irish green vest and tie.
And Lynch is a Yankee fan — has been for all 9 years of his life. And now, Tommy Lynch of Wyoming was going to meet a Yankee hero and get his autograph.
“Mr. Lyle, may I have your autograph,” Lynch asked the former Yankee closer.
Lyle, a father of three boys and grandfather of five, signed his name, posed for pictures and hugged Tommy Lynch. It was a moment neither Lynch nor Lyle would soon forget.
“That’s what it’s all about,” said Lyle, who will turn 71 this summer. “Kids are so appreciative. I love the look on their faces.”
Lyle grew up in Pennsylvania, about 100 miles north of Pittsburgh. He compiled an impressive major league career that includes a Cy Young Award in 1977. Lyle was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1972 and he was a key part of three straight World Series teams in 1976-77-78. The Bronx Bombers won two of those three titles, both against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“When I got to the Yankees, Thurman Munson came up to me and told me not to be afraid to throw my slider in the dirt with a runner on third base,” Lyle said. “”He told me he would stop it. I knew then that this guy was on my side.”
Munson and Lyle became close friends. Munson was killed in a plane crash in August, 1979.
“He was my captain, my friend,” Lyle said. “He led by example and he backed it up time and time again.”
Friendship, family and camaraderie are important to Lyle. He said he was going to tell the Friendly Sons crowd several stories about those qualities.
“I don’t have any notes,” he said before the dinner. “I’ll just go in there and tell some stories, make people laugh and hopefully leave them with a positive message.”
Lyle said the Yankee teams he was on had a lot of characters. He said the locker room was filled with egos and there were squabbles from time to time.
“But come game time when we got on that field, we fought for each other,” he said.
In 1978, the Yankees found themselves 14 games behind the Red Sox at the July All Star break. They would come back in the second half to end the regular season in a tie, forcing a one-game playoff in Fenway Park for the American League East title. They went on to win the AL title and the World Series.
“Lou Pinella told us we could do it — that we could come back and win the title,” Lyle said. “The Red Sox played the best baseball they could for the first half of the season and we played ours in the second half.”
Lyle managed in the minor leagues for years and is now retired. He hasn’t been to an Old Timers Game in Yankee Stadium in a long time.
“I might go this year,” he said.
Lyle enjoyed his time in baseball — that camaraderie, friendship and togetherness.
“That’s what this group tonight is all about,” he said. “But in baseball especially, over the course of 162 games, you really have that clubhouse as a sanctuary and you bond with the guys.”
Lyle was known for sitting naked in birthday cakes.
“Some 50 cakes later, I’m still in therapy over that,” he said jokingly.”
He said it started with Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who came to the Yankees and, as Lyle said, immediately took over. He said Harrelson would get cakes delivered to the clubhouse and one that came in was a replica of Fenway Park.
“Hawk said he was going to freeze that cake because it was so special,” Lyle said. “But after he hit me in the face with two lemon meringue pies, I dropped my pants and sat on that Fenway Park cake. That’s where it all started.”
Lyle said he cherishes his family. He spends as much time as possible with his grandchildren. Lyle lives in New Jersey and his grandchildren are in Virginia and New Jersey.
“It’s tough on a family when a ballplayer is away from home so much,” he said. “But they always supported me and now I do my best to give them as much of me as I can.”
His toughest out? Mickey Stanley, center fielder with the Detroit Tigers.
“He was a .260 hitter, but if not for me, he woulda hit .210,” Lyle said. “I couldn’t get him out.”
Best teammate? “Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry and Dick Tidrow and Thurman, no doubt,” he said.
Lyle spent three years with the Phillies during the Pete Rose years. He says Rose was an amazing talent.
“But we were told time and time again not to gamble — ever,” he said.
Lyle once thought that he would never get out of that pottery factory in his hometown. He said hard work and a few breaks and an almost unhittable slider got him to the bigs.
He kept signing autographs while answering questions. You could tell he enjoyed the attention.
“Every day after batting practice we were given 10, 15 minutes to walk down the right field line and sign autographs,” he said. “One day, we were told to get in the clubhouse and this one guy started cursing at me because I didn’t get to him. He had a ball with Micky Mantle and other Yankee greats on it, but he kept cursing at me.”
So Lyle went back and took the ball and signed it.
“I signed it Avery Kisseldip,” he said. “Then you should have heard the cursing.”