More About the Kansas City Baseball Academy

In a recent SABR National Pastime article, historian Richard Puerzer analyzed the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy of the early 1970s. While he got much of the story right, there were quite a few omissions and some questionable interpretations.

I was there on the spot at the creation of this experimental academy and witnessed its development for the first two or three years. Moreover, I was instrumental in many of the decisions that led to its founding. Puerzer downplayed my role and thus neglected my insider’s perspective. I was director of player procurement, directly involved in putting the Royals together in 1968 and 1969. Then I was director of scouts and players. And in 1970, I was the field manager for the Royals, when Joe Gordon didn’t want to manage anymore. The details of all this are in Chapter 10 of my book, Safe by a Mile (University of Nebraska Press, 2001). The early success of the Royals as an expansion franchise had more to do with who we drafted and who we traded for, rather than who got developed in the Baseball Academy, Frank White notwithstanding.

My original input began with the selection of the site. I had a connection with John Schab—I may have the spelling wrong—who was a majordomo in the Sarasota area and who was a friend of Hall of Famer Al Lopez. I had met Schab when I was a coach for Lopez and the White Sox in the early1960s. Schab had been interested in getting the Royals to establish their Spring Training facilities in Sarasota, in conjunction with the White Sox. When the subject of a site for the academy came up, Schab located two parcels of land as possibilities. One was a 600-acre one directly east of Sarasota. We considered it, but then thought it was too far away from the city. The other was a 120-acre piece near the outskirts of Sarasota. The price for the second parcel was $120,000 plus an $8,000 legal fee. A doctor, who was retired and living in Spain, owned that second piece of land. Ewing Kauffman, the Royals owner, agreed to that purchase price, and the deal was done. Kauffman asked me my opinion, because of my experience with Tigertown, the Detroit facilities at Lakeland, Florida. I went out and inspected the land and told him that it was suitable and beautiful. The topography with the palm trees and slightly rolling terrain was gorgeous.

Kauffman asked me about matters of design. I had spent several years at Tigertown and had some definite ideas. I suggested a cloverleaf pattern of four fields, each on different elevations with the elevated center structure serving as an observatory, where you could watch all four fields efficiently. I also suggested implementing batting cages and pitching machines. I did the same thing with the Royals at Municipal Stadium, where I had a batting cage installed in a picnic area along the left field line. For the infield on one of the diamonds, I foresaw the increasing use of astroturf and argued that the Royals players should get used to playing on that surface. Again, drawing on my Tigertown days, I urged him to have concentrated dormitories, much like elaborate motels, and a cafeteria with a chef, so the players could eat together and the club could oversee their diet. And I also persuaded the Royals, over some initial objection to cost, to distribute the instructional manual I had developed to all the personnel at the Academy.

When it came time to pick instructors, I suggested Tommy Henrich, Billy Herman, Tom Ferrick, and Steve Korcheck, among others. I recommended a left­ hand and right-hand hitting coaches, an infield coach, an outfield coach, pitching coaches, left and right. Kauffman and I discussed these on a regular basis. I particularly recall one trip to Fort Myers, on which we went over a lot of these details. These discussions were on top of my regular job with the Royals, director of players and director of scouts. I was also the one who brought in trackmen Bill Easton and Wes Santee to boost running speed of the players. We paid them for ten days of instruction, and they greatly improved some of the players’ speed, especially catcher Fran Healy.

The Baseball Academy was a great idea, but the full potential got wasted by the leadership at that time. Rather than hire the experienced ex-major leaguers, Syd Thrift chose a bunch of amateur and relatively inexperienced coaches at first. Some of this first collection of instructors were teaching poor fundamentals, not major-league caliber techniques. For example, they were teaching bunting by holding the bat straight up instead of parallel to the ground! Eventually the Royals saw their mistake and hired some of the guys I recommended, as well as other ex­-major leaguers.

From a professional standpoint, I thought the Royals should have gotten more for the money they invested. Most of the Academy players never panned out as major leaguers. Only Frank White was a bona fide star. Bruce Miller played for the Giants, and Ron Washington was a journeyman with the Twins. The major stars who carried the Royals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, John Mayberry, Freddie Patek, Amos Otis, Dennis Leonard, Steve Busby, Al Fitzmorris, and others came by way of the draft, trades (a couple of which I helped facilitate), and free agency.

CHARLIE METRO played for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia A’s, managed the Cubs, Royals, and several minor league teams, and scouted for several franchises. TOM ALTHERR teaches in the History Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver, including an American Baseball History class. Together they published Safe by a Mile (University of Nebraska Press, 2002).