Appier won 169 games in his career against 137 losses with a 3.74 ERA, a notably strong mark for a pitcher who spent the latter half of his career competing in the “Steroids Era.” “Ape,” as he was nicknamed, pitched for four major–league clubs. He spent the vast majority of his career with the Kansas City Royals (1989–1999, 2003–2004). As of 2018 he was the franchise’s career leader in strikeouts (1,458) and fourth in wins for the Royals (115). Appier spent his other major–league stints with the Oakland Athletics (1999–2000), New York Mets (2001), and Anaheim Angels (2002–2003) before returning to the Royals to wind up his career. He was selected for the 1995 All–Star Game, finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1990, and third in AL Cy Young Award voting in 1993. In 2002 Appier earned a World Series ring as a member of the Anaheim Angels. In 2011, he was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame.1

Robert Kevin Appier was born on December 6, 1967, in Lancaster, California, in Los Angeles County. He was one of three siblings and was raised by his mother, Betty Appier, who worked as an accountant.2 Appier starred for the Antelope Valley High School baseball team, a perennial LA County baseball power that had previously produced 1966 number–one draft pick Steve Chilcott and former Brewers, Tigers, and Angels pitcher Jim Slaton (1971–1986). By the end of his high–school career, Appier had grown into the 6–foot–2, 180–pound frame that he carried for the rest of his career.3 He accepted a scholarship to play at collegiate power Fresno State but left the Bulldog program after just three appearances in 1986 and spent the 1987 baseball season with the Antelope Valley College Marauders. “He’s a once–in–a–lifetime coach’s dream,” Antelope Valley College coach Ted Henkel told the Los Angeles Times. Henkel worked closely with Appier, helping him beef up his fastball into the 90s. After Appier posted an 11–6 record with a 2.65 ERA for the Marauders, Kansas City selected him in the first round of the 1987 draft and he signed with the Royals shortly thereafter.4

Appier progressed quickly through the Royals organization. In 1987, he posted a 3.04 ERA for the Eugene Emeralds of the Single–A Northwest League. He split 1988 between the Class–A Baseball City Royals of the Florida State League and Double–A Memphis Chicks of the Southern League. Appier won a combined 12 games against 9 losses and posted a 2.64 ERA. He spent most of 1989 with the Omaha Royals of the Triple–A American Association, where he went 8–8 with a 3.95 ERA. Appier had a brief stint with the Royals in June and July 1989 but struggled to a 1–4 record with an ERA of 9.14 in six appearances.5

After a brief stay in Omaha in 1990, the Royals called Appier up and eased the 22–year–old back into major–league action. In late April and May, Appier worked primarily as a reliever. By early June, Appier had moved into the Royals’ highly talented starting rotation which included two–time Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, Tom Gordon, and Storm Davis. Appier proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing 1990 season for the Royals, who finished sixth in the AL West after being the runners–up to Oakland the previous season. The rookie right–hander ended up having the standout season among Kansas City’s rotation, posting a 12–8 mark and a staff–best 2.76 ERA. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Yankees slugger Kevin Maas and Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., the unanimous selection of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Sporting News named Appier its 1990 Rookie Pitcher of the Year.

Appier avoided a sophomore slump, posting a 13–10 record with a 3.42 ERA with three shutouts in 1991. While the Hal McRae–managed Royals faded into oblivion in 1992, finishing tied for fifth and winning just 72 games, the third–year pitcher asserted himself as the ace of the mound staff. With the departure of Bret Saberhagen in a trade to the New York Mets, Appier took the lead in Kansas City’s suddenly–slim starting pitching staff. He made the first of his six consecutive Opening Day starts for the Royals. For the season he went 15–8 and posted a 2.46 ERA, second best in the AL behind Boston’s Roger Clemens. In July Appier earned the AL Pitcher of the Month Award, finishing the month 4–0 with a 1.55 ERA in six starts. Despite the strong pitching performance, Appier was once again left off the AL All–Star team roster, a victim of his team’s poor performance.

In 1993 Appier asserted his claim to recognition as one of the AL’s best pitchers. Pitching a career–high 238⅔ innings, he posted a career best 18–8 record and an AL leading 2.56 ERA. He finished a career–best third in AL Cy Young Award voting behind winner Jack McDowell and distant runner–up Randy Johnson.

Appier fell from the heights of 1993 during the strike–shortened 1994 season, struggling to stay above .500 as his ERA jumped more than a run to 3.83. As a franchise, the Royals had returned to form, boasting a 64–51 mark, good for third place in the new, highly competitive AL Central Division. David Cone, who went 16–5 with a 2.94 ERA, was the ace of Hal McRae’s rotation in 1994 but was traded to Toronto for three prospects by the cash–strapped Royals before the start of the 1995 season.

Appier bounced back in 1995, retaking his position as Kansas City’s ace. He won 11 of his first 13 decisions. The 27–year–old earned his only All–Star Game selection that season and pitched two perfect innings in relief of Randy Johnson. After his fantastic start to the  season, Appier faded in the second half. His record fell to 15–10 and his ERA ballooned to 3.89.6

As offense ballooned during the latter half of the 1990s, Appier remained a strong, if somewhat less spectacular starter, on Bob Boone’s noncontending Royals teams of 1996 and 1997. The right–hander’s ERA hovered in the mid–3’s both seasons (3.62 in 1996 and 3.40 in 1997), though his won–lost records differed considerably (14–11 in 1996 and 9–13 in 1997). Appier put significant mileage on his arm both seasons, throwing a combined 447 innings. Before the 1996 season, Appier entered salary arbitration with the Royals, winning a salary increase to just over $5 million per season, a jump of more than $663,000 from the season before.7

In 1998 Appier faced his first significant injury as a pitcher, suffering a torn labrum in spring training that cost him virtually the entire season. He made just three September appearances. He also battled through a difficult first half of the 1999 season, compiling a 9–9 record with a then career–worst 4.87 ERA through the end of July. At the trading deadline, the rebuilding Royals shipped their longtime ace to the suddenly contending Oakland A’s for pitchers Jeff D’Amico, Blake Stein, and Brad Rigby. Appier continued to win games but his ERA ballooned further against steroids–era hitting. He finished the year 16–14 with an ERA of 5.17. The A’s finished the season eight games behind the AL West Champion Texas Rangers and seven games behind the Red Sox for the wild card.

In 2000, Appier, 32, played a prominent role in the “Moneyball” A’s ascent to the franchise’s first division title since 1992. He went 15–11 while posting an ERA of 4.52. He provided veteran leadership on a young staff that included Tim Hudson, who had his breakout season in 2000, and Barry Zito, who was on the cusp of greatness. Appier made his first–ever playoff appearances in the Division Series against the New York Yankees. He pitched in two games in the hard–fought series that was won by New York, three games to two. In Game Two, Appier surrendered three runs in 6⅓ innings in a 4–0 home loss. Appier gave up one run in four innings of relief in the deciding fifth game.

On December 11, 2000, the Mets signed Appier to a four–year, $42 million contract, bringing the veteran right–hander onto the staff of the defending NL champions. Appier posted an 11–10 record in 2001 with a 3.57 ERA in 206⅔ innings pitched. The addition of Appier did not prove to be the final piece in the Mets’ World Series–winning puzzle. The club struggled to an 82–80 mark in 2001, finishing third in the NL East. After the season, the Mets traded Appier to the Anaheim Angels for former AL MVP Moe Vaughn.8

Appier proved a stalwart on the Angels’ young staff, posting a 14–12 mark and a 3.92 ERA for the 99–win wild–card–winning club. Though Appier struggled during the 2002 postseason, surrendering 15 earned runs in 21⅔ innings of work, the Angels upset the Yankees, Twins, and Giants en route to the franchise’s first World Series victory.

In 2003 Appier struggled along with the Angels in their World Series hangover season. A series of nagging injuries, most notably a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow, hampered him throughout the season. He went 7–7 with an ERA of 5.63 for the 77–win Anaheim team, and was released on July 30. A week later Appier returned to the Royals. He made just four starts for Kansas City before having season–ending surgery. He missed most of 2004 recovering from elbow surgery, making just two starts that season. Appier struggled for the next two years (2005–2006) to make a major–league comeback, first with the Royals and then with the Seattle Mariners. In 2006 he retired as a Royal, more than two years after his final major–league appearance.9

Appier was a right–handed hitter who rarely batted. In a career spent primarily in the AL, Appier had 90 career plate appearances, 67 of which came during his season with the New York Mets. He posted a .096 career batting average.

In retirement, Appier moved full time to his soybean farm in Paola, Kansas, about 45 miles south of Kansas City. He and his wife, Laurie, have three children: Garrett, Britney, and Evelyn. Garrett Appier is a three–time Division II national champion in the shot–put for Pittsburg State University in Kansas.10

Notes

1 Dick Kaegel, “Appier to Take Place Among Royals Greats,” Royals.com, June 24, 2011. Accessed on July 2, 2018: wap.mlb.com/kc/news/article/2011062420940432/?locale=en_US; “NY is Appier of Eye,” New York Daily News, December 12, 2000. Accessed on July 2, 2018: nydailynews.com/archives/sports/n–y–appier–eye–article–1.885307.

2 Gene Morris, “Appier Inducted into Royals Hall of Fame,” Miami County (Kansas) Republic, June 30, 2011. Accessed on July 2, 2018: republic–online.com/news/appier–inducted–into–royals–hall–of–fame/article_78a46445–9d5b–5ede–a39b–4f9ee9e50495.html; “Kevin Appier,” Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, 2000. Accessed on July 2, 2018: books.google.com/books?id=AUFUw01sIWYC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=betty+appier&source=bl&ots=fASRBhF0my&sig=mrtEkP4e–HOuuUNkeKSLJj1lT7c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiso4iN8YXcAhXGrVkKHdMyD9kQ6AEIMzAC#v=onepage&q=betty%20appier&f=false.

3 “Antelope Valley High,” The Baseball Cube, 2013. Accessed on July 2, 2018: thebaseballcube.com/hs/profile.asp?ID=1070.

4 Theresa Munoz, “Ape’s World: Kansas City Pitcher’s Unorthodox Formula for Success Results in Winning Equation,” Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1992. Accessed on July 2, 2018: articles.latimes.com/1992–07–16/sports/sp–3738_1_kansas–city–royals/2.

5 Ibid.

6 Tim Kurkjian, “A Royal Start,” Sports Illustrated, May 15, 1995: 81; Mike DiGiovanna, “NL Wins Battle of Homeric Proportions,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1995. Accessed on July 2, 2018: articles.latimes.com/1995–07–12/sports/sp–31290_1_homer–in–all–star–game.

7 “Royals’ Appier Tops $5 Million,” New York Times, February 3, 1996: 33.

8 Ben Walker, “Kevin Appier Signs with the Mets,” ABC News, December 11, 2000. Accessed on July 2, 2018: abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=100096&page=1.

9 Gregg Bell, “After Two Year Absence, Appier Looking for Way Back,” Lawrence (Kansas) Journal–World, April 21, 2006. Accessed on July 2, 2018: 2.ljworld.com/news/2006/apr/21/after_twoyear_absence_appier_looking_way_back/.

10 Dick Kaegel, “Appier to Take Place Among Royals Greats.”; Adam Burns, “Appier Returns from Injury After Contemplating Retirement,” Joplin (Missouri) Globe, January 24, 2018. Accessed on July 2, 2018: joplinglobe.com/sports/local_sports/appier–returns–from–injury–after–contemplating–retirement/article_d46acf4d–605c–5b07–8083–6c0b19f36f81.html.

George is the youngest of four brothers. All four boys wound up playing baseball professionally. John, the oldest, got as far as Class-A ball in 1968, playing for the Waterloo (Iowa) Hawks in the Midwest League. Bobby, the second youngest, played one season of minor-league ball in 1972 before moving on to have a lucrative career in real-estate development.1 The brother who was the most promising was Ken Brett, the second oldest, who was affectionately known as “Kemer” throughout the Brett household.

Ken Brett pitched in 14 major-league seasons with 10 different teams. He made his major-league debut in Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox on September 27, 1967, pitching the last two innings in a 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Two weeks later, at 19 years old, he replaced Sparky Lyle on the postseason roster to become the youngest pitcher in World Series competition when he threw 1⅓ scoreless innings in his two relief appearances. Sitting in the stands cheering him on, was 14-year-old George as Ken was allowed to invite his parents, siblings, and high-school coach John Stevenson to witness the fall classic.2

In 1973, while pitching for the Phillies, Ken surrendered Hank Aaron’s 700th home run. A year later, as the lone representative of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was the winning pitcher in the 1974 All-Star Game. Although Ken’s pitching career was plagued by arm problems, he was also an excellent hitter. In 1973 he set a record for the most consecutive games by a pitcher (four) with a home run. On October 3, 1981, his “little” brother George had come full circle: from watching his older brother pitch in the World Series to playing alongside him in his final major-league appearance. Kemer pitched two innings, allowing one run, as the Royals lost 8-4 to the Oakland A’s in Kansas City. George homered in the sixth off Rick Langford.

The Brett boys grew up in El Segundo, California. John, Ken, and Bobby were born in Brooklyn, New York. George was born on May 15, 1953, in Glen Dale, West Virginia, before the family moved out west when he was 2 years old.

Their father, Jack Brett, was a Brooklynite who cheered for the New York Yankees. Although he came from a good household (his father worked on Wall Street), he dropped out of high school to work in a factory. By the age of 18, he enlisted in the US Army and fought in World War II. His tour of duty ended when he was shot in the leg in France. Upon returning home, he enrolled at Pace College in New York, where he earned a degree in business administration. He worked as an accountant for Mattel Toys. In 1945 he married Ethel Hansen.

Ethel, who worked as a bookkeeper for a furniture company, was a loving, nurturing mother. Jack was the disciplinarian in the household, whose wrath was felt mostly by George. While the older siblings seemed to apply themselves both athletically and academically, George was seen as somewhat lazy and lacking motivation. He preferred bumming around Redondo Beach to playing baseball. George later admitted that if it were not for his baseball skills, he more than likely would have wound up as a bartender or a construction worker.

Like his brothers before him, 7-year-old George began playing Little League baseball at Recreation Park in El Segundo. As a child his favorite players were Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski, and Brooks Robinson. By the ninth grade, George was only 5-feet-1 and 105 pounds when he tried out for the El Segundo High School baseball team. Initially Dave Reed, a junior-varsity coach, wanted to cut George from the squad for his lack of size, but he was overruled by varsity coach John Stevenson, who coached George’s three older brothers. As it turned out, the ambidextrous George broke his wrist and had to sit out his freshman year anyway.3

Over the next two years George grew and filled out. His first love was football, and George was the starting quarterback for his high school team. Because of his propensity for throwing interceptions, he was converted to a wide receiver in his senior year. As a high-school baseball player, he could never measure up to his older brother Ken, who was already pitching for the Red Sox. He was also overshadowed by high-school teammate Scott McGregor, who went on to have a 13-year major-league career pitching for the Baltimore Orioles.

Initially Brett was a third baseman, but he moved to shortstop in his junior year. Throwing right-handed but batting left-handed, he imitated a Yaz-like stance at the plate. He established such a flair for the dramatics in crucial situations that his teammates nicknamed him “Mr. Drama.”

By Brett’s senior year the 1971 El Segundo Eagles were one of the finest high-school baseball teams ever assembled in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). They posted a 33-2 record and won the CIF championship. Six players, including Brett, were drafted by major-league teams, yet George was never offered a college scholarship for his baseball prowess.4

Because Brett still had some baby fat around his midsection, many scouts passed on him. Even some of the scouts for the expansion Kansas City Royals were skeptical. However, scouts Tom Ferrick and Rosey Gilhousen saw Brett as a diamond in the rough. Gilhousen pushed the hardest for the Royals to draft Brett, basing his assessment on the intangibles of desire, instincts, and aggressiveness. He persuaded the Royals vice president for player personnel, Lou Gorman, to see Brett in action during a high-school game. The fact that Coach Stevenson and Gorman were in the Navy together may have helped sway the Royals into taking Brett with the fifth pick in the second round of the June 1971 amateur draft.)

Brett began his professional career in the rookie-level Pioneer League. On June 15, 1971, shortly after his high-school graduation, he arrived in Billings, Montana, to play for the Mustangs. Garbed in beach-bum attire when he met his new manager, Gary Blaylock, Brett was politely told to wear some shoes and a shirt the next time they met.5 It was there that Brett was converted from a shortstop to a third baseman.6 For the season Brett batted .291 with 5 home runs and 44 RBIs.

He was sent to the Winter Instructional League in Sarasota, Florida, between seasons and was promoted to San Jose of the Class-A California League for 1972. In June his brother Bobby became a teammate when he signed with the Royals. He played 19 games with the Bees before calling it a career. George finished the season with a .274 batting average, 10 home runs, and a team-leading 68 RBIs.

In 1973 Brett was invited to the Royals spring-training site in Fort Myers, Florida. On the flight to Fort Myers he met another Royals prospect, Jamie Quirk.7 The two would form a lifelong friendship, but for now they were competing for a spot on the Royals Opening Day roster.

It didn’t take long before Brett was back on a plane heading to Omaha after he was one of the first cuts in spring training. Playing for the Omaha Royals in the American Association, Brett made the Triple-A all-star team and finished with a batting average of .284, 8 home runs, and 64 RBIs before being called up to the Royals. Filling in for the injured Paul Schaal, Brett made his big-league debut on August 2, 1973, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Batting eighth, Brett lined out to the pitcher, Stan Bahnsen, in his first plate appearance. The second time up he recorded his first major-league hit — a broken-bat bloop single to left field. Brett finished the season with a .125 batting average in limited action as Kansas City improved to 88-74, six games behind the league-leading Oakland A’s.

It is worth noting that Brett wasn’t the only player making his Royals debut that year. The Royals had acquired outfielder Hal McRae in an offseason trade with the Cincinnati Reds. McRae’s vehement passion for the game was a major influence on Brett as the culture of the Royals clubhouse gradually changed in the coming years.8

Heading into 1974, it was no secret that Royals manager Jack McKeon was not overly thrilled with having Brett on his team.9 Despite the fact that incumbent third baseman Paul Schaal led the majors with 30 errors in 1973, Brett found himself back in Omaha to start the new season. In fairness to Schaal, the newly constructed Royals Stadium featured artificial turf which may have contributed to his defensive struggles.10

On April 30, 1974, Schaal was traded to the California Angels for outfielder Richie Scheinblum. Frank White filled in at third base for a few games before the Royals recalled Brett from Omaha. When Brett took over for White in early May, he struggled defensively and offensively. Nearing the All-Star break, Brett was barely hitting above .200 when hitting coach Charley Lau approached him. For the rest of the season, Lau worked with Brett daily on revamping his swing. One day, after Brett didn’t show up for practice, Lau called him a “mullet head” for his complacency.11 (It was later shortened to “Mullet.”) Suffice it to say that Brett never missed a session with Lau again.

Under Lau’s tutelage, Brett’s batting average soared to .292 with three games left in the season when Jack McKeon unexpectedly fired Lau.12 A devastated Brett collected one hit in those last three games and finished with a .282 average.13

The 1975 season was one of transformation for Brett and the Royals. It began with Brett changing his jersey number from 25 to his more familiar number 5. He did this to pay homage to one of his favorite players (who also played third base), Brooks Robinson.14 After 96 games into the season, the Royals replaced manager McKeon with Whitey Herzog. One of the first things Herzog did was to rehire Charley Lau as their hitting coach. Brett went on to lead the league in hits (195) and triples (13). He also finished with a .300 batting average (.308 to be exact) for the first time in his professional career. The Royals posted their best record so far, finishing 20 games above .500, but were still spectators for the postseason. Kansas City fans were growing weary of seeing the Oakland A’s win another divisional title, their fifth in a row.

When Charlie O. Finley moved the team to Oakland before the 1968 season, many fans in Kansas City were ambivalent about their departure. The Athletics never finished above .500 in the 13 years they played in Kansas City, yet it was demoralizing to see the A’s finish above .500 in their inaugural season in Oakland. Like a bitter divorce, the animosity only got worse as the A’s continued to get better, culminating in three straight World Series titles (1972-1974).15 The Royals finally seized their opportunity to wrest the division crown away from the A’s in 1976, after Finley began to dismantle his dynasty in an effort to save money.

The ’76 season began with Brett making headlines almost immediately. From May 8 to 13, he collected three hits in six consecutive games to tie a major-league record.16 The Royals claimed first place by a half-game on May 19 and never relinquished their lead. By August 6 they had built it into a 12-game lead over the second-place A’s. During an extra-inning game against the Cleveland Indians on August 17 at Royals Stadium, Brett pulled off one of the rarest feats in baseball by stealing home for the walk-off win.17 From that point on, the Royals sputtered with an 18-27 record, but were able to stave off a late-season surge by the A’s to capture their first division title by 2½ games.

Even though the Royals were headed to the postseason in 1976, the last game of the regular season was marred in controversy when Brett edged out McRae for the AL batting title. With the Royals trailing the Minnesota Twins 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Brett came up to bat with one out and nobody on base. He lofted a routine fly ball to left field, which many felt could have been caught by Twins outfielder Steve Brye. Instead, Brye played it into an inside-the-park home run, thereby giving Brett the title. McRae, an African-American, was outraged by Brye’s lackadaisical attempt and accused him of being a racist. Brett felt terrible about the whole situation, and said that if he could split the award in half he would gladly do it. In spite of his disappointment, McRae held no ill will toward his friend and teammate as they embarked on their first American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.18

Brett had an inauspicious beginning to his postseason career when his two errors led to two runs in the first inning of Game One at Royals Stadium. The Royals lost, 4-1, but they managed to push the series to the decisive Game Five. During that game, at Yankee Stadium, the national audience got their first glimpse at Brett’s penchant for delivering in crucial moments as he belted a three-run homer to tie the game, 6-6, in the top of the eighth inning. That home run is often forgotten as Chris Chambliss led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer that put the Yankees in the World Series for the first time in 12 years.

Although the Royals came up short in the ALCS, they would continue to dominate the American League West by appearing in six of the next nine postseasons. It is not a coincidence that 1976 was also the first of Brett’s 13 consecutive All-Star selections. When the season ended, he was the runner-up to Thurman Munson for the American League Most Valuable Player.

The 1977 ALCS was a rematch of 1976. In the deciding Game Five at Royals Stadium, Brett hit an RBI triple off Ron Guidry in the first inning. When Brett slid in hard at third, Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles took exception and kicked him in the face. Brett jumped up with a haymaker to ignite a bench-clearing brawl. After order was restored, both players were allowed to stay in the game. Losing 3-2 in the top of the ninth, New York scored three unanswered runs to snatch the pennant away from Kansas City once again. For the second year in a row, the Royals lost the pennant to the Yankees in the final inning of the final game.

With their rivalry now firmly solidified, the 1978 postseason marked the third straight year the Royals faced the Yankees in the ALCS. This time the Royals won only one game. Brett provided some highlights in the third game by becoming the fourth player to hit three home runs in a postseason game.19 All three homers were served up by Catfish Hunter. To Brett it was small consolation as the Royals lost, 6-5. They would lose more than the series as dissension was festering among the ranks. During the regular season Whitey Herzog was losing his patience with the results of his hitting guru, Charley Lau.20 Shortly after the ALCS, the Royals announced that Lau would not return in 1979. Seizing the opportunity, the Yankees quickly hired Lau as their hitting coach.

Brett began 1979 by breaking his right thumb in an offseason charity basketball game.21 Because of the injury, plus the absence of Charley Lau, Brett got off to a slow start but he finished the season with a league-leading 212 hits and 20 triples. His .329 batting average was second in the league to Fred Lynn’s .333. Despite Brett’s production, the Royals missed the playoffs for the first time in four years. Whitey Herzog and all his coaches were fired. The future looked bleak.22

The Royals had won three division titles under Herzog, but never got past the Yankees in the Championship Series. Entering the 1980 season, they were now playing for rookie manager Jim Frey. Frey, hired just days after his Baltimore Orioles lost the 1979 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, had been a coach under Earl Weaver for 10 years.

On May 15, 1980, Brett’s 27th birthday, the Royals were 16-14 while enjoying an offday. In lieu of a ballgame it was the nationally televised Miss USA Beauty Pageant that had fans in Kansas City cheering. The contest’s “Miss New York,” Debra Sue Maurice, informed host Bob Barker that she was dating George Brett. Brett, who tried to downplay his long reputation of being a ladies’ man, was caught off-guard by her statement. He acknowledged having had a few dates with Miss Maurice but nothing more serious than that.23

Whatever distraction it may have caused was insignificant as the bigger story of the 1980 season was Brett’s unlikely pursuit of a .400 batting average. During a June 10 game in Cleveland, he tore a ligament in his right foot while trying to steal second base.24 Unable to play again until July 10, Brett was batting .337 at the time he was hurt. No one could have predicted that he would be soaring around .400 by season’s end. Beginning on July 18, Brett started a 30-game hitting streak that would help catapult him over the vaunted mark. He topped .400 on Sunday, August 17, when he went 4-for-4 against the Toronto Blue Jays in Kansas City. His fourth hit, a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning off Mike Barlow, put him over the top. As he stood on second base, acknowledging the hometown crowd, the scoreboard flashed “.401.”25

A week earlier, on August 11, the Royals had signed George’s older brother, left-hander Ken Brett, to help out in their bullpen. Released by the Dodgers in the spring because of a sore left elbow, Ken was playing for the semipro Orange County A’s when the Royals came calling.26 He made five appearances with the Omaha Royals before making his Kansas City debut on September 1 against the Brewers. With the Royals down 4-1 to Milwaukee, Ken relieved Rich Gale in the top of the fourth to get the final out. He remained in the game to pitch four more shutout innings. Whether it was coincidence or a backhanded tribute, Ken wore the number 25, the same number his “little” brother wore when he first came up to the Royals in 1973. Regardless of the motive, playing alongside his older brother at the major-league level is one of George’s most cherished moments in baseball.27

With his brother by his side, George’s average hovered around .400 for over a month. It wasn’t until September 20, when he went 0-for-4 against Oakland, that his average dipped below.395. Plagued by nagging injuries which caused him to miss 45 games during the season, the media attention also took its toll. To avoid the press, the Brett brothers would often drive together in George’s Mercedes and park in a tunnel behind the Royals bullpen for an easy escape after games.28 Eventually his average dropped to .390 to close out the campaign. As of 2018, it was the closest any player has gotten to .400 since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941.29 Additionally, Brett led the league in on-base percentage (.454) and slugging percentage (.664). It is worth noting that he also belted 24 home runs yet only struck out 22 times in 515 plate appearances.

The Royals clinched their division by 14 games over the second-place A’s. For the fourth time in five years, they would face the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. The Royals won the first two games, leaving them one win away from their first World Series appearance. Game Three featured one of the most memorable moments in playoff history. The Royals were trailing 2-1 in the top of the sevento on, Brett stepped in to face the imposing Gossage and hammered the first pitch to him for a three-run homer to put the Royals ahead. That held up to give the Royals a 4-2 victory and their first trip to the World Series.

The Royals faced the Philadelphia Phillies, who were also vying for their first Worlh. Yankees pitcher Tommy John got the first two outs before Willie Wilson doubled. Reliever Goose Gossage gave up a single to U L Washington and Wilson went to third. With two out and twd Series title. The first two games were won by the Phillies in Veterans Stadium. In the second game Brett began to feel severe pain. After collecting a walk and two singles, he asked to be taken out of the game. On the way back to Royals Stadium for Game Three, Brett went to St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City for minor surgery to have hemorrhoids removed. It was national news by the time Game Three got underway as Brett found the grit to suit up. In his first at-bat, just hours after the surgery, Brett drove a Dick Ruthven pitch into the right-field stands for a home run that gave the Royals a 1-0 lead. The Royals held on to win the game, but lost the Series in six games.

On an individual basis, 1980 would prove to be Brett’s most defining year as a major leaguer. He won the American League Most Valuable Player Award, but individual accomplishments didn’t matter much to Brett. He was disappointed that he fell short of hitting .400, but admitted that it would have eased his pain if the Royals could have won the World Series.30

With his pursuit of .400, his tryst with a beauty pageant contestant, his first World Series appearance, and his hemorrhoids, Brett’s stature was now on a national level. His waning days of casually hanging out in Kansas City with teammates Jamie Quirk and Clint Hurdle for burgers and beers in the bars of Westport and the Country Club Plaza were now over.31

A players strike in 1981 divided the season into two halves. Manager Jim Frey was fired after the team went 10-10 to start the second half, and was replaced by former Yankees skipper Dick Howser. Under Howser the Royals went 20-13 to finish with a second-half record of 30-23, earning them a playoff berth; they were swept by the Oakland A’s in the American League Division Series.

The Royals missed the playoffs altogether in 1982 and 1983. Brett continued to put up decent numbers in those two seasons, although he missed a combined 57 games during that span. However, one of his games stood out: It was played on July 24, 1983, at Yankee Stadium and is referred to in baseball lore as “The Pine Tar Game.”

Heading into the game, the Yankees and Royals were two games back in their respective divisions. The Yankees were winning 4-3 entering the top of the ninth inning. Yankees pitcher Dale Murray retired the first two Royals hitters before surrendering a single to U L Washington. Yankees manager Billy Martin replaced Murray with Goose Gossage to face Brett. Brett fouled off the first pitch. The next pitch was up and in, but Brett was able to get the barrel of the bat on the ball and tomahawked it over the right-field wall to give the Royals a 5-4 lead. As Brett circled the bases, Martin was out of the Yankees dugout to have the umpires inspect Brett’s bat for excessive pine tar, insisting that Brett had violated Rule 1.10(c), which stated that “a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle.%

Steven Lee “Buzz” Busby was born on September 29, 1949, in Burbank, California, to Marvin and Betty Busby, who were of English and German descent. Marvin played football at USC and professionally for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football Conference.2 This had an influence on his son, Steve, who grew up preferring football to baseball. When Marvin’s football days were over, he worked as a petroleum and chemical engineer. Betty taught American history at the University of California at Berkeley before leaving to raise their children. Busby said he was raised to believe that the team was more important than the individual and that individual accomplishments didn’t mean much if they didn’t contribute toward the team winning.3

Busby grew up in Fullerton, California, and was a three-sport star at Union High, excelling in basketball, baseball, and football. (Hall of Famers Arky Vaughan and Walter Johnson also attended the school.) While in high school, Busby threw two no-hitters. He cited his baseball coach there as one of his early influences. “Jim Bass is the best teacher of fundamentals … catching, throwing, pitching mechanics,” Busby said. “I learned pitching mechanics from him, learning to win from him.”4

Playing football during his senior year, Busby suffered a knee injury that required an operation. In 1967 the San Francisco Giants selected Busby in the fourth round of the June draft. When Busby’s knee gave out during a workout, the Giants discovered that there were still lingering effects from the injury and cut their bonus offer in half. Busby decided to accept a scholarship to the University of Southern California and to play for the legendary coach Rod Dedeaux.

