Senator William Stuart Symington of Missouri was a fighter. A second lieutenant during World War I, he eventually became the first secretary of the Air Force, serving fellow Missourian Harry S Truman. After being elected to the Senate in 1952, Symington was a strong opponent of Senator Joseph McCarthy, took on the Pentagon over wasteful spending, and later opposed the Vietnam War. So when Kansas City A’s owner Charlie Finley decided to move the Athletics from Kansas City, Symington saw another fight coming. On the Senate floor, Symington described Finley as “one of the most disreputable characters ever to enter the American sports scene.”1

Symington’s appearance at the American League owners meeting in Chicago in 1967 and his threats to have Congress review baseball’s antitrust exemption helped get Kansas City an expansion franchise for the 1969 season. The city would be without baseball for a year but, according to Symington, “This loss is more than recompensed for by the pleasure resulting from our getting rid of Mr. Finley.”2 And Finley was most definitely gone. “There will be no parades down Main Street or promises of instant success, the sheep are gone from Lamb Chop Hill behind the outfield fence, and conservative blue and white uniforms have replaced Kelly green and gold.”3

In a year that promised firsts and new faces, something that wasn’t new was the Royals manager, Joe Gordon. The manager of the Athletics in 1960, Gordon had the unenviable task of leading an expansion team filled with expansion-team players. “I’ll have 16 different lineups before we open,” Gordon told the Minneapolis Star.4 Making his major-league debut as a manager for the Twins on Opening Day in Kansas City was Billy Martin. The fiery Martin would lead the Twins to the newly formed American League West Division title in 1969 but would lose to Baltimore in the AL playoffs and be fired shortly thereafter.

Opening Days are always special, and for a new team in town, the pregame ceremonies are a time for speeches. First to speak was Royals owner Ewing Kauffman, who was greeted with a lengthy standing ovation. Once the crowd settled, Kauffman brought them to their feet again, stating, “As long as I am alive, this will be your team, forever and ever.”5 American League President Joe Cronin, whose greeting was less enthusiastic due to the turmoil over the A’s relocation, spoke next, and then Symington addressed the crowd. After telling the crowd that he was looking forward to the time in the not-so-distant future when there would be an all-Missouri World Series, he bounced the ceremonial first pitch to Royals catcher Ellie Rodriguez. Symington would leave the Senate in 1976, nine years before the first all-Missouri World Series he had hoped to see. With the ceremonies over, baseball could finally return to Kansas City.

Wally Bunker got the honor of throwing the first pitch in Royals history. Bunker was selected by the Royals from Baltimore in the expansion draft (skipping over Jim Palmer), and he retired the Twins in order in the first inning.6 Leading off the first for the Royals was Lou Piniella, who had been acquired from expansion partner Seattle toward the end of spring training. “We needed a right-handed hitter,” explained Gordon simply.7 Piniella greeted Twins starter Tom Hall with a double down the left-field line. When Jerry Adair singled to left to score Piniella, the Royals had their first RBI and lead, and their faithful could be excused for thinking this baseball stuff was easy, at least the Royals version of it.

As was typical of expansion teams, though, the lead didn’t last. After Bunker retired Harmon Killebrew to start the second inning, Graig Nettles homered to right field to tie the game. The score remained that way until the sixth inning, although both teams squandered chances in the fifth. The Twins led off the top of the fifth with a base hit by Rich Reese, but Reese was caught stealing second. Leo Cardenas then walked and John Roseboro singled to center, but Bunker retired the next two Twins to end that threat. The Royals had an even better chance to score in the bottom of the fifth when Bunker led off with a double to the right-field corner and moved to third on Piniella’s third hit of the game. Adair followed with a fly to short center, but Bunker was held at third. Hall then retired Ed Kirkpatrick and Joe Foy to strand two runners in scoring position.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth but ran themselves out of a chance to score more. Rod Carew chased Bunker with a single to left, and Tony Oliva greeted reliver Tom Burgmeier with a single that moved Carew to third. Carew scored on Killebrew’s groundout with Oliva taking second. Manager Martin brought in Cesar Tovar for Nettles, but Oliva was caught trying to steal third. Tovar singled to center, a hit that would likely have brought in the speedy Oliva. Reese followed with a double to score Tovar but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to a triple.

The Twins brought their baserunning errors out to the field with them in the bottom of the sixth. With two out, Rodriguez hit a long fly to left field. Tovar, who had replaced Nettles in left, called for the ball but it carried over his head for a double. “You don’t call someone off a ball to let it fall 10 feet behind you,” Martin complained.8 Jackie Hernandez hit an easy grounder to Killebrew, who booted it, but did not incur Martin’s wrath. “Killebrew made two exceptional fielding plays,” Martin said. “Players are going to miss groundballs.”9 In a meeting on the mound, Martin told Hall to throw curveballs to pinch-hitter Jim Campanis. After two curves and two strikes, Hall threw a fastball that Campanis drove to center to score Rodriguez. “I couldn’t believe it when Hall threw a fastball down the middle on the next pitch. Hall’s fastball was the pitch that lost the game for us,” Martin said with his customary frankness.10 Martin replaced Hall with Bob Miller, who gave up Piniella’s fourth hit of the game to tie the score, 3-3.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the 12th. After Ron Perranoski shut down the Royals for 5⅓ innings, Martin relieved him with Joe Grzenda to start the 12th. After one out, Foy beat out a grounder to deep short for a hit, although an error could have been charged.11 Foy went to second on Roseboro’s passed ball, and Martin elected to intentionally walk Chuck Harrison. Both runners moved up on Grzenda’s wild pitch, and Martin ordered Bob Oliver walked, loading the bases. Gordon brought in the Royals’ leading hitter in the spring, Joe Keough, to face Dick Woodson, whom Martin had brought in for his major-league debut in a major jam. “I saved you for almost four hours, now go up there and rip one,” Gordon told Keough.12 Keough took his manager’s advice and hit the first pitch he saw from Woodson over Oliva’s head to end the game. “Keough’s a real ripper,” Gordon said after the game. “It was a tough game and I would have been disappointed if we lost it after battling all day long.”13 Martin was understandably less pleased. “We beat ourselves,” he said. “We had enough hard-hit balls to score nine runs in the first few innings. We made some mistakes, but there were two (in the sixth) that really killed us.”14

The Royals won another extra-inning, walk-off 4-3 win the next day, this time in 17 innings. But winning their first game was special. Gordon was asked what Ewing Kauffman said about the victory, and he answered, “The boss was too speechless for words.”15

Sources 

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA196904080.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B04080KCA1969.htm

Notes

1 “Symington Castigates Finley in the Senate,” New York Times, October 20, 1967: 67.

2 Ibid.

3 Neil Amdur, “Royal Welcome for Kansas City,” New York Times, April 8, 1969: 53.

4 “KC’s Gordon to Have 16 Different Lineups,” Minneapolis Star, April 7, 1969: 30.

5 Joe McGuff, “Kaycee Fans Stand and Cheer Royals’ Boss,” The Sporting News, April 26, 1969: 5.

6 On skipping over Palmer, see Mark Armour, “Jim Palmer,” at sabr.org/bioproj/person/69cb6266.

7 Sid Bordman, “Royals Get Piniella,” Kansas City Star, April 2, 1969.

8 Dave Mona, “Twins Drop Opener to Kansas City 4-3,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 9, 1969: 27.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Paul O’Boynick, “Royals Enjoy Moment of First Victory,” Kansas City Star, April 9, 1969: 1C.

13 Ibid.

14 Mona.

15 O’Boynick.

Starting for the Royals was Roger Nelson, their first pick in the 1968 expansion draft. The right-hander had started six games for the Baltimore Orioles in 1968 and had an impressive 2.41 ERA in 71 innings. Countering for the Twins was the veteran Jim Kaat, only three years removed from leading the American League in wins. Kaat had been nursing a sore elbow, but Twins skipper Billy Martin was counting on him. “We need his pitching to win the Western Division,” Martin said.1

The first couple of innings were uneventful. Nelson walked Twins leadoff batter Ted Uhlaender but retired the next six hitters, three by strikeout. Kaat was perfect through the first two innings. Nelson lost his control in the third and it was costly. The inning started with a walk to leadoff batter George Mitterwald, who moved to second on Uhlaender’s single with one out. Rod Carew singled to center to score Mitterwald, and after a popout by Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew also walked to load the bases. Graig Nettles followed with a hard smash to Royals shortstop Jackie Hernandez, who booted it. Uhlaender scored easily, but Carew, trying to score from second, was cut down by Hernandez at the plate, limiting the damage to two runs.

