Magic Royals moments, 1989: An under-the-radar heads-up play by Boone

Bob Boone finished up his 19-year career with the Kansas City Royals. A maneuver he pulled in a 1989 game was called by Orioles manager Frank Robinson about as smart a play as a catcher can make.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  I can remember a kind of sneaky, sly grin playing on venerable Hall of Famer Frank Robinson's face, a chuckle as he sat in the manager's office of the visiting clubhouse at Royals Stadium. The Baltimore Orioles manager could afford to be in a good mood, his team having won 4-3 in 13 innings on a Friday night, July 28, 1989. He was recalling a play made by Royals catcher Bob Boone in the top of the 13th inning when the Orioles scored what proved to be the winning run.
  Robinson said it was about as smart a play as you will ever see a catcher make. Yet it was largely unappreciated -- because it didn't win a game, the way it unfolded was somewhat unusual, and its implications weren't immediately clear. The way it reads on the retrosheet.org  play by play masks what happened. "Montgomery threw wild pitch [Orsulak scored (error by Boone) (unearned), Traber out at third (center to third)]."
  What Boone did, at least as far as I can remember: Jeff Montgomery uncorked a wild pitch that went back to the screen with Jim Traber on first base and Joe Orsulak on second. So wild was the pitch that Orsulak decided to try to advance two bases instead of the customary one and score the go-ahead run.
  And Boone, instead of picking the ball up and trying to get Orsulak trying to score, unhesitatingly turned around and whipped the ball to second to try to get Traber. Except — and again I'm relying on memory because I don't think I realized what was happening and not too sure others did — I don't think anybody was at second to cover because the throw wasn't expected. So it went on into center field, where it was retrieved by Willlie Wilson, who threw to Rey Palacios to retire Traber trying to advance to third. It was the third out of the inning, leaving the Royals behind 4-3 with one last chance in their half of the 13th.
  I think Robinson was chuckling because he realized the gathered writers didn't realize how smart a play that was. Boone was thinking ahead as he chased the ball back to the screen, passed up the obvious play and went with the unexpected to try to get Traber. Only instead of being rewarded for his alertness, he was charged with an error and Montgomery with an unearned run. But the play did indirectly get the Royals out of the inning, and possibly saved a run with just one to catch up.
  And then Boone, who was in the first of two years with the Royals wrapping up a 19-year career, was the first one up in the bottom of the inning and flied out to right. Gary Thurman also went out to right, Wilson popped to the catcher, that was the ballgame. And Boone's wily ruse had gone for naught, off into the middle-of-the-season meaningless Friday night to be forgotten.
  But not by Robbie. I wonder if Frank still remembers that play?
Beyond
  Actually, the Orioles and Royals had a lot to play for at this point of the season. After this game the Orioles stood 54-46 (.540) while the Royals were 55-47 (.539). Baltimore wasd first in the American League East, 3 1/2 games over Cleveland, while Kansas City was in fourth, 7 1/2 back of California.
  The Orioles would end up in second, two back of Toronto, and Robinson would be named Manager of the Year is his first full year as skipper, having been hired midway through 1988. But the O's finished fifth and sixth the next two years, and Robinson was gone 38 games into the 1991 season.
  The Royals would also end up second in '89, seven back of Oakland, for their best finish since winning the World Series in 1985. At this point the Royals were still hopeful of being an annual contender in the division and league races. But K.C. fell back to sixth place the next two seasons, and manager John Wathan, who'd come on in 1988, like Robinson was gone in 1991, also 38 games into the season. And the Royals were never really the same until 2014.
Like a rock
  That Bob Boone should be credited by Frank Robinson with making one of the smartest plays he'd ever seen by a catcher isn't surprising.  Boone ranks fourth all time among catchers in Gold Gloves won with seven, and fourth among catchers in total zone runs (a metric measuring the number of runs above or below average the player was worth based on the number of plays made).
  He's also among the most durable backstops ever, ranking third in number of games caught, even though he didn't catch his first game in the major leagues until age 25. He wasn't on the disabled list until the last of his 19 years, in 1990.
  And the Stanford graduate was always considered one of the smartest players in the game, perhaps too smart for his own good when he became a manager with the Royals in the late 1990s. Boone caught some heat for perhaps overthinking the game at times. Perhaps like he was on July 28, 1989.
  Ironically, Boone was involved with a play involving the Royals as the opponent on which he didn't look so alert, and Pete Rose did, in the 1980 World Series.
  With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6, Frank White sent a pop-up into foul territory toward the first-base dugout. Boone and Rose converged on it and Boone appeared to have it, but the ball popped out of his mitt. But Rose was there to catch it. And Wilson then struck out for a then-record 12th time, giving the Philadelphia Phillies their first World Series title ever.
  And everybody raved about what a heads-up play Rose made. See it here at https://www.mlb.com/video/rose-helps-boone-get-the-out/c-19987965. But take a look at the replay and you'll see that Boone had to go a lot farther for the ball than Rose did. So you could say it was really Pete's ball and Boone was covering up for him, only to have Rose seemingly save his ass.
  Poor Bob Boone. So misunderstood.

Magic Royals memories, 2014: It happens one night

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez reaches way out to connect with a 2-2 slider from Oakland's Jason Hammel in the bottom of the 12th inning of the American League wild-card playoff game at Kansas City on Sept. 30, 2014. (YouTube screen grabs)

Perez's shot gets by a diving A's third baseman Josh Donaldson into left field for the game-winning run in the Royals'  9-8 victory. Third base umpire  Bill Welke says it's a fair ball.

Christian Colon, who'd singled in the tying run and stole second, streaks across home plate with the winning run as his teammates go crazy.

George Brett, centerpiece of all the glory the Royals achieved in the 1970s and 1980s and now the team's vice president of operations, reacts with joy and disbelief at watching Kansas City move on in the playoffs for the first time since Brett led the  Royals to the World Series title in 1985.

Colon is engulfed by a mob scene as the Royals celebrate advancing to the AL Division Series in their first trip to the postseason since 1985. Kansas City went on to win the division series and ALCS before losing the World Series in seven games to San Francisco. To the right is Yordano Ventura, who'd given up a three-run homer in the sixth inning and was saved from him and manager Ned Yost being fitted for goats' horns by the Royals' comeback from a 7-3 deficit.

Jarrod Dyson slides safely into third base around the tag attempt by Josh Donaldson and avoids sliding past the base in the bottom of the ninth inning. Dyson scored the game-tying run and sent the game into extra innings when he scored on Nori Aoki's sacrifice fly.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  There's a 29-year gap between the last installment in my series of favorite Kansas City Royals memories and this one. That's because there wasn't much truly memorable for the Royals in the meantime, and if there was I don't remember it much, because I quite frankly stopped caring about the Royals after a while. Call me a fair-weather fan.
  But the Royals began to have the look of a legitimate contender in 2013— let's forget the fluke of a 2003 season in which they finished third in the American League Central— and began to follow through on that promise in 2014 by qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1985.
  I say began because all the Royals did that season, to begin with, was earn the wild-card spot for the AL playoffs, which meant they earned the right to play an elimination game with Oakland at Royals Stadium for the right to move on. The game was at K.C. by virtue of its finishing one game in the wild-card standings ahead of Oakland, which led the league in wins midway through the season before swooning in the second half, despite a couple of trade-deadline moves made with designs of reaching the World Series.
  If the Royals would have lost this game, the dearth of personal memories may have continued. Nobody remembers who was eliminated in wild-card playoff games. It's almost as if you didn't make the playoffs.
  But the Royals did win, and it's pretty well accepted that what they've accomplished since then — a trip to the World Series in 2014, a World Series title in 2015, a re-establishment as a respectable and respected franchise — was all made possible by what happened that magical, manic Monday night, Sept. 30, in a game won by the Royals 9-8 in 12 innings. This tied the record for the longest (by innings) winner-take-all game in postseason history, shared with Game 7 of the 1924 World Series, according to wikipedia.org.
  While there have been several postseason games that have gone beyond 12 innings, this one has to rank right up there on the improbability scale. The Royals looked as dead as Trey Hillman trailing 7-3 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.
  Alcides Escobar got the Royals started on the comeback trail by singling and stealing second, the second of seven stolen bases the Royals had on the night. Six of them came off Derek Norris, who took over at catcher in the third inning for Geovony Soto, who had to leave with an injured thumb.