In 1968 Busby went 8-3 and batted .422 and was named the team’s most valuable player for the USC freshman team.5 In 1969, his sophomore year, Busby required surgery to relocate the ulnar nerve in his right arm. His arm strength was gone and he realized that he had to start developing other pitches. Before the surgery he threw 80 percent fastballs; after, he developed a slider and made the transition from thrower to pitcher. Busby’s arm strength eventually returned and he became a more complete pitcher.

In 1971 Busby compiled an 11-2 record for the Trojans with a 1.92 ERA in 21 games and made the All-American team. Busby was the team’s leading pitcher, and though he lost an early-round game to Southern Illinois University in the College World Series, he redeemed himself in the deciding game. Busby struck out Southern Illinois’ Bob Blakely with the bases loaded to seal the 7-2 victory for the Trojans.

Busby’s major at USC was business administration He also studied computer technology because he enjoyed the mathematical analysis. While at USC, Busby took a creative writing class taught by the creator of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling,6 and was inspired to write science-fiction novels. Busby thrived on challenges, and he wanted to see if he could “make all the pieces fit together.”7 His novels were described as not the “stars and galaxy kind, but the Rod Serling type … the psychological experience … and some occult.”8

Busby was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the secondary phase (June) of the amateur draft in 1971. Despite being one semester short of graduating and having a year of college eligibility left, Busby signed with the Royals for a $37,500 bonus. He was described in The Sporting News as “not merely being early maturity, rather a happy blend of intelligence, perspective and competitive intensity, tempered with self control. He seemed already to know how to pitch. If he didn’t pitch well, he knew why not and he knew how to accept victory or defeat.”9 Busby credited Dedeaux, saying, “I attribute a lot of my attitude to Coach Dedeaux. He always emphasized that you should do the best you can and not blame anyone else for failure. Don’t downgrade anyone else.”10 He added, “I didn’t appreciate the things Rod Dedeaux taught us until I got into pro ball. He taught me how to win including the psychological part of the game, how to recognize the small things: whether the outfielder was left-handed or right-handed, watching people in the infield, and looking at every possible way to beat you, whether it was good fielding, a good pickoff move, by intimidation or being lucky.”11

Pitching for the Royals’ San Jose farm team (California League), Busby compiled a 4-1 record with an 0.68 ERA, giving up only three earned runs in 40 innings and striking out 50. In the Florida Instructional League he continued to impress, with a 5-2 record, 1.50 ERA, and a league-leading 67 strikeouts in 60 innings.

It was felt that Busby had a shot to make the major-league roster out of spring training in 1972; he was the talk of the newcomers and had the poise of a veteran. He started the season at Triple-A Omaha. On May 4 Busby struck out eight consecutive Tulsa batters and broke up the opposing pitcher’s no-hitter in the fifth inning en route to a 7-1 victory. In another game against Tulsa he struck out 16 in a pitching duel he won over Jim Bibby. Busby twice came close to pitching no-hitters during the season. The first time his bid was broken up with one out in the ninth, the second in the seventh. His manager, Jack McKeon prophetically counseled Busby “not to worry, that I’d pitch a couple of no-hitters and it’ll be in the big leagues.”12 Busby led the league in strikeouts (221), innings pitched (217), and complete games with 17. He compiled a 12-14 record with a 3.19 ERA, for a team that the Royals felt victimized its pitchers with its poor defense. Busby said he benefited from McKeon’s counsel, particularly on pitch selection.13

Busby got a surprise call-up after Omaha’s season after Dick Drago’s jaw was broken by a line drive on September 1. He made his major-league debut on September 8, 1972, started against the Minnesota Twins at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium. Cesar Tovar and Rod Carew greeted Busby with singles and the Twins took an early 1-0 lead. Busby settled down and pitched a complete-game 3-2 victory, striking out seven and allowing only five hits.

In Busby’s third start, against the California Angels in Anaheim, just a 15-minute drive from his childhood home in Fullerton (and the first time his parents saw him pitch in the majors), he lost a grand slam after smacking pitcher Lloyd Allen’s offering over the left-field fence. First-base umpire John Rice had called time before the pitch to eject Jerry May for suggesting that Rice speak to his tailor about “adding an extra panel in his suit.” Royals manager Bob Lemon and Dick Drago also were ejected. When play resumed, Busby singled to center for his first major-league hit and collected two RBIs. Busby got two other hits, and the three were his only major-league base hits, because the American League adopted the designated hitter the next season. (A good all-around athlete, Busby was against the DH.) Busby started five games for the Royals in ’72 and was 3-1 with a 1.58 ERA.

In 1976 Busby found out what happened on that night when he was convalescing in the hospital. Busby’s roommate and best friend on the team, Paul Splittorff, came to see him. Busby recalls years later with a chuckle, “My arm is strapped to my chest and I’m still kind of woozy from all the medication they were giving me… He said hey I got to fess up to you and he told me the story about what he had said and he hid behind somebody as he was yelling it. He was the one who suggested to Rice about the tailor. He said you know I feel terrible about it. I was completely out of it. ‘I said yah, whatever.’ It was a month later, I finally came to and realized what he had told me. I had to corner him about it. He said, ‘I figured you’re not going to come back and pitch anymore anyways so I might as well get it out of the way and I’m not going to have to worry about rooming together.’ That was kind of my impetus to get back to pitch the major league level and room with him again so I can give him a hard time.”14

At the start of the 1973 season expectations were high for Busby. He was slated to be in the starting rotation and there was speculation from McKeon, the Royals new manager, that Busby had the makeup to win 20 games. “There isn’t a hitter that can intimidate Busby,” McKeon said.15 Busby and Doug Bird combined to no-hit the Detroit Tigers in an exhibition game, Busby pitching the first six innings. He followed with seven hitless innings against the Cardinals. Busby was the Opening Day starter, but struggled, losing to California. In his first four starts he was 1-2 with an 8.04 ERA. He lasted only one inning and gave up five runs in a 16-2 defeat by the Chicago White Sox. Busby had some stiffness in his shoulder and was held back a few days before his next start. He recalled McKeon telling him that if he didn’t show improvement in his next start, he would be sent down to work it out in Omaha.16

Did he ever show improvement! On April 27, a cold evening that Busby described as perfect for pitching, he threw the Royals’ first no-hitter, beating the Detroit Tigers, 3-0. Busby became the 14th rookie to throw a no-hitter. He was wild, walking six. He had trouble locating his breaking pitches and threw mostly fastballs. At the time Busby downplayed the individual achievement, noting that first baseman John Mayberry bailed him out with a line-drive double play in the ninth. “It was blind luck. It had nothing to do with skill,” Busby said of his feat.17 More recently he said, “It was less than 40 degrees, I was wilder than a Marsh hare, the Tigers were a veteran ballclub that didn’t feel like swinging the bats.” 18 (The umpire whose time-out call cost Busby his grand slam, John Rice, was the home-plate umpire for the no-hitter.)

Busby pitched well in his next game but then slumped and his record was 4-9 on July 2. But from then until the end of the season he was 12-6, helping the Royals to finish in second place in the American League West. Against Milwaukee on July 10 Busby struck out 13, tying the Royals team record at the time. He finished the season with a 16-15 record and a 4.23 ERA. It was the most wins by an American League rookie since 1968 and Busby was named The Sporting News American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year.

Despite high expectations for 1974, the Royals struggled early in the season and were two games under .500 and 4½ games behind Oakland on June 11. Owner Ewing Kaufman fired general manager Cedric Tallis, whose trades were credited with making the Royals the most successful expansion team in baseball history at the time. The timing was disruptive and the team was also grumbling about manager Jack McKeon and his handling of the pitching staff.

Busby got off to a better start in 1974, 8-6 with a 3.66 ERA going into his June 19 start in Milwaukee. Busby threw a gem. He walked only George Scott to lead off the second inning and retired the final 24 batters to record his second no-hitter, defeating the Brewers 2-0. Busby became the first and as of 2016 the only pitcher to throw no-hitters in his first two major-league seasons. Modestly, he said, “There were some outstanding plays behind me. I had good stuff but it could have been a four- or five-hitter.”19 Busby recalled that both no-hitters were low-scoring games and he had to focus on keeping the opposition off the boards rather than thinking about the no-hitter.20

Busby started his next game by retiring the first nine batters he faced. He broke the American League record by retiring 33 consecutive batters. (The record was tied in 1977 and broken in 1998.21) In both of Busby’s starts after his no-hitters he pitched 5⅓ no-hit innings.

Busby started the season 13-9 with a 3.31 ERA to earn his first All-Star Game selection, but did not pitch. The Royals were a streaky team and won 16 of 22 games in late August to pull to within four games of the division-leading A’s. But on a long homestand they lost 10 of their next 11 games to fall out of contention.

On September 17, Busby became the Royals second 20-game winner, but it was bittersweet as he hadn’t won a game in three weeks as the Royals slid from contention. “It has no value because we didn’t accomplish what I consider valuable, a championship,” he said.22

Controversy struck the club again when McKeon fired hitting coach Charlie Lau before the last home game of the season. The move was sharply criticized by the players. Busby, the team’s player representative, was very critical of the move. “We’ll never win a pennant with this type of thinking,” he said. “… If this organization is not interested in winning, then I don’t want to be part of it. … You can’t win a championship without horses … and they have taken away one of the very best horses they’ve had available.”23 It was rumored that McKeon was jealous of Lau and that the players went to Lau for help rather than McKeon.

Busby finished the season at 22-14 with a 3.39 ERA and a club record 292⅓ innings pitched. Busby was in the top 10 in almost every pitching category including WAR (seventh) and strikeouts per nine innings (fourth). The innings pitched may seem high by today’s standards but Busby was only ninth in the league in innings pitched.

Controversy followed the Royals into the 1975 campaign. Busby resigned as player representative in May. Rumors were swirling that he threatened to leave the team in New York on May 18, because he had been at odds with McKeon and he wanted Buck Martinez and not Fran Healy, who caught both his no-hitters, to catch him. Busby dispelled any rumors of quitting after his meeting with McKeon and general manager Joe Burke.24

Busby was having his best season and started out 10-5 with a 2.57 ERA. He began to experience pain in the front of his shoulder, tendinitis, but a new pain in the rear of his shoulder began to appear. He compensated by altering his pitching motion, a step that caused mechanical issues. In a Sports Illustrated article in August 1978, Busby detailed what happened next: “On the 25th of June I threw 12 innings in Anaheim and won 6-2, but I struggled for the last seven. It was really a chore to throw. The next time I pitched was July 1 against Texas. Normally I recuperate fast between starts, but this day I just couldn’t throw well. I was having strength problems: I couldn’t grip the ball well and I had a lessened ability to snap my wrist. I couldn’t even make a tight fist. … I pitched on through the middle of September with very little success.”25

Busby was named to his second All-Star Game and pitched two innings in relief. After two months of speculation, Jack McKeon was fired as manager of the Royals on July 24 and was replaced by Whitey Herzog. GM Burke cited McKeon’s poor relationship with his players and the media as the main reason. The club was a disappointing 50-46, 11 games behind the A’s. Herzog brought back hitting coach Charlie Lau.

The Royals finished seven games behind Oakland. Busby was held out the last week of the season because of shoulder soreness. He recalled, “By that time, I had no sensation of strength when I threw the ball.”26 He finished with an 18-12 record and a 3.08 ERA 260⅓ innings.

After the season Busby saw Dr. Frank Jobe, who prescribed different therapies. Busby thought his problems had been caused by bad mechanics and began an offseason training program. Busby was counted on to be a key contributor to the Royals’ hopes to win the American League West crown in 1976. Dr. Jobe recommended that Busby pitch until he could no longer be effective. He started the season on the disabled list, joined the team in early April and pitched his first game on April 18. The Royals lost, 6-0; Busby gave up two runs in six innings but walked seven. After the game he was optimistic: “There is no doubt in my mind I’m healthy. My arm is fine.”27 Herzog added, “Busby threw freely and had no pain. He threw better than he did all last September.”28 Busby pitched an impressive game against the Yankees on May 1 and “removed any doubts about the condition of his arm.”29 But the relief over Busby’s arm was short-lived. He left his May 12 start in the fifth inning as a precaution. At the time the seriousness of his arm condition was not known. Busby said, “It’s not really serious. It’s a muscle problem, an injury most pitchers suffer during spring training.”30 At the time it was reported that Busby was recovering from an elbow problem that he suffered late in the 1974 season.

Busby was held out of his next start and then was put on a pitch count. He pitched 15 innings in his next three starts restricted to 100 pitches and gave up only one run. (Though Busby has been said to be the first pitcher held to a pitch count, this was common practice at the time for a pitcher recovering from an injury.) Through June 2 Busby pitched in only seven games, but the Royals were off to a great start and were leading the American League West.

By June 15 Busby’s season was described “an on again off again comeback” in The Sporting News.31 Herzog summed up the situation: “We can’t go on like this not knowing what his status is. If he needs complete rest, than let’s go that route.”32 On June 22 Busby gave up nine runs to the White Sox; he said, “The arm feels good, but the results aren’t.”33 On July 6 Busby gave up four runs in seven innings to the Yankees. One of the Yankees said, “He had nothing, no fastball, no curveball.”34 Both Busby and Herzog knew this, too, and decided to find out what was wrong.

Busby recalled, “[Dr. Robert] Kerlan [Dr. Jobe’s partner] ordered me to have a shoulder arthrogram. Dye is injected into the joint, and if it leaks out into the surrounding tissue, there is a problem — and it showed that I had a tear in the rotator cuff. Rest wouldn’t help an injury that serious. If I were to pitch again, I would have to have surgery.”35 Busby was done for the season; he finished with only 13 starts, a 3-3 record with a 4.40 ERA in 71⅔ innings. The tear in his rotator cuff was caused by the upper bone in the arm rubbing up against the top bone in the shoulder. Surgery lasting 3½ hours was required to cut the shoulder open, sew up the hole, cut three-quarters of an inch off the shoulder bone and shave off the back of the upper arm bone to reduce the friction.36 This was the first time this procedure was performed on an active pitcher. Dr. Jobe performed the groundbreaking surgery on July 19, 1976. Jobe had previously done the surgery on tennis players and it was expected that Busby would regain full use of his arm, but his future effectiveness as a pitcher was unknown. A torn rotator cuff had ended many pitchers’ careers including that of Don Drysdale. Dr. Jobe recommended that Busby seek other employment, but Busby wasn’t ready to give up.

Meanwhile, the Royals went on to win their first American League West Division title and Busby found solace in the team’s accomplishment. Busby said, “It was such a great feeling.”37 The Royals lost the ALCS to the Yankees on Chris Chambliss’s walk-off home run. Busby worked on a rehab program overseen by Dr. Jobe. Given the nature and severity of the injury the Royals were not counting on him. They took a gamble and left Busby exposed to the 1977 expansion draft. Busby was not selected at least for two rounds (24 players selected) by the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.

There was no timetable for Busby’s return; there was no one to whom one could compare his situation. He was confident he would return and could be effective with reduced velocity if he could control his breaking pitches. Busby appeared in one minor-league game and fared poorly. He reinjured his left knee while altering his pitching delivery and strengthening his shoulder. Dr. Jobe operated on the knee.

Baseball had taken a toll on Busby’s personal life. He had placed baseball as his first priority, which led to a separation from his wife. During the summer of 1977 he got back together with his wife and two daughters and placed family as his first priority.

Although the Royals were not counting on Busby for the 1978 season, he showed up in camp after more rehabilitation to his arm and knee and made the staff out of spring training. He started out well with a shutout, then was hit hard in his next three starts and was sent to the minors. Busby was called up in September and appeared in three games.

During spring training 1979 the 29-year-old Busby was competing for the fifth starter/long reliever role for Kansas City. He made the squad and posted a 6-6 record and 3.63 ERA, appearing in 22 games and starting 12.

During the offseason, Busby had arthroscopic surgery on his oft-injured right knee. In 1980 he competed again for the fifth starter/long reliever role. He made the staff and appeared in relief until he was sent to the minors in April. While in the minors, Busby was impressive with Omaha, posting a 2.48 ERA and throwing a one-hitter. He was recalled by the Royals and started six games. Busby posted a 1-3 record with a 6.17 ERA. The Royals wanted to use left-handed reliever Ken Brett in the playoffs and released the 30-year-old Busby on August 29, just two days before he would have been playoff eligible. Busby expressed his frustration. “It was disappointing watching the playoffs, not being able to pitch every year through 1980. I wanted to pitch so bad, I could taste it.”38 It is one of the great what-ifs: If Busby had been healthy from 1976 to 1980, would the fortunes of the Royals had been different? They lost the ALCS to the Yankees three times and lost the 1980 World Series to the Phillies.

In 1981 Busby was reviewing his business options, including broadcasting, a car dealership, and a beverage distributorship, when Herzog invited him to spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals as a nonroster player. Busby did not make the team and he retired. In 1984, at age 34, Busby was considering a comeback. “It’s been nagging at me for three years,” he said.39 But he decided against pitching winter ball and his pitching days were over. In 1986 Busby and Amos Otis were inducted as the inaugural members of the Royals Hall of Fame.

While Busby was rehabilitating, former Royals play-by-play announcer Buddy Blattner recommended that he get into broadcasting. In 1981 Busby worked as a weekend sports anchor with the local Kansas City NBC affiliate. In 1982 he had two job offers, from the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers. He chose the Rangers because they were closer to home, and in Boston he would be filling the big shoes of the legendary Ken “Hawk” Harrelson.40 Busby became one of the rare ex-athletes to become a play-by-play announcer. He described how this came to be: “When I first started out, I was very fortunate to have one of the all-time greats in broadcasting, Merle Harmon, that I was paired with down here in Texas, and Merle made it a point to get me to learn how to do play-by-play and help him out during ballgames. He didn’t have to do it for nine innings of play-by-play. So the first spring training that we worked together, he and I went out to games that we weren’t broadcasting and took a tape recorder and Merle made me do five, six, seven innings of play-by-play. Then we would go back to the hotel after the game and listen to it. He would critique me and give me pointers and really got me going. If it hadn’t been for someone like that taking the time and making the effort to help me get settled in to being a broadcaster, I never would have done it. Merle was one of the nicest people in the world. You don’t find many people in this business or for that matter in most competitive businesses who are willing to take the time to train somebody else and help them advance themselves.”41

In 1996 Busby worked as the play-by-play announcer for the Royals alongside his close friend, Paul Splittorff. Busby struggled with his retirement from baseball for many years even though he had made a career as a broadcaster. “I always said that it doesn’t bother me and that it was part of the game, and that was a bunch of garbage,” he said. “It bothered me. It hurt. That injury and the subsequent injuries stripped me of my identity.”42 Busby had what he would describe as a “rebirth” in late 1997. “I finally got OK with me being me. Just saying, ‘OK this is who you are, this where you are, and what do we do from here on out?’’’43 Busby spent more time with his children. He took a year off from broadcasting and began working with high-school pitchers, teaching them the finer points of pitching.

As of 2016, Busby was the play-by-play announcer for the Rangers. He said being a former player gave him the advantage of having a very comfortable conversation with his partner, Tom Grieve.44 Their broadcasts have been described as “watching baseball, telling stories, eating cookies and pastries, and most of all, having fun.”45

Last revised: February 2, 2017

Notes

1 Gib Twyman, “No-Hit Hurler? ‘Not Me! Says Busby,” The Sporting News, July 6, 1974: 13.

2 Wil A. Linkugel and Edward J. Pappas, They Tasted Glory: Among the Missing at the Baseball Hall of Fame (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1998), 128.

3 Author’s interview with Steve Busby on April 20, 2016 (hereafter Busby interview).

4 Randy Covitz, “Busby’s heart lasted longer than his arm,” Kansas City Star June 5, 1986: 3B.

5 Busby player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame library.

6 Busby interview.

7 Rosemarie Ross, “Busby: Can He Win 20 in His First Full Season?” The Sporting News, April 21, 1973: 20.

8 William Barry Furlong, “0-Hit Kid Steve No Stereotype,” unidentified newspaper clipping from Busby player file.

9 Twyman.

10 Ibid.

11 Covitz.

12 Sid Bordman, “‘Steve Buzz’s Bomb Act Captures Tigers Again,” The Sporting News, May 12, 1973: 12.

13 Ross.

14 April 2014 interview with Steve Busby, http://clubhouseconversation.com/2014/05/steve-busby/.

15 Ross.

16 Busby interview.

17 Covitz.

18 Busby interview.

19 Covitz.

20 Busby interview.

21 Seattle Mariners relief pitcher John Montague tied the mark in 1977, and David Wells of the New York Yankees broke the record and set a new mark of 38 innings on May 24, 1998. Busby’s USC teammate, Jim Barr, held the National league record of 41 set in 1972 and this wasn’t broken until 2009 by Mark Buehrle. Yusmeirio Petit of  the San Francisco Giants set a new record of 46 in 2014.

22 Joe McGuff, “20-Win Champagne Has Flat Taste for Busby,” The Sporting News, October 5, 1974: 22.

23 McGuff, “Player Yelps Following the Bouncing of Lau,” The Sporting News, October 19, 1975: 30.

24 Bordman, “Healy Gets Healthy and So Does Royals Catching,” The Sporting News, June 14, 1975: 14.

25 Ron Fimrite, “Stress, Strain and Pain,” Sports Illustrated, August 14, 1978.

26 Bill Reiter, “Finding Steve Busby,” Kansas City Star, April 1, 2007.

27 McGuff, “Busby, Little Spruce Up Royals’ Hill Staff,” The Sporting News, May 8, 1976: 18.

28 Ibid.

29 McGuff, “Swift Wolhford’s Magic Glove Wows Royals,” The Sporting News, May 22, 1976: 19.

30 “Busby Hurt Again,” The Sporting News, May 29, 1976: 30.

31 “Busby Still a Puzzle,” The Sporting News, July 3, 1976: 24.

32 Ibid.

33 “Royals,” The Sporting News, July 10, 1976: 30.

34 McGuff, “Pitching Shy Royals Storm Heights with Bats,” The Sporting News, July 24, 1976: 13.

35 Fimrite.

36 “Busby Rebuilding Family Life, Career,” Chicago Tribune, April 21, 1978.

37 Covitz.

38 Ibid.

39 Jim Reeves, “Rangers Roundup,” The Sporting News, July 20, 1984: 49.

40 Busby interview.

41 April 2014 interview with Steve Busby, http://clubhouseconversation.com/2014/05/steve-busby/.

42 Bill Reiter, “Finding Steve Busby,” Kansas City Star, April 1, 2007.

43 Ibid.

44 Busby interview.

45 Jim Reagan, “Steve Busby: Locked Into the Job He Loves,” Durant (Oklahoma) Democrat, March 19, 2016.

Johnny Damon owes his life to the Vietnam War. His parents, Jimmy and Yome, met in his mother’s native Thailand, where his father served as a U.S. Army sergeant. Yome’s father practiced holistic medicine, and his mother farmed. Yome gave birth to James Damon in Bangkok in 1971 and to Johnny in Kansas two years later. The family moved first to Illinois before settling in Florida, where Jimmy worked as a security guard and Yome as an office cleaner. “Johnny was like Yome, all nervous energy,” an observer wrote. “Once, when he was 14, he took his mother’s car to Daytona. … Stopped by a police officer, Johnny said he’d forgotten his license. When asked his name, he gave the name of his big brother. The ruse worked … when the officer didn’t show up for the court date.” 2

Leading up to the 1992 draft, The Sporting News called Damon, then a senior, “probably … the best high school player available this year. ‘He has great speed, is extremely strong, and his throwing has improved,’ [Damon’s] high school coach Danny Allie says. ‘He’s also got great power … and 3.8-second speed to first base. A lot of guys have compared him to Ken Griffey Jr.’” 3

Kansas City drafted Damon with the 35th pick in the first round of the 1992 draft. “A straight-A student in high school, he walked away from a baseball scholarship at the University of Florida to sign with the Royals for $300,000” 4 Aside from his future teammate Derek Jeter, Damon would have the best career of his fellow first-round draftees.

Displaying the same skills that he would show in the majors, Damon hit for average, stole scores of bases, and flashed occasional power in the minors. He won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the National Association Minor League Player of the Year for his performance in Wichita in 1995 even though he did not play a full season in Double A that year.

Called up from Wichita, Damon made his major-league debut against Seattle on August 12, 1995, leading off and playing center field. Facing Tim Belcher, Damon popped out to short in his first AL plate appearance. After flying out in his second at-bat, he tripled and scored in the fifth inning against Belcher, had an RBI single in the sixth off Salomon Torres, and singled against Torres again in the eighth as the Royals won, 7-2.

On August 31, Kansas City trailed Milwaukee 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth. Damon hit his first homer in the majors to tie the game off Mike Fetters, and the Royals won in unusual walk-off fashion thanks to a bases-loaded throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Fetters. Damon’s teammates had quickly taken to the talented rookie. “He’s our sparkplug right now,” first baseman Wally Joyner said. 5 “He’s going to do just about everything you could want…,” Royals manager Bob Boone said. “I’m pleased he’s this good. But I’m not surprised.” 6

On August 10, 1996, Damon set a career high with seven RBIs in an 18-3 win over the Angels. But “he slumped near season’s end … as his confidence fell.” 7

After beginning 1997 as Kansas City’s fourth outfielder, Damon rebounded somewhat although he had a career-worst 61.5 percent stolen-base rate, perhaps due to knee soreness that worsened in July and would necessitate offseason surgery. 8 Retrospectively, Damon credited Tony Muser, who replaced Boone for the second half of the season, with his resurgence. Damon recalled, “My first couple years, I didn’t play every day. I would sit against left-handers sometimes. And then when Muser started managing … he said, ‘Guess what? You’re going to be batting leadoff for me every day, and the only times you’re not going to play is if you break something.’” 9

Damon scored 100 runs for the first of 10 times in his career in 1998. In 1999, he hit over .300 for the first of five times for a Kansas City team that went 64-97 in spite of a strong outfield with Damon in left, Carlos Beltran in center, and Jermaine Dye in right.

Damon’s improved play ironically shortened his time with the Royals, as the small-market Kansas City franchise risked losing him for nothing as he approached free agency after the 2001 season. The Sporting News reported rumors of Damon going to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano, 10 to the Mariners for Griffey Jr., 11 or to the Dodgers for Eric Gagne. 12

“There are clubs with higher payrolls in bigger markets that would give anything to have Johnny, because he’s the one piece that a club thinks can cement the playoffs or World Series,” said Royals general manager Hank Robinson. 13

Because of or despite the rumors, Damon had his best year in a Kansas City uniform in 2000 with career highs in plate appearances (741), at-bats (655), runs (136), hits (214), doubles (42), steals (46), batting average (.327), on-base percentage (.382), slugging percentage (.495), OPS (.877), and total bases (324). He led the AL in both runs and steals.

In June, the Royals reportedly offered Damon a three-year contract for $15 million. “But Damon is adamant about a five-year deal,” The Sporting News reported, adding, “He also labeled the average yearly salary Boston gave Jose Offerman, $6.5 million, as his ‘starting point.’” 14

Damon batted .436 in July 2000, .382 in August, and .322 in September. Kansas City had tapped Allard Baird as GM to replace Robinson. Baird, the scout who had signed Damon for the Royals, upped the KC contract offer to $32 million over five years, which agent Scott Boras rejected on Damon’s behalf. 15

Recognizing that Kansas City could not keep Damon, Baird shipped him to Oakland as part of a three-way deal that also involved Tampa Bay. “I was in Kansas City for five years,” Damon said. “I had a home there. I had my family there. I had everything. It was great for me there, except for losing.” 16

Damon also liked hitting in Kansas City. “It plays fair. The waterfalls are cool. When I came up in the league, that was one of the toughest places to hit and to hit home runs. But as I developed, and as the years have gone by, it has become one of the easiest for me.” 17

Damon left the losing behind with the Royals. The A’s had gone 91-70 in 2000 before falling to the Yankees in five games in the ALDS. Damon thought that he could help make Oakland take the next step. “Looking at this team on paper, I think we’re the team to beat out there,” Damon said. … “This is a great situation to be in.” 18

With Damon, Oakland improved to 102-60, but Seattle, which had also won 91 games in 2000, captured 116 in 2001. Damon did not enjoy his first trip as a visiting player to Kansas City, where “a radio station sponsored a ‘Boo Johnny Damon Day’ … including a sweepstakes for a free big-screen TV if he committed an error.” 19

The A’s returned to the playoffs via the wild card but did so with only modest contributions from Damon, who failed to hit 10 homers for the only time from 1998 to 2009. Damon blamed it “partly (on) the A’s strategy that calls for hitters to work the count to tire opposing pitchers. As a result, he said, he was less aggressive and found himself facing more two-strike counts.” 20 Oakland would again face New York in the ALDS.