The Royals got on the board the next inning. After Kaat struck out Jerry Adair, consecutive singles by Ed Kirkpatrick, Joe Foy, and Chuck Harrison plated a run. With Jim Campanis up, Foy stole third, and then scored on Campanis’s fly to deep right. Twins manager Martin, never a fan of umpires, was unhappy that Harrison was called safe returning to first. “Tony (Oliva) made a great throw to Rich Reese at first and I thought Chuck Harrison was out by a wide margin. Martin said. “The ball beat Harrison to the bag but Marty Springstead called him safe.”2 Kaat walked Bob Oliver but ended the inning by getting Hernandez to foul out. The tie lasted for only two batters. Carew led off the fifth with a sharp double to left and made it to third on Oliva’s fly to center. With Killebrew up, Carew stole home. “This is only the second time I have stolen home in the last two seasons,” Carew recalled. “I got a big jump on the pitcher and made it easy.”3

The Royals went to their bullpen in the sixth and started an impressive string of relief pitching. Steve Jones, Bill Butler, Moe Drabowsky, and Tom Burgmeier combined for 12 scoreless innings pitched with only five hits and two walks. That much relief pitching wasnecessary because the Royals tied the game in the eighth inning.

Besides the tying run, the eighth provided controversy, in the Twins half of the inning. With one out, Nettles singled off Butler, and Cesar Tovar ran for him. Tovar attempted to steal second but was called out by umpire Don Denkinger, bringing forth the wrath of Martin, who claimed that Tovar was safe because he kicked the ball out of Hernandez’s hand. “There shouldn’t have been any doubt about it,” Martin said. “Cesar was safe as far as I’m concerned.”4 Tovar said, “I was safe all the way. I hit the bag before he put the tag on me.”5 Denkinger said, “I called Tovar out a few seconds before Cesar kicked the ball. That’s all there is to say.”6 In the bottom of the inning, Adair singled to center and went to second on shortstop Leo Cardenas’s error on the throw-in. Pat Kelly ran for Adair, moved to third on Kirkpatrick’s grounder to second, and scored on Foy’s single to left. Foy was cut down trying to take an extra base, but the game was tied, and it would stay that way for some time.

Butler, making his major-league debut, was magnificent in relief, retiring the Twins in order from the ninth inning through the 12th. The Royals mounted threats in the 11th and 12th. In the 11th, with Jim Kaat still on the mound for the Twins, the Royals’ Juan Rios led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch, but after Foy was intentionally walked, Harrison grounded into a double play. The Royals had a better chance in the 12th. Kaat walked leadoff batter Campanis and was replaced by Dave Boswell.7 Boswell got Oliver to ground into a double play, but walked Hernandez, Mike Fiore (intentionally, after Hernandez stole second), and Lou Piniella to load the bases. Ron Perranoski replaced Boswell and got out of the jam when pinch-hitter Joe Keough bunted in front of the plate, forcing out Hernandez. “Keough bunted on his own,” Royals manager Joe Gordon said.8 “(Third baseman Frank Quilici) was back,” Keough explained. “When you see something like that, you take a chance.”9

Drabowsky relieved in the 13th and was nearly as effective as Butler, allowing three hits and a walk in his 4⅔-inning stint. Drabowsky was the winning pitcher on Opening Day and after pitching one inning the day before and 4⅔ in this one, he was out of gas. “Cleaned and pressed,” Drabowsky said after the game. “I was done.”10 The Royals did not put up much of a fight for the next few innings. Gordon was ejected by umpire Springstead in the 14th after arguing a close play at first. “I said one word to him and he kicks me out,” Gordon complained.11 “Some of these umpires are sure touchy these days.”12

The Royals finally ended the festivities in the bottom of the 17th. Hernandez walked with one out and moved to second on Burgmeier’s grounder to second. Piniella, the Opening Day hero but hitless in six at-bats thus far in this game, singled to left, scoring Hernandez with the winning run and putting the Royals in first place two games into the young season. “(This was) better than the four (hits) yesterday, believe me,” Piniella said. “Seventeen innings to get a base hit. I was thinking why I wasn’t hitting the ball. I made up my mind I was going to wait as long as I could and just go with the pitch.”13 “Winning a ballgame like this is just the greatest thing that could happen to us,” Gordon bubbled. “Our kids hustled and it paid off for them. They lost some chances, but they didn’t let it get ’em down.”14

The Royals had played 29 innings in their first two days of competition and won both games by 4-3 scores. In 1970 they played another 4-3, 17-inning game in 1970, defeating the Cleveland Indians. The Royals’ longest games (through 2018) were 18-inning affairs against the Texas Rangers in May 1972 (loss) and June 1991 (win). The score of both games – you guessed it – 4-3.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Paul O’Boynick, “Martin Kicks on Call,” Kansas City Star, April 10, 1969: 20.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Kaat’s 11 innings pitched were one of 15 outings of 11 or more innings in the major leagues in 1969, including a second one by Kaat on May 20, against the Orioles. The last outing of 11 or more innings in the majors was by Dave Stewart of Oakland on August 1, 1990, when he shut out the Seattle Mariners, 1-0. There have been only 44 occurrences of a pitcher going more than nine innings since Stewart’s outing.

8 Sid Bordman, “Royals and Piniella Star in Late, Late Show,” Kansas City Star, April 10, 1969: 20.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 “Gordon Gets Quick Thumb in Dispute at First Base,” Emporia (Kansas) Gazette, April 10, 1969.

12 Bordman.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

Instead it was George Brett. Brett, who had competed in the Triple-A All-Star Game a month earlier, was caught off-guard. Brett was told to skip the burgers, gather his stuff, and drive to Rosenblatt Stadium to get his baseball equipment. Brett arrived in Chicago around 5 P.M. By the time he got to Comiskey Park it was too late to take batting practice, which wasn’t a big deal since Malmberg told Brett that he wouldn’t be playing that night. However, Brett noticed that the lineup card had him playing third and batting eighth.3

The game-time temperature was a pleasant 70 degrees with a gentle breeze. Before a crowd of 11,775, the Royals were facing right-handed pitcher Stan Bahnsen, which might explain why they wanted to get Brett’s left-handed bat in the lineup. In the top of the first, Kansas City jumped on Bahnsen for two runs. Freddie Patek led off with a walk. A single by Cookie Rojas sent him to third, and he scored when Amos Otis grounded into a force play at second. John Mayberry walked, sending Otis to second. With Gail Hopkins batting, Bahnsen tried to pick off Otis at second. When Otis broke toward third, White Sox third baseman Bill Melton couldn’t handle the throw, allowing Otis to scamper home with the second run. Mayberry chugged to third, where he was stranded. Hopkins grounded out second to first, and Lou Piniella grounded out to third to end the inning.

With one out in the top of the second, Brett stepped up to the plate for the first time in the major leagues. With a batting stance that resembled Carl Yastrzemski’s, he lined out to Bahnsen as the Royals went down in order.

In the bottom of the second, the White Sox were retired in order. Brett handled his first chance at third base when Buddy Bradford grounded to him for the second out of the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the White Sox scored a run when Luis Alvarado led off with a triple off Royals starter Dick Drago and scored on a fly ball to center by catcher Ed Herrmann. Pat Kelly singled but was thrown out trying to steal second, and Jorge Orta struck out to end the inning.

With the Royals ahead 2-1, Brett came up again in the top of the fourth with one out and blooped a broken-bat single to left field for his first major-league hit. He was out at second when Fran Healy grounded into a double play.

In the top of the seventh, Brett struck out looking as the Royals went down in order.

It remained 2-1 heading into the top of the ninth. With Bahnsen still on the mound, Piniella singled to left. Ed Kirkpatrick sacrificed Piniella to second. Brett’s grounder to second advanced Piniella to third. Healy singled to center to drive in Piniella, but then was picked off first by Bahnsen for the third out.

The White Sox’ Jerry Hairston led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Kansas City reliever Gene Garber retired the next three batters to earn a four-inning save.

The Royals victory, along with the Oakland Athletics’ loss to the Minnesota Twins, gave Kansas City sole possession of first place in the American League Western Division.

Postscript

Schaal returned to the Royals lineup on August 14.

On August 17 the A’s reclaimed first place from the Royals on their way to winning their third division title in a row.

Stan Bahnsen, who began the season with a 4-1 start, went on to finish with an 18-21 record. Along with teammate Wilbur Wood, who went 24-20, the two pitchers combined to start 90 games for the White Sox in 1973. As of 2018 it was the last time that a team had two 20-game losers in the same season.

In the week that followed Brett’s debut, he started three games at third base. From August 9 to September 7, Brett rode the bench for 24 consecutive games. In the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, September 8, he entered the game in the sixth inning as a pinch-runner for Schaal and remained in the game. He sat on the bench for the next 10 games until September 18, when he played the entire game. He played in seven more games down the stretch.

Brett finished the season with five hits and a .125 batting average in 40 at-bats. He went on to collect 3,149 more hits over the next 20 years to earn a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources

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

Notes

1 Sid Bordman, “Royals Find a Fresh Beef Supply … in McRae’s Bat,” The Sporting News, September 1, 1973: 9.

2 “Becoming George Brett: From the Beach to Billings and Beyond,” interview by the Kansas City Star: youtube.com/watch?v=gXq2qtrL-p8.

3 “Welcome to The Show: George Brett Called Up to the Royals,” interview by the Kansas City Star: youtube.com/watch?v=lo58IaZgUPM&index=2&list=PL02VuT_SObZKgXiAols9l1rcXCe0X16O6.