  (It should also be noted that three of those steals came off A's starter Jon Lester, notoriously noted for his adversity to throwing over to first to hold runners on.)
  Lorenzo Cain singled Escobar home and also stole second. After a walk to Eric Hosmer that ended Lester's night, Billy Butler cut the margin to 7-5 with a single off Luke Gregerson that scored Cain. Terrance Gore ran for Butler and stole second, too. A wild pitch scored Hosmer and advanced Gore. Alex Gordon walked, and the Royals had the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third after Gordon stole the fourth base of the inning. But Gregerson struck out Salvador Perez and Omar Infante to stop the bleeding.
  (The Royals set a major league postseason record for stolen bases in an inning with their seventh-inning rampage, and their seven on the night tied the postseason record.)
  The Royals sent the game into extra innings off Sean Dootlittle in the ninth. After pinch hitter Josh Willingham led off with a single, pinch runner Jarrod Dyson moved to second on Escobar's sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Nori Aoki's sacrifice fly to right. Dyson held on for dear life and barely avoided getting caught off the bag when sliding into third on his steal.
  (This was Willingham's last splash as a major leaguer. A Silver Slugger winner two years before with Minnesota, he was a late-season pickup by K.C. in 2014. After going 0 for 1 in the ALCS and 0 for 2 in the World Series, he announced his retirement the next month, ending an 11-year career.)
  Kansas City moved runners to third in the 10th and 11th, but Perez grounded out to end the 10th, and Jayson Nix struck out to close the 11th. (Nix, a late-season pickup, wasn't called on in the championship series, batted twice in the World Series and hasn't been in the major leagues since, presumably bringing an end to a seven-year career with eight teams.)
  Meanwhile, pitcher Brandon Finnegan was saving the season for the Royals. Drafted out of TCU earlier that year after helping the Horned Frogs reach the College World Series, Finnegan retired seven of nine batters he faced before being replaced with one out in the 12th, with Josh Reddick at second on a walk and sacrifice bunt. Jason Frasor wild-pitched Reddick to third, and pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo regained the lead for the A's at 8-7 with a single.
  But the Royals not only stayed alive but moved on in their half of the 12th, gaining new life when left fielder Jonny Gomes and center fielder Sam Fuld collided on Hosmer's drive to left-center that fell for a triple with one out.
  Christian Colon got Hosmer home with an infield single, making it 8-8. Gordon popped to third for the second out.
  Up came Perez, who'd looked useless at the plate in going 0 for 5 up to then, and who'd been notoriously way out in front on pitches the second half of the season. After Colon got yet another stolen base for the Royals, Perez wasn't too far out in front when Jason Hammel was way outside on a 2-2 slider. Perez stroked it down the left-field line, barely past a diving Josh Donaldson, for the game winner.
  And with that, Ned Yost's job was safe. Many thought the Royals manager was a goner after he'd called in Yordano Ventura to relieve starter James Shields in the sixth inning. Shields, who'd yielded a two-run homer to Brandon Moss in the first inning, had started off the sixth by allowing a single by Fuld and a walk to Donaldson.
  On came Ventura, the promising young starter moved to the bullpen for this winner-take-all game to give the Royals an extra power arm. It was Ventura's second relief appearance in his major league career, and it didn't last long. Moss, the first batter he faced, blasted his second homer of the night, pushing the A's ahead 5-3. Reddick followed with a single, was wild-pitched to second and advanced to third on Jed Lowrie's fly out, and out came Ventura for Kelvin Herrera, normally the Royals' seventh-inning guy. The damage continued as consecutive singles by Norris, Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp brought the score to 7-3.
  Herrera settled down, Wade Davis and Greg Holland filled their eighth- and ninth-inning roles (although Holland had a shaky ninth), and the Royals began to make magic on offense. And kept making it happen through sweeps of the AL Division series against California and the ALCS over Baltimore, and almost on through the World Series in a seven-game loss to San Francisco.
  And on into next year with a first World Series title since 1985.
  And it all started with the wild affair on Sept. 30. As the title of the Best Picture of 1934 said, "It Happened One Night."

Magic Royals moments, October 1985: Oh Danny boy, did you deliver

Danny Jackson had key victories at each of the key junctures of the season -- in the final week of the regular season, in the American League Championship Series and the World Series -- to help the Kansas City Royals win their first world title. 

By Phil Ellenbecker
   After the Kansas City Royals had wrapped up their second trip to the World Series in 1985, George Brett had a pretty direct answer for NBC announcer Dick Enberg when asked what turned it around for the Royals in their comeback from being down 3-1 to Toronto in the American League Championship Series.

  "Maybe Danny Jackson, they had runners on second and third with nobody out and he held them in Game 4," said Brett, who'd made quite the difference himself in the series by batting .348 with three homers to earn MVP honors. "That might have been the big one, Game 4. Or  Game 5, it was Game 5, and he ended up pitching a shutout."  

  Danny Jackson had a rather uneven, unpredictable baseball career — 112-131, 4.01 ERA over 15 seasons — some may say very typical of a left-hander. But when the Royals absolutely needed him most in 1985, he was rock-solid dependable. The southpaw in his first full season in the major leagues was right on. 

 Consider these up-against-the-wall performances that helped the Royals first wrap up an American League West title, then the ALCS and then the World Series:
   —With the Royals and California Angels tied atop the West entering the night of Thursday, Oct. 3, Jackson gave up one run over 8 2/3 innings as Kansas City beat California 4-1 at Royals Stadium to go ahead for good. The Royals clinched two days later.
   —With Toronto leading 3-1 in the ALCS, Jackson shut out the Blue Jays 2-0 on Sunday, Oct. 13, at Royals Stadium. That sent the series back to Exhibition Stadium, where the Royals won the final two games.
   —With St. Louis leading 3-1 in the World Series, Jackson pitched a complete-game five-hitter as the Royals won 6-1 on Thursday, Oct. 24, to send the series back to K.C., where they won the final two for the first world title in the 16-year history of the franchise.

