March 22, 1972: The New York Yankees trade 1st baseman Danny Cater and shortstop Mario Guerrero to the Boston Red Sox for relief pitcher Albert "Sparky" Lyle.
Guerrero was a backup, basically a throw-in. The Red Sox' reasoning was that Cater hit well at Fenway Park, so why not let him hit there 81 times a year? They didn't get it: The reason he hit well at Fenway was that the Red Sox had weak pitching. Now, he wasn't facing that pitching. He last played in 1975.
Lyle was a rookie on Boston's 1967 "Impossible Dream" Pennant season, but had been inconsistent. He was 27, and it looked to them like he wasn't going to pan out. He was a bit weird, and perhaps they didn't try hard enough to understand him.
In his 1st season with the Yankees, Sparky went 9-5, and set a major league record with 35 saves. (That record was broken by John Hiller of the Detroit Tigers the next season.) Sparky led the American League in saves again in 1976, helping the Yankees win the Pennant. In 1977, he went 13-5 with 26 saves, becoming the 1st AL reliever to win the Cy Young Award, and helped the Yankees win the World Series.
Yankee owner George Steinbrenner got greedy, and signed Rich "Goose" Gossage as a free agent, relegating the holder of the Cy Young Award to a secondary reliever. After the 1978 World Championship season, he was traded to the Texas Rangers. As 3rd baseman Graig Nettles put it, "Sparky went from Cy Young to Sayanora."
He got his revenge, though: His book The Bronx Zoo helped cement those Yankees as a bickering bunch, and was especially harsh on both Steinbrenner and slugging right fielder Reggie Jackson. He did not, however, have unkind words for Gossage. It wasn't the Goose who took Sparky's job, it was George who took it from Sparky and gave it to the Goose.
Sparky was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies late in the 1980 season, too late to be eligible for their postseason roster, but was key in a close National League Eastern Division race, putting them in position to win their 1st World Series, which they did. He closed his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1982, with a record of 99-76, 238 saves (141 of those with the Yankees), an ERA of 2.88, and a WHIP of 1.275.
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March 22, 1972 was a Wednesday. Basketball player Shawn Bradley and figure skater Elvis Stojko were born.
Baseball and football were out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Buffalo Braves, 123-99 at Madison Square Garden. Bill Bradley scored 33 points.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-106 at the Boston Garden.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Baltimore Bullets, 121-101 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena) in Baltimore. Cazzie Russell scored 33 for the Warriors.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Houston Rockets, 107-106 at the Alexander Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 124-120 at the Cleveland Arena.
* And the Cincinnati Royals beat the Detroit Pistons, 135-130 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Nate "Tiny" Archibald scored 46 points.
There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Carolina Cougars, 117-113 at the brand-new Nassau Coliseum. Rick Barry scored 32 points in defeat for the Nets.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Virginia Squires, 129-118 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. Rookie Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 38 in defeat for the Squires.
* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 125-121 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Bob Verga and Dave Lattin both scored 34 for the Condors, but Dan Issel score 32 to lead the Colonels to victory.
* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Denver Nuggets, 105-96 at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium. Both of these teams would, along with the Pistons and the Nets, be admitted to the NBA in 1976, but not under those names. Since the NBA already had a Houston Rockets, the Denver team renamed itself the Nuggets. And in 1973, the Chaps became the San Antonio Spurs.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, arch-rivals, played to a 3-3 tie at the Montreal Forum.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the California Golden Seals, 4-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, Cailfornia.
* And the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Minnesota North Stars and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
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