Coming into the game, the Royals had lost four straight and could ill afford to lose another; the A’s had cut their lead to 2½ games with a 1-0 victory behind Mike Torrez’s pitching and Sal Bando’s solo home run off Royals starter Marty Pattin.

The Royals did receive a bit of good news shortly before the crucial game. If they and the A’s ended the season in a tie for first place, they would host a one-game playoff on October 5. This was determined by a coin flip in the league office to which Royals manager Whitey Herzog responded, “Let’s not worry about that now.” Herzog said, “Tonight is the one we need.”1

Larry Gura was the Royals’ surprise starting pitcher. The A’s sent Paul Mitchell to the mound in hopes they could continue to shut down the Royals offense with his pitching. A crowd of 19,631 fans was in attendance for what one could argue was the most important game of the season thus far for either team.

In the first inning both the Royals and the A’s went down in order. The Royals put across the first run of the game in the top of the second inning. Hal McRae led off with a single to left field and John Mayberry singled to right field, moving McRae to third base. Al Cowens hit a line drive to A’s first baseman Ron Fairly, who doubled up Mayberry. Then Cookie Rojas surprised the A’s by laying down a bunt along the third-base line that scored McRae. John Wathan recorded the last out of the inning lining out to Fairly. The A’s were kept in check by Gura in the second.

The Royals added two more runs in the third. Fred Patek led off with a double to left field and went to third as Tom Poquette bunted past the mound and beat it out. Amos Otis doubled into the right-field corner, driving in Patek. With runners at second and third and no outs, A’s manager Chuck Tanner pulled Mitchell in favor of Paul Lindblad. George Brett grounded to Phil Garner at second base and Poquette scored on the putout, making the score 3-0. Lindblad then got McRae to line out to Bert Campaneris at shortstop and Mayberry to ground out to Garner at second base. In their half of the third, the A’s got their first baserunner when Claudell Washington was hit by a pitch. After Fairly flied to left fielder Poquette, Garner singled to left, bringing the tying run to the plate. The threat ended, though, with Bill North flying out to Cowens and Campaneris lining out to Otis. Both teams went in order in the fourth. But in the fifth inning, Otis hit a home run over the left-field fence, giving the Royals a 4-0 lead. The A’s went three up and three down in their half of the fifth.

Two Royals reached base with one out in the sixth inning: Mayberry walked and Cowens singled to right field; when Don Baylor mishandled the ball, Cowens went to second and Mayberry to third. With runners at second and third and one out, Tanner called Stan Bahnsen from the bullpen. Bahnsen put the fire out by getting Rojas to pop up in foul territory to Campaneris and retiring Wathan on a drive to the warning track in right field that Baylor reached. In the A’s half of the sixth, Mayberry and Cowens made great defensive plays off the bats of Garner and North. Campaneris followed with a single to right field but the threat ended when Joe Rudi flied out to Cowens.

Bahnsen retired the Royals in order in the top of the seventh inning and Gura continued to cruise, setting down the A’s in the bottom of the inning. In the eighth inning, Bahnsen repeated his seventh-inning performance of three Royals up and three Royals down. In their at-bats in the eighth, the A’s showed a bit of a promise of a comeback. Washington led off with a single to right field but Fairly grounded to Mayberry, who started a double play. Garner singled to left field but North flied out to Otis in center field.

In the top of the ninth the Royals went down in order. Bahnsen had retired 11 straight to keep the A’s within striking distance, but they couldn’t capitalize on his effort. In the bottom of the ninth, three players who played big parts in their championship years came up and all were retired. Campaneris grounded to pitcher Gura, Rudi flied out to right, and Gene Tenace popped out to Mayberry. With that the Royals clinched at least a tie for the AL Western Division championship.

There was more to the game than what went on in the field of play. A crowd of unruly fans near the Royals bullpen surfaced in the late innings. The Royals endured choice words and beverages thrown at them. Pitcher Steve Mingori described what he experienced: “Some guy tried to grab my cap. And I stood up to keep it. Then the guy told me to sit down or he would kill me. The stuff that went on down there made me sick. There were 10-year-old kids using four-letter words against us. I couldn’t believe it.”2 Tanner, on the contrary, was gracious in defeat. About Gura’s performance and Herzog’s decision-making he said, “I’d give Gura a $25,000 raise. He deserves every bit of it. KC was looking for somebody, hunting for something to win, and Whitey pulled him out of a hat. He did a job under more pressure and adversity than that team has ever had. He kept us off balance and did the job in the most crucial game of the season.”3

“This is probably the end of the team with things being the way they are,” A’s captain Sal Bando said after the game.4 Tanner was not ready to concede the season. “It’s not over yet,” he said with about as much optimism one could muster in the situation.5

Two days later it was over. On September 30 both teams had the day off. On October 1 the Royals opened a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins at Royals Stadium while the A’s traveled to Anaheim for a three-game series against the Angels. The Royals lost to the Twins, 4-3, their game ending before the A’s-Angels game was completed. There is no doubt there was some scoreboard-watching on the part of the A’s and knowing their postseason hopes were still alive had to have given them a boost. Pitchers Vida Blue of the A’s and Frank Tanana of the Angels came through with stellar performances and the game remained scoreless into the 12th inning, when the Angels won it with one swing. Rusty Torres hit a home run to win the game and the Royals became American League West champions. Because the Royals did not learn of the Angels victory until after 2 A.M., they held off celebrating until later in the day. Among those celebrating in the Royals’ clubhouse was owner Ewing Kauffman. “What a day!” He exclaimed. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for.”6

Notes

1 Sid Bordman, “Otis and Gura Deliver as Royals Clinch Tie,” Kansas City Times, September 30, 1976: 1D.

2 Del Black, “Amos Closes Tanner’s Mouth with Bat,” Kansas City Star, September 30, 1976: 17.

3 Dick Draper, “Gura Blanks Oakland,” San Mateo (California) Times, September 30, 1976: 20.

4 Ed Schoenfeld, “A’s Golden Era Almost Over,” Oakland Tribune, September 30, 1976: 41.

5 Bob Stevens, “Royals Blank A’s, 4-0, Clinch at Least a Tie,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 1976: 53.

6 Joe McGuff, “Gura Snatches Royals from Brink of Disaster,” The Sporting News, October 16, 1976: 17.

Yogi Berra

Left-hander Mike Caldwell, the Sporting News American League 1978 Comeback Player of the Year, got the starting nod for the Brewers. With an earned run average of 2.93, Caldwell was seeking his seventh win of the season. Opposite him for the Royals was southpaw Paul Splittorff (8-5, 3.66 ERA). The Royals had lost seven of their previous 10 games, while the Brewers had a mini-win streak of two games going for them. It appeared that the Brewers were on a roll.

Milwaukee jumped on Splittorff in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back singles by Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper brought Sal Bando to the plate, and he wasted no time in propelling a ball over the fence for a three-run home run, his fifth of the year. The Brewers then started another rally, getting two more runners on base before Splittorff retired the inning’s eighth batter, Dick Davis, on a groundout to third.

The Royals went quietly in the second; in fact, Caldwell cruised through the first three innings, allowing just two singles. In the bottom of the second, the Brewers started again. Molitor singled with one out. After Cooper flied out, Molitor stole second and then stole third. Bando walked and Gorman Thomas stroked a single to right, plating Molitor. In the third, Sixto Lezcano led off with a walk and was still aboard two outs later when Charlie Moore rocketed a home run, his second of the season. With the score 6-0, Royals skipper Whitey Herzog made the call to the bullpen. Eduardo Rodriguez, pitching in his final major-league season (even though he was just 27 years old), came on in relief and, after a single by Molitor, retired Cooper for the third out on a fly ball to center fielder Amos Otis.

The Kansas City bats finally came to life in the fourth. Darrell Porter’s RBI single and a groundout RBI by designated hitter John Wathan brought in two runs. However, in the bottom half, the Brewers treated Rodriguez’s pitching as if it were batting practice. Bando singled. An out later Ben Oglivie walked. Lezcano singled, driving in Bando. Robin Yount walked, loading the bases, and Davis crushed a grand slam. Suddenly, the score was 11-2 in favor of the home team. With the game seemingly out of reach, Herzog kept Rodriguez in the game.

The Royals scratched back a run in the fifth on consecutive singles by Wilson, George Brett, and Otis. In the sixth, Jerry Terrell (who had replaced Porter at third) and Frank White singled, and with two outs, Wilson hit his third home run of the season, his first homer to leave a ballpark in two seasons.3 The score was now 11-6 in favor of Milwaukee.

Rodriguez survived the fifth and sixth innings and gave way to Steve Mingori in the seventh. Mingori faced the minimum in the two innings he pitched. Caldwell did not pitch the seventh. Recently acquired righty Paul Mitchell4 set the Royals down in order in the seventh and eighth innings.