The series began in the Bronx. In his first career playoff game, Damon went 4-for-4 with a walk and two steals as the A’s won 5-3. In Game Two, Damon doubled off Andy Pettitte and tripled off Mariano Rivera. Damon scored an insurance run after the triple as the A’s triumphed 2-0 and needed just one win to advance to the ALCS. “It’s hard to believe he was being called one of baseball’s biggest disappointments at midseason and was being followed by rumors that he would be traded … because his contract was up at season’s end. ‘I know that he was very hard on himself for a time,’ A’s manager Art Howe said. ‘Sometimes it just takes a person time to get adjusted to his surroundings.’” 21

Neither Damon nor Oakland could keep up the good start. Damon went 3-for-13 as the Yankees won the last three games, eliminating the A’s again and ending Damon’s brief sojourn in Oakland as he signed with Boston as a free agent. “Damon wanted to play closer to his Florida home, where he and his wife, Angie, are raising twins who [turned] 3 in [2002]. ‘Oakland did everything in their power to sign me,’ Damon said. ‘The biggest thing was the moving back to the Eastern time zone. It boiled down to my family.’” 22

Boston won 82 games in 2001, but 93 games with Damon in 2002. “I had a feeling about this team when I signed in the offseason because of the attitude I bring,” said Damon … “[W]ith guys like Rickey Henderson, Carlos Baerga, and Tony Clark … I feel we can do something special here.” 23

Damon brought both swagger and swat to Boston. “Damon has … been … the heart of the team,” said [Sox teammate Pedro] Martinez. “He has done everything. He gets on base. He puts pressure on the other teams – on the catcher and the pitcher.” 24 Damon led the American League with 11 triples, made his first All-Star team, and “benefited from the tutelage of hitting instructor Dwight Evans. Early in spring training, Evans noticed that Damon was releasing his top hand too soon, and he got Damon to keep both hands on the bat.” 25

In 2001, Damon started poorly but finished strongly. He did the reverse in 2002 when he “went through a difficult divorce from his high-school sweetheart, which may have affected him even more deeply than his active role in labor negotiations and the knee injury that slowed him but did not require postseason surgery.” 26 Boston failed to make the playoffs in 2002, but reached the postseason in the remaining three years of Damon’s Hub tenure.

Damon must have had flashbacks entering the 2003 ALDS. In his second playoffs, he faced Oakland, the team that had first taken him to the postseason. As in 2001, the A’s won the first two games and needed just one more win to advance to the ALCS. Oakland lost the third game, 3-1, and the fourth game, 5-4, thanks in part to Damon hitting a two-run homer (the first of his 10 career playoff bombs) and throwing out Jose Guillen attempting to go first-to-third on a single.

Facing Barry Zito, Boston trailed 1-0 going into the top of the sixth of the deciding game. Jason Varitek homered to tie the game, and Damon followed with a walk. With two outs and two on, Manny Ramirez homered to give Boston a 4-1 edge. Behind Martinez, the Red Sox led 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh with two outs “when Jermaine Dye lifted a pop fly into shallow center. [Second baseman Damian] Jackson … sprinted into the outfield … while Damon came charging in, calling for the ball. The ball … landed in Jackson’s … glove when … the right side of Jackson’s head squarely struck Damon’s head, also on the right side.” 27

Damon left the game in the next inning for a pinch-hitter, and the Red Sox held on to win in spite of Damon’s departure due to a concussion. Later that week, Damon admitted, “I had no idea what was going on for the next four or five hours. … I was in really bad shape.” 28

Boston faced New York in an epic ALCS. Damon missed the first two games before returning to go 3-for-4 in Game Three. But he went just 1-for-16 in the final four games. Damon missed a key chance to blow the deciding contest wide open when Boston led 4-0 in the top of the fourth with runners on first and third and none out as Mike Mussina replaced Roger Clemens. Mussina fanned Varitek and induced a double play from Damon to keep the margin at four runs. The Yankees rallied to win the game and the pennant, 6-5, on Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning walk-off homer.

Damon and Boston got their revenge in 2004. Damon set career highs with 94 RBIs and 76 walks. After not getting his hair cut in the offseason, Damon became “a cult figure virtually overnight.” 29 As the longtime Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan opined, “Johnny Damon is, and has always been, a good player, beard or no beard, hair down to his tushie or hair neatly cropped. He is a leadoff man whose job is to get on base and ignite an offense, and if you measure his value by looking at runs you’d have to say he’s been pretty good.” 30

A master marketer, Damon rebranded the supposedly cursed Red Sox as carefree idiots, commenting, “Maybe it’s not the greatest thing to say, but for the most part, we are. We just play the game. … We’re not too bright of [sic] guys. In essence, we’re idiots. We go out there and swing the bat as hard as we can. We make fun. … We’ve got the long hair, the ponytails.” 31

Boston swept Anaheim in the ALDS to set up an ALCS rematch against New York. The Red Sox dropped the first two games in the Bronx as Damon struggled. “It starts with me,” said Damon, who fanned four times in four at-bats in the Game One loss, and followed with an 0-for-4, including one more strikeout, in Game Two. “I take full responsibility for these two games. … I’m very disappointed with myself.” 32

Boston returned to Fenway Park only to get shellacked 19-8. After the rout, Damon faced the media and confessed, “We’re very upset. And we’re definitely stunned. We thought we had the better team coming in and right now it doesn’t look that way.” 33

The prospects of the Red Sox brightened after Boston won the next three games to force an elimination contest. Damon led off with a single and stole second, but a relay from Hideki Matsui to Jeter to Jorge Posada cut him down trying to score on a Ramirez single. The Red Sox led 2-0 in the second inning when Damon came up to bat against Javier Vazquez, who had just relieved Kevin Brown. On Vazquez’s first pitch, Damon hit a grand slam that gave Boston an insurmountable lead. Damon later hit a two-run homer against Vazquez as well en route to a 10-3 win. “To do this against the Yankees in their ballpark is definitely a very special feeling,” Damon said after the win that gave the Red Sox the AL pennant. 34

Damon’s postseason power continued as Boston sought to end its 86 years of baseball misery. He “ignited the Red Sox … with his left-field double in the first inning off Woody Williams that put the team on its way to an 11-9 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the World Series. … ‘This is the World Series, so you want to make an impact out there,’ Damon said.” 35

Damon started the championship clincher with “a rope into the Cardinals’ bullpen on the game’s fourth pitch from Jason Marquis.” 36 He later tripled as Boston swept St. Louis to win the 2004 World Series.

Helping bring the title back to a rabid baseball-championship-starved fan base transformed Damon from a baseball cult figure to a boldfaced name with broader celebrity appeal in Boston, 37 partially fulfilling a prediction Damon made at his post-signing press conference in Boston: “When we win a World Series,” he said, “we’re going to be put on a pedestal and be immortalized forever.” 38 In Damon’s case, the adulation lasted only a year, but the bitterness that began in 2006 lasted several seasons. 39

In December 2004, he married for the second time, to Michelle Mangan, an event deemed worthy of a photo and extensive coverage on the society page of the Boston Globe. 40 But the Red Sox front office declined to engage with Damon as his contract approached its conclusion at the end of the 2005 season. “I’d like to finish my career here and get locked up for a long time,” Damon said. “I know it’s always been Red Sox policy to wait until after the season, but that can get hairy. … I’m in a good spot … but the Red Sox know that this is the best spot for me personally.” 41

For the second and last time in his career, Damon made the All-Star team in 2005, this time as a starter. He also had a 29-game hitting streak that ended in a loss to Tampa Bay. “I definitely felt like if I could have gotten past today, I could have taken it further,” said Damon. “The funny thing is, the swing really hasn’t felt great during this streak, and I’m amazed that it got up to 29.” 42

Boston’s quick dismissal from the playoffs after an ALDS sweep by Chicago made Damon’s regular-season accomplishments less meaningful. With the Red Sox trailing by a run in the sixth inning of the final game with two outs and the bases loaded, Damon worked the count full against Orlando Hernandez. In his autobiography, published after the 2004 World Series, Damon had mockingly touched on the unique stylings of Hernandez, writing, “He’s one of those 50-year-old Cuban pitchers with all the funky motions and all the funny pitches and different speeds, but he knows what to do. … If he doesn’t have his good stuff, he starts innovating.” 43

Hernandez did indeed know what to do. “After a foul, El Duque fooled Damon with a wicked breaking ball that wound up in the dirt. Damon committed with his swing and was rung up to end the inning. ‘The right pitch at the right time,’ conceded Damon.” 44 In his final plate appearance in a Boston uniform, Damon struck out swinging again for the second out of the ninth inning in a game the Red Sox lost, 5-3.

A month later, Boras began advocating for his free-agent client with a paper that “confidently predicts that Damon will join the 3,000 hit club in 2012, and … dares to place Damon in the company of Hall of Famers if he produces through 2015 the way he has [from 2002-2005].” 45

The Red Sox offered Damon $42 million over four years, 46 but he signed with the Yankees for $52 million over four years instead. The Boston Globe editorialized on Damon’s departure. In a particularly poor piece of Christmas Eve prognostication, Boston’s paper of record wrote, “Marvelous as the beloved Idiot was in that championship season of ’04, Red Sox fans needs to cast a cold eye on the future value of a weak-armed 32-year-old center fielder stationed in 2009 in the great expanse of Yankee Stadium.” 47

In 2006, Damon hit a career-high 24 homers in his first season in the Bronx, a figure he matched in 2009, when he brought great value to the Yankees outfield. In August 2006, a Boston writer conceded that Damon “has been worth every bit of the extra $12 million George Steinbrenner ponied up to take him away from the Red Sox. The Yankees got a very good player while taking one away from their biggest competition.” 48

While New York won the division with 97 wins in 2006, Damon could not deliver in the playoffs against Detroit, which knocked out New York in four ALDS games. Michelle gave birth to her first child and Johnny’s third after the 2006 season. (They had a second child together after the 2008 season.) The Yanks slipped to 94 wins in 2007, which secured a wild card. In the ALDS, New York dropped the first two games at Cleveland and trailed 3-1 in Game Three going into the bottom of the fifth in the Bronx. Melky Cabrera hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to a single run, and Damon then hit a three-run homer as the Yanks rallied to an 8-4 win. But the Indians won the fourth game, meaning that Damon and New York had in consecutive years lost the ALDS in four games.

Under new manager Joe Girardi, the Yankees regressed and missed the playoffs in 2008. For the first time since 1999, Damon made most of his outfield starts in left rather than center field. His lighter defensive responsibilities may have led to his improved offensive performance. On June 7, Damon went 6-for-6 against Kansas City to tie a team record for hits in a game. His two-run single in the eighth tied the game at 10-10. After a David DeJesus homer in the ninth put the Royals back up 11-10, Posada tied the game with a homer in the bottom of the ninth before Damon hit a walk-off RBI single to give New York a wild 12-11 win.

In 2009, Damon relinquished his leadoff role to Jeter49 and his center-field spot to Cabrera. The Yankees won 103 games for the first time since 2002 and got past the ALDS for the first time since 2004.

Damon made his most memorable contribution in pinstripes in Game Four of the World Series at Philadelphia. With the game tied, 4-4, two outs, and none on in the top of the ninth, Damon faced Brad Lidge and won a “nine-pitch battle … that sparked the winning rally. After going down, 0-2, he fouled off a number of pitches before lining a single into short left field. … Girardi called it ‘an incredible at-bat.’” 50

With Mark Teixeira up, the Phillies shifted to the right side of the infield with the switch-hitter batting lefty against the righty Lidge. Damon took off for second on the first pitch. After third baseman Pedro Feliz fielded the short-hop throw, Damon, after a brief hesitation, popped out of his slide and took off for the uncovered third base with Feliz in futile pursuit. 51 Damon received credit for two stolen bases on the play and, from one longtime Philadelphia baseball writer, credit for transforming the whole World Series. 52 “I’m just glad that when I started running, I still had some of my young legs behind me,” Damon quipped. 53

Lidge, possibly unnerved by his failure to cover third, then hit Teixeira. Alex Rodriguez doubled in Damon for a 5-4 lead, and Posada singled in two more runners to put New York up 7-4. Rivera preserved the win, putting New York up three games to one in the Series that the Yankees took in six games.

Seemingly picking a good time to go back into free agency, Damon and his agent Boras played a good hand weakly. The Yankees offered Damon a two-year contract for $14 million; Boras countered with $20 million over two years. New York turned down Boras, and Damon signed with Detroit for $8 million for the 2010 season. 54 Leaving the Tigers after a year, Damon joined Tampa Bay for 2011 and played in 150 games for the first time since 2004. The Rays made the playoffs, and Damon, batting fifth as the DH, got Tampa on the board with a two-run homer in Game One off C.J. Wilson in the only contest the Rays won as Texas took the ALDS.

Playing for his fourth team in four years, Damon signed with Cleveland after the 2012 season had already begun. Damon lasted less than four months with the Indians before the team released him. In November 2012, Damon joined Thailand as it attempted to qualify for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. “I’m enjoying the experience of playing for my mom’s country,” Damon wrote in a text to a reporter. 55

In spite of his desire to keep playing, Damon’s career ended with Thailand. As a famous former athlete, Damon appeared on reality TV shows such as Celebrity Apprentice in 2015 and Dancing with the Stars in 2018.

Baseball analyst Jay Jaffe aptly summed up Damon’s career: “He was a very good and very popular player for a long time, but not quite enough for Cooperstown.” 56 Underappreciated in the smaller media markets of Kansas City and Oakland, Damon thrived in a leadership role in Boston and continued to excel as a member of a strong supporting cast in the Bronx before becoming a baseball vagabond for the remainder of his impressive career as a professional hitter.

Last revised: July 6, 2022

Notes

1 Steve Rock, “Kansas City,” The Sporting News, May 1, 2000: 36. Damon had a good glove to go along with his weak arm. His “major league-best streak of 249 games without an error ended … on August 31[, 2002] when he could not cleanly come up with a ground ball that turned out to be a game-winning hit. Damon had not committed an error in 592 chances dating back to August 27, 2000.” Michael Silverman, “Boston Red Sox,” The Sporting News, September 16, 2002: 63.

2 Gordon Edes, “Fortune of Soldier,” Boston Globe, February 10, 2002.

3 Mike Eisenbath, “Martinez Follows in the Big Man’s Footsteps,” The Sporting News, May 11, 1992: 34.

4 Bob Hohler, “Johnny on the Spot,” Boston Globe, March 29, 2002.

5 Dick Kaegel, “Kansas City Royals,” The Sporting News, September 11, 1995: 28.

6 Alan Schwarz, “The Meaning of Johnny Damon,” Baseball America, February 19-March 3, 1996: 12. This article and several others referenced below come from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s file on Damon. Thanks to Reference Librarian Cassidy Lent for scanning the Damon file.

7 La Velle E. Neal III, “Kansas City Royals,” The Sporting News, November 25, 1996: 31.

8 Dick Kaegel, “Kansas City Royals,” The Sporting News, September 1, 1997: 35.

9 “When It Clicked: Johnny Damon, Yankees,” Washington Post, September 6, 2009.

10 Luciana Chavez, “Kansas City,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1999: 65.

11 Jon Heyman, “Inside Dish,” The Sporting News, January 10, 2000: 61.

12 Jason Reid, “Los Angeles,” The Sporting News, July 17, 2000: 56.

13 Jeff Pearlman, “Force Three: The Hard-Hitting Young Kansas City Outfield Storms to the Top,” Sports Illustrated, April 17, 2000.

14 Steve Rock, “Kansas City,” The Sporting News, June 19, 2000: 29.

15 Gordon Edes, “He Can’t Give Sox Royal Treatment,” Boston Globe, November 12, 2000.

16 Chris Snow, “Damon Finds a Home Again,” Boston Globe, June 8, 2002.

17 Steve DiMeglio, “Five Minutes with … Johnny Damon,” USA Today Sports Weekly, May 19-25, 2004: 24.

18 Thomas Hill, “With A’s, He’s Johnny Dangerously,” New York Daily News, February 28, 2001.

19 Bob Hohler, “Damon Loyal, but Not a Royal,” Boston Globe, April 21, 2002.

20 Bob Hohler, “Leadoff Man Damon Sets a Positive Tone,” Boston Globe, February 20, 2002.

21 Roger Rubin, “Damon Center of Revival,” New York Daily News, October 13, 2001.

22 Bob Hohler and Gordon Edes, “Damon Touches Down,” Boston Globe, December 21, 2001.

23 Gordon Edes, “No Waiting Damon,” Boston Globe, April 23, 2002.

24 Michael Vega, “Starring Role for Damon,” Boston Globe, June 27, 2002.

25 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Touches Bases,” Boston Globe, May 1, 2002.

26 Gordon Edes, “Damon Not Buying A’s Owner’s Story,” Boston Globe, March 17, 2003.

27 Gordon Edes, “Damon Hospitalized after Collision,” Boston Globe, October 7, 2003. Damon and Jackson “couldn’t hear one another in the loud playoff din, which is not uncommon.” Roger Rubin, “Head Clear, Damon Takes Center Stage,” New York Daily News, October 11, 2003.

28 Peter Botte, “Damon Likely Out Till Game 3,” New York Daily News, October 9, 2003.

29 Jackie MacMullan, “Johnny on the Spot,” Boston Globe, October 15, 2004.

30 Bob Ryan, “Damon Has Been Johnny on the Spot in This Heat Wave,” Boston Globe, July 10, 2004.

31 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Is Having a Recurrence of Migraines,” Boston Globe, October 8, 2004.

32 Kevin Paul Dupont, “A Low Point from the Top of the Order,” Boston Globe, October 14, 2004. Damon credited Mussina for his sparkling performance in the opener. “He was pretty awesome. For him to make me look silly like that all day, that doesn’t happen too often,” said Damon, who was also fanned by Tom Gordon for the first out in the eighth. Peter Botte, “Damon Still in Swing,” New York Daily News, October 14, 2004.

33 Roger Rubin, “Bosox Tipping Caps to Yanks but Damon Still Has Faith,” New York Daily News, October 17, 2004.

34 Julian Garcia, “Damon’s Suddenly Mane Man,” New York Daily News, October 21, 2004.

35 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Takes the Lead,” Boston Globe, October 24, 2004.

36 Jim McCabe, “Again, the Winners Were Happy Followers of Damon,” Boston Globe, October 28, 2004.

37 “Damon was listed in the Boston Herald gossip column 64 times in 2004, or roughly once every five days.” Tom Verducci, “The Yankee Clipper,” Sports Illustrated, February 13, 2006: 64.

38 Bob Hohler, “Johnny Damon, Superstar,” Boston Globe, July 11, 2005.

39 “I get booed. They absolutely despise me. I just have to say, ‘You’re welcome for ’04. You’re welcome for making it fun again over there.’” Peter Abraham, “Damon’s Got Ear to Ground,” Boston Globe, April 11, 2011.

40 Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan, “Damon’s Wedding Is a Rocking Hit for All,” Boston Globe, December 31, 2004. Mangan also briefly became a minor media celebrity in Boston. A profile of her revealed that “Mangan and Damon both like Boston. ‘It’s a lot prettier than New York,’ she says though there has been talk that he will head to the Yankees should the call come. ‘I can’t see him in a Yankees uniform,’ Mangan says.” Bella English, “Batting Around with Michelle Mangan,” Boston Globe, October 1, 2005. Damon signed with the Yankees three months and two days after this article appeared.

41 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Enjoying Star Turn,” Boston Globe, March 10, 2005.

42 Mike Petraglia, “Damon’s Hit Streak Snapped at 29 games,” MLB.com, July 19, 2005.

43 Johnny Damon with Peter Golenbock, Idiot (New York: Crown Publishers, 2005), 201. In a masterstroke of snarky brevity, columnist Dan Shaughnessy called the book “a work often compared with Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina’ and Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes From the Underground.’” Dan Shaughnessy, “He Must Have His Reasons, but What Are They?” Boston Globe, August 25, 2010.

44 Dan Shaughnessy, “Curses, Again,” Boston Globe, October 8, 2005.

45 Gordon Edes, “What to Read into All This? Some Odd Chapters on Epstein, Damon,” Boston Globe, November 23, 2005. In fact, Damon got his last hit, number 2,769, in 2012. He received a paltry 1.9 percent share of the 2018 Hall of Fame balloting. As Shaughnessy wrote, “I just got through checking out Scott Boras’s dossier on Johnny, and until now I had no idea Johnny was better than both Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio. What a crock.” Dan Shaughnessy, “Is Johnny Damon Worth $10M a Year?” Boston Globe, November 27, 2005.

46 Gordon Edes and Chris Snow, “Damon Jumps to Yankees,” Boston Globe, December 21, 2005.

47 “Steinbrenner’s Folly,” Boston Globe, December 24, 2005.

48 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Is Long Gone But Not Hard to Find,” Boston Globe, August 19, 2006.

49 “When Girardi made the move, he stated a number of times that ‘Johnny is really good at moving the runners over.’ Clearly, the move was made to keep Jeter from hitting into so many double plays, as well…. Damon also pointed out that the move allowed him to really go for the long ball every once in a while.” Kevin Kernan, Girardi: Passion in Pinstripes (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2012), 174.

50 Nick Cafardo, “Damon Smarter Than Most Idiots,” Boston Globe, November 2, 2009.

51 youtube.com/watch?v=cCfmj6mnN0I (accessed May 21, 2018).

52 Jayson Stark, “Damon Steals the Show in Game 4,” ESPN, November 1, 2009.

53 Nick Cafardo, “Damon, Yankees on the Verge,” Boston Globe, November 2, 2009.

54 Bob Klapsich, “Johnny Damon, Scott Boras Really Blew This One,” NorthJersey.com, February 23, 2010.

55 Benjamin Hoffman, “Unsigned for 2013, Damon Takes an International Step to a Possible Last Hurrah,” New York Times, November 14, 2012.

56 Jay Jaffe, “One-and-Dones Pt. 3: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui Were Popular, but not Hall of Famers,” Sports Illustrated, December 28, 2017.

“As we drive up we see the Crown. There was a little mist and I’m thinking ‘this is an unbelievable sight.’ The lights are on. It doesn’t get any better than that. Then all of a sudden we pull in, we go into the clubhouse, and I said, ‘This is bigger than my house at home in Philly, and it has more than one shower.’… I said, ‘I love this place.’ Then later that night to cap it off, I call my parents. I’m trying to explain to them about how beautiful the field was, the locker room, the big crown. I said, ‘Guess where I’m calling from?’ They go, where? I said, ‘I’m calling from George Brett’s house. I’m living with George Brett. … He let us live in his house.’ I said, ‘Dad, this is a dream.’ He goes, ‘Son, never wake up.’ And I haven’t woke up.”

                        —- Mark Gubicza’s Royals Hall of Fame induction speech, March 27, 2012

For Mark Gubicza, it was a dream realized for both a father and his son. Mark’s father, Tony, pitched in the White Sox organization before a shoulder injury cut short his career. Post–baseball, Tony became a mail carrier and full–time coach and catcher for his son.

“He caught me all the time. There were a lot of times he’d catch me with his bare hands.”1

Mark was born on August 14, 1962 in Philadelphia. Athletic success did not fall just on his father’s side of the family. His uncle Robert Ames, the brother of his mother, Patricia, played on the 1954 NCAA champion LaSalle Explorers basketball team. So it was no surprise that baseball and basketball ran through Mark’s blood and would lead to a constant debate in his mind throughout his formative years.

Besides starring on the court and on the diamond, Mark played football and hockey, and even boxed. However, “[H]e wasn’t really good inside the ring, so that didn’t last long.”2 In Little League, Mark pitched and played shortstop. He recalled a stretch where he had 57 hits in just 17 games. Whether at the plate or on the mound, there was no doubt Mark knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.

 “Most kids wanted to be a fireman or police officer where I grew up. I only wanted to play in ‘The Show.’”

Mark continued to grow on the field dominating the junior and senior leagues of his neighborhood, while at the same time growing his passion of the game watching his beloved Phillies. Despite having attended dozens of games at Veterans Stadium, he had never been to a game with his father until the chilly evening of October 21, 1980. It was Game Six of the World Series. Mike Schmidt and the Phillies trying to win their first World Series, taking on, of all teams, the Royals, led by George Brett. It was that night, Gubicza called “the best day of his life,” he and his father watching as Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson, delivering the city its first World Series championship.

At the time, Gubicza was a high–school star. Under his father’s tutelage, he had adapted a drop–and–drive pitching mechanic, emulating Tom Seaver. He was able to generate velocity on his fastball, hitting 92 mph on the radar gun. Being 6–foot–5 did not hurt, either. His curveball was topping out at 81–82 mph and he was quickly becoming a star at William Penn Charter School. Besides Seaver, he took a little from his idol, Hall of Famer Jim Palmer.

“I like the way he gets the job done, there’s no wasted energy in his pitching motion and he’s so darn consistent.”3

Because of city rules, Gubicza was unable to play varsity baseball as a freshman. But once he was eligible, he was a three–year starter. He also started at forward his junior and senior seasons for the Quaker basketball team. He had decisions to make. Basketball or baseball? Shortstop or pitcher? Gubicza was getting some college hoop offers and he knew he could be a successful hitter in the big leagues, but his arm was the way to go. He knew it, the colleges knew it … and baseball scouts knew it. Gubicza was named to the all–city league as a sophomore, junior and senior. His numbers his final season with Penn Charter were off the charts. 8–1, 0.48 ERA, 83 strikeouts, and just 27 hits allowed in 58⅔ innings. His team won the Inter–AC title.4 Gubicza was named the Philadelphia Daily News’ All–City Pitcher of the Year, picked by coaches, who declared, “Gubicza earned the award as far back as late April, the first time we saw him pitch.”5

Just as impressive as his stats were the number of college coaches and major–league scouts who were taking notice. Pro scout Brad Kohler described some of Gubicza’s attributes:

“Live arm. Will have above avg. fastball. Gets ball over with ability to get ahead of hitters. Many college offers. Loves BB (baseball). Definite ML prospect.”6

“It was very odd and somewhat uncomfortable when I looked up and saw scouts with radar guns at all of my games,” Gubicza said.

“My dad gave me the best advice: Just focus on what you can do and the rest will work its way out.”

Colleges were also calling. Gubicza made the rounds. “Visiting colleges during my recruitment process was pricey,” he said. “I met coach (Bear) Bryant at Alabama, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) at Duke, met Herschel (Walker) and Dominique (Wilkens) at Georgia. Visited ‘The Ohio State’ and realized how big that campus was. And had one last visit to choose from (USC [University of Southern California], the other USC [University of South Carolina], OSU [Oklahoma State] and U of Miami).”

Despite settling on Duke, it was the prospect of being drafted that was first and foremost for Gubicza. He was sure to be selected in the June 1981 draft, but how high would he go and who would take him? Royals scout Tom Ferrick had been keeping an eye on him. He was sending reports to the Royals director of scouting and player development, John Schuerholz, who remembered Ferrick talking about not only Gubicza’s physical attributes, but also his makeup both on and off the field. Gubicza recalled his conversations with Ferrick as “open and honest throughout the entire process.”

June 8 was draft day. Gubicza had heard rumors about the Braves and Yankees and that the Phillies were interested. “My ultimate dream in life was to put on the Phillies uniform,” he said.

It didn’t happen. Gubicza was selected in the second round by the Kansas City Royals, the club his beloved Phillies had just beaten in the World Series. Gubicza was picked ahead of future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn as well as another future Hall of Famer, the last pick of the second round: John Elway.

“I was extremely excited to get drafted by an organization that won every year,” Gubicza said in 2018. He remembered playing stickball that day with his friends when he got the word from his father: “My dad drove up and shouted, ‘You got drafted,’ and all my boys from the schoolyard went nuts. They were so happy one of us got the chance of a lifetime. My dad and brothers were super pumped, but my mom was sad. She wanted me to go to Duke in the worst way. She loved the campus.”

The Duke scholarship was still on the table as negotiations began. Schuerholz had come from Kansas City and met the Gubiczas for the first time. “Here I was sitting at their dining room table with the entire family negotiating a contract,” he recalled.

“I still remember John telling me years down the road that, and I quote, ‘I better get this done or else your whole family may put cement shoes on me and throw me in the river by your house,’” Gubicza said. “I laughed forever with that. A Hall of Famer who loved me and my family.”

No cement was needed and the deal was done. But leaving the comforts of home for the unknown of minor–league baseball wasn’t easy. He would write to his family and friends daily. Gubicza was assigned to the Royals Gold, one of the club’s two entries in the Gulf Coast Rookie League. He immediately found success. When he took the hill for the first time, he was amazed “because his landing foot didn’t land in a huge hole.” The field was well groomed. As were his stats. He finished his first season in the organization going 8–1 with a 2.25 ERA, 40 strikeouts, and just 38 hits allowed in 56 innings pitched.

“It’s hard to believe. I wanted to do well, but I never dreamed of stats like that. When I got there, I was thinking that the adjustment period – to the hitters, to the incredible heat, to being away from home – would take lots of time. But I felt comfortable almost from the start and that made it much easier to pitch. The coaches treated me nice and so did my teammates. There were only four high–school kids. The rest were coming out of their junior and senior years of college. But we (the young kids) were never looked down upon.”7

That fall Gubicza was assigned to the Royals Instructional League program, which was designed to accelerate the progress of top–notch prospects. The program was headed by Gary Blaylock, to whom he credits much of his success, saying, “Gary was stern, but very good at getting his point across.”

It was there that Gubicza began the transition from a straight fastball/curveball pitcher to adding a sinker and slider to his repertoire. He also became friends with a pair of future teammates, David Cone and Tony Ferreira, and they quickly became known as the Three Musketeers throughout the organization. They would go to each other for tips as well as support. Not to mention rooming together to save money.

In 1982 all three were assigned to the Fort Myers Royals of the Class–A Florida State League. While Cone and Ferreira found success, Gubicza was working on honing his new pitches, which was not always easy. He finished the season just 2–5 with a 4.13 ERA and 25 walks in 48 innings. Despite the numbers, Schuerholz was receiving glowing reports.

“The praise Mark received continued to escalate throughout the organization,” Schuerholz said. “It was clear he had not only the talent package, but a bulldog mentality which would be a key to his future success.”

Once again Gubicza was assigned to the Fall Instructional League, where he worked with a couple of other top pitching prospects. Gubicza, left–hander Danny Jackson, and right–hander Bret Saberhagen were the three who really stood out to Schuerholz and the organization.

“Gary (Blaylock) kept telling me he was certain Mark, DJ, and Bret could pitch in the big leagues,” Schuerholz said. “I kept asking him about their makeup. Was it strong enough to withstand temporary failure? The answer continued to be that their makeup was great.”

In 1983 Gubicza attended his first big–league spring training, in Fort Myers. “I loved my first big–league spring training because I got to pick the brains of people like Vida Blue, Dennis Leonard, Steve Renko, Gaylord Perry, etc.,” he said. Out of camp, he was assigned to Jacksonville of the Double–A Southern League.

“Toward the end of my year at Double A, Gene Lamont, my manager, said don’t worry about Triple A next year because you might not even need to see that level next year. I said ‘Hmmm, maybe?’”

Around the same time, the Royals were dealing with major off–field issues. After the 1983 season, four players were sentenced to federal prison for involvement with cocaine. At this point, Schuerholz and the organization decided to go in a different direction. “Due to the positive reports on DJ, Bret, and Mark, I was confident they could handle any potential temporary failures,” he said. “We made the decision to clean the slate and we were going to go with the young pitchers.”

