Bob Lemon, who pitched his way to the Hall of Fame with the Cleveland Indians, then managed the Yankees in their memorable pennant-winning comeback of 1978 when they overtook the Boston Red Sox in a division playoff, died Tuesday night at a nursing home in Long Beach, Calif. He was 79.

Lemon had been in failing health in recent years, the Indians said.

He was 25 years old by the time he threw his first major league pitch, but in the late 1940's and the 1950's, Lemon became a key member of one of the most formidable pitching staffs in baseball history. A right-hander who dominated batters with a superb sinker and curveball, Lemon won 207 games over 13 seasons as he teamed with Bob Feller and Early Wynn, fellow Hall of Famers, and Mike Garcia in the Indians' perennial duels with the Yankees.

On July 25, 1978 -- 20 years after his final season with the Indians -- Lemon became the Yankee manager after a tearful exit by Billy Martin. An island of calm in a stormy summer, he took the Yanks from 10 games back to a division triumph over the Red Sox in a drive punctuated by Bucky Dent's playoff-game home run at Fenway Park.

Whether he was pitching the Indians to a pair of pennants and a host of second-place finishes behind the Yankees -- posting seven 20-victory seasons -- or managing the Yanks in the tumultuous Bronx Zoo days, Bob Lemon remained unflappable.

As the Yankee outfielder Jay Johnstone put it in the spring of 1979: ''Lem's sort of like an Andy Griffith character. You know, 'Take it easy, don't panic, we'll think of something.' ''

In his Hall of Fame induction speech at Cooperstown in 1976, Lemon revealed his secret for success: ''I had some bad days in the field. But I didn't take them home with me. I left them in a bar along the way.''

Robert Granville Lemon was born Sept. 22, 1920, in San Bernardino, Calif., and grew up in Long Beach. He was signed by the Indians' organization in 1938 as an outfielder-infielder, then learned to pitch on Navy teams during World War II.

On the opening day of the 1946 season, his first full year in the major leagues, Lemon made a ninth-inning sliding catch in center field to save a shutout by Feller. But he couldn't make it as a hitter so Manager Lou Boudreau switched him to full-time pitching that summer.

Lemon flourished in 1948, throwing a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers, winning 20 games with 10 shutouts and getting a pair of victories in the Indians' six-game World Series triumph over the Boston Braves.

He was named to seven All-Star teams, and in 1954 he won 23 games as the Indians swept to the pennant with an American League-record 111 victories. Lemon pitched 10 innings in the World Series opener against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, only to be beaten by Dusty Rhodes's three-run, pinch-hit homer down the short right-field line. He was also bested in Game 4 as the Giants swept the Indians.

Lemon had a career record of 207-128 and an earned run average of 3.23. He led the American League in victories three times, in complete games five times and in innings pitched four times. And he hit 37 home runs.

He managed the Kansas City Royals from 1970 to 1972, served as the Yankee pitching coach, under Martin, in 1976, then was hired to manage the Chicago White Sox the following season.

Midsummer 1978 brought a bizarre series of events.

On June 30, Lemon was fired by the White Sox. On the night of July 23, Martin climaxed his feuding with his star slugger, Reggie Jackson, and the Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner, by remarking to a pair of reporters, ''The two of them deserve each other.''

''One's a born liar, the other's convicted,'' Martin said, the latter a reference to Steinbrenner's guilty plea in connection with illegal political campaign contributions.

The next day, Martin was forced to resign, and Steinbrenner hired Lemon on the recommendation of Al Rosen, the Yankee president and Lemon's former teammate.

Five days later, on Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium, Bob Sheppard, the public-address announcer, told the crowd that Lemon would become the Yanks' general manager in 1980.

''Managing the Yankees in the 1980 season, and hopefully for many seasons after that,'' Sheppard intoned, ''will be No. 1. . . .''

Before he could say ''Billy Martin,'' the once and future manager ran onto the field to a roar from the crowd.

After Lemon took over from Martin, the Yankees -- having trailed the Red Sox by 14 games in mid-July -- went 48-20 en route to the American League East title, beat the Royals in the American League Championship Series, then defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Soon after the season ended, Lemon's youngest son, Jerry, was killed in an automobile accident at age 26. In mid-June 1979, with the Yankees in fourth place, Steinbrenner fired Lemon and brought Martin back ahead of schedule, saying he felt that Lemon had trouble motivating the team, perhaps because he was still mourning the loss of his son. Lemon, who seemed to agree with Steinbrenner's assessment, was reassigned to a scouting and personnel job and never got that general manager's post.

Martin was fired the following October and Dick Howser managed for the 1980 season, then was forced out. Gene Michael began a second term as manager, then was fired on Sept. 6, 1981.

Lemon was brought back to succeed Michael, but Steinbrenner second-guessed some of his moves as the Yankees lost a six-game World Series to the Dodgers. Then, only 14 games into the 1982 season, Lemon was fired a second time and reassigned to scouting.

Steinbrenner, in a statement yesterday, cited Lemon as a ''calming influence'' in that dramatic comeback to overtake the Red Sox, saying, ''When our team was going through the turmoil during the 1978 season, Bob Lemon was just what we needed.''

Willie Randolph, a second baseman on that team and now a Yankee coach, would remember how Lemon, in settling the clubhouse, ''was the perfect guy for the job at that time.''

Lemon is survived by two sons, Jeff and Jim.

Lemon never seemed to have any ill feeling toward Steinbrenner, once saying: ''It's like Shakespeare. He writes the plays, and we act them out.''

''I've seen the elephant, heard the owl and flown with the screeching eagle,'' Lemon said during his Yankee managing days as his career neared an end. ''I've never looked back and regretted anything. I've had everything in baseball a man could ask for. I've been so fortunate. Outside of my boy getting killed. That really puts it in perspective. So you don't win the pennant. You don't win the World Series. Who gives a damn? Twenty years from now, who'll give a damn?

''You do the best you can. That's it.''

Robert G Lemon