In the final frame, with Kansas City still trailing by five runs, Wilson started things with a single to right. Jamie Quirk, who had entered defensively for Porter in the fifth, copied Wilson with another single to right. Otis smashed the ball, but he hit it right to center fielder Thomas for the first out. Al Cowens singled, loading the bases. George Scott then singled to left, with Wilson and Quirk crossing the plate and Cowens scampering to third. Brewers manager George Bamberger called for Reggie Cleveland to pitch to Terrell.

Herzog countered by sending up Pete LaCock, whose sacrifice fly brought in Cowens. Wathan then hit a seeing-eye single up the middle and into center field. White followed with the sixth single of the inning, driving in Scott from second base. With runners again on first and second, Bill Castro strolled in from the Brewers bullpen to take over. U L Washington greeted Castro with a hard single to left, and Wathan raced home with the game-tying tally. The Royals had batted around and had knotted the score, 11-11. Switch-hitter Wilson, batting left-handed, then sent the ball into the right-field corner and was off to the races. By the time Lezcano came up with the ball and relayed it to second baseman Molitor, who fired it home to catcher Moore, Wilson was sliding across home plate with an inside-the-park three-run homer. Kansas City led 14-11.

Quirk doubled to right but was stranded when Otis lined out to center for the second time in the inning. Marty Pattin came in to close the ninth for the Royals, retiring the three batters he faced, and Kansas City had completed one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history.

The Royals saved nine of their 21 hits for their final at-bat. The Brewers allowed eight runs “against a Kansas City lineup dotted with reserves.”5 Former Brewer Quirk, who had six at-bats all season, and Terrell, who had 11, both played several innings. Quirk went 3-for-3 and Terrell 1-for-2. Scott, recently acquired by Kansas City,6 collected two hits. Herzog used every nonpitcher on his roster, and the reserves (Quirk, Terrell, and Washington) came through with five hits. He explained his rationale after the game: “I took Brett and Porter out because they’ve been playing every day. And Caldwell’s in there and it’s 11-3.”7

Six Kansas City batters had multihit performances, led by Wilson’s 4-for-6 day at the plate. The Royals’ leadoff hitter also scored four runs and knocked in six with his two three-run homers. The comeback left the “stunned fans booing and the principals groping for appropriate words to describe it.”8 The Brewers had banged out 14 hits of their own, led by three home runs (Bando, Moore, and Davis) and Molitor’s 4-for-6 performance in the leadoff spot.

Wilson, the hero for the Royals, commented, “It was a weird game, that’s for sure. I’m just glad it came out our way.”9 He added, “I popped one out – my first hit out of the park in two years. Then we started thinking we had a chance. But it was still 11-6 going into the ninth. It has to be a thrill.”10

Milwaukee manager Bamberger had “exhausted his supply of spicy expletives on the bench while Wilson was streaking around the bases in the ninth.” In the clubhouse, the somewhat composed, “noted nice guy”11 Bamberger told reporters, “There’s no sense in saying anything right now. What can I say? I did enough screaming on the bench. You can’t print what I said. I’ll tell you, you could put (the Royals) out there right now and tell them, ‘Here’s a fastball,’ and throw it right down the middle. They wouldn’t hit it any better.”12

He added, “That is the worst, worst game I ever [have] been associated with in 34 years of baseball. That was worse than getting beat 25-0. And to lose a game like that after you have been winning 11-2, that’s terrible for morale.”13 The press agreed. Thos. A Hawley of the Wisconsin State Journal wrote, “What happened to the Milwaukee Brewers Friday night was either the worst game ever played in franchise history or something close to it.”14

Herzog shared with reporters that he’d “seen about four or five (comebacks) like that. But I was playing with Washington then.”15 He added, “And the funny thing is the three outs we got in the ninth were all hard hit. What kept us alive was that little dribbler over the mound by Wathan.”16

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the notes, the author consulted baseball-reference.com and retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 According to the BBC (bbc.com/news/magazine-34324865), Berra first uttered the phrase when speaking about the 1973 National League pennant race, as his 82-79 New York Mets rallied to win the divisional title, defeated the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds in the League Championship Series and eventually played in the World Series. Accessed July 5, 2018.

2 “Royals blast Brewers,” Garden City (Kansas) Telegram, June 16, 1979: 8.

3 Wilson’s first two home runs of the 1979 season were inside-the-park homers, against the Chicago White Sox on May 13 and the New York Yankees on June 9.

4 Mitchell had been traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Brewers on June 7 for Randy Stein.

5 Thos. A Hawley, “Wilson’s Homer caps Brewers’ Nightmare,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), June 16, 1979: 13-14.

6 Scott had been traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Royals in exchange for Tom Poquette just two days earlier, on June 13, 1979.

7 Hawley.

8 Garden City Telegram.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Hawley.

12 Ibid.

13 Garden City Telegram.

14 Hawley.

15 Ibid.

16 Mike O’Brien, “Royal Rally Stuns Brewers,” Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, June 16, 1979: 16.

The ballpark was rocking because the 27-year-old Brett had entered the game with a .394 batting average, was riding a 28-game hitting streak that dated back to July 18 in Yankee Stadium, was 3-for-3 with a walk, and would get to bat again. As he stepped in his average was .399, on the cusp of reaching the mystical .400 level generally considered unattainable so late in the season. If their guy was going to edge above the mystical mark, the fans wanted to see it done at home, not on the road against the Texas Rangers, where Kansas City would play the next three games.

In his seventh full season as the Royals’ third baseman after a brief appearance at the end of the 1973 season and a permanent call-up in early May of 1974, Brett had missed a handful of games early in the 1980 season and 26 consecutive games from June 10 to July 10 with a collection of heel, ankle, and wrist injuries.3 Except for reaching .364 after the third game of the season, he hadn’t even topped .300 until May 31. When he injured his right ankle in a successful stolen-base attempt at Cleveland on June 10,4 he was hitting .337. Healed and back in the lineup on July 10, he hit at a .515 clip with safeties in seven of eight games until lefty John Tudor of the Red Sox held him hitless in Fenway Park on July 17. Brett got the 28-game streak going the next night in New York, and he and the Royals were still red-hot as they hosted the Torontonians on August 17.5

Toronto manager Bobby Mattick had tabbed his co-ace, 24-year-old Jim Clancy,6 as his starter. Clancy was a creditable 11-8 (3.14 ERA) and coming off a complete-game win at Milwaukee five days earlier. This night, though, he walked his way into trouble after his team went down in order in the first inning against bespectacled left-hander Paul Splittorff (8-8, 4.64), Kansas City manager Jim Frey’s choice to start. Clancy walked Kansas City’s leadoff hitter, Willie Wilson, who stole second base with John Wathan batting. Wathan popped out, but Brett, hitting third, also walked, as did Darrell Porter, the cleanup hitter. Willie Aikens drove in Wilson with a force out to second base before Clancy regrouped to strike out Hal McRae, stranding Brett and Porter and escaping further damage.

Toronto gained a 1-1 tie in the top of the third when Royals second baseman Dave Chalk booted Alfredo Griffin’s groundball and Danny Ainge romped home from third base. Ainge had doubled with one out and moved to third on a single by Ernie Whitt. The Jays managed a 2-1 lead against Splittorff in the fourth on a squeeze bunt by Garth Iorg that scored Otto Velez; he had singled to open the half-inning, then wheeled to third base on Damaso Garcia’s single.

Brett had efficiently singled off Clancy in the third to run his streak to 29 games, and Jamie Quirk tied the game at 2-2 in the Kansas City fourth as he led off with his fifth home run of the season. With the score still tied, Brett willed himself “an infield single in the fifth, beating a demoniacal path to the bag [and] arriving before the throw from first baseman John Mayberry to pitcher Jim Clancy.”7 Brett tried to keep the pressure on with an attempt to steal second base, but Whitt gunned him down for the second out of the half-inning.8

Splittorff rolled on through the sixth and seventh innings without damage. Clancy negotiated the sixth safely, but had to face Brett again in the seventh, this time with two outs but with White and Wathan on the corners via two more of the six bases on balls the big righty issued in the game. With a runner on first, the Jays took their chances, pitching to Brett in a potential game-altering situation. That potential became reality. Brett electrified the crowd with a ringing two-run double to right field that bumped the score to 4-2 and ended Clancy’s night. Mike Willis came on to pitch for Toronto – Porter nicked him for a single that scored Brett. Aikens added another single to chase Willis as Mattick went to Schrom, who closed out the inning. The former 2-2 tie was now 5-2, Royals.

Toronto made a comeback of sorts in their eighth as Bob Bailor and Mayberry singled, chasing Splittorff and bringing on late-game specialist Dan Quisenberry9 with no outs and runners on the corners. After a fly ball out too short to score a run, Bailor scored on a force out to close Kansas City’s lead to 5-3. The side-arming Quisenberry then yielded a single but was able to snuff the rally with the help of some botched Jays baserunning.

