Spark The Stirred The Drink

Okay, he wasn't quite the impact player that Reggie Jackson was, but Sparky Lyle certainly deserves a spot on my list of Greatest Relief Seasons in baseball. And it happened to be in 1977. Same year Reggie comes. The Yankees were lucky to have Reggie and Sparky, for at the end of the season, both were drinking champagne.

Stat Set 1

Pitcher	Year	GP	GF	GF%	IP	W	L
Murphy	1941	35	31	0.886	77.1	8	3
Page	1949	60	48	0.800	135.1	13	8
Konstanty	1950	74	62	0.838	152.0	16	7
Wilhelm	1952	71	32	0.451	159.1	15	3
Duren	1959	41	29	0.707	76.2	3	6
Face	1959	57	47	0.825	93.1	18	1
McDaniel	1960	63	47	0.746	104.1	12	4
Arroyo	1961	65	54	0.831	119.0	15	5
Radatz	1963	66	58	0.879	131.1	15	6
Perranoski	1963	69	47	0.681	129.0	16	3
Miller	1965	67	55	0.821	112.1	14	7
Regan	1966	65	48	0.738	116.2	14	1
Hiller	1973	65	60	0.923	125.1	10	5
Marshall	1974	106	83	0.783	208.1	15	12
Lyle	1977	72	60	0.833	137.0	13	5
Stanley	1978	52	35	0.673	141.2	15	2
Tekulve	1979	94	67	0.713	134.1	10	8
Hernandez	1984	80	68	0.850	140.1	9	3
Lamp	1985	53	11	0.208	105.2	11	0
Eichhorn	1986	69	38	0.551	157.0	14	6
Henke	1987	72	62	0.861	94.0	0	6
Eckersley	1990	63	61	0.968	73.1	4	2
Wetteland	1993	70	58	0.829	85.1	9	3
Hoffman	1998	66	61	0.924	73.0	4	2
Rhodes	2001	71	16	0.225	68.0	8	0
Rivera	2008	64	60	0.938	70.2	6	5
Chapman	2012	68	52	0.765	71.2	5	5
Davis	2014	70	11	0.157	72.0	9	2

Stat Set 2

Pitcher	Year	S	BS	S%	H	ERA	K	K/9	WHIP	WAR
Murphy	1941	15	7	0.682	0	1.98	29	3.4	1.397	2.2
Page	1949	27	11	0.711	0	2.59	99	6.6	1.315	4.2
Konstanty	1950	22	4	0.846	0	2.66	56	3.32	1.039	4.7
Wilhelm	1952	11	1	0.917	1	2.43	108	6.11	1.155	2.7
Duren	1959	14	7	0.667	1	1.88	96	11.30	1.200	3.8
Face	1959	10	9	0.526	1	2.70	69	6.67	1.243	3.2
McDaniel	1960	26	6	0.813	1	1.29	95	8.21	0.863	6.0
Arroyo	1961	29	10	0.744	1	2.19	87	6.58	1.109	3.3
Radatz	1963	25	3	0.893	0	1.97	162	11.00	1.096	5.7
Perranoski	1963	21	8	0.724	0	1.67	75	5.23	1.202	4.5
Miller	1965	24	1	0.960	1	1.89	104	7.80	0.997	4.3
Regan	1966	21	7	0.750	1	1.62	88	6.82	0.934	5.0
Hiller	1973	38	0	1.000	0	1.44	124	8.92	1.021	8.1
Marshall	1974	21	12	0.636	9	2.42	143	6.18	1.186	3.1
Lyle	1977	26	8	0.765	1	2.17	68	4.50	1.197	3.7
Stanley	1978	10	5	0.667	1	2.60	38	2.20	1.242	4.1
Tekulve	1979	31	6	0.838	8	2.79	75	5.00	1.176	3.2
Hernandez	1984	32	1	0.970	0	1.92	112	7.19	0.941	4.8
Lamp	1985	2	5	0.286	8	3.32	68	5.80	1.164	1.3
Eichhorn	1986	10	4	0.714	7	1.72	166	9.52	0.955	7.4
Henke	1987	34	8	0.810	1	2.49	128	12.30	0.926	3.3
Eckersley	1990	48	2	0.960	0	0.61	73	8.96	0.614	3.3
Wetteland	1993	43	1	0.977	0	1.37	113	11.95	1.008	4.2
Hoffman	1998	53	1	0.981	0	1.48	86	10.60	0.849	4.1
Rhodes	2001	3	4	0.429	31	1.72	83	11.00	0.853	2.5
Rivera	2008	39	1	0.975	0	1.40	77	9.80	0.665	4.3
Chapman	2012	38	5	0.884	6	1.51	122	15.32	0.809	3.6
Davis	2014	3	0	1.000	33	1.00	109	13.60	0.847	3.7

References

Sparky Lyle Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com (Baseball-Reference.com)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lylesp01.shtml

1977 New York Yankees Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com (Baseball-Reference.com) http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1977.shtml