The Promise of the Future: Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy
This article was written by W. Lloyd Johnson
This article was published in From Unions to Royals: The Story of Professional Baseball in Kansas City (SABR 26, 1996)
In June of 1970, the Kansas City Royals unveiled the Baseball Academy. Under the patronage of Royals owner Ewing “Mr.K” Kauffman — who started the program with $1.5 million — the school, located five miles southeast of Sarasota, would take non-baseball playing athletes and instruct them in the finer points of professional play. Graduates would be placed on farm teams in the Kansas City minor league system.
Potential enrollees faced a series of speed, flexibility, and psychological tests to qualify for the 50 open slots. Qualifiers attended classes at nearby Manatee Junior College — receiving college credit — lived in dorms and were paid $100 per month for the first 90 days, $150 for the next ninety, and then $200 per month for the duration. They also went to baseball school.
The faculty included former Yankee farm hand Syd Thrift as the director, ex-Yankee first sacker Johnny Neun, former Senators’ slugger Jim Lemon, ex-Sentaor catcher and George Washington University baseball coach Steve Korchek, plus collegiate sprinter Wes Santee and Kansas University track coach Bill Easton. Instructors who joined later in that first year were Carlton “Buzzy” Keller from Texas Luteran, Sam Ketcham of Ferris State plus Chuck Stobbs and Bill Fischer from baseball. Harry Ledford, trainer at George Washington University, served in the same position for the Academy. Activities included morning classes at Manatee, afternoon instruction on fundamentals and conditioning, and evenings were filled with leisure activities and studying. After the fundamentals and conditioning courses were completed, the pupils were ready to play baseball.
Mr. K started the school because of the Lou Piniella situation. Lou became an outstanding player and manager, but he did not have the opportunity to play baseball much as a youth. Instead, Piniella starred at basketball and track. The Royals’ owner felt that there were many Piniellas in the country, just waiting for the chance to play baseball. The only requirements to gain admission to the Academy were a boy must be under 22 years of age and have used all of his high school eligibility.
Out of the first class, 42 players survived the 10-month intensive baseball course to graduate. In addition to the college credit, three meals per day, tuition, room and board, the neophytes became eligible to receive a four-year scholarship to the college of their choice. The first class featured Orestes Miñoso Arrietta, stepson of Minnie Miñoso, Ron Washington, and Frank White.
The scorecard on the Academy was 21 of 42 played in the Gulf Coast League during the 1971 season. Eight of them were pitchers and 13 position players. Two years later, Frank White was in the Big Leagues while only six of his Academy mates were still active in the minors. Of the half-dozen remaining players, two were pitchers and the others, Ron Washington, Gary Rahe, Robert Servoss, and Ricky Boone were slick-fielding, light-hitting infielders. The good-field, no-hit tag may have doomed the Academy to a short Floridian tenure.
The idea, which Syd Thrift got from Casey Stengel, did not die with the demise of the Royals Academy. Instead, it was resurrected in the Dominican Republic. There the Royals, Blue Jays, and Dodgers began the rush to harvest golden talent on the Caribbean isle. The same cloister idea that produced light-hitting infielders in Florida, brought well-fed, powerful Latin sluggers to the Major Leagues.
Looking back, baseball people could say that the Royals Academy produced what could normally expected. Perhaps, the first class produced even more than one could reasonably expect. Frank White played 20 years and Ron Washington posted ten seasons of Major League ball. A carefully selected group of 50 undrafted prospects in any given year, would not likely be as productive as the 1970 class at the Academy.
The full list of the Royals Academy’s first graduating class follows: Scott Ackerman, Albuquerque, NM; Orestes Miñoso Arrieta, Evanston, IL; Bruce Beranek, Rice Lake, WI; David Bischoff, Batesville, IN; Rick Boone, Lynwood, WA; Jackie Brown, Howe, OK; Steve Buzzard, Brunswick, GA; Rufus Caruthers, Kansas City, KS; James Compton, Hamilton, MO; Fred Creal, Eugene, OR; Tommy Dugan, Corpus Christi, TX; James Dunkel, San Diego, CA; Mike Ferrin, Anaheim, CA; John Grizzle, Phoenix, AZ; Gary Hamm, Los Angeles, CA; Stan Hackenberg, Clearwater, FL; Gary Hendricks, St. Louis, MO; Dee Human, Blythesville, AR; John Irving, Wichita, KS; Danny Jackson, Corpus Christi, TX; Gordon Janiec, Kent, WA; Dennis Lane, Bellefontaine, OH; Nolan Lewis, Hartford, CT; Tom Linnert, Orange, CA; Mike Lowens, Edmonds, WA; David Manes, Leawood, KS; Bruce Miller, Bowie, MD; Tom Miller, Kansas City, MO; James Mitchell, Albany, GA; Howard Perkins, DeQuincy, LA; Monte Perkins, Kansas, MO; David Price, Topeka, KS; Victor Price, McLean, VA; Gary Rahe, Harper, TX; John Salverson, Lakewood, CA; Arturo Sanchez, Uvalde, TX; Robert Servoss, Mt. Pleasant, MI; Scotty Spillman, Farmville, VA; Tommy Sutton, Corpus Christi, TX; Tom Tyler, Toledo, OH; Ronald Washington, New Orleans, LA; and Frank White, Kansas City, MO.