Brett, benefiting from the eighth-inning turn of events that had brought him up with the bases loaded and another chance to edge over .400 at home, got to see a new pitcher this time – Mike Barlow. “I just don’t like facing that guy,” he said after the game.10 “He’s like facing Quisenberry. The only thing is, he throws harder than [Quisenberry].”11

Barlow had struck Brett out to end the seventh inning the night before.12 Brett remembered as he stepped in: “If I hadn’t chased a ball off Barlow [last night], I’d be hitting .400 right now.”13 This time, Barlow got two strikes on Brett, putting the left-handed hitter into “a survival stance. It was a sinker, away, and I just slapped it to left. I didn’t want to let myself down, and I didn’t want to let the fans down after the support they gave me.”14

The opposite-field slap carried over left fielder Iorg’s head and, with two outs, brought all three runners home. It was now 8-3, Kansas City, as Brett stood on second base and tipped his helmet to a standing ovation. Toronto reached Quisenberry for a pair of two-out hits and had runners at second and third in the ninth before the durable reliever shut things down for his 25th save of the season, sealing a win for Splittorff.

The eighth-inning double boosted Brett’s average to .401. Any uncertainty was over for him, his teammates, and fans not only in Kansas City but all over the country who found it “extraordinary” that a hitter was “hovering at .400 in the third week of August.”15

The hovering lasted another month. Brett’s hit streak reached 30 games the next night on the road at Texas, but the Rangers stopped him on August 19. Brett reached a peak of .407 on August 26, and was at exactly .400 as late as September 19. Back at Royals Stadium on September 20, Matt Keough of the Oakland A’s tossed a five-hit shutout against the Royals in which Brett went hitless in four at-bats. That dropped his average to .396. Brett ended the season at .390 and won the 1980 American League batting title by 38 points over Cecil Cooper of the Milwaukee Brewers. His epic year at the plate also brought George Brett honors as the 1980 AL Most Valuable Player.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for box scores, team and player pages, batting and pitching logs, and other pertinent material.

Notes

1 Kansas City, with a 74-42 record, also led the combined American League standings by 2½ games over the New York Yankees. The Oakland Athletics were in second place in the AL West.

2 Toronto was 48-67 and in seventh, last, place in the AL East. The club was in its fourth season after the American League expanded in 1977.

3 Phil Axelrod, “Brett Bats for Immortality,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 1980: 17, 21.

4 Associated Press, “Brett Injures Ankle in Slide,” Tampa Bay (Florida) Times, June 11, 1980: 34.

5 The Royals were 21-7 and Brett hit .442 from July 18 through August 16.

6 Clancy finished the 1980 season with a 13-16 record and a 3.30 ERA in 250⅔ innings for the 67-95 Blue Jays. Dave Stieb, 22, nearly matched him at 12-15, 3.71, 242⅔. Clancy started 34 games; Stieb started 32.

7 Joel Bierig, “A Player’s Player,” Minneapolis Star, August 20, 1980: 13B.

8 After he returned on July 10 from the ankle injury sustained in a steal on June 10, Brett kept running and had stolen four bases in seven attempts through August 16. This unsuccessful attempt left him 4-for-8 since his return.

9 Quisenberry, 27, debuted with the Royals in 1979. He had a remarkable 1980 season, making all of his 75 appearances in relief, finishing 68 games, winning 12, and saving another 33 in 128⅓ innings. He pitched in excess of one inning 60 times.

10 Joel Bierig, “George Brett’s Got Baseball’s Number,” Minneapolis Star, August 18, 1980: 10C.

11 Ibid.

12 Brett struck out only 22 times in 515 plate appearances in 1980, with 58 walks. He had a .454 on-base percentage, which led the American League by 27 points.

13 Bierig, “Baseball’s Number.”

14 Ibid.

15 Hubert Mizell, “One in a Million – George Brett Bucks Big Odds,” Tampa Bay Times, August 19, 1980: 1C.

The 1979 season ended bitterly for Kansas City, as California clinched their first division title on September 25 by defeating the Royals 4-1.1 One week later, Royals manager Whitey Herzog was fired after 4½ seasons. Herzog had taken over midway through the 1975 season after Jack McKeon was fired on July 24.2 Herzog had been the Royals’ third-base coach; his previous major-league managerial experience consisted of guiding the 1973 Texas Rangers to a 47-91 record as the first of three managers, and leading California for four games in 1974. Although he endured strained relations with ownership during his tenure, Herzog received accolades from many within baseball on his ability to keep Kansas City competitive with below-average pitching and several rookies in key positions during the 1979 season.3

The 1980 Royals entered spring training with unheralded rookie manager Jim Frey, who worked for Earl Weaver for 10 years yet wasn’t considered a Weaver protégé.4 The Royals were expected to compete for the division crown, with strengths in team defense, scoring ability, and starting rotation. However, Kansas City faced challenges as the 1980 season began: John Wathan replaced All-Star catcher Darrell Porter, the bullpen was inexperienced, and the manager and coaching staff were unproven.5 Baseball Digest predicted the Royals would finish first while the Baseball Writers’ Association of America expected California to repeat as division champions with Kansas City finishing second.6

The Royals started slow, falling two games behind the surprising White Sox as April ended. However, Kansas City won eight games during a nine-game stretch between May 17 and 25, improving from 1½ games behind to 2½ games ahead; the Royals never relinquished the division lead after Memorial Day. They led by as many as 20 games, and finished the regular season with a 97-65 record, 14 games ahead of Oakland.7 The offense was led by George Brett (9.4 Wins Above Replacement [WAR], .390 BA), Willie Wilson (8.5 WAR, 133 runs, 79 stolen bases), and Hal McRae (2.7 WAR, .825 OPS), while the pitching staff featured Larry Gura (6.0 WAR, 2.95 ERA over 283⅓ innings), 20-game winner Dennis Leonard, and closer Dan Quisenberry (33 saves).

The 1980 Yankees featured several stars from the 1977-1978 championship teams, although the team had tragically lost Thurman Munson in a plane crash the previous season. Willie Randolph paced the offense with a 6.6 WAR, .427 OBP, and 30 stolen bases; Reggie Jackson provided power with 41 home runs and 111 RBIs; and Rick Cerone admirably filled Munson’s spikes. Ace Tommy John went 22-9 with a 3.43 ERA over 265⅓ innings, Rudy May won 15 games as a valuable swingman, and Rich Gossage intimidated hitters with 33 saves and 103 strikeouts in 99 innings. Like Kansas City, the Yankees were predicted to fall short of the division title, with Baltimore expected to win the AL East.8 The Yankees were also guided by a rookie skipper, Dick Howser. New York finished with a 103-59 record, the best record in the majors and three games ahead of Baltimore.9

In ALCS Game One, the Royals won 7-2 behind Gura’s complete game and Kansas City’s seven unanswered runs.10 In Game Two, an incredible relay from Wilson to Brett to Porter nailed Randolph at home plate in the eighth inning and preserved the 3-2 win.11

Frey sent veteran Paul Splittorff to the mound for ALCS Game Three. He completed the 1980 season with a 14-11 record and 4.15 ERA over 204 innings. Splittorff had joined Kansas City in 1970; he won least 12 games and pitched 200-plus innings in seven seasons (1972-1974, 1977-1980). In 31⅔ postseason innings, Splittorff was 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA. He was solid during the second half, as he had been throughout his career.

With 56,588 fans attending the damp Friday contest, Tommy John started Game Three by getting Wilson on a groundout. U.L. Washington singled to right field, Brett grounded into a fielder’s choice, and McRae lined out to end the inning. Splittorff almost matched John’s performance: Randolph grounded out to shortstop, Bucky Dent grounded out to second, Bob Watson doubled, and Jackson struck out. In the second, both teams exchanged harmless hits and stranded runners. During the third frame, John retired the Royals in order. Splittorff allowed a single to Randolph, who was erased when Dent hit into a double play. Watson singled and reached second on a balk. Jackson struck out swinging. After three innings, the game was scoreless.

Entering the fourth inning, John continued pitching effectively, though the Royals batters were hitting the ball farther: Brett flied out to left field, McRae singled to center, Amos Otis lined out to right, Willie Aikens singled to right, and Porter flied out to right. For the only time that evening, Splittorff retired the Yankees in order, relying on a fly out, line out, and groundout. After Clint Hurdle struck out to start the fifth inning, Frank White started the scoring on a solo home run – his first clout in postseason play. Wilson singled and advanced to second on Washington’s groundout, but was stranded when Brett grounded out. Splittorff, who retired several Yankees on groundouts in the early innings, needed three fly outs around a walk to keep the Yankees scoreless.

Tommy John quieted Royal bats in the sixth inning, inducing McRae to ground out, striking out Otis, allowing a single to Aikens who advanced to second on a wild pitch, and ending the inning on a Porter fly ball. Splittorff returned for the bottom half; Watson lined out to second, where White leapt to catch the sharply hit ball. Jackson, who had struck out twice, doubled to left, prompting Frey to replace Splittorff with Quisenberry after 5⅓ innings. Quisenberry made his postseason debut the previous night; he allowed one hit in the ninth inning for the save. Only three previous times had Quisenberry entered a game during a sixth inning: the Angels’ division-clinching game the year before, and April 20 and July 20, when he earned a four-inning save both times.