Before that could happen, Gubicza needed a strong spring training to impress the front office. And he delivered right from the start. In his first outing, he beat the defending American League West champion White Sox, including striking out future Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk as well as Greg Luzinski, whom he had watched playing for the Phillies World Series championship team. The 21–year–old pitched well and was tabbed to go north with the Royals. “I came to spring training trying to make a good impression,” Gubicza said. “I was being realistic. I didn’t think I had a shot. I was just hoping to be assigned to Omaha. I would have been happy with that. But here I make the team and am going to pitch in the starting rotation. I almost have to pinch myself.”8

He was named the team’s fourth starter, joining a rotation that featured four southpaws. “They needed someone who was right–handed and hopefully could throw hard, and I fit,” Gubicza said.9 His teammates knew the benefit of having a righty in the mix. Said Frank White, “If you can fit him in the middle of those left–handers, it might break the timing of the other teams. Sometimes a guy who throws hard and has good stuff can mess things up and help the guys who don’t throw as hard.”10

Before taking the mound he and Saberhagen, who had made the team as a long reliever, needed a place to stay. Enter a legend. “George Brett asked me and (Saberhagen) if we had a place to stay and we said no. So he said, ‘You do now, you are staying with me.’”

Days later he was in his first big–league clubhouse. “It was a total honor and privilege to put on that Royal uniform for the first time,” Gubicza said. “I watched them in the World Series against the Phillies and knew they were real good.”

He took the Royals Stadium mound for the first time as a big leaguer on April 6, 1984, against the Indians. “Before my first game, my teammates and dad said the same thing: Have fun and remember this is a special day.” But it was not a memorable start to his big–league career. The first batter he faced was Indians center fielder Brett Butler. “I walked him on four pitches. After that I settled down.”

Actually the box score shows the speedy Butler reached on an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on Tony Bernazard’s single, and scored on a groundout by Julio Franco. Just like that, he was down 1–0. But he did settle down, and despite taking the 2–0 loss, it was a quality start in his big–league debut. Six innings pitched, five hits allowed, one run, one walk, four strikeouts. “Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven pitches for them that night. My mom and dad were at my first MLB start. They were so excited.”

Gubicza finished his first season going 10–14 with a 4.05 ERA. He walked 75 while striking out 111 in 189 innings. He threw four complete games, including two shutouts. He finished seventh in the Rookie of the Year balloting, one spot below Roger Clemens. He was also introduced to his first big–league nickname: “I was known as Goob or Little Goob all my life. But once I got to the Bigs, it became Goobie!”

As Goobie would often mention, it was a nickname that would come in handy following a rough home outing.

“I always told myself they (the fans) weren’t saying boooo. … They were saying Gooob.”

Despite the offseason turmoil and Brett’s torn meniscus, costing him the first six weeks, the 1984 Royals hung around the top of the AL West. Gubicza picked up one of his most important wins of the season on September 4. He gave up one run in 8⅔ innings, helping the Royals catch the Minnesota Twins atop the division. KC finished the month 17–11. When the Twins suffered back–to–back walk–off losses, the Royals clinched the division. They finished with just 84 wins and a playoff date with the wire–to–wire AL East champion Detroit Tigers. Goobie did not pitch in that series as the Royals were swept in three straight by the team that eventually won the World Series. A bitter ending, but the foundation had been laid for future success.

“The energy was great on our team in ’84,” Gubicza said. “We had veteran players and a bunch of young talented rookie pitchers.”

Schuerholz said at the time, “We have a brighter future than anticipated. We’ll be better next year and better than that the year after.”11

Gubicza’s future also looked brighter off the field when he attended his best friend’s wedding.

He recalled, “I met (Lisa) at Bret Saberhagen’s wedding. It sounds cliché, but I knew at that moment I was going to marry her.”

Gubicza got off to a tough start in 1985, winning just one of his first seven starts with an ERA hovering around 5. His season turned around on June 8 in a game in Anaheim against the Angels. He had a shutout working into the ninth before Ruppert Jones hit an RBI single, knocking him from the game. Dan Quisenberry got Reggie Jackson to hit into a double play, giving the Royals a 4–1 win. Gubicza then went 12–3 over his next 18 starts. In his final start of the season, he defeated the Oakland A’s, pitching 6⅓ innings of one–run ball. Quisenberry closed it out. That win, coupled with an Angels loss, meant the Royals clinched at least a tie for the division crown. The next night Willie Wilson singled in the 10th, driving home Pat Sheridan, and the Royals walked off with the AL West title. Armed with Saberhagen (20 wins, Cy Young Award), Charlie Leibrandt (17 wins), Jackson and Gubicza (14 wins each), and Bud Black (10 wins), the Royals faced Toronto in the ALCS.

Gubicza’s first postseason appearance came in relief during Game One. With the Royals trailing 6–0, he entered in the fifth and pitched three hitless and scoreless innings in a game the Royals lost, 6–1. That performance led to his first playoff start. With the Royals trailing the best–of–seven series three games to two and on the brink of elimination, manager Dick Howser handsed the ball to Gubicza for a win–or–go–home Game Six at Exhibition Stadium.

“I remember just before Game Six George Brett came up to me and joked, either we play Game Seven or we play golf the next day,” Gubicza said. “It helped me relax.”

The Royals were staked to a 1–0 lead in the first inning , but in the Blue Jays’ first, a leadoff double by Damaso Garcia and a single by Lloyd Moseby put runners on the corners with nobody out. Gubicza got Rance Mulliniks to bounce back to the mound for a 1–6–3 double play. Garcia scored, tying the game. The Royals again took the lead in the third, but Gubicza ran into more trouble in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Tony Fernandez doubled down the left–field line, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout, tying the score again. In the fifth, Brett hit a then record ninth LCS home run, giving the Royals the lead for good. There was a tense moment in the sixth when Mulliniks nearly took Gubicza deep for a two–run shot, but Willie Wilson was able to track it down. Gubicza left the game a batter later with a 5–2 lead. Black and Quisenberry finished the job and the Royals evened the series, 3–3.

After the game Howser was asked about the decision to start Gubicza in the crucial Game Six. He replied, “Gubicza was a starter for me all year, I had no qualms about starting him. That gave me the luxury of having a guy like Bud Black in the bullpen.”12

The Royals took Game Seven in Toronto, earning a trip to the World Series. It was the “I–70 Showdown Series” or the “Show–Me Series” against their interstate rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. With the Royals going to a four–man rotation, Gubicza did not pitch in the Series. It was a thrilling series highlighted by one of the most controversial calls in World Series history. In Game Six, with the Cardinals leading the Series three games to two and the game 1–0, Jorge Orta led off the bottom of the ninth with a grounder between first and second. Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark threw to pitcher Todd Worrell covering first. Umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe on a bang–bang play. Replays showed Orta should have been called out.

“I was in the bullpen at the time,” Gubicza said. “I thought from my angle that Worrell missed the base and that’s why Don called him safe.”

With no instant replay available in 1985, the call stood, and eventually pinch–hitter Dane Iorg blooped a single to right, driving in the winning runs. The Series was tied.

As exciting as Game Six was, Game Seven was anticlimactic. Saberhagen threw a shutout and the Royals pounded the Cardinals, 11–0, winning Kansas City’s first World Series title.

“After we won the World Series, all I could think of was I was there for the Phillies clincher in 1980 with my dad and now I get to experience what the Phillies players must have felt,” Gubicza said.

Success did not carry over to the 1986 season. Gubicza got off to a terrible start, going 0–4 with an ERA of nearly 7.50. He finally broke into the win column on May 14 with a three–hit shutout of the Indians.

On June 5 Gubicza suffered one of his worst starts in the big leagues, lasting just 1⅔ innings, giving up two runs on a hit and four walks. At one point he missed the strike zone on 13 straight pitches. And in his next start, two days later, he was struck on the head by a thrown ball during batting practice. Gubicza was placed on the disabled list with a fractured outer plate of the right orbital sinus. Returning in July, he worked out of the bullpen. He returned to the rotation in August and had a great finish to the season, winning eight of his final nine decisions and lowering his ERA nearly a run a game. Gubicza ended the season 12–6 with a 3.64 ERA. The Royals finished third in the AL West.

That was the season Bo Jackson made his debut. “Playing with Bo was beyond cool,” said Gubicza. “Besides playing with George Brett, no one came close to their talents. They made you stop and watch every second.”

That year Gubicza also picked up another win off the field. On November 7 he and Lisa were married.

Gubicza got off to another slow start in 1987, winning just three of his first 13 starts. Nevertheless, he was showing the type of mound mentality GM Schuerholz knew his tall right–hander had, as Gubicza completed nine of his final 22 starts, including two shutouts. 

“Mark was a bulldog,” said Schuerholz. “He was tough–minded and wanted the ball. Every time he took the mound, he wanted to beat every opponent. He had the aptitude and attitude to just keep fighting and never wanted to come out.”

Despite a 13–18 record, Gubicza made 35 starts, threw 241⅔ innings and had 10 complete games. The Royals again missed the playoffs, finishing two games behind the eventual World Series champion Twins.

Gubicza got off to a better start in 1988, winning three of his first four starts. However, three straight losses to start May left him with a 3–4 mark. Looking to right the ship, Mark looked for help. “I had a long conversation with our new pitching coach, Frank Funk,” he said. “We talked about ‘trying easy.’ It was the turning point for my career.”

By backing off what Schuerholz called a “forced delivery,” Gubicza started to see great results. He hit the All–Star break winning nine of 10 and earning the June American League Pitcher of the Month Award. His final start before the break was a four–hit shutout of the Yankees. The dominant stretch earned him his first All–Star Game selection.

Gubicza entered the game, at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, in the fourth inning, giving up a single to leadoff hitter Vince Coleman. The speedster stole second and went to third on a bad throw by catcher Terry Steinbach. After Gubicza struck out Ryne Sandberg, Coleman scored on a wild pitch. Back–to–back singles by Andre Dawson and Darryl Strawberry (neither ball leaving the infield), put Gubicza on the ropes, but he got Bobby Bonilla to line out and Will Clark to ground out.

Gubicza then pitched a scoreless fifth as the American League won, 2–1. For Gubicza, “The coolest thing … was meeting Willie Mays, Lou Brock, and Vice President George Bush!”

Gubicza was just as dominant in the second half of the season. On August 27 he beat the Twins, allowing just one run and striking out 14. He ran his record to 16–7. On September 26 he shut out Seattle for his first 20–win season. He finished 20–8 with a 2.70 ERA, in 269⅔ innings pitched. He was a serious contender for the Cy Young Award, and finished third in the balloting. “Frank Viola [the winner] was amazing for the Twins in 1988, but I felt good about my numbers as well,” Gubicza said.

Gubicza was once again a workhorse in 1989. He led the league with 36 starts. He stayed around the .500 mark most of the season, but did have a hot stretch in June. For the second season in a row, he was named the June American League Pitcher of the Month. He was also named to his second consecutive All–Star Game, and pitched a 1–2–3 fourth inning as the American League won, 5–3.

He was hot again after the break, winning five straight in late August/early September. By season’s end he was 15–11 with a 3.04 ERA in 255 innings for the second–place Royals. However, internally something was not right. “My shoulder started hurting toward the end of ’89. An average of 250–plus innings took a toll.”

The 1990 season did not start well for Gubicza. He was just 2–4 with an ERA over 8 after his first start in May. After a June 29 start against the Tigers, he was 4–7 with an ERA of 4.50. It was his last start of the season. On July 10 he was placed on the 21–day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder. The hope was that he would be able to begin throwing in a week or two. “Being injured and not being able to compete with my teammates was very difficult,” Gubicza said.

On July 27 it was announced that he would undergo arthroscopic surgery on a partially torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder and would miss the rest of the season.

“Talking to my dad is what got me through the tough times. But he passed away shortly after my major surgery,” Gubicza said.

After missing just over a month at the start of the 1991 season, Gubicza was back on the hill on May 14 against the Blue Jays. He took a loss, but struck out eight in five innings. Since he was still recovering from the surgery, he was not expected to be the workhorse of years past. He was limited to just 133 innings, finishing 9–12 with a 5.68 ERA.

Gubicza seemed to be back to full strength in 1992. Heading into July, he had already thrown 105⅓ innings. He was 7–6 with an ERA just under 4. But on July 5 he left his start against Milwaukee with stiffness in that right shoulder. Five days later, he came out after just an inning. On July 15 he was placed on the disabled list again with inflammation in the shoulder. On August 14, the day he turned 30, Gubicza experienced more pain while warming up for a simulated start. On August 24 he was examined in Los Angeles by Dr. Lewis Yocum, who determined that the pain was most likely caused by weakness in the rotator cuff. Gubicza was shut down for the remainder of the season.

After signing a one–year deal in the offseason, Gubicza was ready to go in the spring of 1993. He was back in the rotation, but struggled out of the gate. He gave up seven runs in just 1⅔ innings in his first outing. After a loss on May 20, his record stood at 0–5 with an ERA close to 7. The next day he was pulled out of the rotation and put into the bullpen.

“It’ll be a new experience, trying to be ready every two days or so,” Gubicza said at the time. “But if it helps the team, that’s great. I just hope it turns out to be a meaningful role.”13

Gubicza flourished out of the pen. In 43 appearances, he won five games and recorded the first two saves of his career. He struck out 61 in 72⅓ innings.

“Goobie is very tough mentally. He’s a fighter, a battler,” said pitching coach Guy Hansen. “That’s the type of mentality you want for that job. And I think he’s done a terrific job.”14

But at the same time, Gubicza was left pondering the future. As a free agent after the season, and now working out of the bullpen, would the team keep him in the fold?

“Mark has been a loyal part of this organization,” said GM Herk Robinson. “He could have left after last year, but he chose to come back. If it can be worked out, we’d love to have him back.”15

Still, Gubicza filed for free agency after the season. He fielded offers from Kansas City and other clubs, and in December he decided to return to the Royals for an 11th season. “It was a little tempting with the Phillies,” he said, “but I’m not sure I wanted to go prove myself again with another team.”16

Gubicza agreed to a one–year deal. Near the end of spring training, he learned he was back as a part of the Royals rotation. He hovered around the .500 mark most of the season, but on the positive side, he was again throwing six to seven innings a start. By the end of July, he had thrown nearly 130 innings. On August 1 he beat the Yankees as the Royals won their 10th straight game. The streak reached 14 and ended on Gubicza’s final start of the season, on August 6. Four days later the players went on strike. The walkout lasted the rest of the season and into spring training of 1995.

Gubicza was now playing a role off the field instead of on it. “I was the alternate player rep so I was constantly on the phone and tried also to keep the fans in KC, whenever I ran into them, hopeful that the season wouldn’t be lost,” he said.

It would be. There was no World Series. On April 2, 1995, the strike ended. After a spring full of replacement players, the big leaguers were coming back. “It’s a fresh start right now,” Gubicza said. “I think the players are excited to get it going.”17

Gubicza was slotted into the Royals rotation as the number–three starter. The only remaining member of the 1985 World Series champions, now he was the veteran pitcher surrounded by a bunch of hungry kids.

Nearly five years after his rotator–cuff surgery, he was no longer the power pitcher he had been. By using more of his slider and concentrating on ball placement, he was pitching pain–free. Despite finishing 12–14, he was back to being the innings–eater of his prime. He led the league with 33 starts, throwing 213⅓ innings.

After the season Gubicza was back on the free–agent market. He had talks with other teams, but again decided to stay in Kansas City, signing a two–year deal.

Things did not go as planned in 1996. Gubicza struggled out of the gate and never really caught fire. He lost all five starts in June, leaving him with a 4–12 record. His season was cut short on July 5 against the Twins. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Paul Molitor hit a line drive off his left knee. He was diagnosed with a fractured tibia, costing him the rest of the season. The pitch that Molitor smashed was Gubicza’s last in a Royals uniform. In October the Royals traded their longest–tenured player to California for designated hitter Chili Davis. Gubicza had a chance to veto the trade, but agreed to go to California, where he and his family now lived.

“I thought I would be a Royal for life because I had survived many a trade rumor,” Gubicza said. “But when I was traded to California it was a blessing in many ways because my daughter was just starting school and being close to home allowed me to be there every day.”

Gubicza’s Angels career was short–lived. Starting in spring training, he began experiencing pain in his shoulder. He had hoped to pitch through it. However, after being unable to hold a 7–1 lead in his first start and getting shelled in his second start, he knew something had to be done.

“I thought I could battle through this, make some pitches, get some outs. But there were times I didn’t have anything on the ball,” he said. “I’m obviously not doing the club any good going out there and not giving them a chance to win.”18

Gubicza initially received good news as an MRI was normal. The hope was that a trip to the 15–day disabled list would be all he needed. He was further encouraged on May 12 when he was able to throw off the mound for 10 minutes without pain. However, after he threw a simulated game in June, the pain returned. He was shut down until at least July 1. On August 5, with a rehab stint in sight, the club determined that, if healthy, Gubicza would not return to the rotation. As it turned out, he would not return at all. Despite his attempts to make it back, he could not shake the pain in his shoulder and his season was over.

Entering the winter of 1997, Gubicza was again a free agent. He had hoped to return to Anaheim, but was unable to work out a deal. “The most difficult and disappointing time in my professional career was not being able to pitch well for the Angels,” Gubicza said. “It still hurts because I felt I owed them so much and I didn’t produce on the field for them.”

Gubicza eventually signed a minor–league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, just days before heading to Vero Beach for 1998 spring training, he decided to retire. “I’m disappointed I’m not able to go down to Florida and compete for a job with the Dodgers, but I just didn’t think I could pitch the way my shoulder has been feeling,” he said.19

After the 1998 season, Gubicza contemplated a comeback. He declined the Royals’ offer of a job as a roving minor–league pitching instructor. “The Red Sox called me to try out for them. I did, which was another dream come true. But I didn’t sign with them and stayed retired,” Gubicza said. After nearly two decades in baseball, at age 36, his playing days were over.

“When I retired, all I thought of was spending time with my family,” he said. Mark and Lisa, whom he called “my hero since the day I met her,” along with their three children, settled into retirement in Southern California.

“I got a chance to coach a travel team with Bret Barberie shortly after my retirement and I knew that I wanted to do that,” Gubicza said. “It led to being the head coach at Chaminade High School in the West Hills area of Los Angeles.”

Among the players he coached at Chaminade were Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar, veteran pitcher Dan Runzler, and Yankees 2016 first–round pick Blake Rutherford.

“I always told my players to work hard, have a ton of fun always believe someone is looking at you. So run out everything and run to your positions every inning,” Gubicza said.

One day he received a phone call from Fox Sports Net. They were interested in having him audition for a role on a new show, Baseball Today.

It was something Gubicza had been indirectly training for throughout his big–league career. One way he would pass the time between starts was coming up with nicknames for players. Not exactly Chris Berman’s “Bermanisms” (i.e., Bert “be home” Blyleven, Wally “Absorbine” Joyner), nevertheless he was proud of a few.

“I gave Jeff Montgomery the nickname “Snake Bliskin” for the character in Escape from New York. Because he would sneak under home plate like a snake and place the baseball anywhere he wanted for a strikeout.”

John Schuerholz knew Gubicza would be a good fit in television, saying he had “the ability to match movie–star looks with tenacity to get people out.”

Joining other ex–big leaguers like Steve Sax, Ron Darling, and Kevin Kennedy, Gubicza began his broadcasting career as an analyst. Talking about something he loved was not a hard transition.

“TV certainly wasn’t anything I thought much about after retirement. But it feels great to be back in the game, expressing opinions,” he said. “It’s like I’m back in the clubhouse again – and I get to go home afterward.”20

Gubicza eventually became an analyst on Angels pre– and postgame shows for Fox Sports West, then took on his current role (as of 2018) as the Angels color commentator on FSW. He was happy to emulate a couple of his childhood heroes, “Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. “(They) were my favorites,” he said. “I loved how they entertained me and educated me at the same time.”

Sixteen years after pitching at Kauffman Stadium for the final time, Gubicza returned to the mound again in 2012, this time as a newly inducted member of the Royals Hall of Fame. As of 2018 he was third on the Royals career list for wins (132), second in innings pitched (2,218⅔), and second in strikeouts (1,366).

Gubicza called his induction a “tremendous honor,” the perfect ending for a little boy who grew up to realize his big–league dreams.

A few fun facts from Mark himself and Baseball–Reference.com:

Toughest hitter faced: Don Mattingly (.413, 4 HR, 17 RBIs in 80 at–bats).

Surprise success against: Kirby Puckett (.238 in 84 at–bats), Rickey Henderson (.229 in 70 at–bats), Dave Winfield (.245 in 49 at–bats).

1,000th strikeout: Dan Gladden (September 10, 1991).

Author’s note:

I would like to thank my friend Mark (Goobie!) for his time, energy, and enthusiasm in talking with me and answering more than a few questions.

I would also like to thank John Schuerholz (and his wife, Karen, for taking the wheel) for answering my questions while driving through the mountains of Georgia.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball–Reference.com.

Notes

1 Joseph Turkos, “Far from Phila., Not Far from Home,” mongomerynews.com, August 21, 2009.

2 All otherwise unattributed quotations come from interviews conducted with Mark Gubicza on August 21 and October 11, 2018 as well as a telephone interview with John Schuerholz conducted on August 16, 2018.

3 Ted Silary, “Big Leagues Eye Gubicza,” Philadelphia Daily News, April 17, 1981: 65.

4 Inter–AC is the Inter–Academic League, a high school athletic conference consisting of private schools in the Philadelphia area and the surrounding suburbs. 

5 Ted Silary, “Gubicza Easy Selection as Best Pitcher,” Philadelphia Daily News, June 24, 1981: 50.

6 National Baseball Hall of Fame Scouting Reports Collection: collection.baseballhall.org/PASTIME/mark–gubicza–scouting–report–1981–march–31–1#page/1/mode/1up.

7 Ted Silary, “Gubicza Has Major Success in Minors,” Philadelphia Daily News, September 9, 1981: 59.

8 Warren Mayes, “A Storybook Beginning,” Springfield (Missouri) Leader and Press, April 6, 1984: 6D. 

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Max Rieper, “A Look Back at the 1984 Royals,” royalsreview.com, September 13, 2017.

12 John Sonderegger, “Royals Force a Seventh Game,” St. Louis Post–Dispatch, October 16, 1985: 1D.

13 Associated Press, “Gubicza Loses His Position in Royals’ Pitching Rotation,” Des Moines Register, May 21, 1993: 1S.

14  “Gubicza’s Career as Royal Is Nearing an Intersection,” St. Louis Post–Dispatch, August 22, 1993: 3F.

15 Ibid.

16 Associated Press, “Gubicza Signs with Royals,” Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury, December 8, 1993: B2. 

17 Associated Press, “KC’s Boone Ready for Second Spring Season,” Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury, April 3, 1995: B2.

18 Mike Digiovanna, “Indians Put Angels in Deep Freeze,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1997: C7.

19 Associated Press, “Trachsel Stays With Cubs, Gets Nearly $3 Million,” Arizona Republic, February 14, 1998: C7.

20 Tom Hoffarth, “Full–Service Olbermann,” Los Angeles Daily News, July 21, 2000.

Nothing in Gura’s formative years suggested this particular niche for him in baseball history. Lawrence Cyril Gura was born on November 26, 1947, to Charles J. Gura Jr. and Gretchen L. (Barnett) Gura in Joliet, Illinois,3 about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Joliet’s population was about 50,000 at the time.4

Charles Gura, of Slovak descent, was a lifelong resident of the area and for over 40 years was a baker for the American Baking Company, maker of Rainbo Bread. He belonged to the local Loyal Order of Moose lodge. Gretchen was a widow when she married Charles. She had children from her first marriage, and Larry grew up with two brothers and two sisters. Gretchen became a teacher’s aide at Joliet East High School, which opened in 1964. Larry was a senior there during the school’s first year. His mother also served as a president of the Air Force Mothers Club locally and was quite involved in the Belmont and Ingalls Park Athletic Clubs on Joliet’s east side. Larry played Little League baseball at Belmont Park and Pony League ball at Ingalls.5

According to a niece of Larry’s, the family was very athletic. His brother Chuck played football in high school, but several other relatives mainly played on the diamond. Their father pitched and played third base for the Moose team, and their mother played softball during her youth. Charles Gura’s brother Emery also played for the Moose, and because Emery was left-handed, like Larry, it was that uncle who taught Larry how to pitch during Little League.6

Joliet has long had a “reputation as a great baseball community,” according to a longtime journalist there.7 During the last decade of Gura’s pro career, a Chicago Tribune sportswriter even called Joliet “baseball-crazy.”8 Baseball in Joliet made the news nationwide when Larry was a baby, and another of Larry’s uncles was on the periphery. In 1948 the Joliet area’s new semipro baseball league was called the Will County Athletic Association (WCAA), and the Joliet Moose had one of the circuit’s eight teams. Starring for them that year was 5-foot-9, 18-year-old Francis “Fuzzy” Gura, who the local daily said was “undoubtedly the most effective hurler in the league.”9 Also in the WCAA was St. Joseph’s American Legion team. In an exhibition game for that team on July 20, pitcher Bernice Metesh became the only female semipro baseball player in the United States at the time. She and Frank Gura didn’t pitch against each other because she was added to the roster too late to be eligible for regular WCAA games.10 Instead, she pitched in more exhibition games across northern Illinois for which she received newspaper and radio coverage coast to coast.11

Frank Gura may have been overshadowed as he compiled a record of nine wins and three losses for the Moose team, to go with a .421 batting average, but he didn’t go unnoticed. In January of 1949 he was signed to a professional contract by White Sox scout Doug Minor. The White Sox’ announcement of his signing noted that in 1947 he had a pitching record of 6-1 for Joliet Catholic High School, and that three of those victories were one-hitters, after which he went 15-1 for a Junior American Legion squad, while batting .687 with a streak of 12 consecutive hits. The White Sox assigned him to Madisonville (Kentucky) Miners of the Class-D Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee (Kitty) League.12 Gura won 14 games and lost 8 for the Miners. In 1950 he was promoted to the Superior (Wisconsin) Blues of the Class-C Northern League. He won four games and lost four, but in midseason he was sent down to the Wisconsin Rapids White Sox in the Class-D Wisconsin State League and that was the conclusion of his professional career.

About three years later, his nephew Larry started playing baseball in earnest. “As a little kid, I always wanted to play for the Yankees,” he recalled in 1976. “Whitey Ford was my idol and he helped me when he was the Yankees’ pitching coach.”

Gura added, “I remember when I was pitching in the Little League on a team called the Caterpillars, my dad promised me a new fishing rod if I shut out the other team, and I shut them out. At the time that was real pressure.” He also took pride in accomplishments while playing American Legion ball in Joliet: “I pitched back-to-back no-hitters with 23 strikeouts in each game.”13

“Growing up, I didn’t try to throw the ball that hard,” Gura recalled on a later occasion. “I concentrated on control. It took me six months to learn a changeup.” In addition to location, he said, the other key to his success was patience.14

According to Charles Gura’s entries in city directories, Larry grew up at 9 North West Circle Drive, just a stone’s throw from Ingalls Park, where he played his Pony League ball. During the summer of 1962, Gura earned some national exposure as the Joliet Pony League All-Stars were advancing to the final four of the Pony League World Series double-elimination tournament in Washington, Pennsylvania. Facing a team from Northbrook, Illinois, in Davenport, Iowa, on August 21, he replaced Joliet’s starting pitcher with two out in the second inning. Over 5⅓ innings he struck out 13 batters. His opponents could manage only one walk, four hits, and a run as Gura and Joliet triumphed, 10-5.15

During the spring of 1964 Gura was a junior at Joliet Township High School (now Joliet Central) and didn’t pitch an inning. “I don’t think that’s real surprising, though,” he said a few years later, “because the two top pitchers on that club were Bill Sudakis and Dale Spier.” Sudakis had an eight-year major-league career (albeit never as a pitcher) and Spier pitched in the minors, peaking at Triple A from 1970 through 1972. But Gura had a 5-1 pitching record for his Colt League team that summer, and earned a spot on the city’s team in national Colt League World Series tournament.16 They reached the final game in Shawnee, Oklahoma, against a team from Houston, thanks in large part to Gura amassing a tournament record of 11-0. He got his team into the final game by beating a team from Riverside, California, on August 21 for the second time in 48 hours. “Gura’s control was perfect as he spun a five-hitter and struck out seven in lowering his earned run average to 1.65 over 58 innings of work,” his hometown daily reported. Gura didn’t play the next day when it took an extra eighth inning for Houston to beat Joliet, 2-1, and claim the crown.17

By switching to Joliet’s brand new East High School for his senior year, Gura was able to pitch for the varsity baseball team. He was also a competitive swimmer and runner for the school.18 “I guess I started thinking about playing pro ball in my senior year of high school,” Gura said a few years later. At Joliet East he was coached by Elmer Bell, who played minor-league ball briefly for the Philadelphia Phillies around the time of the Korean War. Bell was once a teammate of Bobby Winkles, the baseball coach at Arizona State University. As a result, Gura accepted a scholarship to enter ASU in the fall of 1965.19

Gura’s college years were very eventful, both with the Sun Devils and with other teams during his summer breaks. Jon Cole, an All-American for ASU in the discus and shot put, and a future Olympic weightlifter, later directed Gura through the trailblazing regime documented in the 1976 article by Bill Nack.20 Gura was a sophomore on the ASU team that won the 1967 College World Series tournament, and he delivered a key victory on June 14 against top-ranked Stanford with a scoreless, three-hit relief stint.21 That summer he had a 7-1 record for the semipro Cowboys of Halstead, Kansas, for whom he played in the 1967 National Baseball Congress tournament. Then, as a junior back at ASU during the spring of 1968 his mediocre 4-4 record was offset by an earned-run average of 1.90 in 90 innings and an average of more than 11 strikeouts per game. By that point he had reached his adult height of 6-feet and weighed 180 pounds.22

During that summer Gura compiled a record of 12-1 for the Collegians of Boulder, Colorado, and starred for them in the 1968 National Baseball Congress tournament. He hurled no-hitters three days apart on the way to being named to the all-tourney team.23 Then in November Gura and fellow Joliet resident John Lucenta were on the US team in a four-country round-robin tournament tacked onto the Olympics in Mexico City. The US squad hurdled teams from Puerto Rico and Mexico and received gold medals, defeating Cuba 2-1 in the final contest.24

The spring of 1969 was monumental for Gura. One harbinger was a game between ASU and the expansion Seattle Pilots on March 15. Gura and freshman Craig Swan combined to beat the major leaguers, 5-4.25 Toward the tail end of his record-setting season for the Sun Devils, he became a second-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs, on June 5, 1969. He also received a bachelor’s degree in physical education.26 But he still had work to do for ASU in the College World Series. On June 13 he lost the opening game but on June 20 he beat Tulsa in the finale to give ASU another championship.27

Gura became the winningest pitcher in collegiate baseball history by virtue of a 19-2 record that included two wins and a save in the College World Series. In the process, he established ASU career records with 325 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.73, and his 1969 ERA of 1.01 was the best for a single season by a Sun Devil.28 He and University of Texas pitcher Burt Hooton were named to the 1969 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Division I All-America First Team.29

On June 25 Gura and the Cubs agreed on a contract, with a $30,000 signing bonus that was called “a surprisingly high figure” in at least one Arizona newspaper.

