The Bronx Zoo

In 1978 I was 15, and lived for Yankee baseball. These were my heroes. They were like gods to me. I watched them, and memorized every little tidbit I could find on TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. I had clippings and photos covering half of one of my bedroom walls. Then the following year Munson tragically dies, and Sparky publishes this book, ending my childhood. I was heartbroken over Thurman's death. He was my all-time favorite player.
Sparky's book was fun at the time, and I absorbed it like it was Coke Classic. It was amazing to get a behind the scenes look at my favorite team. I wasn't mentally developed enough then to see how absolutely ridiculous this book was. I've reread it twice since, once in my 20s, and then again when show more I turned 50. What I found as I grew older was a book about a bunch of spoiled kids, getting paid a lot of money to play a game that I love. Now the book just basically pisses me off. I guess because I put so much faith and love and the last days of my childhood into such screwy bunch of overgrown adolescents. Well, I've gotten off track here. I'm supposed to be reviewing the book. OK. It's a good read for baseball fans in general. Sparky's whining gets old pretty quick, but he does say a lot of funny things. It was nice to get a relief pitcher's perspective of the games. Already knew that Reggie was a dick, but it was fun seeing how much of a dick he actually was. The best part of the book was seeing Guidry having one of the greatest years for a pitcher ever. A much better book for Yankee fans is Guidry's "Gator". Oh, also, "Driving Mr. Yogi". show less

A pretty interesting and occasionally funny read. Probably would have been better had Sparky not been so depressed the whole book, but you take what you can get. Nothing earth shaking, but a fun read overall.

A unique insiders look at one of the most famous teams in history, the 1978 New York Yankees in the midst of their epic chase (and eventual defeat) of the Boston Red Sox. Sparky Lyle's day-by-day account is too personal and too concerned with his own struggles with both his pitching and upper management to spend much time dissecting the inner workings of the team, but we get probably the clearest look at a pennant race as told by one of its participants that we're ever likely to get.