  So in those three pivotal, season-prolonging outings, Jackson, who was third on the Royals in wins in '85 with a 14.12 record and 3.42 ERA, threw nearly three complete games, 26 2/3 innings, and allowed two earned runs. That's a Madison Bumgarner-like ERA of 0.65.
   He didn't exactly handcuff opposing batters, allowing 24 hits in the three games including 11 in one, but he walked only four, and this was a pitcher who could be somewhat shaky with his control — three times in his league's top 10 in walks. But stingy with the gopher ball — two times a league leader in fewest homers allowed per nine innings — he didn't surrender any homers in these three games.
  For sheer clutch performance, Jackon's World Series triumph might have been the best. Cardinals fans were set to celebrate their second World Series title in four years with a victory Oct. 24. But Jackson and the Royals stifled those hopes by decisively turning back the Redbirds.
  The Cardinals got to Jackson for a run in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Tom Herr and Jack Clark, but it was a relative breeze from there for the pitcher who'd lost 3-1 to the Cardinals in the Series opener. Jackson retired St. Louis in order in five of the remaining eight innings, worked out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the third and helped himself out with a pickoff in the fifth. Besides five hits allowed, he walked three. He struck out five.
  Meanwhile, his teammates gave him a 4-1 cushion through two innings and tacked on insurance runs the last two. Willie Wilson went 2 for 5 with a two-run triple in a three-run third; Lonnie Smith was 2 for 4 with two runs scored including K.C.'s first in the first inning; and Pat Sheridan was 2 for 5 with a double that scored the Royals' final run.

Danny Jackson gets Tom Nieto to ground to shortstop Bianca Biancalana, who flipped to Frank White at second base for a force out that closed the Royals' 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the 1985 World Series. The win kept the Royals alive in the Series and sent it back to Kansas City, where the Royals won the final two games. (YouTube screen grab)

  In keeping Kansas City alive against Toronto on Oct. 13, Jackson squeezed out a of couple of jams in the middle innings and then finished with a flourish, retiring the final 10 batters he faced. He walked none while striking out six in an eight-hitter.
  The Blue Jays had runners at second and third with no outs in the fifth, as Brett referred to in his interview with Enberg, and the based loaded with two out in the sixth. Jackson left them stranded each time. He also got help from an outfield assist by Smith in left in the fourth.
  The Royals played small ball to score all the runs Jackson would need. Smith, who went 3-for-4 in the game, led off the bottom of the first with a double, stole third and scored on Brett's ground out. Frank White reached on a bunt single leading off the second and came around to score on Darryl Motley's sacrifice fly.
  Jackson began his late-season tight-rope walk Oct. 3 against California, coming within one out of a shutout despite giving up 11 hits. He left two runners stranded in the first and the eighth, and coaxed double play balls to get out of the fifth and seventh. Bobby Grich spoiled the shutout with a two-out RBI triple in the ninth, and Dan Quisenberry came on to get the final out.
  Homers provided all the Royals' offense. Frank White had a two-run shot in the first inning, and Steve Balboni and Brett had solo homers in the fourth and fifth.
  Jackson went on to pitch in four more postseasons in his career with varying success.
  In 1990 with Cincinnati he started two games and went 1-0 in the NLCS with a 1.38 ERA. He started once in the Reds' World Series sweep and was knocked out after 2 2/3 innings in Cincy's 5-4 10-inning Game 2 win. In 1992 with Philadelphia he lasted just 1 2/3 innings in a loss to Atlanta in the NCLS. The next year he beat Atlanta in his NLCS start, giving up one run over 7 2/3 innings.

  When he got his third chance to pitch in a World Series that year, he was the losing pitcher in Game 3, giving up four runs in five innings of a 10-3 loss to Toronto, which won the Series in six games.
  In his next-to-last season, with St. Louis in 1996, he gave up three runs in one three-inning stint in the NLCS as the Cardinals fell to Atlanta.
 Jackson's final postseason mark was 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA.
 Jackson's 14 wins in 1985 were his most in three full seasons with the Royals. Traded to the Reds in 1988, he led the NL in wins with 23 and in complete games. That was two more wins than he had in his next four seasons.
  It was that kind of career for DJ. But when the money was on the line in October 1985, Jackson was one money pitcher.

Magic Royals moments, 1985 ALCS: Game 3, Brett's crowning moment

With Toronto's Damaso Garcia at third base and one out, and Kansas City leading 1-0, the Royals' Bret Saberhagen delivers to Lloyd Moseby in the third inning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 11, 1985.

 Moseby strokes a flare down the third-base line.

 Royals third baseman George Brett flags it down.

Brett makes a leaping throw home as Moseby tries to score.

 Royals catcher Jim Sandberg stands ready as the throw beats Moseby home.

Moseby slides into home as Sundberg blocks the plate.

 Home-plate umpire Jim Evans calls Moseby out after Sundberg applies the tag.

Sandberg shakes a fist toward Brett in appreciation after throwing the ball back to Saberhagen.

Brett replies with a smile of satisfaction after preserving the lead in a game the Royals went on to win 6-5. Brett went 4 for 4 in the game with two homers, a double, four runs scored and three RBIs as the Royals won their first game in the ALCS.                                                   

By Phil Ellenbecker

  George Brett kept managing to top himself in the American League Championship Series.

  First there was the three-run homer that tied the final game in 1976. Then the three homers in the third game in 1978. The three-run homer that topped the Yankees and gave the Kansas City Royals a sweep and their first World Series berth in 1980.

  The all-time topper — the “rip-snortin’, hootenanny, double-barreled, deep-dish dilly," as former Kansas State announcer Dev Nelson might have called it — came on Friday night, Oct. 11, 1985.

  For all-around, seize-the-moment clutch performance, no game can match what Brett put together that night in leading the Royals to a 6-5 victory in Game 3 and on their way back to a pennant and eventual first-ever World Series title.

  "Best game I ever played in my life," Brett said in a 2015 article by The Kansas City Star's Blair Kerkhoff.

  "When it was over, we looked back on it: George Brett beat us by himself," Blue Jays reliever Tom Henke told the Toronto Sun. "And that domination started in Game 3."

  From the top, here is what Brett summoned to carry the Royals to their first victory in the series:

  -- With two out in the first inning, Brett hit a solo homer, giving the Royals the early lead.

  -- With one out in the top of the third inning, Brett made a backhanded stop at third base and threw out Damaso Garcia at home to preserve the Royals' 1-0 advantage.

  -- Leading off the Royals' fourth, Brett doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-2.

  -- With nobody out in the fifth, after Toronto had taken a 5-3 lead, Brett tied the game with a two-run homer.

  -- Leading off the eighth, Brett singled and came around to score what proved to be the game-winning run.

  Brett's third-inning defensive gem was something else even for him. Known as a liability with a scatter-gun arm when he first came up to the major leagues, by this time Brett had mastered the hot corner to the point that he was awarded his first AL Gold Glove after the season. And this play encapsulated that defensive emergence.

  The Blue Jays threatened when Garcia doubled off Bret Saberhagen and advanced to third on an error by left fielder Lonnie Smith.

  The next batter, Lloyd Moseby, stroked a flare down the third-base line that Brett flagged down. After making the pickup, in the same motion Brett gunned a jump throw to catcher Jim Sundberg, who had the plate blocked and received the throw in plenty of time to tag Moseby trying to score.

  From Bob Costas' play-by-play call on NBC: "2-2 pitch, slaps it, Brett makes a fine play and comes home, what a play!"

  The TV picture shows Brett flashing a smile and nodding toward Saberhagen.

  "Yeah, you can smile George, why not?" Costas remarks.

  As the replay is shown, color commentator Tony Kubek chimes in: "Who says he can't play defense? Watch how far he goes on this high hopper, it wasn't that easy; extends fully, off-balance throw, outstanding play."

  To further demoralize the Blue Jays, Saberhagen then picked off Moseby at first to end the inning. Replays showed umpire Ted Hendry missed the call.