The Cubs assigned Gura to their top minor-league team, Tacoma in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. To start his pro career, Gura lost to Hawaii on July 6 but shut out Tucson on July 11.30 All told, his half-season with Tacoma wasn’t particularly satisfying, with a 4-8 record and an ERA of 3.17. Before the end of the season, Gura celebrated a milestone of a very different kind. At 11:00 A.M. on August 21, he married his ASU girlfriend, Cindy Davenport, back in Arizona. Gura credited her with making a difference in his collegiate career. “On the days I was to pitch at ASU, she really took great care of me,” he said. “She saw that I ate properly, got in early and had plenty of rest.” The couple had planned the wedding two months earlier and couldn’t have anticipated that he’d be expected to pitch in a minor-league game that same night. “All the fellows tell me I’ll be scared stiff for the wedding,” Gura told a reporter the evening before. “But it doesn’t bother me at all. I’m more worried about pitching tomorrow night.” His record was 3-6 at the time. “I wanted the wedding to take place on the mound,” Gura added, tongue in cheek, “but she wouldn’t go along with that.” He lost that night’s start.31

When Tacoma’s season concluded, Gura was shifted to the Arizona Instructional League, the only time he ever pitched minor-league ball below the Triple-A level. He also pitched in the minors for parts of 1970 through 1974, and again during his last year as a pro. He did well in his 11 games in the Instructional League, posting a 5-2 record, 3 saves, and an ERA of 2.25. In 52 innings he stuck out 46 batters and walked eight.

In 1970 Gura had a 2-1 record with the major leaguers in spring training but started the regular season back in the Pacific Coast League. He wasn’t there long. On April 22, the Cubs purchased his contract from Tacoma.32 He made his major-league debut on April 30. He shared his recollections many years later:

We were playing the Braves in Atlanta. I was in the bullpen and I had just gotten up to     throw a few, just to loosen up. All of a sudden I’m in the ballgame facing Rico Carty,    Orlando Cepeda and Henry Aaron, two future Hall of Famers and a batting champion, all          right-handed hitters. I said to myself, “Oh, great, this is a good way to start your career.”                      I got Aaron and Cepeda but I contributed to Carty’s 32-game hitting streak.

I got my first win in Montreal. I actually got a start and we got some runs early. Joe          Becker, our pitching coach, came out to the mound in the third or fourth inning and I    said, “Don’t you dare take me out of this this game.” In those days, the infielders could            all come in to the mound so Santo, Kessinger, Beckert, and Jim Hickman all heard me,                    and, to tell you the truth, I think they were kind of impressed with my aggressiveness. At           any rate, I stayed in the game and I think we won, 11-3.33

Gura’s memory about his debut was pretty good, though he focused on the second of the two innings he pitched. He entered a lopsided game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs. He yielded a single to George Stone that added two more runs, then issued a walk, but next Tony Gonzalez became the first batter he retired, on a fly to center. Aaron, Carty, and Cepeda were indeed the first three batters he faced in the eighth inning; he retired Felix Millan to end the frame. He was spot-on about his first victory, which occurred on August 5.

Gura appeared in 20 games for the Cubs in 1970, six in 1971, and 7 in 1972, and then 21 in 1973. All were relief outings except for three starts in 1970 and seven in 1973. He found the overall experience frustrating, summed up by one observation: “One year, I was with the Cubs for three months and had six innings of work.”34 Nevertheless, he retained some fond memories with that team:

            I remember sitting in the bullpen and watching Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run. It       brought tears to your eyes, it really did. And playing with guys like Banks and Jenkins       and Billy Williams. And Fergie Jenkins winning 20 games all those years in that       ballpark. How’d he do that? It was great. I enjoyed those years.35

On November 14, 1973, the Cubs sent Gura to the Texas Rangers as the player to be named later when they acquired Mike Paul on August 31. Gura didn’t actually play a regular-season game for the Rangers because on May 7, 1974, they traded him to the New York Yankees, with some cash, for Duke Sims. Still, Gura was with Texas just long enough in 1974 to have his first annoying experience with Billy Martin. “I pitched one inning in spring training and he sent me out [to the minors]. He told me I needed to work on my control,” recalled Gura. “My control? That was always my strong point. And he had a pitching staff [that] couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. But he sent me to Spokane.”36

Yankees manager Bill Virdon summoned Gura to the majors for September and gave him eight starts. Gura excelled. His record was 5-1, with four complete games, two shutouts, and an ERA of 2.41. For the rest of his time in the American League, he was done with the minors. In 1975 he pitched in 26 games for the Yankees, 20 of which were starts. He went 7-8 with an ERA of 3.51. Tragically, from Gura’s perspective, Virdon was fired in August and replaced with none other than Billy Martin.

During the 1976 playoffs, Gura commented bitterly about the first half of that year under Martin:

The first thing in spring training, he told me he was going to start me every fourth day but                        he didn’t start me at all in the exhibition games. When the season began, I thought he’d    at least use me in long relief, but every time the situation came up, he used Tippy         Martinez instead. He didn’t use me at all. Finally, after four weeks, he told me on a        Friday he was going to start me the following Wednesday, and that Friday night Catfish     Hunter got knocked out in the second inning. I thought for sure he’d use me in long relief       then, to get me ready for the start. When he used Martinez instead, I asked him why and          he said Tippy needed the work, he hadn’t pitched in two weeks. I told him I needed the             work, too, I hadn’t pitched in four weeks. Two days later I was traded.37

On May 16, 1976, the Yankees dealt Gura to the Royals for Fran Healy. Since then, much has been written about the animosity between Gura and Martin. Martin’s disdain for Gura reportedly stemmed from the pitcher’s interest in playing tennis for relaxation, which Martin considered beneath a real man’s dignity.38

Despite the fresh start in Kansas City, by September of 1976 Gura was on a pace to have his lowest innings-pitched total since 1972 with the Cubs. He started only one game for manager Whitey Herzog before that month. Bill James, the statistics guru and a diehard Royals fan, summed up Gura’s significant September succinctly: “He had cut his ERA from 3.57 on September 1 down to 2.79 on September 28, had not given up a run in September, when Whitey Herzog decided to start him at Oakland on September 29. Huge, huge game,” James wrote, and of course offered a statistic quantifying just how huge. “Oakland had won the division five straight years, three world championships. Kansas City had lost four games in a row, blowing more than half of a six-game lead. They were clinging to a 2½-game lead with four games left. … Gura threw a 4-hit shutout, effectively ending the pennant race.” In due time, Herzog trusted Gura in similar situations, and James said Gura “became Herzog’s Big Game guy.” James identified 30 contests that he considered “a high percentage,” and in them Gura went 14-10 with an ERA of 3.04.39

The magic didn’t linger into the playoffs. Gura started two games in the American League Championship Series versus the Yankees, taking one loss with a so-so ERA of 4.22. He didn’t think pressure on him was a factor. “I’ve been playing baseball 23 years and I’ve been on 12 championship teams, that’s a lot of big games,” he said at the time.40 The Royals lost in the ALCS to the Yankees in 1976, 1977, and 1978.

In 1977 Gura pitched much more, and pitched well, but had only six starts. He went 8-5 with 10 saves and a 3.13 ERA. In the ALCS he started one game but the Yankees pounded him, and he was charged with the loss.

In 1978 Gura joined the Royals’ starting rotation, and was a fixture for seven seasons. That season only Ron Guidry and Nolan Ryan yielded fewer hits per nine innings than Gura.41 He achieved his highest winning percentage as a starter, .800, going 16-4 with an ERA of 2.72. He ranked seventh in postseason voting for the Cy Young Award and 23rd for the Most Valuable Player. He started the second game of the ALCS against the Yankees, pitched six scoreless innings, and won, 10-4. As gratifying as it may have been for Gura, it was his team’s only victory.

In 1979 Gura and the team as a whole had an off year. He was an average starter (13-12, 4.47) and the Royals didn’t make the playoffs. He turned that around quickly in 1980, when at the end of April he had what he considers the best performance of his career, a one-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays. The only hit off him came at the beginning of the sixth inning when Damaso Garcia legged out a double on a softly hit ball toward left field. “All four pitches were working today, which is the main reason the game went the way it did,” Gura said after the game. “When all of my pitches are working, there are nine different places a batter has to look for.” Catcher John Wathan said, “He changes speeds better than anyone in the league.”42

That game was no fluke, because about two months later Orioles manager Earl Weaver named him an American League All-Star, the only time Gura received that honor. He didn’t play in the All-Star Game but that didn’t affect his performance, because he was named AL Pitcher of the Month for July, and he finished the season with a career-high 18 wins (10 losses) and a 2.95 ERA. He was sixth in voting for the Cy Young Award. Gura pitched exceptionally well in the postseason, and played in his only World Series. His start in the ALCS was a complete-game, 7-2 victory over the Yankees.43 Though he didn’t win either of his starts in the World Series, which the Royals lost to the Phillies in six games, his ERA in 12⅓ innings was 2.19.

In the strike-shortened 1981 season, Gura lowered his ERA to 2.72, had the third lowest walks per innings pitched in the league, and was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September. He was ninth in voting for the Cy Young Award. He had one last playoff game, losing a start against Oakland in the Division Series.

In 1982 Gura matched his career high with 18 wins (12 losses) but in 1983 his 18 losses were the most in the league. He had a much better record in 1984, 12-9, but his ERA was his worst in a full season, at 5.18. In 1985 he pitched in just three games for the Royals, and was released on May 18. Ten days later the Cubs signed him, but he pitched in only five games for them. His final game in the majors was on July 27, 1985. Thus, he wasn’t on the Royals’ roster when they won the World Series that year.

In his 10 seasons as a Royal, Gura had a record of 111-78, and posted the franchise’s second best winning percentage, .587. He was named Royals Pitcher of the Year twice, in 1978 and 1981, and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 1992.44 Including his time with the Cubs and Yankees, he was 126-97 with an ERA of 3.76. As of 2018, only 70 pitchers in major-league history had a better fielding percentage than Gura’s .986.45

In retirement, golf became one of Gura’s primary activities, and it was common to see him play in charitable tournaments, or even organize them himself after he purchased the Bent Oak Golf Course in Oak Grove, Missouri, east of Kansas City.46 In the mid-1990s he played in the Pro Athletes Golf League.47 Beyond that, he and Cindy were busy raising their daughters Kristina and Natalie. They also took over operation of the Dale Creek Equestrian Village, near Litchfield Park, Arizona, a farm that has been in her family for decades.48

The Royals’ official website credits Gura for “guile and guts” in his team Hall of Fame entry. The alliteration may just be a coincidence, but it’s easy to find testimonials in support of their overarching thesis about him: “Steady and unflappable, Gura was the textbook example of a crafty southpaw.”49

Sources

The primary source for statistics herein was baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Bill Nack, “Yankees’ Gura Anxious to Begin Playing Game,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal, March 13, 1976: 11. His teammates were aware of his penchant for health food during his first month with them. See Parton Keese, “Yanks Win, 10‐2, Lead by 2; Cubs Rally in 9th to Beat Mets,” New York Times, September 16, 1974: 45.

2 Steve Stewart, “Images from the K,” stevestewart.mlblogs.com/images-from-the-k-7ffb8bc6eb97, August 15, 2008.

3 See his parents’ obituaries, at hosting-24990.tributes.com/obituary/show/Charles-Joseph-Gura-92677336 and findagrave.com/memorial/8068513/gretchen-l.-gura.

4 Daniel J. Elazar and Joseph Zikmund II, The Closing of the Metropolitan Frontier: Cities of the Prairie Revisited (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2002), 235, 244.

5 hosting-24990.tributes.com/obituary/show/Charles-Joseph-Gura-92677336 and findagrave.com/memorial/8068513/gretchen-l.-gura; Don Hazen, “Larry Gura Signs Contract with Chicago Cubs,” Herald-News (Joliet, Illinois), June 26, 1969: 28.

6 Email message to the author from Celine Matthiessen, goddaughter of Larry Gura, July 10, 2018.

7 Don Hazen, “Convicts Served 1890-92 Sentence in Two-Eyed League,” Joliet Herald-News, May 19, 2002: Joliet Jackhammers Preview Section, 9.  A Joliet team played in the earliest documented (as of 2018) baseball game in the Chicago area, in 1851 against a nine at nearby Lockport, according to Mark Rucker and John Freyer, 19th Century Baseball in Chicago (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2003), 13.

8 Jerry Shnay, “Providence Star Throws Coach Curve,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1988: 3, 10.

9 “NRC Meets Joliet Moose in Crucial WCAA Tilt Today,” Joliet Herald-News, August 1, 1948: 31. See also “Gura Hurls Moose to Win over Irvings,” Joliet Herald-News, July 24, 1948: 2 for additional details about the WCAA.

10 “Gal Pitcher Shows Plenty of Ability but Loses Game,” Joliet Herald-News, July 21, 1948: 16. Metesh’s catcher was her brother Bob. She reportedly stood 5-feet-5 and weighed 110 pounds. According to the box score, she had a hit in three times at bat and scored a run.

11 “Girl Pitcher Wins Radio, Movie Acclaim,” Joliet Herald-News, August 8, 1948: 3. Metesh was also slated to appear “in the newsreels during the near future.” Because she was often called “Bea” for short, the local paper typically called her Beatrice rather than Bernice (and her surname was often misspelled Metesch in other sources).  See also aagpbl.org/profiles/bernice-metesh-bernie/173.

12 “Chicago Whitesox Sign Sandlot Star,” Oil City (Pennsylvania) Blizzard, January 28, 1949: 4. Oil City had a Class-C minor-league affiliate of the White Sox at the time. The article reported Gura’s weight as 170 pounds and his height as “an even six feet,” three inches taller than Joliet’s daily reported.

13 Dave Anderson, “The Larry Gura-Billy Martin Feud,” New York Times, October 9, 1976: 13.

14 Grant Hall, “Mudcat Learned About Williams Early,” Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville), June 26, 1989: B1.

15 “Ponies Win 1st Division Clash, 10-5,” Joliet Herald News, August 22, 1962: 30. The paper spelled his surname “Gora.” Joliet was eliminated a week later:  “It’s All Over – National City Beats Joliet Pony Stars 5-2,” Joliet Herald News, August 29, 1962: 28.   

16 Don Hazen, “Larry Gura Signs Contract with Chicago Cubs,” Joliet Herald-News, June 26, 1969: 25, 28.

17 Don Hazen, “Colt All-Stars Win 4-1,” Joliet Herald News, August 22, 1964: 7; Hazen, “Houston Defeats Joliet, Wins Colt World Series,” Joliet Herald News, August 23, 1964: B-13. 

18 Bob Lueder, “Trojans Drop Pair; Next Foes Thornridge, Thornton,” Chicago Heights Star, May 2, 1965: 24.  Gura pitched an eight-inning complete game over Bloom High School, winning 4-3, and in the fourth inning he drove in two runs to change a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. In Joliet East’s yearbook published around then, The Crown, he was pictured on page 121 with the varsity baseball team, on page 108 with runners, and on page 123 with swimmers (sharing a team with Joliet Central).

19 “Arizona State Unbeaten,” Long Island Star-Journal (Long Island City, New York), June 15, 1967: 21; baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Elmer_Bell; Denise M. Baran-Unland, “An Extraordinary Life: Shorewood Coach Taught More than Baseball,” Joliet Herald News, July 26, 2015, theherald-news.com/2015/07/20/an-extraordinary-life-shorewood-coach-taught-more-than-baseball/a6bbwfy/.

20 Nack: 11.

21 “Arizona State Unbeaten.”

22 “Arizona State Unbeaten”; Boulder Collegians 1968 Yearbook: 9.

23 “Arizona State Unbeaten”; David L. Porter, ed., Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball, G-P (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000), 605. No-hitters were common in the tournament due to a wide range in the quality of teams; Gura had a no-hitter shortened to five innings by rain, according to  Morris Fraser, “Rain Dominates Semi-Pro Meet; Hot Blue Sox Battle ACs Today,” Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, August 4, 1968: 41. 

24 “Name Jolietans to U.S. Squad,” Morris (Illinois) Daily Herald, October 15, 1968: 5; alumni.lewisu.edu/2015/featured-alumni/john-lucenta.

25 Associated Press, “Arizona St. Baseballers Stun Seattle Pilots, 5-4,” Albuquerque Journal, March 16, 1969: 19. .

26 Porter, 605. 

27 baseball-reference.com/bullpen/1969_College_World_Series. 

28 “ASU’s Gura Inks Chicago Cub Pact Worth $30,000,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), June 26, 1969: 65.

29 abca.org/ABCA/Awards/All-Americans/NCAA_Division_I/1969.aspx for the full First Team and Second Team rosters for Division I.

30 “Islanders Triumph, 8-2, then Lose Nightcap, 12-4,” Honolulu Advertiser, July 7, 1969: 23; “Rookie Gura Hurls Cubs Past Toros,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), July 12, 1969: 18.

31 Verne Boatner, “Horsehide Honeymoon,” Arizona Republic, August 22, 1969: 53. A box score is on the same page.

32 “Gura to Report to Chicago Cubs,” Tucson Daily Citizen, April 23, 1970: 34. 

33 John C. Skipper, Take Me Out to the Cubs Game: 35 Former Ballplayers Speak of Losing at Wrigley (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2000), 165.

34 Skipper, 164.

35 Skipper, 168.

36 Skipper, 166.

37 Anderson, 13.

38 Two examples of the tennis explanation: Maury Allen, All Roads Lead to October: Boss Steinbrenner’s 25-Year Reign over the New York Yankees (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 44. Christopher Devine, Thurman Munson: A Baseball Biography (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001), 114. See also Tim Sheehy, “Billy Martin and Kansas City Pitcher Larry Gura Say…,” UPI Archives, October 9, 1980; upi.com/Archives/1980/10/09/Billy-Martin-and-Kansas-City-pitcher-Larry-Gura-say/8937339912000/.

39 Bill James, “Big Game Pitchers, Part V,” January 24, 2014; billjamesonline.com/big_game_pitchers_part_v/.

40 Anderson, 13.

41 Porter, 606.

42 Skipper, 167; “Gura’s One-Hitter Lifts KC,” Crescent-News (Defiance, Ohio), May 1, 1980: 24. Those four pitches were a curve, fastball, changeup, and slider, according to Parton Keese, “Yanks Win, 10‐2, Lead by 2; Cubs Rally in 9th to Beat Mets,” New York Times, September 16, 1974: 45.

43 In fact, by then he had consistent success against his previous team. See Fred McMane, “Yankee-Killer Larry Gura Survived a Second-Inning Home Run Blitz,” UPI Archives, October 8, 1980; upi.com/Archives/1980/10/08/Yankee-killer-Larry-Gura-survived-a-second-inning-home-run-blitz/9068263398053/.

44 kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/hall_of_fame/member.jsp?name=Gura.

45 baseball-reference.com/leaders/fielding_perc_p_career.shtml. Gura made no errors in 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1984.

46 Hall, “Mudcat Learned About Williams Early”; “Golf Tourney Set,” The Examiner (Independence, Missouri), April 20, 1991: 4B.

47 Juan C. Rodriguez, “Brodie, Dewveall Win PAGL Open,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 18, 1994: 5C.

48 baseballbytheletters.com/2011/04/20/pitcher-larry-gura-signs-to-save-family-farm-2/.

49 kansascity.royals.mlb.com/kc/hall_of_fame/member.jsp?name=Gura.

Toward the middle of the twentieth century, there were Mel Ott with the New York Giants, Leo Durocher’s Dodgers and Giants, and Al Lopez’s “Go-Go” White Sox of the late ’50s.

Since free agency began, two managers have stamped their game on their teams and largely contributed to their success. They were Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin, famous for Billyball, and Whitey Herzog, whose Whiteyball focused on speed, pitching, and defense.

Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born on November 9, 1931, the second of three boys, to Edgar and Lietta Herzog in New Athens, Illinois, 40 miles east of St. Louis.2 Edgar worked at the Mound City Brewery and Lietta worked in a shoe factory.

To help make ends meet and make some extra money, young Dorrel, or “Relly” as he was called, dug graves, worked at the Mound City Brewery, delivered baked goods, and delivered newspapers.3

Young Herzog would sometimes skip school, hitchhike on Route 13 to Belleville, and then take a bus to Sportsman’s Park, home to the Browns and Cardinals. Herzog would not only watch his idols Stan Musial, Vern Stephens, and Enos Slaughter but would snatch up batting practice balls by sneaking into the ballpark early. He would bring the balls back to the New Athens sandlots, sell some and keep some to play with.4

At New Athens High School, Herzog, a left-handed thrower and batter, was a first baseman, pitcher, and outfielder. He also played guard on the basketball team.5 During his senior year, Herzog led the Yellow Jackets to the regional playoffs and had interest from colleges including the University of Illinois and St. Louis University. As a junior he batted .584, was named a second-team all-stater, and led the team to a spot in the championship game against Granite City. (New Athens lost, 4-1.) He was named second team all-state in baseball.

After graduating in 1949 Herzog bypassed college and signed a contract with the New York Yankees. Another Yankees recruit that year was Mickey Mantle.6 Herzog was recommended by scout Lou Maguolo and cross-checked by Tom Greenwade.7

In his first year in the minors, playing for the Yankees’ Class-D Sooner State League team in McAlester, Oklahoma, Herzog hit .279; the following year he hit .351. While at McAlester he acquired the nickname Whitey, bestowed on him by a sportscaster in the McAlester because his light blond hair resembled that of a pitcher on the Yankees, Bob “White Rat” Kuzava.8

In 1951 Herzog hit a combined .276 for Class-C Joplin and Class-B Piedmont. The next season, 1952, after playing for Quincy in the Three-I League and Beaumont in the Double-A Texas League, he reached Triple A with Kansas City in the American Association. After the season, with the Korean War still raging, he was drafted into the US Army and spent two years in the Corps of Engineers.

The same year Herzog joined the Army, he married his high-school sweetheart, Mary Lou Sinn. As of 2018, they had been married 66 years and had three children, Debbie, Jim, and David.9

While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, Missouri, Herzog got his first experience running a ballclub, when he managed the company baseball team.10

Discharged from the Army, Herzog played in 1955 for the Yankees’ Triple-A team in Denver. In 149 games he hit .289 with 21 home runs and 98 runs batted in.

After his success in 1955, Herzog hoped to spend the 1956 season with the Yankees. He made the majors, but with the Washington Senators. On April 2 Herzog was traded to the Senators in a seven-player deal that saw pitcher Mickey McDermott and shortstop Bobby Kline head to the Yankees.11

For the Senators in 1956, Herzog played in 117 games, all in the outfield except for five at first base. The 5-foot-11, 182-pound Herzog batted .245 with 4 home runs and 35 RBIs. In May of 1958 he was sold to the Kansas City Athletics. Before the 1961 season the Athletics traded him to the Baltimore Orioles, and after the 1962 season the Orioles traded him to the Detroit Tigers. Over the next six years, Herzog bounced back and forth between the majors and the minors and played with three other American League clubs, the Kanas City Athletics, the Detroit Tigers, and the Baltimore Orioles. He appeared in 634 career games, batting .257 with an on-base percentage of .354, and with 25 homers and 172 RBIs.

After batting only .151 in 52 games for the Tigers in 1963, Herzog retired as a player. Of his playing career, Herzog was known to say that baseball had been good to him once he stopped trying to play it.12

Herzog scouted for Kansas City in 1964 and was a coach in 1965 under Mel McGaha and Haywood Sullivan.13 In 1966 he Following the 1965 season, Herzog left the Athletics organization and was hired by the New York Mets organization. His first position in 1966 was third-base coach under Wes Westrum, on a team that went 66-95 and finished in ninth place ahead of only the Chicago Cubs. They finished 28 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

The following year Herzog was named the Mets’ director of player development but also got his first taste of managing in professional baseball, when at 35 he guided the Florida Instructional League Mets for 50 games. Over the next six years, Herzog oversaw a number of players who played important roles in the pennant-winning Mets teams of 1969 and 1973, including Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack; John Milner, and Wayne Garrett as well as players who had successful careers on other teams including Amos Otis, Nolan Ryan, and Ken Singleton. After seven years in the Mets organization Herzog, who disliked Mets Chairman M. Donald Grant, left the organization upset when the Mets passed him over for manager in 1972 after Gil Hodges died. (First-base coach Yogi Berra got the job.14)

Herzog quickly rebounded. On November 2, 1972, at the age of 40, he was named the manager of the Texas Rangers, replacing Ted Williams. Team owner Bob Short said general manager Joe Burke believed Herzog would help develop the team’s young talent.15

On April 7, 1973, Herzog made his managerial debut with the Rangers with a 3-1 loss to the White Sox. He did not get his first win until April 12, 4-0 over the Kansas City Royals.

The 1973 Rangers were a somewhat dysfunctional team. In the June amateur draft, the team drafted pitcher David Clyde number one overall ahead of future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Dave Winfield. As part of the contract Clyde signed, he was to make two major-league starts before going to the minors. He pitched fairly well in the first couple of starts, but then batters began to get to him. Herzog was unable to get Bob Short to agree to send Clyde to the minors to get his footing. Herzog later said it was “a travesty.” Teammate Tom Grieve called it “the dumbest thing you could ever do to a high-school pitcher,” and said Short had effectively ruined Clyde’s career.16

At 138 games into the season with the Rangers sitting at 47-91, Herzog was fired and replaced by Billy Martin, who had recently been fired by the Detroit Tigers. Short knew Martin from his time as a Twins executive while Martin was manager. Short had allegedly once quipped to Herzog that he “would fire his grandmother for the chance to hire Billy.” A few days after his ouster, Herzog said, “I’m fired. I’m the grandmother.”17 Herzog was not the only member of the Texas Rangers staff to be fired late in the 1973 season; General Manager Joe Burke was also let go.

The following year, 1974, Herzog stayed in the American League West, becoming the California Angels’ third-base coach under manager Bobby Winkles. Herzog became the interim manager for four games after Winkles (30-44) was fired. After Dick Williams became the manager, Herzog stayed on as coach the rest of the year.

During the 1975 baseball season, Kansas City Royals GM Joe Burke was sensing that something was wrong despite the team being 50-46. He sensed a divide between team manager Jack McKeon and the team. On July 24, he fired McKeon and hired Herzog as manager on a deal worth $50,000 through the end of the 1976 season.18

Herzog inherited a solid Royals team with players like George Brett, John Mayberry, Paul Splittorff, Hal McRae, Frank White, Freddie Patek, Cookie Rojas, Doug Bird, Amos Otis, Dennis Leonard, and 39-year-old Harmon Killebrew. He managed the Royals to a second-place finish, seven games behind the Oakland Athletics.

Starting with his tenure with the Royals and continuing with the Cardinals, Herzog implemented a system of baseball well suited to the turf of both Royals Stadium and Busch Stadium and the antithesis of winning baseball via home runs. “Whiteyball” was predicated on great fielding, line-drive hitting, speed on the basepaths, and solid pitching.19

The 1976 season was a turning point in Herzog’s managerial career. “Whiteyball” worked especially well on Royals Stadium’s artificial turf.20 The team hit only 65 home runs, 11th in the American League, but George Brett and Hal McRae finished 1-2 in the AL batting race with batting averages of .333 and .332 respectively, and the team had eight players with 10 or more stolen bases, led by Freddie Patek (51 SB’s). On the pitching side, the Royals had four pitchers with 10 or more wins and Mark Littell and Steve Mingori each had 10 or more saves.

This team led the Royals to their first AL West title with a record of 90-72, edging out Oakland by 2½ games. The 1976 American League Championship Series pitted the Royals against the Yankees, with the teams splitting the first four games. In the pivotal Game Five at Yankee Stadium, with the Royals down by three in the eighth inning, George Brett hit a game-tying three-run home run off Grant Jackson. But in the bottom of the ninth inning, Yankees first baseman Chris Chambliss hit a home run off Littell to win the pennant.

The next year, 1977, the Royals were paced by a career year by Al Cowens, who batted .312 with 23 home runs and 112 runs batted in. Combined with strong pitching that included 20-game winner Dennis Leonard, the team won 102 games and finished eight games ahead of the Texas Rangers. The ALCS was a rematch against the Yankees. The Royals took a two-games-to-one lead and seemed poised to advance to the World Series when an issue arose with first baseman John Mayberry, who after dropping a foul ball, was pulled by Herzog and never played for the Royals again. After the Royals lost Game Four, 6-4, Herzog refused to play Mayberry in Game Five, despite the pleas from his teammates, and the Royals lost, blowing a 3-2 ninth-inning lead.

In 1978 the Royals won 90-plus games for the fourth year in a row and finished 92-70, five games ahead of the Rangers and Angels. In their third consecutive matchup with the Yankees, the Royals lost again, in four games.

The 1979 Royals finished with 85 wins, good enough for second place, three games behind the California Angels. This step back cost Herzog his job. The firing had less to do with on-field performance than the fact that there had been friction between Herzog and Royals owner Ewing Kauffman. Herzog got a $50,000 bonus each year if the Royals drew 2 million fans, which they did in 1978-1979, but Herzog felt that Kauffman and the front office did not really want to improve the team through free agency. (The next season, under Jim Frey, the Royals won the AL West with a record of 97-65, swept the Yankees in the ALCS, and lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games in the World Series.)

In June of 1980 Herzog moved east on I-70 to take over the beleaguered St. Louis Cardinals from Ken Boyer, with the team’s record at 18-33 and having gone 5-22 over the previous 27 games.21 Under Herzog the Cardinals were 38-35. On August 17, he was promoted to take over for John Claiborne as the Cardinals GM; his successor as manager was Red Schoendienst.