Now he faced Oscar Gamble with Jackson on second base. Gamble singled a 1-and-2 pitch up the middle; White recognized that he didn’t have time to throw out Gamble at first base, so he attempted to catch Jackson at third base. The ball sailed over Brett’s head, allowing Jackson to score and Gamble to reach third.12 Cerone followed with a single to left, plating Gamble and giving New York a 2-1 lead. The next two hitters grounded out, limiting further damage.

In the seventh, John retired the first two hitters and then Wilson doubled. Countering Frey, Howser summoned Gossage from the bullpen. Washington greeted Gossage with an infield single, advancing Wilson to third and bringing up Brett. Brett, hitless in his previous seven at-bats, preferred facing Gossage rather than John; after the game Brett commented, “In that situation, Tommy John (a sinkerballer) is very hard to hit a home run off. I know Gossage has one thing in mind – to throw it by you.”13 On the first pitch, Brett blasted a tremendous clout that reached Yankee Stadium’s third deck and gave Kansas City a 4-2 lead.14 McRae singled to maintain the rally, but was caught stealing to end the inning. Quisenberry set down Brown, Randolph, and Dent in order in the Yankees half of the seventh.

Tom Underwood relieved Gossage for New York in the eighth, and Otis singled. Aikens flied out, Otis was picked off, and Porter flied out as the Royals couldn’t pad their lead. Quisenberry quickly ran into trouble in the bottom half, as Watson tripled, Jackson walked after an 0-and-2 count, and Gamble walked on four pitches to load the bases. However, Cerone lined out to short and Washington quickly flipped to White, catching Jackson off second base to complete a timely double play. With renewed confidence, Quisenberry retired pinch-hitter Jim Spencer on a groundout.

Neither team generated offense during the ninth inning. The Royals didn’t hit the ball out of the infield; for New York, Nettles and Brown flied out and Randolph struck out looking to end the game. The Kansas City Royals won their first AL pennant.15

The ghosts of previous series were vanquished, and for longtime Kansas City fans, the win was especially gratifying as the Kansas City A’s often served as a farm club for the vaunted Yankees teams of the late 1950s and early 1960s.16 White, named ALCS Most Valuable Player for his .545 series batting average and spectacular fielding, commented, “This is the happiest three games of my life.”17 The Royals eventually lost to Philadelphia in the 1980 World Series, and remained a pennant contender throughout the 1980s.

Sources

Besides the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Almanac.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

James, Bill. The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers from 1870 to Today (New York: Scribner, 1997).

Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer, et al. Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (New York: Viking Press, 2004).

Notes

1 Dick Miller, “Angels Reach Realms of Glory,” The Sporting News, October 13, 1979: 22.

2 Joe McGuff, “Tiffs with Players, Press End McKeon Reign at K.C.,” The Sporting News, August 9, 1975: 9.

3 Del Black, “Why? Folks Ask at Whitey’s Exit,” The Sporting News, October 20, 1979: 29.

4 Dick Kaegel, “Nobody Noticed Jim Frey – Until He Led Royals to Top,” The Sporting News, October 25, 1980: 14; Del Black, “Royal Relievers Frey’s Big Headache,” The Sporting News, November 17, 1979: 49.

5 Del Black, “Royals Tap Wathan to Fill Porter’s Shoes,” The Sporting News, April 12, 1980: 24.

6 George Vass, “How Major League Pennant Races Shape Up for 1980,” Baseball Digest, April 1980: 29-37;

Carl Clark, “Scribes Like Bucs, Astros, O’s, Angels,” The Sporting News, April 12, 1980: 7.

7 Mike DeArmond, “Royals Run, Run, Run Away with West Title,” The Sporting News, October 25, 1980: 11.

8 Vass; Clark.

9 Phil Pepe, “Yanks Remain Calm – Get Set for ‘Part Two,’” The Sporting News, October 18, 1980: 41.

10 Tom Barnidge, “Royals’ Gura Times End of Slump Well,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 9, 1980: 43.

11 Tom Barnidge, “Yanks’ Hopes Running Out,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1980: 21; Associated Press, “KC Edges Yanks 3-2, Goes 2-Up in AL Series,” Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York), October 10, 1980: 15.

12 Associated Press, “Brett swings Royals to Series in 3,” Chillicothe (Missouri) Constitution-Tribune, October 11, 1980: 3.

13 Rick Hummel, “Brett’s 3-Run Homer Wipes Out Yanks,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 11, 1980: 5.

14 Mike DeArmond, “One Swing by Brett – A Moment to Savor,” The Sporting News, October 25, 1980: 26.

15 Dick Kaegel, “Who Said Unknowns? They’re A.L. Royalty!” The Sporting News, October 25, 1980: 13.

16 Mike O’Brien, “‘Other’ Missouri Baseball Team Turns Cardinal Fans ‘Royal,’” Springfield (Missouri) Leader and Press, October 11, 1980: 5.

17 Associated Press, “No K.C. Blues This Time,” Chillicothe (Missouri) Constitution-Tribune, October 11, 1980: 3.

Even though the Royals were struggling in the playoffs, their star player wasn’t. Brett had gone 0-for-4, with a walk in Game Two, but was 3-for-4 off Blue Jays ace Dave Stieb and closer Tom Henke in Game One. He’d also helped carry the Royals into the playoffs during the final week of the regular season, going 11-for-23 (.478) with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs.

Kansas City turned to its ace for Game Three, 21-year-old hurler Bret Saberhagen, to try to stem the tide, against veteran Blue Jays right-hander Doyle Alexander. Saberhagen was coming off a tremendous regular season in which he went 20-6 with a 2.87 ERA.2 The 35-year-old Alexander was no slouch himself, having led the American League with a .739 winning percentage, while going 17-6 with a 3.13 ERA.

The Royals jumped on top in the first inning. Willie Wilson lined a single to center field with one out, but was thrown out trying to steal. On the next pitch, George Brett drove an Alexander changeup just inside the right-field foul pole to give the Royals the lead, 1-0. The home run was Brett’s seventh ALCS homer, pushing him past Reggie Jackson for most all-time.

Brett flashed the leather in the third inning. With one out, Blue Jays leadoff man Damaso Garcia doubled and went to third when Lonnie Smith misplayed the ball in left field. Lloyd Moseby then hit a screamer down the third-base line. Brett made a great backhanded stop and fired the ball off-balance to home, as Garcia raced to the plate. Brett described the play: “It was totally reaction and instinct. There was no time to think about which way to go. I just fired.”3 Catcher Jim Sundberg applied the tag on a sliding Garcia. “I thought for sure the throw was going to hit Garcia in the head,” Brett added. “It only missed by a few inches. I was thinking, my God, that’s all we needed now. … Really, it was a do-or-die play.”4 The play preserved Kansas City’s one-run lead. Brett proclaimed, “I’ve only made a play that good once before in my life.…”5 Royals manager Dick Howser added, “You’ll never see a third baseman make a better play.”6

Kansas City increased its lead in the fourth, and Brett was once again at the center of the action. He led off the inning by belting an Alexander slider just over right fielder Jesse Barfield’s glove, missing his second home run of the game by inches, as the ball hit off the top of the wall. Brett ended up at second base with a double. He eventually scored on Frank White’s sacrifice fly, on which Barfield made a terrific backhanded, sliding catch in deep right-center field.

The Blue Jays exploded for five runs in the fifth inning. Barfield drove a ball into the right-field seats for a two-run homer to tie the score, 2-2. With one out, Garcia doubled, and Moseby rocketed a ball off Saberhagen’s left heel. The ball ricocheted into left field, driving home Garcia. After a visit from the trainer, Saberhagen remained in the game, but the next batter, Rance Mulliniks, drilled an 0-and-2 pitch into the right-field seats, chasing Saberhagen from the game and extending the Blue Jays’ lead to 5-2. Bud Black relieved, but after getting the second out of the inning, he gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases.

Dick Howser turned to reliever Steve Farr to try to keep the Royals in the game. Farr had been released by Cleveland earlier in the year and signed a minor-league contract with the Royals. He’d already come in during a bases-loaded jam in Game One of the series and gave up a single, walk, and sacrifice fly, before finally settling in. This time, Farr had to face Barfield, who’d already homered in the inning. Farr retired Barfield on a sharp groundball to second baseman Frank White to end the inning.

Jim Sundberg blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to cut into the Blue Jays lead. In the sixth, Willie Wilson led off with a single, and Brett unloaded on an Alexander fastball, driving it to deep left-center field for his second home run of the game, tying the score, 5-5. The home run was Brett’s eighth League Championship Series home run, tying him with Steve Garvey for the all-time lead.7 Royals closer Dan Quisenberry said Brett’s second home run of the evening prompted catcher Jamie Quirk to tell the bullpen: “We’re in the driver’s seat now. George has one more at-bat.”8

Brett’s next at-bat led off the eighth inning. Blue Jays manager Bobby Cox decided to have Jim Clancy, a right-handed pitcher and normally a starter, face the left-handed-hitting Brett. Cox’s options were limited, as the only southpaws on the Blue Jays playoff roster were Gary Lavelle, who was suffering from a sore arm, and Jimmy Key, who would start Game Five. Coming into the at-bat, Brett was 23-for-53 (.434)  with five home runs in his career off Clancy.