  Brett, who'd homered to right-center field off Doyle Alexander in the first, went to the same place with a one-hopper to the wall for a double in the fourth. Royals' batters went to the opposite field to add a run off the right-handed Alexander, as Brett advanced to third on Hal McRae's fly out to right and scored on Frank White's sacrifice fly to right, making it 2-0.

  Toronto looked to put the Royals on the ropes, moving toward a taking a 3-0 lead in the series, with five runs in the fifth behind a pair of two-run homers by Jesse Barfield and Rance Mulliniks off Saberhagen. Bud Black was hailed to try to stem the tide, but instead he allowed the Jays to load the bases.

  And this is where the second hero of the night comes in. Steve Farr took over for Black with two out and got the 10th batter of the inning, Barfield, to ground out. He then shut out Toronto the rest of the way, allowing two hits, walking none and striking out three in his 4 2/3-inning stint.

  Meanwhile, K.C. started on its way back with a solo homer by Sundberg in the fifth. (Sundberg batted only .167 in the series but made his four hits in 24 at-bats count with a double, triple and homer for a team-high six RBIs.)

  Willie Wilson led off the sixth with a single, and Brett followed with a two-run homer to left-center. Alexander's night ended when the next batter, McRae, doubled. Dennis Lamp then retired six of the seven batters he faced before manager Bobby Cox called in Jim Clancy starting the eighth.

  Clancy, making his first relief appearance of the year after going 9-6 with a 3.78 ERA as a starter during the regular season, yielded a squib single to right by Brett. "Rolled over on a sinker," Brett recalled to Kerkhoff, calling it his worst swing of the night.

  McRae bunted over Brett, and after White grounded out and Pat Sheridan was intentionally walked, Steve Balboni plated Brett with a single to center for a 6-5 Royals lead. (Balboni, who'd set a Royals homer record that year that still stands at 36, was worse than Sundberg in this series at 3 for 25 for .185. And none of the hits went for extra bases).

  After Farr gave up a leadoff single to George Bell in the eighth, Sundberg threw out Bell trying to steal, and Farr retired the next five batters to close out the win.

  Appropriately enough, Brett caught a foul pop from Moseby for the final out.

  So the Royals could finally breathe, but they were on the brink once again after Toronto beat them the following night 3-1 on Al Oliver's two-run double off Dan Quisenberry in the ninth, which the Royals entered leading 1-0.Two games earlier Oliver had delivered a game-winning single off Quisenberry.

  After Oliver victimized Quiz again in Game 4, manager Rick Howser did whatever he could to avoid having have that same matchup happen again. Oliver's left-handed line drive swing was ideally suited to Quisenberry's delivery. Oliver might as well have been hitting off a tee.

  And that would have been it for the Royals before this year, as 1985 was the first time division series were decided by four wins instead of three.

  So given that reprieve, Danny Jackson started K.C. on the comeback trail Sunday with a complete-game eight-hitter as the Royals won 2-0. Bud Black was the pitching hero the next game with 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief as the Royals won 5-3 in a game tied 2-2 through four innings.

  And it was Charlie Liebrandt, who'd been tagged with two losses earlier in the series, who came to the rescue in the Game 7 6-2 win, after Saberhagen was struck in the hand by a line drive and had to leave the game in the fourth inning. Leibrandt allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings, and Sundberg's three-run triple blew the game open in a four-run sixth. After the Jays scored a run in the ninth, Quisenberry came on to get the final two batters.

  And the Royals were off to the World Series for the second time the 1980s after coming up short three times in the '70s. Brett had done a lot to get them there during that decade, and kept doing even more in the '80s.

                                                                                             

Magic Royals moments, 1985: This Bud comes through

Bud Black belied his 9-15 record coming in and shut down the California Angels 4-0 on Oct. 2, 1985, with a three-hitter, giving the Kansas City Royals a big push toward winning the American League West title.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  Several players delivered key contributions for the Kansas City Royals in the final week of the 1985 regular season to help them claim the American League West title en route to their first World Series title.
  But perhaps no one delivered more than a man somewhat forgotten that year.
  As masterful as Bret Saberhagen had been two nights before, Bud Black was even more in command Wednesday, Oct. 2.
  Saberhagen, who'd emerged as the league's top pitcher this year, had thrown a five-hitter at the California Angels and flirted with just a bit of trouble in a 3-1 victory.
  Black, who'd been supplanted as the Royals ace by Saberhagen and slid back in the K.C. rotation, threw a three-hitter and was almost untouchable.
 Saberhagen had allowed a homer and two other runners in scoring position. Only one runner reached scoring position against Black as he blanked the Angels 4-0, moving the Royals back into a tie with California atop the division with the help of George Brett's three-run first-inning homer.
  While Saberhagen had dispatched of the Angels in 2 hours, 9 minutes, Black got it done one minute quicker.
  And while Saberhagen's effort wasn't all that unexpected the way he was humming along on the year, Black outdid himself. He had gone 17-12 with a 3.12 ERA  in '84, both sixth in the league as he led a young Royals pitching staff that carried the team to its first division title in four years. Black finished 1985 at 10-15, 4.33 and was fifth on the team in wins.
  It hadn't started that way. After a third straight win on May 26, Black stood at 5-2, 2.48 ERA. He gradually lost form from there and was 1-4 in his past nine starts coming into Oct. 2. But on this night he again looked like the pitcher who had been one of the best in the league the year before.
  He faced the minimum number of batters the first four innings, a Bobby Grich single canceled by a double play. From there on the best the Angels could muster were walks to Reggie Jackson in the fifth and Rod Carew in the ninth, and singles by Doug DeCinces in the seventh and Gary Pettis in the eighth. Pettis was the only runner to get as far as second.
  Black struck out five and got 13 ground-ball outs in tossing his second shutout of the year and first since May 21.
  The Royals and Black got all the runs needed in their first three batters. After Lonnie Smith led off with a  single and stole second, Willie Wilson was hit by a pitch and Brett followed with his three-run clout.
  Pat Sheridan singled in Jorge Orta in the eighth for the Royals' final run.
  And with Kansas City and California squared away, the Royals kept on winning and won the West. Here's a look at what happened the next few nights:
  Thursday, Oct. 3: The Royals moved ahead by one game with a 4-1 victory over the Angels behind Danny Jackson, who scattered 11 hits and carried a shutout into the ninth inning before having it spoiled by a Grich triple. K.C. got all its runs on homers by Frank White, Steve Balboni and Brett.
  Friday: Out in Oakland, the Royals opened a two-game lead with a 4-2 win while California lost 6-0 at Texas. Mark Gubicza allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings, and Dan Quisenberry had 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief for his 37th save. Brett went 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs.
  Saturday: The Royals clinched it with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings on a single by Willie Wilson that scored Sheridan. The A's took a 4-0 lead after five innings against Saberhagen, but K.C. rallied to tie on a two-run homer by Brett (him again!) and RBI singles in the seventh by White and Balboni. Quisenberry threw three innings of shutout relief to get the win, putting his record at 8-9.
  And the Royals' heroics had just begun.