After the season Herzog acquired Bruce Sutter and Darrell Porter, who had played for him for three years in Kansas City. He also demoted Red Schoendienst to coach and took over the dual role of general manager and manager, the first person to serve in both roles since Connie Mack was GM and manager (and owner) of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.22

The 1981 season was interrupted by a 50-day players strike. When the games resumed in August, the season was split into two halves, with each half’s winner advancing to the playoffs. This ended up hurting the Cardinals, who had the best overall record in the NL East, 59-43, but finished second in both halves, to Philadelphia and to Montreal.

The 1981 offseason saw the acquisitions of Lonnie Smith, Steve Mura, Willie McGee, and Ozzie Smith, as well as the re-signing of Joaquin Andujar. These acquisitions along with the players already in place led the 1982 Cardinals to a 92-70 season, edging out the Phillies by three games. They swept the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series. Three games into the season, Herzog gave up his position as GM to focus on managing. He was replaced by Cardinals assistant GM Joe McDonald, three games into the 1982 season.23 On April 10, 1982, the stress of being general manager and manager was beginning to take away from Herzog’s abilities on the field so he turned over the general manager duties to McDonald, who had been hired by the Cardinals in 1981 as an executive assistant and assistant GM. McDonald had not only worked with Herzog when they were both with the New York Mets, but McDonald had previous GM experience with the Mets as he had been their GM from 1975-1980.

The 1982 World Series presented a stark contrast between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, known as Harvey’s Wallbangers after manager Harvey Kuenn. Milwaukee led the AL with 216 home runs. The Cardinals hit only 67 homers, last in the NL, but their team batting average was .264, tied for second, and the led the league with 200 stolen bases. The Series went the full seven games, with the Cardinals coming back after going down three games to two, to win Game Six, 13-1 and Game Seven, 6-3, giving the Cardinals their first World Series championship in 18 years, and Herzog his first.

The Cardinals were unable to repeat and finished the 1983 season 79-83, fourth in the NL East. The major event of the season came at the June 15 trade deadline, when the Cardinals shocked the baseball world by trading former MVP and reigning Gold Glove winner Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets for Rick Ownbey and Neil Allen. Herzog said he made the move because the Cardinals needed more pitching, and that the plan was to bring Andy Van Slyke up from Triple A and move George Hendrick to first base.24 It was later discovered that the trade was due to the longtime personality conflict between Hernandez and Herzog.25 There were rumors of Hernandez’s cocaine use, which turned out to be true. This also affected Joaquin Andujar and Lonnie Smith, leading to the trade.26

After finishing in third place (84-78) in 1984, the Cardinals went to the World Series in both 1985 and 1987.

In the 1984-85 offseason George Hendrick was part of a four-player trade for John Tudor and first baseman Jack Clark was acquired from San Francisco. This trade was done to stabilize the first-base position for the Cardinals. Also, 1985 saw the emergence of left fielder Vince Coleman, who stole a rookie-record 110 bases en route to Rookie of the Year honors and also led to the trade of Lonnie Smith to Kansas City.

The 1985 season in the National League East came down to a battle the last couple of weeks of the season between the Cardinals and the New York Mets. The Cardinals ended up with a record of 101-61, edging out the Mets by three games. They were led by Jack Clark’s 22 home runs, and also stole 314 bases; besides Coleman’s 110 steals, Willie McGee contributed 56 and Tommy Herr and Ozzie Smith each had 31. Pitchers John Tudor and Joaquin Andujar each won 21 games and Jeff Lahti, Ken Dayley, and Todd Worrell combined to save 35 games, to make up for the loss of Bruce Sutter who had signed in the offseason with the Braves.

In the NLCS, against the Dodgers, with the series tied at two games apiece, and the score 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Ozzie Smith hit a solo home run off LA’s Tom Niedenfuer to win the game, 2-1. The call from Jack Buck — “Go crazy, folks, go crazy, it’s a home run” — was ranked by mlb.nbcsports.com as number 21 of the 32 best calls in sports history.27 Two days later, in Dodger Stadium, Jack Clark hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning off Niedenfuer to capture the pennant for the Cardinals. The win came at a cost: Before Game Four, Vince Coleman’s leg was fractured in a freak accident with the tarp at Busch Stadium.28

With both teams from Missouri, the 1985 World Series was known as the I-70 Showdown Series and the Show-Me World Series, The Cardinals faced Herzog’s former team, the Royals. Many of the Royals’ leaders that year were holdovers from the Herzog era. The Royals had won 10 fewer games than the Cardinals, and St. Louis was the heavy favorite.

The Cardinals won the first two games, 3-1 and 4-2, and Kansas City took Game Three, 6-1. After John Tudor shut out Kansas City, 3-0, the Royals staved off elimination by winning Game Five, 6-1. Game Six was one of the most memorable games in World Series history. The game was scoreless through seven innings. In the bottom of the ninth, with St. Louis leading 1-0, Herzog called on rookie closer Tim Worrell to give the Cardinals their second championship in four years. The leadoff batter, pinch-hitter Jorge Orta, hit a bouncer to Jack Clark, who threw to Worrell covering first base. Orta was called safe on the play by umpire Don Denkinger.29 Replays showed that Orta was out by half a step, but in the days before instant replay, Denkinger chose not to overrule himself and the call stood. The Cardinals proceeded to self-destruct. Steve Balboni hit a popup in foul territory that neither Darrell Porter nor Jack Clark could come up with; he subsequently singled. After Jim Sundberg’s bunt forced Orta at third, a passed ball moved the runners up to second and third. Hal McRae was then intentionally walked. Pinch-hitter Dane Iorg singled to right and the tying and winning runs scored, to force a seventh game. After the drama of Game Six, Game Seven was anticlimactic as the Royals’ Bret Saberhagen shut out the Cardinals, 11-0, to win the World Series. The only drama in Game Seven was that Herzog became the first manager since Billy Martin (in 1976) to be ejected from a World Series game.

The next season the Cardinals slumped to a record of 79-82, 28½ games behind the first-place New York Mets, the only positives being that both Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee captured Gold Gloves and pitcher Todd Worrell earned Rookie of the Year Honors.

During the 1986-1987 offseason, the Cardinals, in an effort to improve their catching, traded catcher Mike LaValliere and outfielder Andy Van Slyke to the Pirates for four-time All-Star Tony Peña. This trade along with the 35 home runs from Jack Clark, the 109 stolen bases of Vince Coleman, and a pitching staff that had four winners of 10 or more games, helped the Cardinals improve by 16 wins and narrowly overtake the Mets and Expos. In the NLCS the Cardinals came from a three-wins-to-two deficit to defeat the San Francisco Giants in seven games and advance to their third World Series in six years.

Herzog’s Cardinals faced the Minnesota Twins in a World Series played entirely on artificial turf (as had occurred in 1985). The Twins came back from a three-games-to-two deficit and won Game Six, 11-5, and Game Seven, 4-2.

Over the next couple of years the Cardinals slumped. In 1988 they finished with a record of 76-86 in fifth, ahead of only the Philadelphia Phillies, and 25 games behind the East-leading New York Mets. In 1989 they improved by 10 games to finish 86-76, but finished seven games behind the Chicago Cubs.

The 1990 season proved very difficult for Herzog and the Cardinals, and culminated in his resignation when the Cardinals, with a 33-47 record, were in last place in the National League East.30

The end of Herzog’s Cardinals tenure also ended his managerial career, with a record of 1,281-1,125, a .532 winning percentage. He had a postseason record of 26-25, with the one World Series championship in 1982, three AL West titles, three NL East titles, and three National League pennants.31

Herzog’s departure from the Cardinals did not end his career in baseball. In 1992, after holding various positions with the California Angels, he was named general manager. Over the next two years, the Angels fell short of expectations, finishing 72-90 in 1992 and 71-91 in 1993. In January 1994 he resigned, citing the opportunity to do other things.32 He had spent 45 years as a player, coach, manager, and general manager.

As recently as 2018, Keith Hernandez, despite having been traded by Herzog, had nothing but the highest praise for Herzog’s managerial and overall baseball acumen. “He was a great manager, best I ever played for,” Hernandez said. 33

Herzog was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010. On a more local note, the baseball field at New Athens High School was renamed Whitey Herzog Field in honor of Herzog, who donated money to have the field renovated.

Herzog took the talent of his teams and where they played, to their full capacities. He took two teams from smaller markets to great heights.

Herzog died at the age of 92 on April 15, 2024.

Notes

1 On Anson, see David Fleitz; Cap Anson: sabr.org/bioproj/person/9b42f875; on Hanlon, see “The ‘Inside’ Scoop on Inside Baseball: Plus ‘Inside Joke,’ ‘Inside Job,’ and other ‘inside, words. merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-inside-scoop-on-inside-baseball. Retrieved July 1, 2018.  

2 Dan O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens,” USA Today, July 18, 2010. stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/whitey-herzog-the-pride-of-new-athens/article_88fad913-7b40-5683-88f9-417f30044412.html; Retrieved July 15, 2018.

3 O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens.”

4 O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens.”

5 O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens.”

6 O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens.”

7 Scouting information thanks to Rod Nelson, chair of SABR’s Scouts Committee.

8 Nelson, SABR Scouts Committee.

9 Transcript of Whitey Herzog’s Hall of Fame Speech. stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/transcript-of-whitey-herzog-s-hall-of-fame-speech/article_fec87545-dd96-52e2-9038-f2aa37d9ff5d.html; July 26, 2010; retrieved July 15, 2018.

10 ’O’Neil, “Whitey Herzog: The Pride of New Athens.”

11 baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=herzowh01; retrieved July 15, 2018.

12 Glenn Liebman, “Here Are Some New Names for Humor Hall of Fame,” Baseball Digest, March 1992: 23.

13 John E. Peterson, The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954 — 1967 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2003), 308.

14 Richard Sandomir, “Leaving Mets Put Herzog on a Path to the Hall,” New York Times, July 23, 2010. nytimes.com/2010/07/24/sports/baseball/24herzog.html?ref=sports. Retrieved August 8, 2018.

15 “Texas Rangers Name Herzog Manager,” New York Times, November 3, 1972. nytimes.com/1972/11/03/archives/texas-rangers-name-herzog-manager.html. Retrieved August 8, 2018. See also Paul Rogers, The Impossible Takes a Little Longer (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990).

16 Brad Townsend, “40 Years After Memorable Debut, Ex-Ranger David Clyde Reflects on Career Cut Short,” Dallas Sports Day News; June 22, 2013; sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rangers/rangersheadlines/2013/06/22/townsend-40-years-after-memorable-debut-ex-ranger-david-clyde-reflects-on-a-career-cut-short; retrieved August 8, 2018. The contract also included a $125,000 signing bonus.

17 Jimmy Keenan and Frank Russo, “Billy Martin,” SABR BioProject, sabr.org/bioproj/person/59c5010b.

18 United Press International, “Royals, Fire McKeon, Hire Angels’ Herzog,” Milwaukee Sentinel. July 25, 1975.

19 Whitey Herzog and Kevin Horrigan, White Rat — A Life in Baseball. (New York: Harper and Row, 1987), 145.

20 Herzog and Horrigan.

21 William Nack, “They’ve Committed Cardinal Sins. Bad Fortune and Worse Playing Have Put Hard-Hitting St. Louis in Last Place — And Beleaguered Ken Boyer Out of a Job,” Sports Illustrated, June 16, 1980.

22 Cardinals Clinch Eastern Title,” New York Times, September 28, 1982. https://nytimes.com/1982/09/28/sports/cardinals-clinch-eastern-title.html.

23 baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1982-schedule-scores.shtml; retrieved December 9, 2018.

24 Kevin Paul Dupont, “Keith Hernandez Sent to Mets for Allen, Ownbey,” New York Times, June 15, 1983: 46.

25 Jeff Pearlman, The Bad Guys Won (New York: ITBooks, 2011), 32.

26 Harold Friend, “Keith Hernandez Used Cocaine and Was Forced to Name Others,” Bleacher Report, February 17, 2012. bleacherreport.com/articles/1070283-keith-hernandez-used-cocaine-and-was-forced-to-name-others; Retrieved August 10, 2018.

27 Joe Posnanski, “The 32 Best Calls in Sports History (and a Scully vs. Buck Debate,” mlb.nbcsports.com/2013/10/16/the-32-best-calls-in-sports-history-and-a-scully-vs-buck-debate/; retrieved August 10, 2018.

28 Benjamin Hochman, “The Day the Tarp Ate Vince Coleman,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 12, 2015.

29 mlb.com/video/denkingers-missed-call/c-13062921; Retrieved August 11, 2018.

30 Associated Press, “An ‘Embarrassed’ Herzog Quits as Cardinals’ Manager,” New York Times, July 7, 1990. nytimes.com/1990/07/07/sports/an-embarrassed-herzog-quits-as-cardinals-manager.html. Retrieved August 26, 2018.

31 baseball-reference.com/managers/herzowh01.shtml. Retrieved August 26, 2018.

32 Bob Nightengale, “Angels GM Herzog Out in Surprise Resignation,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1994.

33 David Jordan, “Keith Hernandez on his Cardinals Career, the Modern Game and a Mets Trade That Never was,” The Sporting News, May 23, 2018.

“I will remember Dick Howser making that rush toward Bret Saberhagen the October before last, smiling like a kid, grabbing the most shining moment of a worthy baseball life.”

“Well, I just recruited me a shortstop.”2 – Legendary FSU baseball coach Danny Litwhiler remembering the 1955 tryout of unheralded walk-on player Dick Howser

 “He makes everything look so easy, and his attitude makes him easy to teach. He’s the kind who can be a success in anything he tries.”3 – Danny Litwhiler, March 12, 1958.

Dick Howser stood only 5-foot7 and weighed 150 pounds as an adult. The mighty mite, as he was called, had been encouraged to participate in sports by his father, H. D., and played American Legion ball at an early age. However, he was very short and didn’t try out for his high school team until he grew about six inches early in his junior year. Although he excelled in his junior and senior years at Palm Beach High School, with his Wildcats team winning the Class-AA State Championship in his junior year, the then 125-pounder was not heavily recruited by colleges. In 1954, as Howser recounted in 1979, he and two high school classmates, Burt Reynolds (the future actor) and pitcher Fred Kenney, “belonged to the same high school fraternity and one of the things we did was raise money to provide a scholarship of $500 for two years to a member who wanted to go on to school but couldn’t afford to. The other guys had athletic scholarships so I kind of won the money ($500) by default.”4

Although offered a minor-league contract, he elected to go to college expecting to go into teaching. But he still kept his dream about playing baseball. The baseball program at Florida State was relatively new, but when he first tried out at Florida State, coach Danny Litwhiler (who was in his first year at FSU) said to pitching coach/team trainer Don Fauls, “That one is not big enough to be a batboy.” But Litwhiler said to Howser, “You got a glove. You got shoes. We’ll give you a tryout.”5 Dick returned to the field with his gear, snatched up each ball hit to him and stung each ball pitched to him. In a manner of minutes, he evolved from walk-on to recruit.

He hit .422 with an FSU record 38 hits as a sophomore in 1956 and became the first-ever consensus All-America student-athlete from the State of Florida in 1957. He was a repeat honoree in 1958. FSU Baseball’s new home, which opened in 1983, was renamed Dick Howser Stadium in 1988, and a bust of Howser is on the stadium grounds. The field in 2005 was named Mike Martin Field at Dick Houser Stadium to honor longtime FSU coach Mike Martin. Since 1987, the Dick Howser Trophy, established by the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, has been awarded to the College Baseball Player of the Year.

In 1985, Howser was at the top of the world after his Kansas City Royals won the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The following August, shortly after the All-Star game, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died within a year of the diagnosis. On July 3, 1987, his number 10 was the first number retired by the Kansas City Royals. In 2008, while renovating their ballpark, the Royals commissioned a spectacular bronze statue of Howser that is at Kauffman Stadium behind the fountains in right-center field. It was unveiled on Opening Day, April 10, 2009.

Richard Dalton Howser was born to Hubert Dalton “Dutch” Howser and his wife Marjorie Felton Howser in Miami, Florida on May 14, 1936. Dick was the oldest of four children. He had a sister, Joyce, and two brothers, Tom and Larry. Tommy, one year younger than Dick, signed with the Kansas City A’s in 1956 and played two minor-league seasons. He started his first season at Fitzgerald, Georgia in the Georgia-Florida League and was, in mid-year, sent to Cincinnati’s Class-D affiliate, West Palm Beach, where he got to play in front of his family. The next season, he was with Port Arthur, Texas in the Class-B Big State League. The Howsers moved to West Palm Beach when Dick was a youngster. Dick’s father moved the family to West Palm Beach when Dick was a toddler. The elder Howser had been a baker in Miami but changed jobs when he took over an auto body shop after the move to West Palm Beach. Dick’s mother served as PTA president when he was in Junior High School.

Dick Howser, in three years at FSU, batted .375. After his senior year at Florida State, he signed, on June 13, 1958, with scout Clyde Klutz of the Kansas City Athletics for a reported $22,000 and spent the balance of the 1958 season with the Winona, Minnesota A’s6 in the Class-B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, batting .288. In the fall of that year, he played in the Florida Instructional League. The following season, the Class-B team relocated to Sioux City, and Dick batted .278. After batting .349 in 44 games with Sioux City in 1960, he was promoted to Double-A Shreveport in the Southern Association where his bat stayed healthy (.338), and he was on his way to Kansas City, becoming the first product of the Kansas City Athletics farm system to become a regular with the major-league squad.

He made his debut with the Athletics on Opening Day in 1961, starting at shortstop against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. After going hitless in his first four at-bats, he doubled off Mike Fornieles in the eighth inning for his first major-league hit.

He cemented his place in the lineup with an eight-game hitting streak (13-for-34) at the end of April and made a name for himself on the basepaths, challenging Chicago’s Luis Aparicio for the league lead in stolen bases. He eventually finished second to the White Sox shortstop, as Aparicio won his sixth straight stolen base title. After 60 games, manager Joe Gordon was dismissed and replaced by Hank Bauer on June 19. One of Bauer’s first decisions was to install Howser as team captain.7 Dick was named to the All-Star team and played in the first of the season’s two All-Star Games. He entered the game, played in the winds of San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and struck out in his only at-bat.

On September 10, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Twins at Kansas City, Howser had the first five-hit game of his career. His two-out third inning triple launched a three-run rally that gave the A’s a 4-0 lead. When the A’s broke the game open with eight runs in the seventh inning, Howser singled to lead off the inning and, later in the inning, drove in a pair of runs with a double. The double came off back-up first baseman Julio Becquer who took the mound when the game got out of hand.

For the season, Howser posted what were to be career highs in batting average (.280), doubles (29), and stolen bases (37) and finished second to Boston’s Don Schwall in the rookie-of-the-year balloting. He was named the league’s best rookie by The Sporting News and was selected for the Topps All-Rookie team. But the A’s were years away from contention, finishing ninth in the American League.

“The kid is a good runner. He’s got a good pair of legs and I can tell he loves to lay ball. He’s the kind of player that will improve from year to year. He’s the best I’ve seen. Every time I see him, he’s stealing.”8 – Luis Aparicio, 1962.

The next season, Howser played each and every inning of his team’s first 72 games before sustaining an injury to his glove hand while taking a throw in a game against Chicago. In the first inning of the game on June 23, he tagged out Luis Aparicio who was trying to steal second base. After finishing that game and playing a doubleheader, in pain, the next day, x-rays showed that Howser had sustained a broken bone in his left thumb. He was out of the starting lineup for the balance of the season. The best game of his abbreviated season came on June 16. The A’s beat the Twins 6-2 for their fifth consecutive win and Howser’s three hits included a second-inning RBI triple and a fifth-inning inside-the-park homer. Little more than a week later, things had changed. The A’s had hit a cold snap, losing seven straight and falling from seventh to ninth place. And Howser had felt the snap in his left hand. Dick came off the DL in August, but only made 11 appearances as a pinch runner during the season’s remaining weeks. His batting average for the season was .238 at the time of his injury, he had 19 stolen bases, and Aparicio had 13 swipes. Although he missed most of the season, Howser finished fifth in the league in stolen bases. The A’s finished in ninth place, 24 games from the promised land.

He was healthy as the 1963 season began, appearing in each of his team’s first 10 games before again falling prey to injury. Howser was batting only .211 and was given the day off on April 21. The following day, in batting practice, he injured himself taking a swing, cracking two ribs, prompting a return to the DL. By the time he had healed, Wayne Causey had taken over at shortstop, making Howser expendable. He was dealt, on May 25, 1963, along with Joe Azcue, to the Cleveland Indians for catcher Doc Edwards and $100,000. In his first 27 games with the Tribe, the team went 18-9 with Howser stealing eight bases and scoring 19 runs. But then a series of pulled leg muscles caused him to miss several stretches of games.

In the offseason, Howser subscribed to a training regimen to strengthen his leg muscles and, in his first full season with the Indians, 1964, he rebounded and posted a .256 batting average with a career-high 52 RBIs in a career high 162 games. He was also the only Indians player to score more than 100 runs. His 101 runs scored placed him second in the American League. He also led his team in hits (163) and triples (4). He was a bunter par excellence, tying Bobby Richardson for the league lead with 16 sacrifices. Manager Birdie Tebbetts in speaking of Howser said, “This kid runs, he handles the ball, he’s coachable, knowledgeable . . . He suits me fine. I’ll tell you something else about him. He’s a 100 percent effort guy – and I appreciate that kind.”9 Unfortunately, the Indians lacked for offense and finished in a sixth place tie with the Minnesota Twins, 20 games behind the first place Yankees..

Howser was not able to replicate his 1964 success in the two following seasons in Cleveland. In 1965, his hitting tailed off, he injured his ankle on July 20, and he lost the shortstop position to Larry Brown. For the season, Howser played in only 107 games, and batted .235. The following season, he was given an opportunity to regain his old position when Brown was injured in a collision with Leon Wagner on May 4. Howser started 16 consecutive games at shortstop from May 5 through May 22, batting .241.The Indians only played .500 ball during that span and opted to move Chico Salmon into the position. Over the balance of the season, Howser only played in 46 games (22 starts), and his batting average shrunk to .229 for 1966.

On December 20, 1966, was traded to the New York Yankees for minor-league pitcher Gil Downs and cash. The Yankees’ need for a new shortstop, at least in a backup role, was hastened by the resignation of Tony Kubek and the unavailability of prospect Bobby Murcer, who was in the Army, at the position.

When Howser first suited up with the Yankees in 1967, the franchise was in the third year of its fall from greatness. Mickey Mantle, at age 35 a shell of his former self, led the team with 22 homers. Howser proved a more than ample fill-in when injuries sent regulars to the bench. He filled in for Horace Clarke at second base and Charley Smith at third in the early going and appeared in 24 of the team’s first 30 games, batting .300. With Ruben Amaro taking over at  shortstop, and the return of Clarke and Smith, Howser only started 16 games (filling in for Clarke in July) after May 21. His season was abbreviated, once again by injury, when he broke his arm when making a double play in a game against the Orioles on July 16. For the season, he played in 63 games, batting .268. His average was better than virtually all of the regulars. Only Clarke (.272) was higher amongst those players with more than 100 at-bats. The Yankees finished in ninth place.

The following year, 1968, was Howser’s last as a player. He appeared in 85 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter, and only batted .153. For his career, he batted .248 in 789 games. He stole 105 bases in 139 attempts.

In 1969, Howser took over as the Yankees’ third-base coach and served in that capacity through 1978. The first few years coaching with the Yankees were marked by a painful rebuilding process and many of the pieces were in place when George Steinbrenner took over the team in 1974. Howser first managed the Yankees, for one day, in 1978 after Billy Martin was fired and Bob Lemon came on board as manager.

In the fall of 1978, Howser left the Yankees and returned to FSU to coach the Seminoles, replacing Woody Woodward, who had taken a position with the Cincinnati Reds organization. Howser and wife Nancy relocated to Tallahassee and became a vital part of the community over the next several years, although Howser returned to New York after only one year at the helm of FSU. During the 1979 season, Howser’s team went 43-15-1 and was selected to play in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, the squad lost to Florida and Delaware, ending Howser’s only season as coach at his alma mater.

“It would be hard for anyone to turn down the New York Yankees’ managing job, especially when you’ve been part of the organization for12 years. I’m a Yankee. I know the players fairly well. I read the box scores everyday this summer and tried to follow the team very closely.”10– Dick Howser, October 29, 1979.

While Howser was at FSU, Billy Martin returned as Yankees manager, replacing Bob Lemon 65 games into the 1979 season. Martin, in and out of controversy, was dismissed after the 1979 season, pursuant to a brawl with a marshmallow salesman, and Steinbrenner lured Howser back to the Yankees as manager.

“Dick was an intense competitor who played beyond his ability. We may not have had the right chemistry, but I admired him greatly. He battled cancer the same way he battled the opposition. Even though we couldn’t work together, our friendship remained. I’m going to miss him greatly.”11 – George Steinbrenner, June 18, 1987

In parts of seven seasons as a manager at the major-league level, Howser was highly successful, never finishing lower than second place during the first six years of his  managerial career. His final season as a manager, 1986, was abbreviated by a foe far greater than any baseball opponent, and the Royals were in fourth place when Howser was forced to step aside in July due to illness. His teams won three divisional championship and one World Series.

In 1980, buoyed by Tommy John’s 22 wins and Reggie Jackson’s 41 homers, Howser led the Yankees to the AL Eastern Division championship with a 103–59 record. For most of the season, the ride was smooth and there was little in the way of controversy between owner and manager, a very unusual circumstance for the Yankees. There was also the leadership displayed by a new Yankee, 34-year-old Bob Watson, who was acquired in the offseason after 16 major-league seasons in which he had never been to the postseason. On August 15, after the Yankees had lost four of six games and seen their league lead shrink to 2.5 games, Watson called a team meeting. It lasted only 19 minutes, and there was a general feeling that the players would do what had to be done to win. That evening, they defeated the second-place Orioles 4-3, the win going to John, and the big blow being a two-run homer by Jackson. A beaming Howser said after the win that “We may have another meeting tomorrow. It was probably part of what happened in the game. There was a little more enthusiasm on the bench. It’s bad to start feeling sorry for yourself in this game.”12

Only the Baltimore Orioles stood in the way of the Yankees winning the AL East, and New York clinched the division title in their 160th game. However, the team lost three consecutive games to the Kansas City Royals in the best-of-five American League Championship Series, and it was in the LCS where Howser and owner Steinbrenner feuded. 

Steinbrenner was highly critical of Yankee third-base coach Mike Ferraro’s decision to send Willie Randolph home on a double by Watson with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the Yankees down 3-2. Randolph was thrown out at the plate. Steinbrenner wanted Ferraro fired, but Howser supported his coach. Steinbrenner fired Howser shortly after the team lost the ALCS.

“Dick didn’t say a lot; he just expected us to work hard. His famous words when we got down were, ‘just get it done.’”13 – John Wathan

The next year, the Kansas City Royals, his postseason rival in the previous season, hired Howser to manage on August 31. After play had resumed following that season’s work stoppage, the Royals had gone 10-10 under Jim Frey. Howser managed the last 33 games of the season as the Royals went 20-13 to finish in first place in the AL West for the second part of the split-season. At the end of the season, the Royals and Oakland were matched up in a best of five series to determine who would go on to the American league Championship Series. The overmatched Royals lost to the A’s in three games.

With the Royals, Howser was a quiet leader.

In his time with the Royals, Howser’s teams went 404-365 (.525). They finished second in 1982 and 1983. Although they finished second in 1983, their record was a disappointing 79-83, and they finished 20 games behind the White Sox. During the offseason between 1983 and 1984, a drug investigation led to the arrest, incarceration and suspension of four 1983 Royals players including two starters, Willie Wilson and Willie Mays Aikens. Wilson’s suspension was lifted in May 1984, but Aikens did not return to the Royals. The Royals obtained first baseman Steve Balboni from the Yankees in what turned out to be a fortuitous move.

As the 1984 season began, the Royals were in a bind. Not only was Wilson out of the lineup, but George Brett was coming off an injury and didn’t see action until May 18. The pitching staff included three young pitchers (rookies Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza, joined 1983 September call-up Danny Jackson) and not much was expected of the team. As late as June 23, the Royals were in seventh place. By Labor Day, they had moved into second place, and a 16-9 record after Labor Day propelled them to the AL West championship. Unfortunately, Howser, whose teams had been swept in 1980 and 1981, saw his postseason record go to 0-9 when Detroit swept the Royals in the best-of-five ALCS to advance to the World Series.

“If we do have the Cy Young Guy (Bret Saberhagen) and the MVP guy (George Brett),it’ll keep me around longer.”14 – Dick Howser, October 5, 1985 in the clubhouse after the Royals clinched the AL West.

In 1985, the Royals repeated as AL West champions, clinching the title with a come-from-behind 6-4 win in 10 innings on the next to last day of the season, and faced the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. The Blue Jays, in their first postseason appearance won the first two games, which were played in Toronto. Game Three at Kansas City was dominated by George Brett of the Royals. Prior to Game Three, Dick Howser, as a manager, had lost 11 consecutive postseason games, and it looked for a while, that it would be an even dozen. It was not Bret Saberhagen’s night. Staked to a 2-0 lead, the 20-6 Cy Young Award winner imploded in the fifth inning yielding two singles, a double, and a pair of homers. He only recorded one out the Blue Jays took a 5-2 lead. The Royals, on George Brett’s sixth-inning two-run homer tied the game.

The Royals lineup included Steve Balboni, who had begun his career with the Yankees, but had proven expendable when Don Mattingly joined the team. Balboni’s tendency to strike out was annoying to some, but Howser displayed patience in letting the big 6-foot-3 guy play. Balboni had 36 homers and 88 RBIs for the 1985 Royals. During the series against Toronto, Balboni said, “I’ve got a chance to play now, and that’s the whole thing.”15

Balboni came up in the eighth inning of Game Three and, with two out singled in Brett with what turned out to be the winning run. Brett, the offensive star of the game, had reached base with his fourth hit of the encounter. The Royals stayed alive and, after falling behind in the series three games to one, won the final two games at Toronto to advance to the World Series. 

