The Bronx Zoo: The Astonishing Inside Story of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees [Paperback]

Sparky Lyle (Author), Peter Golenbock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

Relief Pitcher Sparky Lyle was the 1977 American League Cy Young Award winner for his role in helping the New York Yankees to their first World Series championship since 1962. The following winter, the Yankees - who changed the face of baseball in those early years of free agency - went out and aquired Pittsburgh closer Goose Gossage, relegating Lyle to an observer's role for the 1978 season. As it turned out, Lyle proved to be a more astute observer than anyone could have predicted. And, as luck would have it, the Yankee's 1978 season turned out to be as sensational, controversial, and colorful a season as there have ever been - a real zoo, in fact. The Bronx Zoo is Lyle's best-selling, highly acclaimed collaboration with author Peter Golenbock that, when originially released in 1979, was favorably compared to Jim Bouton's groundbreaking Ball Four as a hillarious - but scathing - baseball tell-all. Lyle had an insider's view like no other in a season for the ages, and the 1978 Yankees remain the biggest sideshow the game of baseball has ever seen.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572437154
• ISBN-13: 978-1572437159
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read . ., March 22, 2006

By 

Canuck in WA (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bronx Zoo: The Astonishing Inside Story of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees (Paperback)

Though I grew up a total Yankee Hater (and was 15 yrs old when this season took place), the book ranks right up there with "Thin Ice - A Season in Hell with the New York Rangers" as a top quality read for a baseball focus. Probably the best thing about this book is how Golenbock and Lyle are able to put a real personal touch to some of the Yanks that played on that team that year. Nettles is a total cut-up, Munson is a real gamer, Jackson is a media hog, Billy Martin is part psychotic and part genius, and Ron Guidry is the quiet, yet dominating athlete that just goes out and does his job. Some of the more amusing antedotes are the ones involving Fritz Peterson in Lyle's earlier days, and Rawley Eastwick's escapades in the present day. Previous reviews talk about Lyle being "whiny", and I can agree with that perception. It's kind of hard to relate to someone complaining about his stature in life as a professional baseball player, when Joe Schmoe is out there trying to eeke out a living doing whatever. But I have to admit that if you had won a Cy Young the previous year before and all of a sudden was relegated to "mop-up" status, it would be a blow to one's pride. But the book does hit its mark on one thing . .the perception of George Steinbrenner is TOTALLY dead-on.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From Cy Young to Sayonara (with apologies to Graig Nettles), November 30, 2003

By 

m_noland "m_noland" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bronx Zoo (Hardcover)

This book follows the "Ball Four" formula of a seasonal diary, in this case the 1978 season through the eyes of Sparky Lyle. And what a season it was - Lyle goes from Cy Young award winner to set-up man as he is beat out for the closer job by the younger, faster, stronger Goose Gossage. At the same time Lyle is trying to deal with his professional decline, the Yankees make an astounding comeback, catch the Red Sox, beat the Royals in the ALCS and then win the World Series defeating the Dodgers. But the real focus of the book (or at least Lyle's attention) is off-the-field - especially the interaction with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and Lyle's demands to salvage his professional honor and career. In a sort of sad post-script Lyle got his wish and was traded to the Rangers, yet never reattained the form that made him the Cy Young winner in 1977.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, But Golenbock Is A Lazy Author, October 14, 2006

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Bronx Zoo: The Astonishing Inside Story of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees (Paperback)

First, the problems with the reprint of the best-seller that opened up a wealth of first-person accounts of those wild years with the Yankees:

* Sparky Lyle was not in favor of having the book reissued;
* There is not any new material and the typographical mistakes remain from the first edition;
* Unless you followed baseball in the 1970s or have an appreciation of baseball history, you may have trouble following the personalities and situations chronicled.

My rating is based on the controversy that exploded surrounding Lyle's candid accounts of the crazy 1978 season. Lyle does not shy away from the seemingly daily madness of The Boss, Reggie, Billy, and the closer wars of Goose and the co-author. It makes the stuff that swirled around the 2006 Yankees seem like agate type for the tabloids.

In the spring, Peter Golenbock was pushing the book pretty hard on local and national sports talk shows. I wish he would have done more than just put a nearly 30 year old sports book back in print.

But even the professional laziness of Golenbock cannot lesson the importance that book had in chronicling the Yankees and on Lyle's pitching career. The following season, Lyle was on the mound for the Texas Rangers.