 

Magic Royals moments, 1985: Liftoff from Saberhagen for showdown

Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen stifled the California Angels on Sept. 30, 1985, throwing a complete-game five hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 victory. This game launched the Kansas City Royals on a season-closing run that captured the American League West title en route to winning the World Series.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  It was a frigid autumn night as I settled into nosebleed seats at Royals Stadium on Sept. 30, 1985, unforgiving weather for an unforgiving time of the baseball season. And the California Angels could be forgiven for ruing walking up to the plate this night against Bret Saberhagen.
  In the opening game of a penultimate, showdown series, Saberhagen proverbially shoved the baseball up the backsides of the Angels with a complete game five-hitter, striking out 10 and walking two in a 3-1 victory.
  Saberhagen's cold-blooded performance set the tone for the final week of the regular season as the Royals moved into a tie for first place with the Angels in the American League West, on the way to winning the series 3-1 and clinching the division Saturday against Oakland.
   The 21-year-old right-hander, running his record to a final mark of  20-6 in his second full season, was hardly challenged after giving up a leadoff homer to Doug DeCinces in the second inning. He allowed only two base runners into scoring position after that, and was helped by left fielder Lonnie Smith, who threw a runner out at the plate in the third, and by Jim Sundberg, who erased Gary Pettis trying to steal in the seventh.
  (Smith, known as "Skates" for his unsteady feet and not known for his glove, did lead the league in outfield assists twice and was in double digits five times, including 11 in '85.)
  Saberhagen, the '85 AL Cy Young Award winner, came back from the second-inning gopher ball to fan the final two batters of the inning, struck out the side in the sixth and retired 13 of the final 15 batters he faced.
  He got a couple of Hall of Famers to whiff ending the last two innings. Rod Carew went down in the eighth and Reggie Jackson ended the game with a stiff breeze.
  George Brett tied the game with a leadoff homer in the fourth. It was his 26th homer, giving him a career high, and he was not done for the week.

 

Jim Sundberg, in his first year with the Royals after being acquired from Texas, supplied what proved to be the game-deciding homer in a 3-1 win over California on Sept. 30, 1985. Sundberg also threw out Gary Pettis attempting to steal.

   The Royals used the long ball again, from a somewhat more unlikely source, in gaining what proved to be the deciding run. First-year Royal Sundberg launched a solo shot with one out in the seventh, his 10th homer of the year, two shy of the career high he set next year.
  A leadoff triple by Willie Wilson led to an insurance run in the eighth, as Brett followed with a sacrifice fly to right. For Wilson, it was his 20th three-bagger in a season he'd finish with 21, six more than his career high. In leading the league for the third of five times, he set a mark that's tied with Lance Johnson (1996) for the second-best since 1950 behind Curtis Granderson's 23 in 2007. It's also tied for 53rd-most in a season of all time, and of the 52 seasons ahead of him only five came beyond 1930.
  The series win over the Angels was the first of a trifecta of do-or-die situations for the Royals in their march to a first World Series title. Next the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series. Then the St. Louis Cardinals in the I-70 Series. Both times coming back from 3-1 deficits. And it started with the Royals chasing down the Angels from 7 1/2 games back on July 21, still five back August 8, and 2 1/2 back Sept. 2.
  And right there along the way, leading the way, was George Brett after playing a key part in the Sept. 30 win over the Angels. For the rest of the season he went 8 for 17 (.470 batting average) with nine RBIs and six runs scored as the Royals, after losing Oct 1 and letting California slip back ahead in the race, won the final two games against the Angels and the first two of a closing series in Oakland to clinch the division title.
  And after keeping the ball in the yard on Tuesday, Brett homered in the final four games of the season. In the Monday-through-Saturday stretch, Brett was 9 for 20 (.450) with five homers, 11 RBIs and seven runs.
  That brought Brett's final ledger to .335 with 30 homers, 112 RBIs and 108 runs scored. He led the league in slugging average and on base-plus-slugging percentage, plus intentional walks. And he won the AL Gold Glove at third base.
  Brett finished second in the AL MVP voting behind New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly, who hit .324 with 35 homers, 145 RBIs and 107 runs. He also led the league in total bases and doubles and like Brett won a Gold Glove.
  Mattingly, whose Yankees finished two games behind Toronto in the AL East, had 367 points in the voting and 23 first-place votes to 274 and 5 for Brett.
  A good case could be made for Brett, regardless of his postseason accomplishments that would have made him a shoo-in, as deserving of MVP based on the regular season. A side-by-side look at Brett and Mattingly in 1985, with their league rankings if in the top 10:
Brett                    Mattingly
.335 (2)    BA       .324 (3)
.436 (2)    OBP    .371
.585 (1)    SLG    .567 (2)
1.022 (1)  OBP    .939 (2)
30 (7)       HR       35 (4)
112 (5)     RBI      145 (1)
107 (5)     R          107 (6)
8.3 (3)      WAR     6.4 (9)
  Brett outranks Mattingly in all but the two main power categories, homers and RBIs. The Yankee is ahead significantly in RBIs, traditionally a predictor of MVP titles, especially before the emergence of sabermetrics.
  But also significantly, Brett is ahead by a wide margin in WAR, the all-purpose wins above replacement metric that is widely used now to measure a player's worth.
  The league leader that year in WAR? Mattingly's teammate, Rickey Henderson with 9.9.
  But you or the California Angels didn't really need sabermetrics to realize Brett Saberhagen's dominance on Sept. 30, 1985. Saber-metrics, indeed.

Magic Royals moments, 1985: Midsummer night's omens

Greg Pryor, who hit .219 in 1985, singled in John Wathan in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 5-4 victory over the California Angels on June 28. The Royals and Angels fought season-long for the American League West title before the Royals won en route to their first World Series crown.

