The golf cart was painted like the Yankee uniform, white with blue pinstripes. I can't say the exact year it was first used, but I would guess around 1973. I don't recall it being sponsored by any company. The driver would make a bee-line straight to the mound from the bullpen, the relief pitcher would get out, and the driver would then do a U-turn back to the bullpen where it was parked. Yankee announcer Frank Messer seemed to have as much interest in telling the audience that the golf cart was bringing in the reliever as much as identifying who the reliever was. Phil Rizzuto seemed far less enamored with the golf cart than was Messer. The Yankee closer was Sparky Lyle. Lyle had a habit of jumping out of the cart before the driver finished approaching the mound area. Rizzuto would often comment he was afraid Lyle would twist an ankle while jumping out of the moving cart. I don't believe Lyle ever did. I'm pretty sure the cart was history by the time the Yankees made it to the World Series in 1976.
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