Lyndall Dale McDaniel, known as Lindy McDaniel, was an American professional baseball pitcher who had a 21-year career in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1975. During his career, he witnessed approximately 3,500 major league games, had more than 300 teammates, and played under eight different managers. He attended the University of Oklahoma and Abilene Christian College, then played with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and San Francisco Giants, and the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals. He stood 6’3” and was listed at 195 lb. (88kg). McDaniel was a minister for the Church of Christ.

The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award was an annual award presented to the best relief pitcher in each league in Major League Baseball (MLB). It was established in 1960 by The Sporting News (TSN) as the Fireman of the Year Award. At the time, no reliever had ever received a Cy Young Award vote. The Fireman of the Year Award originally recognized the reliever with the most combined saves and wins in each league in MLB. The magazine had started publishing the then-unofficial save statistic that same year. Later, a save was worth two points compared to one for a win in determining the winner. In 2001 the award was chosen based on consensus from TSN editors, and it was renamed to Reliever of the Year Award. The award was last issued in 2010 before being discontinued.