Joe Beckwith was the bridge between Bret Saberhagen and Dan Quisenberry with four innings of shutout relief on June 28.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  In the Kansas City Royals' magical season of 1985, the night of June 28 stands out as truly magical. It was a Friday night, 32,651 were on hand at Royals Stadium. Kansas City entered the night 4 1/2 games behind California in the American League West, in fourth place.
  The Royals ended the night 3 1/2 games out, tied for third, after outlasting the Angels 5-4 in 14 innings.
  The game didn't serve as a springboard for the second-half surge that carried the Royals to a division title on the way to a Cinderella-like world championship run. That would come later.
  But I do believe this was a signature win for the Royals, emblematic of what the season would bring. It had all the ingredients. A sturdy performance on the mound by Bret Saberhagen. George Brett stellar at bat and in the field. Clutch hitting by Hal McRae. Shutdown relief by Joe Beckwith, followed by unimposing closer Dan Quisenberry wiggling his way out as he'd somehow done for the past six seasons. Lesser lights emerging as heroes, such as Beckwith and Greg Pryor.
  The game proceeded in tit-for-tat fashion until Pryor, he of the .219 batting average that year, finally ended it with a single in the bottom of the 14th off Doug Corbett that scored John Wathan with two out.
  It was Pryor's only hit that year in 12 at-bats with two outs and a runner in scoring position.
  That made a winner of Quisenberry, who'd come on in the 12th inning. He gave the Royals a chance to win, after giving up a go-ahead run in the 13th, by coaxing inning-ending double play balls with runners on third in both the 13th and 14th.
  The Angels took a 4-3 lead in the 13th on Bobby Grich's RBI single, then loaded the bases on a single by Gary Pettis. But second baseman Frank White came home on Dick Schofield's grounder to get Daryl Sconiers, and JIm Sundberg completed the twin killing by throwing to Steve Balboni at first.
   The Royals extended the game in their half of the 13th on a double by  Sundberg and triple by Lonnie Smith.
  California threatened again in the 14th when Bob Boone singled, advanced to second on Juan Beniquez's sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Rod Carew's infield single. Quisenberry again got the ground ball he needed as Pryor, who'd just entered the game that inning, gobbled it up at shortstop and combined with White and Balboni for the double play.
  (Beniquez's sacrifice was California's fifth in the game. Manager Gene Mauch loved the bunt. According to an article at http://baseballpastandpresent.com, Mauch's teams led the league in sacrifices in 14 of his 22 full seasons as a manager.)
  Balboni, who'd gone hitless in his five previous at-bats, drew his second walk of the night with one out in K.C.'s half of the 14th, and Wathan pinch ran for him. After Sundberg, who went 4 for 7 for the night, grounded out, Pryor came through with his game winner.
  McRae got the game into extra innings by slugging a two-run homer in the eighth off Donnie Moore, who'd just come on in relief, after a double by Brett. That tied the game 3-3. Darryl Motley and Frank White followed with singles, but after Balboni made out, Motley's  bid to put the Royals ahead on a Sundberg single was snuffed out by center fielder Pettis, ending the inning.
  One inning earlier Brett rubbed out an Angels'  threat when he made a tumbling catch of a foul down the third-base line by Carew with Craig Gerber at third.
  Brett's hit in the eighth made him 3 for 3 for the game, which is where he finished as he also drew four walks to reach base all seven times he was up.
  Like the Angels, the Royals had their chances in extra innings, loading the bases in both the 11th and 12th. White grounded out and Balboni struck out, ending the 11th. McRae hit into a fielder's choice for the last out in the 12th.
  Sconiers began a 3-for-4 night with a homer leading off the second inning, giving the Angels the early lead. Motley, also 3-for-4, answered with own leadoff homer in the fourth.
  The Angels went ahead 2-1 in the fifth on Carew's single that drove in Gerber. They added a run in the sixth when Balboni committed an error on a ground out by Grich, allowing Ruppert Jones to score from first.
  Saberhagen, 7-4 with a 3.28 ERA coming in en route to a 20-6, 2.87 Cy Young season, threw seven innings and allowed two runs, both earned, and seven hits, striking out three and walking two. Beckwith followed with four shutout frames of one-hit ball with four strikeouts while walking three. Quisenberry then finished up with three innings, working around five hits.
  Quisenberry, on the way to leading the league in saves for the fifth time in six seasons, logged three or more innings in nine of his 84 appearances, as the era of the one-inning closer hadn't quite dawned.
  Beckwith, meanwhile, despite a nondescript 1-5, 4.07 ledger on the year, proved a handy stopgap at times in 1985, as on this night. He also had two other 4 1/3-inning scoreless stints that year.  
  So there  you have it, lots to write about on this night, a seasonlong battle between the Royals and Angels sort of summed up in one game. With the right team winning. K.C. proved it could beat who it had to and when it had to by going 9-4 against California on the season.
  It was between July 13 and Aug. 2, when the Royals went 13-3, including a streak of seven straight, that the Royals began to really make their move. That spurt took them from 7 1/2 games behind the Angels to two back. It was back and forth from there. The Angels led on 31 dates, the Royals 19 and the two teams were tied eight times before the Royals pulled ahead for good in the final week of the season.

Magic Royals moments, 1980: Bang-bang-bang, you're dead, Yankees

The situation: The Kansas City Royals' Dennis Leonard faces the New York Yankees' Bob Watson with Willie Randolph on first base, two out, top of the eighth inning of Game 2 of the 1980 American League Championship Series at Royals Stadium. The Royals are leading 3-2. (Screen grabs from YouTube)

Left fielder Willie Wilson chases down Watson's drive into the corner.

After catching Wilson's throw-in, third baseman George Brett fires a relay throw to home plate.

Catcher Darryl Porter applies the tag to retire Randolph and send the game to the bottom of the eighth inning. Ready to make the call is umpire Joe Brinkman.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is not amused after his team is denied. The Royals went on to win 3-2 and advanced to the World Series with a victory the next night.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  Among the greatest plays in baseball history that we see or read or hear about, I can't recall seeing great relay plays popping up. Derek Jerek's flip to home from off to the right side of the plate in the 2001 World Series comes to mind. That was a snazzy play, but that was not really a great relay play so much as a great play.
  In fact, probably the most famous relay play in history was one that was botched — on Enos Slaughter's mad dash to home plate that won Game 7 of the 1946 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals.
  The relay I'll always remember, and one that I rate — until someone contradicts me — as the best in baseball history, from start to finish, came in Game 2 of the 1980 American League Championship Series, and it was executed by the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees.
  With two out in the top of the eighth inning, Thursday, Oct. 9, at Royals Stadium, and the Royals leading 3-2 …well, let Al Michaels tell it:
  "Leonard peering in for the sign, Randolph away over at first base, the 1-2 pitch to Watson; line drive base hit, in the corner, could be trouble; Wilson over to chase it down, plays the carom; Randolph rounding third, they're waving him home. Here comes the relay from Brett … He is  … out. … Perfect execution by the Royals as Steinbrenner watches on, as the Royals cut him down at the plate on the relay, Wilson to Brett to Darryl Porter, and we go to the last of the eighth with the Royals leading 3-2."
  Yes, left fielder Willie Wilson trailed Watson's shot to the wall and gloved it, got it into Brett at third base, and Brett gunned it to Porter straddling and blocking the plate. The K.C. catcher just wouldn't let Randoph by as he tried to lunge past Porter, and there was no doubt about it. O-U-T out. (See it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRX9Jwqx-I.)
  And the ABC broadcast cut almost immediately to a shot of peeved Yankees owner George Steinbrenner pointing and tossing on his jacket, and probably deciding right then and there to fire Yankees third-base coach Mike Ferraro. Maybe. But that's a story for another day.
  The story right now was the Royals' bang-bang-bang play that vaporized Randolph and gave them a big boost toward finally toppling the Yankees and earning their first trip to the World Series.
  I can recall watching the game and hearing the announcers say that Brett must have thrown a 90-mph fastball on his relay home. Yet another in what was a mounting series of postseason heroics for Brett, this time killing them with his arm instead of his bat.
  Brett's throw was the key element in making the play happen, but every part was important, timing was of the essence. And as Michaels said, the Royals didn't miss a beat.
  While his defense got Dennis Leonard out of the eighth unscathed, he flirted with trouble in the ninth when Reggie Jackson led off with a single. First-year Royals manager Jim Frey then summoned Dan Quisenberry, who after retiring Oscar Gamble, yielded a single to Rick Cerone to put the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at the plate with Graig Nettles.
  But Quisenberry, who in 1980 led the league in saves for the first of fives times in six years, then got a ground ball to shortstop U.L. Washington, who combined with Frank White to turn a game-ending double play. That gave the Royals a 2-0 series lead.
  The Royals then polished off the Yankees the next night in Yankees Stadium, 4-2, behind Brett's towering three-run homer. The Royals lost in six games to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
  K.C. got all the runs it needed in ALCS Game 2 in the third inning. After back-to-back singles with one out by Porter and White, Wilson brought them home with a triple to right. Washington followed with a double to center, making it 3-0.
  The Yankees moved within the final margin in the fifth. Nettles broke up Leonard's shutout with an inside-the-park homer to right, and Randolph doubled in Bobby Brown to cut it to 3-2.
  Leonard allowed two runs, both earned, and seven hits while striking out eight and walking one in improving his postseason mark to 2-3, after dropping two decisions in 1978, the Royals' previous appearance in the ALCS.
  (Leonard, the Royals' bell cow during this period with the most wins of any major leaguer by a right-hander from 1975-81, didn't fare so well in the playoffs and World Series with a final postseason record of 3-5 and a 4.32 ERA.)
Aftermath
 Ferraro didn't get fired over his decision to send Randolph. His manager did. Dick Howser, who'd led the Yankees to a major-league leading 103 wins during the regular season, was forced out after he refused Steinbrenner's order to fire Ferraro.
  So Howser went on to take over the Royals after they stumbled the next season and Frey was fired. And Howser, after the Royals continued to stumble in '82 and '83, led K.C. back to the division title in 1984 and their first World Series title the next year before succumbing to brain cancer in 1987, at the age of 51.
  And Ferraro ended up being hired as the Royals' third base coach by Howser in 1984. Ferraro succeeded Howser as manager when Howser fell ill in1986.