In the World Series, the Royals were matched up against the St. Louis Cardinals. The heavily favored Cardinals were put at a disadvantage when leadoff batter Vince Coleman suffered a leg injury when the automatic tarpaulin at St. Louis inadvertently came into his path when he was running off the field prior to the fourth game of the NLCS. Although the Cardinals’ run production was seriously hindered by Coleman’s absence, they won the first game of the World Series by a 3-1 margin.

The Royals’ top reliever in 1985 was Dan Quisenberry, who led the American League with 37 saves. It was a game in which Quisenberry was not used that temporarily caused headaches for Howser. In Game Two of the World Series, the Royals took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning and Howser elected to stay with starter Charlie Leibrandt. The left-handed Leibrandt was pitching a masterpiece. Over the first eight innings he had given up only two hits and had retired the last 13 batters he faced. When Willie McGee doubled to lead off the ninth inning, Leibrandt retired the next two batters he faced and was one out away from the win. Up stepped righty Jack Clark. Rather than bringing in the right-handed Quisenberry, Howser chose to stay with Leibrandt. The move, or lack thereof, backfired as Clark doubled and the Cardinals went on to score four ninth- inning runs to take a two-games-to-none lead in the series.

The Royals eventually were down three games to one but rallied behind the strong pitching of Danny Jackson to avoid elimination in Game Five.

Howser wasn’t worried when his team was down in what was known as the I-70 Series against the cross-state rival Cardinals. After the Royals 6-1 win in Game Five, Howser said, “I can’t explain it. It’s not me and it’s not the organization. They respond well to this pressure. I don’t say anything. I just line them up and let them play.”16 In Game Six, Leibrandt was back on the mound facing Danny Cox and the game was scoreless through seven innings. The Cardinals broke the ice in the eighth inning and loaded the bases with two out. Howser brought in Quisenberry who put out the fire. Quisenberry pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to keep the score at 1-0. In the bottom of the inning, the Royals had runners on first and second with two out. Hal McRae was at the plate, and Quisenberry was in the on-deck circle. After a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third, Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog ordered an intentional walk. Howser countered with a move of his own, ordering Dane Iorg to pinch hit for Quisenberry. This moved worked out just fine as Iorg singled to right field, scoring two runs and forcing Game Seven.

The Royals scored early and often, but Darryl Motley’s two-run homer in the second inning was all that World Series MVP Bret Saberhagen would need as he pitched an 11-0 shutout and the Royals won the World Series. At a White House ceremony, Howser presented President Ronald Reagan with a Royals jacket, hat, and bat. For the Royals, it was their only World Series win  until 2015.

As the 1986 season began Howser’s 364 wins as a Royals manager put him in second place behind Whitey Herzog’s 410. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he would eclipse the record by the end of the season. But that would not happen. As June turned into July, the Royals went into a skid losing 11 consecutive games between June 27 and July 8. But Howser remained calm, as he always did, as his team slipped to fourth place in the AL West, 8 1/2 games behind the division leaders. Speaking with reporter Bob Gretz, Howser said, “But it’s coming (the end of the team’s futility). It (the team’s performance) will get there. I don’t know when. Maybe tomorrow.” Gretz went on to say:

“Always Tomorrow: That could be the epitaph on Howser’s tombstone. How better to explain the methods of a man whose team was twice just a game away from elimination last year in the playoffs and World Series? Still it won.”17

The Royals won three of their next five games and headed into the All-Star break. The All-Star Game was played on July 15, and Howser led the American League to a 3-2 win. After the game, Howser, who had been having headaches for the prior two weeks, was examined on July 17 and it was determined that he had a brain tumor.

“I look at this as just another ballgame. He’s the batter, he’s the runner, and he’s got to score. And he’s going to win this game. I talked to him on the phone the other day and he didn’t even sound like he’d been through anything. He sounded like he was back to normal.”18 – Marjorie Howser, July 30, 1986

On July 22, 1986, Howser underwent surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. Surgeons had found a malignant tumor in the left frontal lobe of Howser’s brain. 

 “I’ve been pushing and pushing since the first operation in Kansas City and the second operation in Los Angeles (December 1996). I couldn’t do it.”19 – Dick Howser, February 1997.

Howser attempted a comeback the following season. He arrived at spring training on February 21. He quickly found he was physically too weak and abandoned the attempt after just two days. He resigned his position and Billy Gardner took over as manager of the Royals. Experimental brain surgery was performed on Howser on March 20 in Pasadena, California. Surgeons injected cancer-killing cells known as lymphocytes, into the surgical cavity.20 Less than three months later, Dick Howser was dead.

Howser was survived by his wife Nancy and his twin daughters from a previous marriage. He met his first wife Michelle Ann Metzger in 1961, while with the Kansas City Athletics. They were married in February 1964 and  had twin daughters Jana and Jill on November 28, 1964. Dick and Michelle (who died in an automobile accident in 1980) subsequently divorced, and Dick married Nancy, Kate Stephenson, an interior designer, on January 15, 1972. Jana became the Executive Vice-President of Development at the National College Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas, and Dick was named to that Hall of Fame in 2008. Jill and her husband are the parents of two daughters, Melody and Michelle.

After his death on June 17, 1987, Dick Howser was laid to rest at Memory Gardens Cemetery in his adopted hometown of Tallahassee, near the campus of his alma mater, Florida State University, and the stadium which bears his name.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank.com, Ancestry.com, and:

Donnelly, Joe. “Dick Howser: Kaycee Captain,” in Baseball Stars of 1962 (New York, Pyramid Books, 1962), 122-132.

“FSU Soph Howser Tabbed for Bright Diamond Career,” Palm Beach Post, April 27, 1956: 18.

Henry, Jim. “Seminole Scrapbook: Jana Howser celebrates Dad’s Legacy,” Tallahassee Democrat, April 14, 2016.

Mehl, Ernest. “A’s Farm System Takes Bows Over Kid Howser,” The Sporting News, November 8, 1961: 25.

Schneider, Russell. “Howser Shuts up Critics with Slick Plays at Shortstop,” The Sporting News, April 15, 1965: 25.

Stilley, Aaron. “25th Anniversary: Remembering Dick Howser,” I-70 Baseball, October 23, 2010.

Stilley, Aaron. “A Conversation with Jana Howser,” I-70 Baseball, November 21, 2010.

Twyman, Gib. “Howser Has Learned to Roll with Punches,” Kansas City Star, October 22, 1985: 1C.

Notes

1 Mike Lupica, “A Full Baseball Life Graced by Dignity,” New York Daily News, June 18, 1987: 78.

2 Gerald Ensley, “Dick Howser: He Won Friends with his Savvy, Wit, and Loyalty,” Tallahassee Democrat, June 18, 1987: D1.

3 “Deceptive Dick Howser Set for Final Spring at FSU,” Palm Beach Post, March 13, 1958: 14.

4 Larry Fox, “Howser a Legend in Tallahassee,” New York Daily News, November 1, 1979: 23C.

5 Ensley.

6 The Three-I League added three new teams in 1958. They were Rochester, Green Bay, and Fox Cities. The Rochester team relocated to Winona on June 29.

7 John E. Peterson, The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History 1954-1967 (Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland Publishers, 2003), 144.

8 Jerome Holtzman, “Two Greyhounds Threaten Theft-King Looey; Howser, Wood Endanger Six-Year Reign of Chisox Swifty,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1962: 5.

9 Russell Schneider, “Birdie’s New Ballad: We’ll Win with Howser,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1965: 9.

10 “Howser to Manage Yanks,” Tallahassee Democrat, October 29, 1979: 1A.

11 Bill Madden, “Boss’s Mistake: Firing Howser,” New York Daily News, June 18, 1987: 79.

12 Phil Pepe, “Quiet Meeting May Have Saved Yank’s Year,” New York Daily News, August 17, 1980: Sports-8.

13 Denny Mathews (with Matt Fulks), Denny Matthews’s Tales from the Royals Dugout (Champaign, Illinois, Sports Publishing, 2006), 65.

14 Bob Nightengale, “Royals Bask in the Glow of their Championship Season,” Kansas City Star, October 6, 1985: Sports-12.

15 Rich Chere, “Balboni Handling Playoff Pressure,” Newark Star-Ledger, October 9, 1985: 90.

16 John Sonderegger, “Royals’ Reverse Logic Works with Another Win,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 26, 1985: 6C.

17 Bob Gretz, “Howser Remains on an Even Keel as Royals Ship Goes Off Course,” Kansas City Star, July 8, 1986: 1B.

18 Dave George, “Howser’s Mother Says Tumor Like ‘Just Another Ballgame’,” Palm Beach Post, July 30, 1986: 1C.

19 Robert MCG, Tomas, Jr., “Dick Howser Dies at 51; Ex-Manager of Royals,” New York Times, June 18, 1987.

20 Dave George, “Howser ‘Alert’ After Third Surgery for Tumor,” Palm Beach Post, March 21, 1987: 1C.

They were ubiquitous. They were funny. And for a while during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Nike commercials that showed Bo Jackson playing everything from baseball to cricket to hockey — wearing the uniform of the storied Montreal Canadiens no less — brought the phrase “Bo Knows” into popular culture.

These commercials played on Jackson’s astounding athletic abilities. His abundant speed, power, agility, and quickness allowed him to play in the NFL and baseball’s major leagues. Although he wasn’t the first athlete to play two sports professionally — Jim Thorpe holds that distinction — he was the first to become an All-Star in the two leagues in which he played and the first to rise to prominence in the media-driven sports world of the late twentieth century.1

Bo Jackson was born on November 30, 1962, in Bessemer, Alabama, the eighth of Florence Jackson Bond’s 10 children born. A fan of the television show Ben Casey, Florence, who worked as a housekeeper, named her son Vincent Edward Jackson, after the show’s star, Vince Edwards.2 Young Vincent could never be confused with the program’s caring namesake; he was such a difficult youngster, that his family began referring to him as a boar hog. That eventually was shortened to Bo, and the nickname stuck.

Jackson inherited two traits from his absentee father, A.D. Adams, size and a terrible stutter. The size made him big, tough, and athletic, while the stutter made him a target of ridicule among other children. What he did not get from his father was discipline.

“We never had enough food,” Jackson wrote in his autobiography. “But at least I could beat on other kids and steal their lunch money and buy myself something to eat. But I couldn’t steal a father. I couldn’t steal a father’s hug when I needed one. I couldn’t steal a father’s whipping when I needed one.”3

While not a very good student at McAdory High School in McCalla, Alabama, he found an outlet for his anger and energy in sports. He won two state high-school decathlon titles, but it was his prowess on the football field and baseball diamond as a senior that attracted the scouts. He averaged 10.9 yards per carry as a running back, and smacked 20 home runs in a 25-game baseball season. The New York Yankees drafted him in the second round of the 1982 draft, but Jackson accepted a football scholarship to Auburn University instead.

Jackson had a legendary football career at Auburn. He rushed for 4,303 yards (still a school record as of 2016) with 43 touchdowns during his four years as a Tiger. His 1,786 rushing yards as a senior won him the Heisman Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player in 1985.

Yet, as good as he was at football, his goal was to play professional baseball. “My first love is baseball,” he said, “and it has always been a dream of mine to be a major league player.”4

Baseball scouts thought Jackson could make that dream come true. After watching him play on April 13 and 14, 1985, one scout wrote: “A complete type player with outstanding tools; can simply do it all and didn’t even play baseball last year. A gifted athlete; the best pure athlete in America today.”5

As highly regarded as he was, Jackson’s baseball career was almost derailed by an NCAA rules violation, a violation he felt was caused deliberately by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who planned to draft him number 1 in the NFL draft. Prior to the draft, they flew Jackson to Tampa in owner Hugh Culverhouse’s private jet for a physical examination. Even though Buccaneer officials told Jackson that it was within NCAA rules to accept the flight, it was nonetheless a violation. Jackson was suspended for the second half of his senior baseball season.

“I think it was all a plot now, just to get me ineligible from baseball because they saw the season I was having (after hitting .401 in 1985, Jackson was batting .246, with 7 home runs and 14 RBIs in 21 games in 1986) and they thought they were going to lose me to baseball,” he said in an ESPN documentary on his life. “(Like) if we declare him ineligible, then we’ve got him.”6

If it was a plot, it failed; the Bucs selected Jackson first overall in the 1986 NFL draft, but he declined their offer of a four-year deal worth between $5 million and $7 million, opting to play baseball instead. The Kansas City Royals chose Jackson in the fourth round of the 1986 major-league draft. (The California Angels had drafted him in 1985, but he didn’t sign with them, either.) While his contract with the Royals was not as lucrative as what the Buccaneers offered, Jackson still inked a solid deal, three years for $1 million.

The Royals sent Jackson to the Memphis Chicks, their affiliate in the Double-A Southern League, where he performed poorly at the plate early on — he had a .105 average after 10 games — but Chicks manager Tommy Jones wasn’t concerned. “Prior to (Jackson’s) first game, I said it would take three weeks for him to get comfortable and to adjust to life in baseball,” Jones said. “After three weeks, I felt we could make some evaluations. Until then, I don’t think it would be fair.”7

That approach proved wise, as Jackson improved steadily. After 53 games, his batting average had risen to .277, with 7 homers and 25 RBIs. These numbers prompted the Royals, having an offyear after winning the World Series in 1985 (they finished with a 76-86 record), to call him up on September 1, when major-league teams could expand their rosters. He made his debut on September 2, playing right field against the Chicago White Sox, and getting his first major-league hit off 41-year-old Steve Carlton. His first home run came 12 days later when he hit a solo blast in the fourth inning off Seattle’s Mike Moore. Jackson remained with Kansas City for all of September, and hit .207 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 25 games.

Jackson left no doubt about his work ethic by how hard he trained for the 1987 season, his first full year with the Royals. He worked with Hal Baird, his Auburn baseball coach, in January, and even Baird noticed a difference in Jackson’s intensity. “He was far more diligent in his work habits,” Baird said. “I saw more dedication, more willingness to work, than I had ever seen before.”8

That preparation paid early dividends, as Jackson made the team after very nearly starting the season at Triple A. A few days before the season started, general manager John Schuerholz had decided to send Jackson to the minors for more experience, but then changed his mind after doing something he had never done before. “I talked to several of our veterans — George Brett, Hal McRae, Frank White,” Schuerholz said. “I had never done that before, but they told me they thought he could help us.”9

Jackson made Schuerholz look like a pretty smart guy in the season’s first few days. He went 4-for-5 with three RBIs in a 13-1 pasting of the Yankees on April 10. He followed that performance up with a game for the ages on April 14 against the Tigers. He went 4-for-4, with two home runs — including a grand slam — and seven RBIs in a 10-1 laugher over the Tigers. Two weeks later, Jackson got some interesting news when the Los Angeles Raiders chose him in the seventh round of the NFL draft.10 Naturally this sparked great media interest, so Jackson put a sign over his locker that read: Don’t be stupid and ask football questions. OK!”

Regardless of the intelligence of the fourth estate, newspapers reported in July that Jackson was going to sign with the Raiders. Jackson responded to the speculation at a news conference when the Royals were in Toronto on July 11. “Any way you look at it, I have to do my job with the Kansas City Royals before I can do anything else,” he said. “Whatever comes after baseball season is a hobby for Bo Jackson.”11

Jackson’s teammates were not happy when he announced that he had reached terms with the Raiders on July 14 during the All-Star break. Even before he signed with the Raiders, some players felt he was only with the team because of his drawing power. There was also the sense that the front office treated Jackson differently than the other players. Most major-league contracts at the time included clauses prohibiting players from participating in off-field activities that could jeopardize their baseball careers, yet Jackson was allowed to play a violent contact sport. One anonymous Royal expressed his unhappiness by changing the sign above Jackson’s locker to read: “Don’t be stupid and ask any baseball questions.”

Fans weren’t happy, either, in part because the enmity between the Raiders and the hometown Kansas City Chiefs was palpable. When he took the field in the team’s first game after the season resumed, fans booed him lustily. Some even threw toy footballs that were printed with the words: “It’s a hobby.” Of course, fans being fans, they cheered him just as lustily when he made a spectacular tumbling catch in the fifth inning.

Coincidentally or not, Jackson’s play suffered in the second half of the season. He was benched for extensive periods because he was striking out at a prodigious rate — 27 strikeouts in 64 at-bats between July 16 and August 7. After hitting .254 with 18 home runs, 45 RBIs, and 115 strikeouts before the All-Star break, Jackson played in only 35 games in the second half, with four home runs, eight RBIs and another 43 strikeouts. He would have struck out 221 times if he had played in all 162 games.

While Jackson’s decision to play two sports was controversial, it also had its lighter moments. In a New Year’s Day 1987 column of tongue-in-cheek predictions, Kansas City Times writer Bill Tammeus wrote that Jackson would sign a contract to play with the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres, then join the Ice Capades as a hobby. Jackson did receive — and this is true — an offer to play basketball with the Orange County Crush of the fledgling International Basketball Association, a league whose players could be no taller than 6-feet-4. The offer, which Jackson turned down, was a publicity stunt.12

After playing seven games with Los Angeles and scoring four touchdowns (including one on a 91-yard run against Seattle, the longest run from scrimmage in the NFL that season), Jackson returned to the Royals for 1988, but not before working with Auburn coach Baird again in the offseason. Baird was not impressed with what he saw.

“There’s a real need for some concentrated instruction,” Baird said. “I can’t believe he didn’t go to [Triple-A] Omaha last year. I think (the Royals) made concessions and misjudged him a little.”13

The media reported that Jackson faced competition for the left fielder’s spot from rookie Gary Thurman. It wasn’t really much of a contest, as Jackson batted .298, with 5 home runs and 12 RBIs in Florida, while Thurman hit .185 and struck out 16 times in 65 at-bats.14 Jackson went north as the Royals’ starting left fielder. He got off to a good start, too; after going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and a stolen base in a 7-6 Royals win over Texas on May 16, teammate George Brett said: “Bo Jackson proves he belongs here. He still has a lot to learn, but he learns every time he goes out there.15

By the end of May Jackson was hitting .309, with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs. But then fate chose to intervene on June 1 when he tore a hamstring muscle running out a groundball. He missed 28 games, and his batting average began falling on his return. By season’s end it was down to .246. He hit 25 home runs, one behind team leader Danny Tartabull, and had 68 RBIs. His 146 strikeouts — including nine consecutive whiffs between September 16 and September 19 — were the fourth highest in the American League. He led junior-circuit left fielders in assists, with 12.

If Jackson has a favorite Beatles song, it may be “Come Together,” because that’s what happened for him in 1989. He started off hot again, so hot that by the All-Star break he had 21 home runs, just four shy of his 1988 total. Even his strikeouts created a sensation; he got his teammates’ attention when he broke a bat in two over his knee after striking out against the Twins on May 9. “Some jaws dropped and some eyes got real big in the dugout after that one,” said Royals coach John Mayberry.16

Jackson’s own jaw may have dropped when he saw the results of fan balloting for the 1989 American League All-Star team, as he led the American League, with 1,748,696 votes. He took full advantage of his moment in the sun, batting leadoff for the AL squad and going 2-for-4, including a 448-foot home run to center field and a stolen base as the American League defeated the National League 5-3. He garnered All-Star Game MVP honors, and the admiration of NL manager Tommy Lasorda.

“Bo Jackson was exciting, really” Lasorda said. When he hit (his home run), I thought it sounded like he hit a golf ball. He’s awesome and exciting.”17

But injuries disrupted Jackson’s season yet again when the regular season resumed. He missed 15 games between July 23 and August 8 with sore thigh muscles, an injury he had prior to the All-Star break. Unlike previous years, however, his numbers didn’t fall off a cliff, and he finished with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs (both career highs), 26 stolen bases, and a .256 batting average. He did lead the league in one category, with 172 strikeouts.

After his third season with the Raiders, in which he played in a career-high 11 games — he also had the longest run from scrimmage for the season, a 92-yard scamper against Cincinnati — Jackson started 1990 by fulfilling a promise to his mother. He had vowed to her that he would earn his college degree, and in January of that year he began taking classes at Auburn toward that end. He received a bachelor’s degree in family and child development in 1995. Sadly, his mother died in 1992 and never saw him graduate.

“I will be the first in my family to get a degree from a major college,” Jackson said. Hopefully, that will influence my younger relatives in the family as far as nieces and nephews to go on to college to try to be something or someone.”18

Jackson’s propensity for striking out went beyond the diamond and into the arbitration hearing room in February. He was seeking $1,900,001, but the arbitrator ruled in the Royals’ favor. Still, he earned a $1 million salary for the season, which, of course, followed the usual route of great start followed by serious setback. On July 17 he was on pace to hit .270 for the season with 39 home runs and 117 RBIs (albeit with 206 strikeouts) when he hurt his shoulder diving for a fly ball hit by fellow two-sport athlete Deion Sanders. He missed 38 games, but continued to hit well on his return, finishing with a .272 average, 28 home runs, and 78 RBIs in 111 games.

Jackson should have known from his arbitration experience that Bo didn’t know gambling, because in 1990 he bet once too often that the punishment he received playing football would not affect his baseball career. Jackson could have made sports history when he was selected to play in the NFL Pro Bowl after the season, which would have made him the first athlete to play in all-star games in two different sports. That was not to be, however, as he suffered a hip injury in a Raiders 20-10 playoff win over the Cincinnati Bengals on January 13, 1991, when he was tackled after a 34-yard run. He didn’t play in the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills — which was probably just as well because the Raiders lost 51-3. He never played football again.

Jackson and the Royals managed to avoid an arbitration hearing when he signed a one-year, $2.4 million deal with the team for the 1991 season. The contract didn’t really matter, because his hip injury wasn’t getting any better. He had developed a condition called avascular necrosis, which meant that his hip cartilage and bone were deteriorating. When spring training came around, he was still walking around on crutches and clearly unable to play. The Royals placed him on waivers on March 18.

Jackson wasn’t out of work long enough to apply for unemployment benefits. On April 3 he signed a three-year, $8.15 million contract with the Chicago White Sox, although “only” $700,000 was guaranteed. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf likened the signing to buying an insurance policy. “It’s like life insurance,” he said. “You pay the premium, the premium is gone. But if it turns out you die, your family is very happy you had the insurance. If he comes back, we’ll be thrilled.”19

Jackson carried out his rehabilitation under the supervision of the White Sox medical staff. They gave him permission in mid-June to walk without the crutches he had been using since suffering the injury. A month later he started taking some batting practice and did some soft throwing. His workouts continued through August, then on August 25 he began a six-game minor-league rehabilitation assignment. Finally, on September 2, Jackson played his first game of the season against, ironically, the Royals. He went hitless in three at-bats as the DH, but drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. He played in 23 games, hit three home runs and had 14 RBIs, all at the DH spot.

Jackson was very happy to have returned to the field but the following offseason was full of bad news for him. On October 10 his football career effectively ended when he failed a physical given by the Los Angeles Raiders doctors. He made it official one month later when he announced his retirement from football. He joined the White Sox for spring training, but it was evident early on that he was not ready to play. The bat was there, but he wasn’t going to be much good on the basepaths. “I have to say if my running was like my hitting I’d be satisfied,” Jackson said. “But I’m not. I’m very down on myself for the way I’m running.”20

Jackson had his damaged hip replaced with a prosthetic ball and socket in Chicago on April 4, 1992. The prognosis was that he would be able to run after he recovered from the operation, but not at the level of a professional athlete. Jackson didn’t listen to the prognosis. “Medical and athletic experts figured Jackson would not be heard from again,” wrote Ron Flatter. “Apparently there were no Bo Jackson experts to be heard.”21

Jackson let nothing stand in his way from getting back on the ballfield, even his mother’s passing on April 27. His rehab was carried out under the watchful eye of White Sox trainer Herm Schneider, and although progress was slow, it was steady. Even with several hours a day of exercise and training, he walked with a limp until July, and didn’t begin his running program until January. Amazingly, he was ready to go for spring training, and on March 4 played his first baseball game in more than a year, going 1-for-3 in an 11-10 loss to Pittsburgh. His status with the White Sox wasn’t confirmed until the team finally decided to keep Jackson on March 24.

One might wonder why Jackson would put himself through all that work and discomfort — after all, he didn’t need the money. The answer lies in a promise he made to his mother. Before she died, she asked if he was attempting a comeback. He said that if he did, his first hit would be for her. On April 9, 1993, he faced a pitcher in a regular-season game as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Facing the Yankees’ Neal Heaton, he took the first pitch for a strike, then deposited the next pitch over the right-field wall for a home run.

“Lucky for me and unfortunately for the pitcher, I hit a home run,” Jackson recalled. “But that hit meant more to me than anything, because I kept my word, my promise, to my mom. I could have retired that night.”22

Jackson didn’t retire that night, but went on to play in 85 games that year, both in the outfield and at DH. He smacked 16 home runs, batted in 45 runs and hit .232. He also made his only career appearance in the postseason, going 0-for-10 with six strikeouts as the White Sox lost the ALCS in six games to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jackson’s offseason was busy. His remarkable comeback from the hip-replacement surgery, and the intense effort he put in to attain that achievement, was honored when he won both the Tony Conigliaro Award and The Sporting News American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. (Andres Galarraga won in the National League.) On the playing side, Jackson rejected an offer of salary arbitration by the White Sox, choosing instead to take the free-agent route. He signed with the California Angels, the team that first drafted him in 1985.

Jackson had a good season in a part-time role for California, playing left and right field and at DH. He appeared in 75 games and batted a career-high .279, with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs in 201 at-bats. One of his season highlights was a five-RBI day at Detroit on May 26. But even before his season was cut short by the players’ strike, he began to talk about retiring. “When I left college, my lifelong goal was to be retired from professional sports when I was 34 years old (he was 31 at the time),” he said. “Because I don’t think I’ll start living until after that.”23

Jackson ended up retiring even sooner than that. The strike delayed the opening of spring training in 1995, and once it resumed, Jackson, who was a free agent, received calls from a few teams, but decided enough was enough. “I got to know my family [during the strike],” he said in explaining why he retired. “That looks better to me than any $10 million contract.”24

After retiring from sports, Jackson began working in numerous business and charitable activities. As of 2016, he ran a training complex for athletes in Lockport, Illinois. Among his charitable endeavours is the Bo Bikes ’Bama campaign. Tornadoes can cause devastating damage in Alabama, so every year he, his celebrity friends, and other participants cycle across his home state to raise money for the construction of community storm shelters.

Jackson and his wife, Linda, as of 2016 lived in Chicago and have two sons Garrett and Nicholas and a daughter Morgan.

Last revised: September 5, 2017

This biography appears in “Overcoming Adversity: The Tony Conigliaro Award” (SABR, 2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Clayton Trutor. It also appears in “Kansas City Royals: A Royal Tradition” (SABR, 2019), edited by Bill Nowlin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the following:

Auburntigers.com.

ESPN.com.

Footballdb.com.

Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania).

Pro-football-reference.com.

Sports Illustrated.

Stutteringhelp.org.

Swaine, Rick. Baseball’s Comeback Players: Forty Major Leaguers Who Fell and Rose Again (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2014).

Notes

1 Thorpe played six seasons in the majors and eight years in the NFL.

2 Ben Casey was a medical drama televised on ABC from 1961 to 1966.

3 Ron Flatter, “Bo Knows Stardom and Disappointment,” espn.go.com.

4 Ibid.

5 Matt Snyder, “Bo Jackson’s 1985 Scouting Report (Hint: He was good at baseball),” cbssports.com, May 7, 2013.

6 Greg Auman, “When Bucs Blew It By Drafting Bo Jackson,” Tampa Bay Times, April 24, 2015. The incident left Jackson with a bad taste in his mouth, and he warned the Buccaneers that drafting him would be a waste of a pick. The Buccaneers nevertheless chose him number 1 overall in the NFL draft, but he never signed with them.

7 “Bo’s Slow Start Doesn’t Concern His Manager,” The Tennessean (Nashville), July 10, 1986: 7-E.

8 “Jackson Leaves Almost All in Awe,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1987: 4F.

9 John Sonderegger, “Heirs Apparent: Jackson Gets Into Swing With Royals, Big Leagues,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 10, 1987: 11F.

10 Jackson was eligible for the 1987 draft because he did not sign with the Buccaneers in 1986.

11 ESPN Sportscenter, July 11, 1987. Jackson was often criticized as being arrogant for referring to himself in the third person. In fact, he was using a speech therapy technique he learned to prevent stuttering.

12 According to the Association for Professional Basketball Research (apbr.org), the International Basketball Association existed from 1988 to 1892 as the World Basketball League.

13 Rick Hummel, “Classy Horton Not Bitter Over Being Traded,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 1988: 3G.

14 Thurman ended up playing in 424 major-league games over nine seasons.

15 “Jackson Continues Hot Pace,” Constitution-Tribune (Chillicothe, Missouri), May 17, 1988: 6.

16 Bill Coats, “Eye Openers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1989: 2C.

17 “Royals’ Bo Jackson Is MVP in American League Victory,” Macon (Missouri) Chronicle Herald, July 12, 1989: 2.

18 Marsha Sanguinette, “Eye Openers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch January 20, 1990: 6C.

19 Murray Chass, “White Sox Decide to Gamble on Bo Jackson,” New York Times, April 4, 1991. Note that baseball-reference.com lists his 1991 salary at $1,010,000.

20 Bill Madden, “Bo Jackson’s Baseball Career Appears Over,” Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois), March 7, 1992: 4B.

21 Ron Flatter, “Bo Knows Stardom and Disappointment,” espn.com.

22 Lindsay Berra, “#TBT: Bo Jackson Misses a Full Season, Homers in First At-Bat,” mlb.com, April 9, 2015. Jackson later had the ball bronzed and placed it on his mother’s grave.

23 Mike Terry, “Bo Knows Life After Baseball,” San Bernardino County (California) Sun, July 10, 1994: C1.

24 “Well What Do You Know?,” Bo Retiring from Baseball,” The Tennessean, April 4, 1995: 6C.

