Magic Royals moments, 8-17-76: Walk-off steal some early Brett mojo

George Brett kisses home plate after playing his final home game for Kansas City at Royals Stadium, in 1993. Brett had a different treatment of home plate, stealing it, to give the Royals a 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the Cleveland Indians on Aug. 17, 1976.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  George Brett could beat you with the bat. Oh, could he. Numerous times, most notably in postseason play.

  And he could beat you with the glove, most notably a dazzling backhand stab and jump throw to the plate to nail a runner in Game 3 of the 1985 American League Championship Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8c4E4I082E

  And although it didn't come in postseason play, Brett won a game on the bases on Aug. 17, 1976, in an early indication of what a thoroughly clutch player he was going to be throughout his career.

  Brett stole home with two outs in the 10th inning that night at Royals Stadium, giving Kansas City a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians before 14,386 at Royals Stadium.

  Brett doubled and came around to score on his first at-bat of the night, in the third inning, and from then on he was just determined to keep going around the bases. It didn't work out so well when he was caught stealing by Indians catcher Ray Fosse after singling in the fifth.

  But undeterred, Brett set sail again after singling with one out in the 10th off Dave LaRoche, making the eventual 1976 American League batting champ 3-for-5 on the night.

  This time, with Rick Cerrone having replaced Fosse after Fosse had been pinch hit for in the ninth, Brett drew a wild throw on his steal attempt and went on to third base. Cerrone, a rookie, was appearing in just his 10th major league game.

  Then, after John Mayberry struck out and with Dave Nelson up at the plate, Brett took off yet again on a 1-1 count.

  Taking advantage of the full windup the left-hander LaRoche used, Brett easily slid in safely to give the Royals a fourth straight win en route to their first AL West title.

  Brett's two stolen bases gave him 17 in a year he'd finish with 21, second-best behind his 1978 career high of 23. Yet his total was only fifth-best on a team that swiped 218 bags on the year, second-most in the major leagues. And the only reason the Royals didn't lead the majors that year was that Oakland set an American League record with 321. The next-closest to K.C. was world champion Cincinnati with 210.

  That's the kind of baseball Brett and the Royals played back then under manager Whitey Herzog, and that Herzog-led teams would continue to do in the 1980s when he guided the St. Louis Cardinals.
  (Besides stolen bases, Brett and McRae specialized in stretching singles into doubles against lazy outfielders taking their time getting to the ball.)

  Going into the ninth inning it didn't look like they'd need such tactics, holding a 3-1 lead. "Some of the crowd headed toward the exits confident of another Royals win," Jan Larson wrote in an article for the Society of American Baseball Research's Games Project.

  But the Indians extended the game with a two-run ninth on a throwing error by Kansas City shortstop Fred Patek and a single by George Hendrick.

  The Indians set up the game-tying inning on a walk to Tommy Smith and a single by Rico Carty, which brought on Steve Mingori in relief of Doug Bird. When Patek threw wildly on pinch hitter Larvell Blanks' grounder, Smith raced home from second, and Herzog went to relief ace Mark Littell. Hendricks followed with a hit that scored Rick Waits. Waits, a pitcher, had been called on to run for Carty.

Mark Littell had 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief to get the win in the Kansas City Royals' 4-3 decision over Cleveland on Aug. 17, 1976. Littell, in his first full season in the major leagues, improved his record to 7-3 and finished the season 8-4 with a 2.08 ERA and 16 saves. 

  With runners at first and second, Littell got the next two batters and then three in a row in the 10th to earn the win. Littell improved to 7-3 with his 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief with the help of two strikeouts. Littell would finish the year, his first full season in the major leagues, with an 8-4 record, a 2.08 ERA and 16 saves.

  LaRoche took the loss and fell to 1-4, allowing two hits and one unearned run over three innings in relief of Pat Dobson. Dobson survived shaky control -- four walks and two wild pitches -- as he scattered nine hits and gave up three runs, all earned, in 6 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.

  Bird, who had a 10-5 record coming in, pitched 8 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and three runs, two earned, while walking three and striking out two.

  The Royals scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings to take a 3-1 lead. Brett's double and singles by John Mayberry and Hal McRae put them ahead in the fourth. Amos Otis increased the lead to two in the seventh with a single that scored Patek. Patek had reached on an infield single, moved to second on Frank White's sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Al Cowens' ground out.

  Otis finally got through to left field for his RBI hit after grounding out to third his first three times up.

  Cleveland took the early lead on doubles by future Royals manager Buddy Bell and Frank Duffy in the third. The Royals matched that in the bottom half when White singled in Buck Martinez. Martinez led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a Patek single.

  But with runners at first and second and still none out, Dobson escaped further damage when Fosse threw out White attempting to steal, Cowens popped out and Otis grounded out.

  Patek went 2-for-4 and McRae 2-for-3 in the Royals' 11-hit attack.

  Carty led the Cleveland offense, going 2-for-4.

  In the grand scheme of things, this win didn't greatly help the Royals' cause, as at this point they led the AL West by eight games. But the way they won it was a further illustration that they and especially Brett were a team to be reckoned with. Winning a game with a walk-off steal was something special.

  "As 1976 was before the age of the internet and SportsCenter, only a fortunate few actually got to see the remarkable play," Larson wrote. "Less fortunate still were those who left the stadium two innings earlier trying to beat the traffic."

  Brett's grand entrance into the spotlight came at the end of the season when he won the American League batting title in a controversial finish over teammate McRae. Then people really began to take notice when he hit a game-tying three-run homer in the eighth inning of the deciding Game 5 of the AL Championship Series.

  Alas, the Royals came up short in that game when Chris Chambliss hit a homer leading off the bottom of the ninth off Littell to give the New York Yankees a 7-6 win and their first pennant since 1964.

  But as it turns out, the Royals and Brett were just getting started. Three straight division titles, 1976 through 1978, then a pennant in 1980 and finally a World Series title in 1985. And lots of Brett magic along the way.

Sources:

Play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1976/B08170KCA1976.htm and https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-17-1976-george-brett-steals-win-royals

Team stolen base records:  https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_stba2.shtml  

Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project and Games Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.