Magic Royals moments: 1979, Willie all the way

Willie Wilson terrorized opponents with his speed in the late 1970s and 1980s. His inside-the-park homer leading off the bottom of the 13th inning gave the Kansas City Royals a 9-8 victory over the New York Yankees on June 9, 1979.

By Phil Ellenbecker
  In Philip Roth's "The Great American Novel," Angela Whittling Trust asks Luke Gofannon what he loves most in the world, even more than her.
  "Triples," he says.
  Yes, triples in baseball are a lot of fun, more so than the endless homer highlights we see every night during the summer on "SportsCenter." And the Kansas City Royals gave their fans an eyeful of triples in the late 1970s, leading the league in that category from 1975 to 1980.
  Yet probably more fun than triples are inside-the-park homers, and Royals fans were treated to their share at this time thanks to one man, Willie Wilson.
  I remember thinking every time Wilson hit a ball into the gap that he could possible circle the bases. Noted baseball analyst Bill James said Wilson may have been the fastest man ever to play major league baseball.
  The excitement of seeing Willie heading out of the batter's box, pumping his legs around the base paths and heading for home reached a fever pitch on the afternoon of Saturday, June 9, 1979, with the Royals and New York Yankees at Royals Stadium featured on NBC's "Game of the Week." (Remember that?)
  With the game in extra innings, Wilson led off the bottom of the 13th with an inside-the-parker to left-center field, giving K.C. a 9-8 victory before a crowd of 38,025. (See it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaK1lF1G8iI).
  Wilson punched a high, inside fastball from Ken Clay to the opposite field and reached the turf between left fielder Roy White and center fielder Mickey Rivers. The ball rolled to the wall, and when White overthrew cutoff man Mickey Stanley in short left, Wilson was home free and crossed the plate standing up.
  "Was he flying?" NBC color man Tony Kubek said to Joe Garagiola.
  "He just might have set a record, Joe, going from home to home," Kubek added, also noting that Wilson didn't get a good break coming out of the box because he thought the ball was going to be caught. And he also noted that Wilson could go from first to third in 10.2 seconds.
  It was a wild finish to a wild game, typical of the contests the two teams staged throughout the late '70s. The lead changed hands three times, and twice the teams were tied before Willie decided it.

Marty Pattin nailed down the Royals' victory with three innings of shutout relief.

  The Yankees took a 5-0 lead after three innings off Larry Gura. Chris Chambliss hit a two-run homer in the second. Three runs scored on a Lou Piniella single in the third, the third when Amos Otis' throw from center went into the dugout after third baseman Todd Cruz failed to cover third. (George Brett, normally the Royals third sacker, was playing first this day).
  The Royals surged into a 6-5 lead after six. They broke through with three runs in the fourth off Tommy John on Al Cowens' single and Darrell Porter's two-run homer. The Royals tied the game in the sixth on John Wathan's two-run triple off Ray Burris, who'd just relieved John. Fred Patek followed with an RBI single that put the Royals ahead.
  Piniella, who went 3-for-7 on the day with four RBIs, tied the game at 6 in the seventh when his single off Renie Martin, who'd just replaced Gura, drove in Mickey Rivers. Brett's double off Jim Kaat put K.C. back ahead in its half of the seventh.
  Graig Nettle's two-out double off Al Hrabosky scored Willie Randolph and regained the lead at 8-7 for New York in the top of the ninth.
  The Royals pushed the game into extra innings by manufacturing a run in the bottom of the ninth. Wilson drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on U.L. Washington's sacrifice bunt and went to third on Otis' fly out off Ron Davis, who'd come in for Kaat. Brett's single drove in the tying run.
  After Hrabosky set the Yanks down in the 10th, Marty Pattin came on and blanked the Yankees the next three innings. New York got runners to second in both the 11th and 12th on sacrifice bunts, but Pattin squeezed out of the inning with strikeouts both times.
  Facing the Yankees' 3-4-5 hitters, the Duck got Munson, Piniella and Nettles on a  pair of fly outs and a pop-up in the 13th, setting the stage for Wilson's finishing theatrics.
  Pattin improved to 3-0 in a season in which he went 5-2. He went 4-0 the next year, his final in the big leagues, giving him a 43-39 record in a seven-year stint with K.C. that closed his 13-year career.
  Brett led the Royals' 17-hit attack on the day, going 4-for-5 with a double, triple and two RBIs. Wathan was 3-for-6 with a double, triple and two RBIs. Wilson was 3-for-6 with three runs scored and Washington 2-for-5.
  Other big hitters for the Yankees besides Piniella were Chambliss (3-for-5, two RBIs), Randolph (2- for-5, three runs) and Rivers (2-for-6, two runs).
  With the win the Royals were in second place in the American League West, three games out of first behind California. The Yanks were fourth in the AL East, five games behind Baltimore.
  And that's where the two teams stayed, as each finished out of first for the first time in four years. The Angels won the West by three games over the Royals, while the Orioles finished 13 games ahead of the fourth-place Yanks.
  And after 1979 Whitey Herzog was out as Royals manager, fired after 4 1/2 years. Herzog didn't get along with owner Ewing Kauffman, Whitey and Ewing's wife Muriel more or less despised each other, and things came to a head that year.
  The Royals and Yankees, both under new management, resumed their accustomed spots atop the divisions next season in one final hurrah for their great rivalry of the era.

Wondrous Willie

  It was 1979 when Wilson truly burst upon the scene as a Royals force. Wilson batted only .217 in his first full season of 1978, although he finished fifth in the league in stolen bases with 46 in only 198 at-bats. As he began to take Herzog's advice and slap at the ball to take advantage of his speed, he broke through with a .315 average next year and led the AL in stolen bases with 83.
  He also began to establish himself as a terror on balls hit into the gaps, with five of  six homers in '79 contained inside the park. He finished his career with 12 or 13 career inside-the-park homers, depending on the source.
  Wilson hit better than .300 all but one season during 1979-84, led by a league-leading .332 in 1982. He finished his 17-year career with a .286 average and 668 stolen bases, 12th best all time. Five times he led the AL triples.
  Wilson's 12 inside-the-park homers (or 13) were the most of anybody who played from 1950 on.
  (Editor's note: Info on Wilson's 12 career inside-the-park homers comes from an article by Derek Bain at seamhead.com. Info on his '79 inside-the-parkers, and on inside-the-parkers hit after 1950, came from an article by Mil Chipp at sabr.org.)
  The Royals are lucky some NCAA I school didn't snap Wilson up for football. At Summit, New Jersey, High, Wilson rushed for 3,639 yards his junior and senior seasons and "had been one of the greatest schoolboy athletes in New Jersey history and had become a larger-than-life legend," according to a New York Times article by Dave Kaplan.
  To read about and see what a legend Willie was in high school, check out http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-willie-wilsons-high-school-football-highlights-are-just-epic/. As Dayn Perry put it in the article, "You could not tackle Willie Wilson at any point from 1971-73."
  And chances are you could not throw Wilson out on the bases if he hit the ball into the gap from about 1979 on.
   