“When he walked in that first meeting, I don’t know how to put it other than there was as presence in the room, even among accomplished baseball men,” longtime Royals scout Art Stewart remembered. “He just carried himself with this dynamic air of confidence. … He sort of glided into the room and introduced himself to those of us who hadn’t met him. Then he takes his coat off, rolls up his sleeves and addresses the room with the perfect blend of confidence and humility. … The motivation was amazing. Sitting there you got a special feeling about him and the group he assembled. He was a terrific leader, and the way you knew that was because he made you want to work hard for him, and would give you whatever you needed to be successful.”1

Ewing Marion Kauffman was born on September 21, 1916, just southeast of Garden City, Missouri, on his parents’ farm. According to his biographer’s research of family lore, Kauffman was named after State Senator Ewing Cockrell and his maternal grandfather, John Marion Winders. Winders was a locally famous stonemason of Scotch and Irish heritage who believed strongly in education for his six children. Kauffman’s mother, Effie Mae, graduated from Missouri State Teachers college with a strong background in the classics.2

Kauffman’s father, John Samuel Kauffman, was of German heritage and grew up on a farm, the youngest of the family’s seven children. John’s six older siblings were all female, and they helped raise and support him, even into adulthood. Though John had little formal schooling, he was something of a mathematical prodigy, often challenging Ewing on math problems, and the youngster embraced his father’s joy of mathematics.

Effie and John met while he was selling door-to-door and she was a schoolteacher. After they were married, the newlyweds lived on John’s family farm. To establish their own home and allow Effie to escape the mostly German-speaking household, the couple moved nearby to a small rental where first Ruth was born and then Ewing three years later. The young family upgraded to a leased farm with a nice farmhouse while Ewing was still a baby. Unfortunately, after several apparently prosperous years, the land flooded, and the family was forced to give up farming. Adding to the insecurity, John’s ability to make a living had been further hampered when he lost an eye in a freak accident several years earlier.

Ewing’s family moved to Kansas City, where his father’s sisters and parents helped them buy a house. John eventually turned to selling life insurance, and Effie took in boarders to help cover household expenses. Ewing exhibited an early aptitude for sales, selling eggs from his grandparents’ farm to the neighbors. Kauffman’s father never flourished as a salesman, and the family could rarely afford more than the bare necessities. Nevertheless, Kauffman grew up with a loving family, a mother who taught him the value and love of learning, an outgoing father who encouraged his mathematical interests, and an early exposure to the thrill of successful selling.

When he was 11, Kauffman was diagnosed with endocarditis, a heart ailment, for which the treatment at the time was absolute bed rest for an entire year. As awful as this must have been for a young boy, Kauffman read up to 20 books a week and learned to quickly perform complicated mathematical calculations in his head. Shortly after he recovered, John and Effie separated and then divorced. The two had been struggling for some time, and Ewing and Ruth moved in with their mother. “(Dad) was close to the earth,” Kauffman remembered. “Mother was spiritual and mental. Mother was fastidious. Dad was not. She liked to stay home and he liked to travel.”3

Once back up and healthy, Kauffman joined the Boy Scouts, winning a scholarship so he could attend Scout camp one summer and eventually earning Eagle Scout, the highest achievement level in Scouting. Anxious to make up for his lost year, Kauffman also played football and worked at a laundry to help support his family. After graduating from Westport High, Kauffman spent a little time out on the road – this was 1934 and the heart of Depression – before returning home to earn an associate’s degree at Kansas City Junior College.

Over the next half-dozen years Kauffman worked at a number of jobs, including managing laundry drivers, selling insurance, and selling training courses. He was also briefly engaged to the daughter of one of his insurance-company bosses.

For many American men still searching for their place in American society as the country began to climb out of its economic doldrums, World War II changed their trajectory, and for Kauffman it was no different. In December 1941 before heading into the military Kauffman secretly married Marguerite Blackshire, a woman he had met at Sunday school, his primary social circle. Not until later that spring did he send his mother a letter alerting her to his new bride.

Kauffman joined the Navy, where he was trained as a signalman. While at sea, with some encouragement from the ship’s captain, he developed an interest in astronomy, and on his own he occasionally checked the calculations of the ship’s navigation officer. At one point he determined that the calculations provided by the navigation officer were wrong and that several ships in the convoy might run aground due to the error. At some personal risk he sidestepped naval regulations and reported his concerns directly to the captain. Kauffman’s calculations were correct, and the captain later made Kauffman his navigation officer.

Kauffman’s time in the Navy also proved extremely profitable. Over his enlistment he won roughly $90,000 playing poker and would often send a large percentage to Marguerite to save for after the war.4 When he returned home they used much of Kauffman’s winnings to purchase a house in Kansas City. After two miscarriages the couple decided to adopt, adding Larry to the household in 1947 and Sue a year later.

By this point Kauffman had matured into an interesting, complex individual. He was extremely competitive, hard-working, and driven, and very much believed in people having to earn their rewards. But he also was generous and caring. His extraordinary sales skills came from the former tempered by his obvious openness and genuineness in wanting to help the clients he was selling to.

Shortly after the war Kauffman joined a pharmaceutical company as a salesman and “simply fell in love with the business.”5 At the time medications were typically dispensed by doctors either on house calls or at their offices, so salesmen called on doctors at their offices. Moreover, the industry was much less regulated and concentrated than it is today, with many regional suppliers of common drugs. Kauffman read constantly to educate himself about the industry and demonstrated a knack for building relationships with the doctors. He quickly became one of the highest-grossing producers in the company, and grew disillusioned when they arbitrarily reduced his bonus because they felt he was making too much.

Kauffman decided to strike out on his own. In June 1950 he took what remained of his savings and launched Marion Laboratories. Though it didn’t have any research capabilities at the time, Kauffman imagined that “Laboratories” added a gravitas to the corporate name. Critically, he managed to hold onto a number of existing clients. To save money Kauffman initially operated out of his basement, which he quickly outgrew, and began adding sales and management staff. He also introduced a couple of new drugs, effectively reformulations or recombinations of existing compounds; for his first drug he concocted a pill for chronic fatigue.6 Kauffman himself came up with the designs for these early drugs from his extensive reading of medical journals and probing of doctors. Maybe most importantly, he labored to create a quality sales staff, and in typical Kauffman fashion, he researched and experimented with ways to identify and then train salesmen. (They were all men at the time.) Kauffman also introduced significant profit-sharing for his salesmen – generally structured as equity in the company – soon broadening the plan to include all employees. He often expressed pride later in life over all the “millionaires” created by the growth of his company.

Kauffman was an attentive, inquiring, and engaged boss. To screen sales candidates, he began using skills and psychological assessments well before they were standard in industry. Moreover, he examined the results and tinkered with the tests to try to improve their accuracy. To motivate his sales force once they came on board, Kauffman introduced sophisticated sales-recognition programs. Nevertheless, though the compensation was significant, succeeding as a high-producing pharmaceutical salesman required long hours and enduring a high-pressure work environment. Turnover was a constant problem. “His cardinal rule of business is: ‘Produce or get out,’” wrote Allan Demaree in Fortune. “Sometimes if a salesman fails to increase the volume of business in his territory, says Kauffman, ‘we call him in and say, “Before we leave this room one of three things is going to happen. Either you’re going to get fired, or you’re going to quit, or you’re going to change.”’ The first time a salesman hears this pitch it constitutes a warning; the second time he’s canned.”7 Demaree went on to discuss Marion’s business: “What Marion does best is to find products in the research of others, prepare them for market, and, above, all, motivate salesmen and sell.”8

Kauffman built a solid management team to support his sales staff, and the company prospered throughout the 1950s: By 1959 Marion achieved $1 million in annual sales. His family life, however, was more troubled. Marguerite struggled with depression and continuing back problems following a car accident years earlier. In December 1960 Kauffman found her dead in her car in their closed garage with the engine running. There was no note, and neither Kauffman nor the children sensed she had been particularly despondent. The authorities ruled her death accidental.

A little over a year later Kauffman remarried, tying the knot with Muriel McBrien on February 28, 1962. Kauffman had first met the twice-widowed Muriel at a conference in Miami in March 1961. A native of Toronto, Muriel was highly accomplished in business and brought a daughter to the combined family. Muriel would become a force in her own right in the Kansas City community.

As the company flourished in the early 1960s, Kauffman wanted to take it public to bring in additional capital and create liquidity for his shares and those of many of his longtime employees. By 1965 company revenues were almost $5 million and net income had surpassed the $500,000 target set by his investment bankers. Initially, the company went public as over-the-counter stock, eventually listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1969.

After decades of stability, the 1950s and 1960s saw a flurry of long-standing baseball teams moving to new cities and baseball expanding three times, adding two AL teams in 1961, two NL teams in 1962, and two in each league in 1969. The 1969 expansion was precipitated when Charlie Finley moved the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland in October 1967. Facing legal pressure, the American League responded by awarding franchises to Kansas City and later Seattle. Unlike more recent expansions in the 1990s, baseball chose the cities first, and then searched for ownership groups.

With the initial public offering of Marion Laboratories, Kauffman now had both significant net worth and the liquidity necessary to purchase and bankroll an expansion franchise. Marion Laboratories had a market value of roughly $156 million, and Kauffman and his family owned 31 percent.9 Moreover, he had become a sportsman in the old-fashioned sense of the word, owning a stable of several race horses and enjoying the associated lifestyle. Sportswriter and local booster Ernie Mehl pushed Kauffman to pursue the franchise, telling him, “We need to show the American League there is somebody in Kansas City that is somewhat interested in baseball and financially can afford it.”10 With encouragement from his wife, Kauffman entered the sweepstakes to own Kansas City’s expansion team.

With his typical resourcefulness, as he contemplated his bid Kauffman traveled to Anaheim to meet with California Angels owner Gene Autry and team President Bob Reynolds, who had been through the process with their 1961 expansion team. While on the trip Kauffman also met Cedric Tallis, an Angels executive who greatly impressed him. As Kauffman finalized his bid for his team, he invited Tallis to join his group as its general manager. Kauffman thought Tallis not only a smart baseball man, but also someone who could be a champion and overseer for the new stadium complex under consideration in Kansas City.

Four groups, including Kauffman, presented to the American League’s owners at the December 1967 winter meetings. Kauffman’s earlier lobbying and natural sales skills helped him in winning over the owners. More important, perhaps, were his demonstrated financial capabilities and his stated intention to own the franchise himself. When asked about his connection with gambling due to his race horses, Kauffman stated he never bet on baseball or football, and earned a chuckle when he said he would continue to gamble but only at golf and cards. On January 11, 1968, the league announced it was awarding the team to Kauffman.11 “I’ve always said it was the greatest trade in the history of baseball [getting Kauffman instead of Finley as the city’s franchise owner],” said sportswriter Joe McGuff.12 The Royals initially cost Kauffman roughly $6 million, and he signed a lease to play at Municipal Stadium until a new $43 million sports complex for the Royals and the football Chiefs would open in 1972. (Royals Stadium eventually opened a year late.)13

While pursuing the franchise, Kauffman told the owners he would bring in professional management, just as in his pharmaceutical business. Tallis, awarded a four-year contract and with a new major-league team to build, received the same memo. “Outside of finances, he will run the club,” Kauffman told reporters.14

“Kauffman did not dabble in day-to-day team management,” wrote his biographer. “He had decided early in his involvement with baseball that he would either have to trust the executives he hired or fire them. That had been his policy at Marion Laboratories where he understood the pharmaceutical business.”15 That said, Kauffman would get involved if he felt he needed to. To increase sales he mirrored his Marion sales recognition programs on the baseball side, creating an exclusive booster club with high-test perks for local businessmen who sold at least 75 season tickets.

At the ballpark Kauffman could be similarly engaged, sitting behind the dugout at home games and dissecting his manager’s decisions. “I’d have taken out the kid [Hedlund] and brought in Moe [Drabowsky] a little sooner than [manager] Joe [Gordon] did,” Kauffman remarked after one game in 1969. After learning that Drabowsky wasn’t “completely warmed up,” Kauffman backpedaled, “That’s why he’s the manager and I’m the owner.”16 But he remained attentive and unafraid to demand explanations from his senior management.

Though Kauffman allowed his baseball men to build his team, he was unafraid to think unconventionally and push to implement his ideas. He kept a copy of Earnshaw Cook’s Percentage Baseball on his desk, the first serious statistical look at the game written by an outsider. He even followed up by meeting with Cook to discuss his concepts. Kauffman also introduced one of baseball’s first computer systems, which by the end of the 1971 season contained statistics like “the nature of every pitch thrown by a Royal … what happened to every ball hit … [and] even the humidity.” One writer who witnessed Tallis and his staff reviewing some of this information exclaimed: “I felt I had walked in on a conclave of madmen. Here were six or seven grown men around a table piled high with computer cards, mulling over every pitch thrown and every ball hit in what is supposed to be a game.” This information was fed to the manager so that it could be applied. Thirty years before Michael Lewis wrote Moneyball, Kauffman believed that statistical analysis could provide a competitive advantage when added to traditional evaluation methods.17

Kauffman also had new ideas on how the team should find talent. He had publicly stated that he wanted a pennant within five years, a wildly aggressive prediction given the history of the four previous expansion franchises. To accomplish this goal, Kauffman realized that the usual methods of finding young players would not be sufficient: The amateur draft offered all teams equal access to top prospects, Latin and Caribbean countries were being scouted (though untapped opportunity was later to be uncovered there), and Japan was not yet considered a source for major-league players.18

Kauffman’s brainstorm was to create the Kansas City Baseball Academy, a school operating outside the traditional farm system where undrafted great athletes with little baseball background could learn the game. Kauffman’s academy applied a scientific approach to scouting and training: Figure out which raw skills best translated into baseball success and then how to best develop and hone those skills to create ballplayers. To house it, Kauffman purchased a 121-acre site in Sarasota, Florida. The complex cost roughly $1.5 million and required a further $600,000 or so in annual operating expenses.

In mid-June 1971 the Academy faced its first public test when a team of its cadets was placed in the seven-team, rookie-level Gulf Coast League, pitting the recruits against drafted ballplayers in other organizations. The team finished 40-13 and led the league in both batting average and ERA. This early validation of his concept was one of Kauffman’s greatest thrills in baseball.

Yet the Academy had detractors within the organization, as many in the front office begrudged the huge allocation of resources to something outside of their traditional farm system, which in tandem had built a first-rate scouting and development system. By 1973, while the Academy had produced several prospects, it had become clear that Kauffman’s brainchild needed to be revamped. The Royals’ original thesis – that great young athletes with little baseball background could be molded into major-league baseball players – had not proven out. Despite all its creative ideas and intense testing, the Academy could not create enough ballplayers from raw, unskilled athletes. The top prospect in the Academy, infielder Frank White, had significant previous baseball experience. The other noteworthy problem with the Academy was the huge cost. When Marion Laboratories stock collapsed during 1974 due to the recession and concerns over forthcoming FDA approval for a new drug (between February and August the stock price dropped from $52 per share to $11) Kauffman decided to shutter the academy and integrate its facilities into the overall minor-league system.19 He would later say his greatest regret in baseball was closing the Academy. “If I knew then what I know now,” Kauffman later lamented, “I would have kept it going. And we would have had a dynasty here.”20

That the Academy did not succeed in turning athletes into baseball players testified to the fact that traditional scouting was already finding most – though not all – of the potential major leaguers in the US. However, Kauffman’s philosophy of always looking for new sources of talent is one of the foundations of successful organizations. Of the Academy’s innovations in scouting and player development, some were transferred to the Royals farm system and many others were carried by the Academy’s coaches and trainers as they migrated within the organization and to other teams. Like most successful organizations, Kauffman’s Royals showed a sincere willingness to experiment with new ideas and methods. As a result they found a few valuable players and learned useful player development and scouting lessons.

The 1972 season was marred by a players strike that began during spring training and lingered into the season, canceling a week’s worth of games. As the players union had never taken such an action before, the events stunned many longtime baseball people, and Kauffman developed into a semi-hawk on player issues. He was a paternalistic owner in the best sense of the word, offering free career counseling and financial advice to his players or occasionally handing out hundred-dollar bills to players in the locker room after a tough game, telling them to take their wives out for dinner.21 As an owner Kauffman had spent a lot of money to acquire and build the franchise, which was still not profitable, claiming he had invested roughly $19 million in the franchise: Beyond the initial investment he had sunk $5 million into Royals Stadium and annual losses were significant. For example, in 1971 the team lost $2.2 million; $600,000 was depreciation, a noncash charge, but the other $1.6 million was operating losses.22 Kauffman couldn’t see why the players should be allowed any more of the overall baseball revenues.

In response to Marvin Miller and the players association filing to arbitrate the McNally–Messersmith challenge to the reserve clause in the fall of 1975, Kauffman filed suit, supported by the other major-league clubs, arguing that the reserve clause was not arbitrable under the collective-bargaining agreement. The court allowed the arbitration to move forward, telling Kauffman he could come back if he wanted to dispute the decision. When Kauffman led the owners back into court to overturn the famous Seitz decision that invalidated the reserve clause, the court ruled that the arbitrator’s ruling would stand. Kauffman’s frustration with free agency can be seen is his reaction to it: Through 1980 the only free agent signed off another team was utility infielder Jerry Terrell.

On the field, the Royals backslid in 1972 after a surprising 1971 season, and the impatient Kauffman decided to fire manager Bob Lemon over Tallis’s objections. As justification, Kauffman publicly mentioned a mishandled August benching of Amos Otis and Freddie Patek for not hustling and also suggested that he wanted to hire someone younger. This last comment exposed Kauffman to age-discrimination protection, causing him to have to pay Lemon an extra year’s salary. Kauffman’s impatience and unrealistic expectations were also laid bare. “Starting in 1974,” he bragged, “we expect to win (the American League championship) five out of ten years.”23

Kauffman further exasperated Tallis by hiring Jack McKeon, the manager at Triple-A Omaha, with whom Tallis had quarreled in the past. In particular, McKeon was a vocal advocate for the Baseball Academy, and hence a favorite of Kauffman’s. McKeon would go on to a successful career in baseball as both a manager and general manager, but in 1972 he owed his allegiance to Ewing Kauffman alone. The impatient Kauffman had journeyed a long way from the putatively hands-off owner of 1969.

Despite a strong second-place finish in 1973, principally due to a number of great trades and smart drafting by Tallis and the front office, Kauffman became frustrated with his mounting financial losses. Between the financial drain of the Academy and the Royals’ top-notch minor-league system, the team reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Notwithstanding a strong season on the field, the opening of their new ballpark, and a near-doubling of attendance, Kauffman lost roughly $900,000 in 1973. Late in the season he hired Joe Burke to run the financial side of the Royals. Burke had spent years in the front office of the Washington Senators and, after the club’s move to Texas, two years as the club’s GM. Kauffman was clearly preparing for a change in his GM.

By the middle of the 1974 season, as the Royals hovered near .500, “Kauffman’s irritation with the costs of owning a baseball team was beginning to show.”24 He had sunk somewhere around $20 million into the club and had yet to turn a profit in any season, and his net worth was sinking due to the Marion stock slide. Kauffman bounced Tallis and promoted Joe Burke to general manager, giving him full control over both the baseball and business sides. In another cost-saving move, after the season Kauffman directed Burke to join the newly formed Major League Scouting Bureau, enabling the Royals to lay off 20 full-time and 50 part-time scouts.25 A couple of years later, as the impact of this decision began to be felt in the farm system, Kauffman reversed course and began rebuilding his scouting staff. As with the sales employees at Marion, he offered the Royals scouts better perks and profit-sharing, but they “were expected to generate more leads and baseball talent than [their] rivals.”26 In late July 1975 Burke and Kauffman again changed managers, firing McKeon, and bringing on Whitey Herzog. Herzog had managed for Burke in Texas and at the time was the third-base coach for the California Angels.

After four seasons of pursuing the Oakland A’s, in 1976 Kauffman’s team finally broke through with a 90-72 record and won the division title before losing a tightly contested ALCS with the Yankees. Of the eight expansion teams that began play in the 1960s, the Royals attained and sustained success the quickest, and Kauffman’s willingness to hire good baseball people and put money into his team was a big reason.

The team won division titles in 1977 and 1978 as well, again losing to the Yankees in the ALCS both years. Despite his success, Kauffman and Muriel never really warmed to Herzog, and the manager felt as though he was tolerated only as long as he was winning. Once when Angels owner Gene Autry asked Muriel how his “old friend Whitey was,” she responded, “Who gives a shit?”27 After falling to second place in 1979, Kauffman and Burke jettisoned Herzog, bringing in Jim Frey. Under Frey in 1980 the team finally beat the Yankees in the ALCS to win the pennant. “That was my greatest thrill in baseball,” Kauffman remembered. “And the moment was made all the more memorable because it had come at the expense of the New York Yankees.”28

After a disappointing 1981 season, Kauffman promoted John Schuerholz to GM and Burke to president. The team still boasted a talented nucleus, led by third baseman George Brett, and remained competitive in the early 1980s. The Royals finally won the World Series in 1985, bolstered by three young pitching aces.

For Kauffman, 1981 was something of a watershed year. He turned 65 and had a tumor removed from his chest along with part of a rib. On the baseball front, the Royals slumped as Kauffman believed Frey lost control of his players (Burke replaced him with Dick Howser), and the long players strike began to sap baseball’s appeal for him.29 Kauffman started searching for a partner willing to buy a 49 percent interest in the team with rights to acquire full ownership down the road. He reached an agreement with a man named Michael Shapiro in early 1983 for $11 million, but when Shapiro could not come up with the required deposit by the required deadline, Kauffman canceled the deal.30

Later that spring Kauffman cut a similar deal with Memphis real-estate developer Avron Fogelman. The two stipulated the value of the franchise at $22 million, and Fogelman paid $11 million for a 49 percent interest. Kauffman had the right to put the remaining 51 percent to Fogelman between 1988 and 1991, at which time Kauffman would be obligated sell to if he hadn’t yet done so. In early 1988 the two recut the agreement. Fogelman paid $220,000 to bring his share up to 50 percent and Kauffman’s put obligation went away; he could now remain a partner in the team. Their partnership agreement was extended through 2012 with the provision that if Kauffman died before then, Fogelman could purchase the Kauffman’s 50 percent for $11 million.31 His frustration with baseball’s economics blinded Kauffman – like many others – to the massive increase in franchise values that was about to occur.

As Kauffman aged and with some of Fogelman’s purchase capital now infused into the team, the team became more willing to pursue free agents to keep it competitive, particularly toward the end of the decade. But several high-profile signings – notably Mark Davis, Storm Davis, Kirk Gibson, and Mike Boddicker – did not live up to the hype.

In 1989 Kauffman found himself forced to reorganize his businesses. As the pharmaceutical industry evolved, Marion’s executive leadership team felt a merger with another drug company was required for its long-term survival. Kauffman hated to surrender control of the company he had built from his basement, but he acquiesced to the recommendation. Later that year Marion Laboratories merged with Merrell Dow, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, to create Marion Merrell Dow and a nice but unwelcome payday for Kauffman. In 1988 Forbes estimated his net worth at $740 million, an amount certainly increased through the merger; now much of that was liquid as well.32

At the same time, Fogelman’s real estate empire was unraveling in the commercial real-estate lending and liquidity crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Fogelman was under tremendous pressure from his lenders and needed his equity in the franchise to bail himself out. Somewhat cornered to support Fogelman lest the franchise get entangled is his messy finances or an out-of-town buyer get a hold of his purchase option, Kauffman agreed to recut their deal. Under the new agreement, Kauffman loaned Fogelman $34 million and effectively regained full ownership of the team. In addition he would have to cover roughly $20 million in failed real estate investments awarded to players George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, and Willie Wilson, originally backstopped and advocated by Fogelman as part of their contract extensions. Moreover, Kauffman would have to fund $5 million to cover the previous year’s asset contribution defaulted on by Fogelman and the entire $7 million in operating losses for the current year, typically split between the partners. Not surprisingly Kauffman said, “I feel like I have been taken advantage of.”33 Kauffman used the franchise uncertainty created by Fogelman’s troubles to leverage a more attractive new 25-year lease on the ballpark and lock the team to Kansas City for the foreseeable future.

When four Royals players pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and were sentenced to 90 days in a federal penitentiary after the 1983 season, Kauffman was shaken and distressed. It also stimulated his charitable impulses to address the drug problem and support disadvantaged youth. Most notably, for the class entering his alma mater Westport High in 1988, he offered to pay for college, technical, or vocational training for any students who graduated, and stayed away from drugs and pregnancy. In 1992, when the class graduated, 115 of the original 240 freshmen qualified and took advantage of the offer.34 He later extended the program to other schools and classes. The Kauffman Foundation, whose mission was later expanded to promote and encourage entrepreneurship, would be a lasting legacy to Kauffman’s philanthropic vision.

By the early 1990s Kauffman was aggressively spending on his roster while at the same time seething at the players union. In 1990 as the two sides battled over the collective bargaining agreement, Kauffman said, “If they don’t settle soon, it would be my nature to withdraw everything offered and close the season down. You cannot keep giving and giving and giving.”35 Nevertheless, he still desperately wanted to win, and by 1993 after signing David Cone and Greg Gagne, Kansas City had the fourth highest payroll in the game.

His health had also begun increasingly to fail, and Kauffman began to fear for his mortality. He wanted to sell the team to a local ownership committed to keeping the team in Kansas City, but no one stepped up to the roughly $90 million price tag he hung on the franchise. Alternatively, he came up with a convoluted, tax-advantaged plan to donate the team to a charitable limited partnership upon his death, with the eventual sale proceeds going to his philanthropic interests. Kauffman also funded enough cash to cover annual operating losses, estimated at $3 million per year, for several years and required local business leaders to post $50 million, from which the interest would also be used to subsidize operating losses.

Kauffman died on August 1, 1993, from bone cancer and had a private funeral and burial three days later. A month before his death, Royals Stadium was renamed Kauffman Stadium in his honor. The franchise was turned over to the limited partnership with Kauffman’s longtime friend and Walmart CEO David Glass named managing general partner. The team would flounder under this provisional ownership but remain tethered to Kansas City until Glass finally purchased the franchise outright in 2000.

Since his death Kauffman’s stature has continued to grow. His foundation has grown to over $2.1 billion in assets and makes more than $65 million a year in grants and donations.36 It has also become one the foremost research and support organizations for entrepreneurship. The first 25 years of the Royals under his ownership also hold up well. The team was consistently competitive, had top-notch front-office executives, often maintained a payroll in excess of its market size, and showed creativity and original thinking when approaching problems. That the team didn’t quite live up to Kauffman’s initial predictions of quick and consistent greatness simply highlights his competitive fire and occasional impetuousness.

Editor’s note:

For a more detailed look at the full ownership history of the Royals, please see Dan Levitt’s article on the subject:

https://sabr.org/research/kansas-city-royals-team-ownership-history

Notes

1 Art Stewart, The Art of Scouting: Seven Decades Chasing Hopes and Dreams in Major League Baseball (Olathe, Kansas: Ascend Books, 2014), 127.

2 The principal source for Kauffman’s pre-baseball life is Anne Morgan, Prescription for Success: The Life and Values of Ewing Marion Kauffman (Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews and McMeel, 1995); also helpful were Phil Koury in Sid Bordman and Jim Reed, Expansion to Excellence: An Intimate Portrait of the Kansas City Royals (No other publication information presented), iii-viii, and Phil Koury, “Kauffman Puts Winning Record on Line,” Kansas City Star, January 14, 1968.

3 Phil Koury, “Kauffman Puts Winning Record on Line,” Kansas City Star, January 14, 1968.

4 Morgan, 46-7.

5 Morgan, 49.

6 Allan T. Demaree, “Ewing Kauffman Sold Himself Rich in Kansas City,” Fortune, October 1972: 101.

7 Demaree, 100.

8 Demaree, 101.

9 Joe McGuff, “Kauffman Goal: Flag in Five Years; Royals’ Boss Weighs Daring Plan,” The Sporting News, June 7, 1969; Demaree.

10 Roger D. Launius, Seasons in the Sun: The Story of Big League Baseball in Missouri (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2002), 93.

11 Joe McGuff, “Four Kaycee Groups Seek Franchise,” The Sporting News, December 16, 1967: 29.

12 Gene Fox, Sports Guys: Insights, Highlights, and Hoo-hahs from Your Favorite Sports Authorities (Kansas City, Missouri: Addax Publishing, 1999), 82.

13 Jerome Holtzman, “A.L. Vote to Expand Marks 1967 History,” Official Baseball Guide For 1968 (St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1968), 180-81; Jerome Holtzman, “Expansion, Canadian Club, Feature 1968,” Official Baseball Guide For 1968 (St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1969), 181.

14 Dickson Terry, “Kaycee ‘Will Never Lose This Team,’” The Sporting News, January 27, 1968: 23-24.

15 Morgan, 266.

16 Mark Mulvoy, “KC Is Back with a Vengeance,” Sports Illustrated, May 26, 1969: 16.

17 Frank Deford, “It Ain’t Necessarily So, and Never Was,” Sports Illustrated, March 6, 1972.

18 Joe McGuff, “Kauffman Goal: Flag in Five Years; Royals’ Boss Weighs Daring Plan,” The Sporting News, June 7, 1969, 16.

19 Morgan, 176.

20 “Inside Mr. K,” The Squire, March 9, 1989.

21 Denny Mathews and Fred White with Matt Fulks, Play by Play: 25 Years of Royals Radio (Kansas City, Missouri: Addax Publishing, 1999), 86.

22 Joe McGuff, “’Players Must Learn Facts of Life’ – Kauffman,” The Sporting News, April 22, 1972.

23 Joe McGuff, “’Blame Me for Lemon’s Exit,’ Says Kauffman,” The Sporting News, October 21, 1972: 23; Joe McGuff, “Tallis-Kauffman Split Linked to Lemon Firing,” The Sporting News, July 6, 1974: 15.

24 Morgan, 260.

25 Morgan, 261.

26 Stewart, 149.

27 Whitey Herzog with Kevin Horrigan, White Rat: A Life in Baseball (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 111.

28 Morgan, 268.

29 Jonathan Rand, “Kauffman Finds Outlet in Baseball,” Kansas City Times, undated clipping.

30 “Lawyer Says Shapiro Held Up Royals Suit in Hopes of Settlement,” Kansas City Times, February 13, 1985.

31 Bob Nightengale, “A Partnership Is Anchored in K.C.,” The Sporting News, January 25, 1988: 48.

32 Morgan, 294. “Royals Co-owner Bails Out; Highest Bidder Gets Club,” USA Today, August 1, 1990.

33 Charles R.T. Crumpley, “Kauffman OKs Loan to Fogelman,” Kansas City Star, undated clipping.

34 Erik Brady, “Graduation a Thrilling Payoff for Royals Owner,” USA Today, June 4, 1992.

35 “KC Owner Suggests Canceling Season,” Associated Press, March 11, 1990.

36 990finder.foundationcenter.org/990results.aspx?990_type=&fn=kauffman+foundation&st=MO&zp=&ei=&fy=&action=Search.