Clancy was able to get Brett to squib a grounder between first and second, on what Brett called “the worst swing I’ve taken all series.”9 But the ball was just out of the reach of a diving Damaso Garcia, and went through for a hit. Hal McRae sacrificed Brett to second, and Frank White’s groundout moved him up another 90 feet. Clancy then intentionally walked Pat Sheridan to face the slumping Steve Balboni, who was 0-for-11 with four strikeouts in the series. Balboni blooped a ball into shallow center field. As three Blue Jays converged, the ball fell just out of the reach of shortstop Tony Fernandez, scoring Brett, and giving the Royals the lead, 6-5.

As the game moved to the ninth, Dick Howser decided to stick with the hot hand of Steve Farr rather than give the ball to closer Dan Quisenberry. Farr ended up facing the minimum in 4⅓ innings of relief. He allowed two singles, but they were erased on a double play and a caught stealing.

The final out of the game was appropriately hit to Brett, who squeezed a Moseby popup in foul territory to give the Royals their first win in the series and end their 10-game postseason losing streak.

Brett was surprised that Toronto continued to pitch to him: “Before the series, there was a lot of talk about how they’d pitch around me, like they did during the regular schedule when they walked me 10 times or something like that. But they’ve been coming right at me. I’m getting at least a chance.”10 Bobby Cox attempted to explain the failed strategy: “We thought we would get him out, sometime, but I guess we couldn’t, because we didn’t.”11

Brett finished the game 4-for-4, with two home runs, a double, four runs scored, three runs driven in, and a spectacular play in the third to cut down a run at the plate. Brett said, “It was an awfully good time to have my best night of the year.”12 He later called it the “best game I ever played in my life.”13

Royals outfielder Dane Iorg summed up what many players and fans were thinking after the game, saying, “The difference between us and everybody else is George Brett. … He doesn’t rise to the occasion. He’s always in a class by himself.”14

Sources

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

Notes

1 Gib Twyman, “Royals Come Home After Signs of Life,” Kansas City Star, October 10, 1985: 5C.

2 After the postseason, Saberhagen was named the 1985 American League Cy Young Award winner, his first of two Cy Youngs. He also won the 1985 World Series MVP, going 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in two starts in the Series, including a shutout in Game Seven.

3 Jim Proudfoot, “Brett Has to Keep Up Heroics for Royals to Win,” Toronto Star, October 12, 1985: 1.

4 Ibid.

5 Gib Twyman, “Brett Adds Another Chapter to His Memorable Moments,” Kansas City Times, October 12, 1985: E-2.

6 Ibid.

7 Brett finished his career with nine Championship Series home runs. As of 2018 he is tied for third with Bernie Williams, behind Manny Ramirez (13) and Albert Pujols (10).

8 Tracy Ringolsby, “Brett Snatches Royals from Brink,” Kansas City Times, October 12, 1985: E-2.

9 Garth Woolsey, “Boom Boom Brett!” Toronto Star, October 12, 1985: 1.

10 Proudfoot.

11 Twyman, “Brett Adds Another…”

12 Proudfoot.

13 Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, October 12, 1985. kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article39354957.html

14 Ringolsby, “Brett Snatches Royals from Brink.”

In the top of the second inning, Pat Sheridan, batting .063 in the ALCS, bunted for a single and went to second on a groundout. Catcher Jim Sundberg (batting .100) drove him home with two outs on a soft, opposite-field single to right-center, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead. It was a sign of things to come from the light-hitting pair.

Two innings later Sheridan lined the ball to right field. Buttressed by the wind, it kept carrying and sailed over the Royals’ logo at the fence for a home run. Kansas City was now up 2-0, but abruptly right-hander Saberhagen’s night was finished. His pitching hand had absorbed a hard comebacker by Willie Upshaw in the first inning. He pitched the second and third, but Kansas City manager Dick Howser brought in left-hander Charlie Leibrandt to start the fourth. The Blue Jays halved the Royals’ lead in the fifth, on a single by Damaso Garcia, a groundout, and a double by Upshaw, but Leibrandt struck out pinch-hitter Cliff Johnson to end the inning.

Entering the top of the sixth, Stieb had thrown just 65 pitches, but he was approaching 280 innings overall and pitching on short rest in two straight starts for the first time all season. Reliever Jim Acker began warming up.

With one out, Stieb pitched around George Brett, walking the Kansas City third baseman on four pitches. In this series Brett led in runs, home runs, runs batted in, walks, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, and would be named ALCS MVP hours later.

Stieb hit the next batter, Hal McRae, bringing Toronto manager Bobby Cox out of the dugout to check on his starter. Stieb stayed in the game as a surprised murmur rippled through the crowd. Sheridan was next and he slapped a bouncer into the hole between second and third. Shortstop Tony Fernandez backhanded the ball and threw to Garth Iorg at third to force out a sliding Brett.

Needing just one out to end the frame, Stieb continued to struggle with his control and walked Steve Balboni to load the bases. Stieb stepped in front of the mound, looked into the dugout and began flipping the ball up and down into his glove. Catcher Ernie Whitt got the message and slowly approached the mound, glancing into the dugout, too. Stieb began tapping the ball back and forth between his glove and right hand and looked into the dugout again, painstakingly trying to telegraph to Cox that he had nothing left in the tank.

Cox rose from the bench and conferred quickly with pitching coach Al Widmar. Acker was ready, as was relief ace Tom Henke, but Cox stayed in the dugout. It would be Stieb’s inning to finish.

Sundberg stepped in. Earlier, his RBI single had opened the scoring. After the game he said, “I just knew I was going to do something good. I could feel it, especially after I got that hit in the second inning to drive in Pat [Sheridan] with the first run. That really got me loose.”1Stieb started with a curve, low for ball one. His next pitch was a fastball over the plate. Sundberg swung and recalled that he “hit it real well, I didn’t feel the ball hit the bat, which means you’ve hit it good.”2

It looked like a catchable fly ball to the opposite field, but with the wind gusting out to right, it kept drifting deeper. In an image that would haunt Toronto sports fans for years, right fielder Jesse Barfield leaped in vain at the wall as the ball hit the top of the chain-link fence and slowly descended onto the right-center field warning track. Sundberg’s wind-blown triple suddenly gave Kansas City a 5-1 lead.

In 1989, as the Blue Jays prepared to move from Exhibition Stadium to the SkyDome, their new home ballpark, Stieb blasted the Ex: “What a brutal stadium it is for a pitcher. [The] fly ball that Jim Sundberg hit pretty much ruined the year for me and the team in ’85. In another ballpark, it’s a routine fly caught by the right fielder. … Matter of fact, if they reduce this place to a pile of bricks, I’d be willing to come around and help.”3(Exhibition Stadium was demolished in 1999).

Whitt echoed Stieb’s sentiments: “Stieb made a good pitch and Sunny just hit it. To me it was a routine fly ball at best … [but] I looked up and saw Jesse drifting back and back and thought ‘Wait a minute, what is going on here?’ Then it hit the fence and there was just disbelief, really.”4

Cox trudged to the mound as the shocked home fans erupted in boos. Manager and pitcher walked off the field together, dejectedly. After the game, Royals center fielder Willie Wilson complimented Stieb on his determination. “He didn’t have that many days’ rest. He didn’t have what he’s used to having but he tried to keep his club in this.”5

Cox also defended his ace. “Stieb made the pitch on Sundberg. I thought it was a popup. It so happens it got up in the wind. I’m disappointed, frustrated. I thought we’d win it. I’m just sorry we lost on a popup.”6

Frank White greeted Acker, now on in relief, with a bloop RBI single to make it 6-1 for the visitors. Sundberg crossed the plate and entered the dugout to effusive congratulations from his teammates. “I’ve never been a great hitter like George Brett, but I take pride in my hitting,” Sundberg said during the postgame celebration.7 Kansas City batting coach Lee May tipped his cap to Sundberg and Sheridan. “Everybody focuses on George Brett, but the bottom part of our batting order really came through with some big hits,” May said. “Our pitchers kept us in the game until somebody got a key hit.”8

The comeback series victory was especially sweet for White and McRae, both Royals since 1973. “This is by far the best,” White started, reflecting on his seven postseasons. “We were down so far and counted out so we went out and played loose and came up big.”9Said McRae, “This is the sweetest win for me. Everybody thought we were out, but we came back. We just didn’t quit.”10

The Blue Jays’ cold bats, 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and seven runners left on base in the first five innings, turned to ice after Sundberg’s game-breaking triple. From the bottom of the sixth to the beginning of the ninth inning, Toronto batters went 0-for-10 with one walk. The season ended with a whimper for Toronto. Despite a single, double, and RBI groundout in the ninth, Royals closer Dan Quisenberry finished the game and earned Kansas City its second AL pennant in six seasons.