Magic Royals moments, 1977: Damn Yankees, again

Freddie Patek was inconsolable and alone in the Kansas City Royals dugout after the New Yankees handed them a 5-3 defeat in Game 5 of the 1977 American League Championship Series. Patek grounded into a double play, ending the game, after the Royals entered the ninth inning leading 3-2.

By Phil Ellenbecker
 I don't recall seeing shortstop Fred Patek crying in the dugout after the Kansas City Royals dropped the fifth game of the 1977 American League Championship Series. Perhaps I was off crying some place away from the TV after the game.
  I can certainly empathize with Freddie Joe's heartbreak, because I felt it myself. This was the Royals' year, 1977. There was a rough patch in the middle of summer, when the Chicago White Sox — the "Southside Hitmen" with their bloviating fans chanting "na na na na" — threatened K.C.'s AL West supremacy.
  But the Royals restored their roar in August and September and won the division going away with a club record 102 wins. And when they won two of the first three games of the ALCS with the next two scheduled at Royals Stadium, it looked like they could be headed to the World Series in their ninth year of existence and second trip to the postseason.
  But thanks in part to what I thought were a couple of questionable decisions by Royals manager Whitey Herzog, and in part to the Yankees just being the Yankees, it was the Yankees who moved on, giving Reggie Jackson a chance to permanently establish himself as Mr. October. But his October should have ended Oct. 8.
  My first beef with Whitey came up Oct. 7 when he started a yet-unproven Larry Gura (8-5, 3.13 ERA that year) in Game 4 over Jim Colborn, who'd won 18 games and pitched a no-hitter in '77 for the Royals. But Herzog had a hang-up this series about starting right-handers against the Yankees' predominantly left-handed hitting lineup, and about using Colborn against the Yanks period. In fact Colborn didn't pitch at all against New York in 1977. Probably with merit — he went 4-11 with a 4.34 ERA in his career against the Yanks.
  But I'd have taken my chances with Colborn. Gura gave up four runs, all earned, in two innings as the Yankees won 6-4.
  But of course it wasn't Gura's fault or Herzog's fault. It was all John Mayberry's, just ask Whitey. Big John showed up late for the game, feeling the effects of a long night of partying with his family, and he admittedly had a poor game, striking out twice and committing two errors before Herzog got him out of there. (But why did Whitey start him if he was in such bad shape?)
  Whitey had a case, but I'm not sure Mayberry cost the Royals the game as much as Gura's shaky outing did. And besides, Whitey is one of the biggest crybabies and excuse makers ever.

Royals manager Whitey Herzog turned to stud horse starter Dennis Leonard to close out the Yankees with Kansas City ahead 3-2, but Leonard was out after two batters and New York went on to win 5-3.

 Herzog's next questionable call came with the Royals leading 3-2 entering the ninth inning of Game 5. Since the Royals skipper didn't have a closer he could trust after Doug Bird had been used (and even Bird couldn't be trusted), he called on ace starter Dennis Leonard (20-12, 3.04) to finish off the Yanks. But it wasn't long before Herzog had him out of there after Leonard surrendered a leadoff single to Paul Blair and walk to Roy White.
  On came Larry Gura, and in came Blair on Mickey Rivers' single, bringing on Mark Littell. White scored on Willie Randolph's line-out sacrifice fly to center, putting the Yankees ahead. After Thurman Munson grounded out, Rivers scored on an error by George Brett that made it 5-3.
  With a reliable closer on the mound in Sparky Lyle (second in the AL in '77 with 26 saves), the Yankees put the Royals away in the bottom of the ninth. Lyle coaxed a double-play ball by Patek to end the game, sucking the guts out of what had been looking to be a wondrous season for the Royals.
  I remember feeling good at the time when Herzog called on Leonard. Close it all out with the big kahuna, even though he'd pitched in relief only one time all season and was known as a guy who usually took a couple of innings to hit his stride. I liked it.
  In retrospect it looked like a grandstand move by the White Rat that failed miserably. Whitey was somewhat of a showboat who liked to make himself look good.
  (By the way, regarding that conventional wisdom on Leonard as a slow starter? The facts don't really hold that up. According to baseballreference.com, Leonard's ERA by innings was fairly balanced throughout his career — 3.62 through the first three, 3.61 the next three and 3.96 innings seven through nine. In 1977, his ERA by innings, first through sixth, was 1.95, 4.14, 3.41, 1.75, 2.08 and 2.73, so he did get stronger as he went along that year.).
  (And regarding the Royals' closer situation that year, despite not having a go-to guy they led the league in overall saves with 42. Bird led with 14, followed by 1976 closer Mark Littell with 12 and Gura with 10. Bird had his moments but was somewhat inconsistent, and Herzog had trouble figuring out whether to use him as a starter or reliever.)

Game 7 got off to a rambunctious start when George Brett, after tripling to center field in the first inning, came up swinging after Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles kicked Brett in retaliation for Brett's hard slide. Moving in to break up the dust-up are Royals third base coach Chuck Hiller and Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry.

  The 1977 ALCS games were perhaps the most fiery of in a series of heated contests between the Royals and Yanks in the late '70s. Hal McRae set the tone in Game 2 when he went way out of the base path and took out second baseman Willie Randolph with a rolling block on a double-play attempt, allowing Patek to score from second (with McRae waving him around while tangled up with Randolph).
  The fireworks were rekindled early in Game 5 when in the bottom of the first Brett tripled to center field and came up swinging at third baseman Graig Nettles after Nettles kicked him, thinking Brett was a bit overaggressive on his slide.The two were separated by third base coach Chuck Hiller and pitcher Ron Guidry as the benches emptied, before things settled down. No players were thrown out.
  McRae scored on Brett's hit and Brett scored on Al Cowens' ground out, giving K.C. a 2-0 lead. Munson singled in Rivers off starter Paul Splittorff in the third. In the bottom of the inning a leadoff double by McRae and single by Cowens made it 3-1 Royals before Mike Torrez, in relief of Guidry, struck out Amos Otis and John Wathan to get out of the inning.
  Torrez and Lyle blanked K.C. the rest of the way, while Splittorff held the Yanks in check until yielding a leadoff single in the eighth to Randolph and giving way to Bird. Lou Piniella and Jackson stroked consecutive singles to score Randolph and make it 3-2, and Bird needed Steve Mingori to get him out of the inning.
  Then came the heartbreaking ninth. Damn. The Royals should have been in the 1977 World Series. And Reggie Jackson shouldn't have been.
  Oh, and by the way, before the Los Angeles Dodgers made Reggie look so good in the '77 Series, Jackson went 2 for 16 against the Royals in the ALCS (.125) with no extra-base hits. His RBI single in Game 5 was the only run he drove in.
The White Rat
  You might think by reading the above that I had no use for Whitey Herzog. Not entirely true. I think Whitey was great for the Royals and exactly what they needed to get over the hump and assume dominance of the AL West in the late 1970s. He was a great regular season manager who knew how to make full use of his roster.
  But he was also full of himself and tended to overmanage, shortcomings that tend to show up in the postseason. Great managers don't necessarily have the most success in the postseason, Casey Stengel excepted. Let the record show that Whitey Herzog had as many World Series titles, and so did Earl Weaver, as Ned Yost has.