The Bronx Zoo

Few years in baseball history matched the drama of 1978 and few player diaries tore the cover off a season like Sparky Lyle's THE BRONX ZOO. Now available for the first time in eBook is the best-selling classic, co-authored by Peter Golenbock, and featuring a new foreword by Golenbock. The 1978 Yankees were a team of incredible talent-and incredible personalities. From Reggie to Goose Gossage; wisecracking Graig Nettles to Mick the Quick; Willie Randolph, Thurman, Catfish, and Ron Guidry (with his mind-boggling 25-3/1.74); and of course Billy Martin, who had more explosions and meltdowns in his four months running the team than most managers have in their career.
Sparky Lyle, fresh off a Cy Young Award season, angry about being bumped by newcomer Rich Gossage and locked in to a pre-free agency contract, holds no punches and takes no prisoners. While he is full of praise for many of his fellow ballplayers, he is ruthlessly honest about the shortcomings of others. Lyle's day-by-day account of the Yankees' historic and hysterical season is full of inside information about his teammates, some of his most famous opponents, the duplicitous and dysfunctional Yankees front office, and the internal battle he fought as his professionalism clashed head-on with his personal pride.
Few Yankees fans who experienced 1978 will ever forget it, but it's been more than 40 years, so even the modest ardent could use a refresher. THE BRONX ZOO takes readers way beyond the highlight reels and stat pages, right into the locker room to re-experience one of the great comeback pennant drives in the annals of baseball, one that culminated in the Yankees' second straight World Series triumph.
There are enough practical jokes and personal drama to fill a book, but above all, THE BRONX ZOO is about baseball. Its pages are filled with game descriptions, analysis, and insights into the on-the-field excitement that only a savvy and observant veteran ballplayer someone living it could convey. Whether you skipped school or work and saw Bucky "F-ing" Dent drive a stake into Red Sox fans' hearts, or are part of the Aaron Judge Generation, THE BRONX ZOO is guaranteed to hit your sweet spot and provide a game-winning read.