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.