The Blue Jays denied that pressure got to them in the last three games. “Nobody ever chokes. Not professionals. It’s just a matter of the way things go sometimes,” first baseman Willie Upshaw lamented.11

“It has nothing to do with pressure, nothing to do with choking. They beat us, they executed when they had to and their pitching was phenomenal, especially the last four games,“ agreed third baseman Rance Mulliniks.12

Brett disagreed, noting that pressure affected both teams. “When we lost that third game we came back relaxed and even though we lost, I said the pressure was on Toronto. I don’t know why I said it, but I think I was right, the pressure was on them … I don’t feel they gave away any games. We just played better than they did. In fact, in the second game, we choked. Then we came back.”13

Manager Howser credited his hurlers as the key factor, saying, “Our pitching was a much more important factor than experience or lack of experience. … Seems to me that what happened was our pitching shut them down pretty consistently so that we could hang in and hang in until we got the runs we needed.”14

The Royals became just the fifth team to win a postseason series after facing a three-games-to-one deficit. Kansas City played St. Louis in the first all-Missouri World Series in 41 years. (The Cardinals and St. Louis Browns faced each other in 1944.) Though the Royals were playing in their seventh postseason in 10 years, they had never won the World Series.

Would 1985 finally be the year that the Royals’ crown-topped logo signified they were the kings of major league baseball?

Sources

Besides the sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted the following:

baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198510160.shtml

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B10160TOR1985.htm

“American League Championship Series Game Seven: Kansas City Royals at Toronto Blue Jays,” NBC Television (Buffalo, New York, WGRZ, October 16, 1985).

Notes

The Royals once again faced a three-to-one deficit against the Cardinals, but Danny Jackson’s masterful effort in Game Five, a 6-1 triumph, had brought the World Series back to Kansas City. The home team pinned its pitching hopes on Charlie Leibrandt, who had thrown eight shutout innings in Game Two before unraveling and surrendering all of the Cardinals’ runs in the ninth inning of a 4-2 loss. He would once again be opposed by Danny Cox, who had allowed two runs in seven innings and received a no-decision in Game Two. As Game Six progressed, it was clear that each hurler was determined to outdo his previous performance, and neither team scored until the eighth inning.

Although scoring opportunities were minimal, the Royals mounted an immediate threat in their half of the first inning. Lonnie Smith led off with a double and advanced to third on Willie Wilson’s groundout to Cardinals second baseman Tom Herr. Cox bore down to quell the uprising, striking out George Brett and inducing Frank White’s grounder to shortstop Ozzie Smith. After that Cox allowed only two Royals to reach second base in his seven innings; on both occasions, there were already two outs and the third out was made easily.

As for Leibrandt, he had pitched five perfect innings before Cesar Cedeño and Darrell Porter led off the sixth with back-to-back singles. The Cardinals’ first scoring opportunity quickly vanished when Cox popped out to Brett at third base on a bunt attempt and Smith grounded into a double play. 2 Leibrandt retired the side in order for the sixth time in the top of the seventh inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cox struck out Leibrandt for the final out with Steve Balboni on second and Buddy Biancalana on first. Allowing Leibrandt to bat in such a situation seemed to be a questionable decision to some observers. Kansas City manager Dick Howser explained his rationale, saying, “If we’d had a guy on third with less than two out, I’d have hit for Leibrandt. But I wasn’t going to take out a guy who was pitching a two-hit shutout for anything other than that kind of a situation.”3

After such a vote of managerial confidence, Leibrandt ran into difficulty in the top of the eighth. Tito Landrum flied out, but Terry Pendleton rapped a base hit and Cedeño drew a walk. Still, when Porter struck out and Cox was due to bat, it appeared that the Royals hurler might escape unscathed. However, St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog was not going to follow Howser’s lead and allow Cox to bat for himself, shutout or no shutout. Nonetheless, his choice of Brian Harper as Cox’s pinch-hitter seemed almost as puzzling as Howser’s decision, since Harper had not registered a hit (or reached base) in 13 at-bats as a pinch-hitter since September 3.4

Perhaps the full moon was in full force against the Royals when Harper hit a broken-bat blooper to center field that drove in Pendleton with the first run of the game. Andy Van Slyke ran for the hobbled Cedeño, and Leibrandt walked Smith unintentionally to load the bases. At this point, Howser sent Dan Quisenberry to the hill in relief, and Quiz induced a grounder from Willie McGee to quell the uprising.

When the Royals failed to score against Ken Dayley in the eighth and Quisenberry kept the game at 1-0 in the top of the ninth, Kansas City appeared to be down to its final three outs of 1985. Howser and Herzog engaged in a managerial chess match in the bottom of the inning. First, Howser sent right-handed Darryl Motley to pinch-hit for Pat Sheridan against the lefty Dayley. Herzog countered by lifting Dayley and sending righty Todd Worrell to the mound. Next, Howser reciprocated by calling Motley back to the dugout and sending left-handed Jorge Orta to the plate. Herzog likely took comfort in the fact that his team had a 91-0 record (including the postseason) in games in 1985 in which they had a ninth-inning lead. Additionally, Worrell had tied a World Series record in Game Five by striking out all six batters he had faced.5

Orta hit a chopper that first baseman Jack Clark fielded and tossed to Worrell, who ran to cover the base. Umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe, though television replays clearly showed that he had been out. Worrell said, “He stepped on the back of my foot, Orta did. The first thing Orta hit was my heel, not the bag. And I had the ball by then.”6 All the Cardinals’ arguing was not going to change the call, though. When Herzog was asked later if the use of instant replay should be considered for close calls, he first responded, “They better use something,” but then added, “No, they can’t use instant replay on plays like that. It would take four hours to decide.”7

It did not take four hours for the Cardinals to fall apart in the wake of the missed call. Balboni lofted a foul popup near the first-base dugout upon which Clark and Porter (the catcher) converged. As he ran, Clark first eyed Porter and then the TV camera near the dugout, by which time the ball dropped behind him. Clark admitted afterward, “It was a real catchable ball and it was misplayed.”8 Given new life, Balboni lined a single to left field, after which Onix Concepcion entered the game as his pinch-runner. Jim Sundberg then tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Worrell reacted quickly and forced Orta out at third.

Hal McRae batted in place of the light-hitting Biancalana, and Porter allowed Worrell’s second pitch of the at-bat to get by him for a passed ball that allowed both Concepcion and Sundberg to advance one base. Herzog then ordered an intentional walk to McRae to set up a double play. John Wathan ran for McRae, and Dane Iorg walked to the plate to bat for Quisenberry. Ironically, Iorg had been a World Series hero for the Cardinals in their 1982 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers, having batted .529 as the designated hitter in that series.

This time, Iorg lined a 1-and-0 pitch from Worrell into right field to drive in Concepcion and Sundberg for a 2-1 Kansas City victory. Iorg, who may have been the most exultant of all the Royals, said, “These are the situations you dream about as a child. I’ve dreamed about that situation many times. To be here, to fulfill that dream, is very special.”9

Iorg’s dream was a nightmare for the Cardinals, most of whom chose to blame Denkinger’s missed call for their loss. The lone exception was Worrell, who observed, “There’s nothing you can do about it. I felt I had him, but I didn’t. So you have to pick up and continue.”10 Herzog, on the other hand, steamed, “As far as I’m concerned, we had the damned World Series won tonight.” In reference to Denkinger being the home-plate umpire for Game Seven, Herzog added, “We’ve got no more chance of winning than the man in the moon — not with that guy working behind home plate.”11

Brett summed up the Royals’ outlook by stating, “That is about as far to the wall as we can get. We looked like a dead team. … We end up getting a break here, a break there, and then we get a big hit. You’ve got to take advantage of the breaks.”12 With Herzog’s attitude prevailing among St. Louis’s team members, the Kansas City Royals already had a psychological break for Game Seven. The outcome of the actual play on the field, and the 1985 World Series champion, would be determined the next night.

Notes

1 Kansas City’s Katz Drugstore chain was in existence from 1914 to 1971. For many years, the company sponsored a team in the amateur Ban Johnson Baseball League. The team’s name was the Katz, and its logo (appropriately) was a cat.

2 From 1976 through 1985, the designated-hitter rule did not apply in World Series played in odd-numbered years. Pitchers had to bat.

3 Dave Nightingale, “Full Moon, Controversy, Tied Series,” The Sporting News, November 4, 1985: 19.

4 Ibid.

5 Worrell shared the record with Hod Eller of the 1919 Cincinnati Reds and Moe Drabowsky of the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.

6 Malcolm Moran, “Chance for Glory Instead Goes Awry,” New York Times, October 27, 1985: S3.

7 Joseph Durso, “Herzog Inveighs Against Umpiring,” New York Times, October 27, 1985: S3.

8 Nightingale, “Full Moon, Controversy, Tied Series.”

9 Rick Hummel, “Ex-Teammate Iorg Downs Cards in 9th,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 27, 1985: 1.

10 Moran, “Chance for Glory Instead Goes Awry.”

11 Nightingale, “Full Moon, Controversy, Tied Series.”

12 Tracy Ringolsby, “Do You Believe in Miracles? Yes!” Kansas City Star, October 27, 1985: 1J.