Word: reliefs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sunset, 40 FBI agents had coordinated an attack on the plane, which was parked at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Two agents, posing as relief pilots, boarded through the side door from a forklift truck, while others stormed up the rear gangway. Sibley, wounded in the shoulder and leg, was taken to the hospital. When it was announced that no one else had been injured in the shootout, the crowd of observers broke into applause...
...strictly from The Bronx. It invariably happens late in the ball game. The starting pitcher is tired, the home team's lead is threatened, and help is needed. The gate in Yankee Stadium's right-centerfield fence swings open and a Datsun painted in pinstripes taxis a relief pitcher toward the diamond. Eyes strain to see who is inside the car, voices murmur, hopes rise. The car stops, the stadium organist sweeps into the regal strains of Pomp and Circumstance, and the crowd exults. Out steps Albert Walter ("Sparky") Lyle. He sheds his warmup jacket with measured nonchalance...
With astonishing consistency, Sparky succeeds. Pitching in most of the Yankees' close games around the American League, the 28-year-old lefthander has compiled the best record of any relief pitcher in either league. Going into last weekend's action, he was credited with having saved 28 games, won four and lost three. (Only Clay Carroll of the Cincinnati Reds in the National League was close to him, with 24 saves, five victories and four defeats.) With some 40 games yet to play, Lyle has a good chance of breaking the major league season record of 34 saves...
Statistics alone do not reflect a relief pitcher's effectiveness. Saves are credited when a pitcher protects any sort of lead, big or small. In Sparky Lyle's case, most of his saves have come in crucial situations. For instance, there was his performance in a game against the Texas Rangers in June. Summoned to the mound in the eighth inning, with the Yankees leading 3-2, Ranger runners on second and third, and no one out, Lyle intentionally walked Home-Run Threat Frank Howard, the first batter he faced. Then, with the bases loaded, he coolly struck...
Born in DuBois, Pa., Lyle has been a relief specialist for almost all of his major league career, which began with the Boston Red Sox in 1967. The Yankees had coveted him for two years, but it was not until before the start of this season that they finally acquired him in a trade for First Baseman Danny Cater. At the start of last week, after Sparky had played a part in eight of nine Yankee victories over a twelve-game stretch, the team was only 1½ games out of first place in the American League's Eastern...