The Yankees Send Sparky Lyle to Texas and Get Dave Righetti Back

On November 10, 1978, three weeks after winning the World Series, the New York Yankees traded Sparky Lyle, the 1977 American League Cy Young Award winner, to the Texas Rangers in a ten-player deal. The key return piece was a 19-year-old pitching prospect named Dave Righetti.

The trade validated a quip from teammate Graig Nettles, who had joked during the season that Lyle went "from Cy Young to sayonara." The line captured Lyle's frustration. After winning the Cy Young in 1977 as the Yankees' closer, he watched the team sign free agent Goose Gossage to take his role. Lyle's ERA rose to 3.47 in 1978, and his save total dropped from 26 to 9.

Along with Lyle, the Yankees sent pitchers Larry McCall and Dave Rajsich, catcher Mike Heath, infielder Domingo Ramos, and $400,000 to Texas. In return they received Righetti, outfielder Juan Beniquez, and pitchers Mike Griffin and Paul Mirabella.

Righetti made the trade look like a heist. He won the 1981 American League Rookie of the Year Award, then threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox on the Fourth of July in 1983. The Yankees moved him to the bullpen in 1984, and he set a major league record with 46 saves in 1986.

Lyle pitched four seasons in Texas, posting a 20-19 record with a 4.02 ERA before finishing his career with brief stints in Philadelphia and Chicago. He had given the Yankees his best years, and they traded him while those years were still recent enough to remember.

Righetti pitched in New York through 1990. The trade reshaped the Yankees' pitching staff for over a decade.