1973 Topps #394 Sparky Lyle
About Sparky Lyle
Lyle pitched an inning in the 1973 All-Star Game, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1 batter. He finished the season 5-9 with 27 saves and a 2.51 ERA for New York. Topps paired him with Cincinnati's Clay Carroll on the first-series Fireman leaders card #68; his individual Yankees card, #394, appeared in the third series.
Sparky Lyle pitched all 899 games of his 16-season major league career in relief. He finished with 238 saves, a 2.88 ERA and a 99-76 record. The left-hander played for Boston, the Yankees, Texas, Philadelphia and the White Sox. Baltimore signed him in 1964, and Boston selected him in the first-year draft that November. Ted Williams described the slider to Lyle at spring training in 1966; Lyle worked out how to throw it and made it his principal pitch. With New York, he became the first American League reliever to win the Cy Young Award in 1977. He coauthored "The Bronx Zoo" with Peter Golenbock in 1979. From 1998 through 2012, he managed the Somerset Patriots, winning five Atlantic League championships.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 270 | 2 | 68 | 148 | 34 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More Sparky Lyle in this set: #68 League Leaders
Team card: #556 New York Yankees
More New York Yankees cards:
- #1 All-Time Home Run Leaders
- #25 Roy White
- #46 Lindy McDaniel
- #68 1972 Leading Firemen
- #82 Fritz Peterson
- #103 Celerino Sanchez
- #116 Yankees Field Leaders
- #132 Matty Alou
- #142 Thurman Munson
- #172 Steve Kline
- #198 Horace Clarke
- #240 Bobby Murcer
- #265 Gene Michael
- #293 Bernie Allen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #394 card?
It is card #394 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.