Game 7 of the 1985 World Series

Improbable teams have won the World Series, but none has come back from such improbable odds as the 1985 Royals.

After coming back from a 3-games-to-1 deficit against the St. Louis Cardinals — and following the same scenario against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series — the Royals seemed to hit Game 7 with an unbeatable attitude. "That's usually what happens when you tie [the series] up," said Royals Hall of Fame second baseman Frank White. "You have to hope that your ace is better than their ace for Game 7."

Indeed, as he'd been in most of his outings that year, Royals ace Bret Saberhagen was better than the other team's ace. In this case it was John Tudor. Saberhagen held the Cardinals to five hits and no runs. The Royals, on the other hand, turned in their most lopsided win of 1985 as they won 11–0.

In many ways right fielder Darryl Motley, who batted .364 in the 1985 World Series, symbolized the beginning and the end of the Royals' victory in Game 7. In the second inning after belting a foul ball down the left-field line and missing a two-run home run by a few feet, Motley got nearly the same pitch from Tudor. Motley didn't miss the second time. That dinger ignited the Royals' scoring binge. "I was trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark," Motley said. "My agent told me before the game that if I did something special, I'd remember it the rest of my life. That home run was a special moment for me."

Motley was expecting the pitch. After the Cardinals showed the Royals mainly off-speed pitches throughout the series, leadoff hitter Willie Wilson quickly picked up on a pattern by Tudor. Realizing that Tudor threw back-to-back fastballs and then a change-up, Wilson gave Motley a heads up. "Tudor did that to every batter before Motley and, sure enough, he did it to Mot," Wilson said, laughing. "But Mot still doesn't give me credit for him hitting the home run."

Then there was the final out of the game and the series. As Wilson jogged toward his spot in center field for the ninth inning, he made a prediction to Motley. With the final outcome a foregone conclusion, Wilson proudly told Motley that he, Wilson, would be catching the final out, sealing the Royals' victory. Motley, though, told him this would be the one time he beat the fleet-footed Wilson to the ball.

With two outs St. Louis' Andy Van Slyke drove a ball toward right-center field. As Motley foretold Wilson, he charged over, camped under the ball, and clasped it tightly in his glove as the celebration began. "I got there first, but I could hear Willie coming," Motley said, laughing. "He was too late. I caught it and I still have the ball."

Between the two-run homer and final out, there were plenty of fireworks, and that's not even including the Royals' scoring barrage. After Tudor walked in a run in the third inning, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog went to his bullpen. On the way to the clubhouse, Tudor, who hadn't been taken out of game that early all season, punched an electrical fan in the dugout. He cut his hand on the blade and had to go to a hospital for stitches.

Already leading 5–0 the Royals broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth with six runs. During the inning Joaquin Andujar, who won 21 games that season, was called on as the Cardinals' fifth pitcher of the game. He got into an argument with home-plate umpire Don Denkinger over balls and strikes.

Herzog, still fuming from Denkinger's controversial call in Game 6, went out to defend his pitcher. In the heat of the moment, Herzog reminded Denkinger of Game 6. "I told him, `We wouldn't even be here tonight if you hadn't blown that call last night,'" Herzog said. Denkinger, as Herzog walked away, fired a response: "You wouldn't be here either if your team was hitting." Denkinger had a point. Kansas City's pitching staff held St. Louis to 13 runs and a .185 batting average during the seven-game series. But Herzog heard enough and went back for more. Denkinger tossed Herzog a few moments later.

After Andujar's next pitch to Jim Sundberg — which was called a ball — the pitcher showed his disgust. Denkinger pointed him toward the clubhouse, kicking him out of the game. After going after Denkinger with a level of vehemence not far below George Brett in the Pine Tar Game, Andujar eventually left the game but not before taking a bat to a toilet and a sink. By the time the inning ended, the Royals were up 11–0.

Although the Cardinals were arguing, they had very little fight left. As the ninth inning began, broadcaster Denny Matthews began a countdown with each out, culminating with the most famous call in Royals history, that final Van Slyke at-bat.

High fly ball ...

Motley going back ...

To the track ...

No outs to go!

The Royals have won the 1985 World Series!

Saberhagen, who won 20 games that season, cruised to a complete-game, five-hit shutout. He received World Series MVP honors after winning two games and sporting a staggering 0.50 ERA. "Looking back on my career, the Cy Young awards and the World Series MVP are nice, but to win the World Series is the thing I'll always cherish," Saberhagen said. "Every guy on the team has to go out and play good baseball in order to win the World Series. We had that in '85."

1985 Roster

Pitchers

Joe Beckwith
Bud Black
Mark Gubicza
Larry Gura
Danny Jackson
Mike Jones
Mike LaCoss
Charlie Leibrandt
Dan Quisenberry
Bret Saberhagen

Catchers
Jim Sundberg
John Wathan

Infielders
Steve Balboni
Buddy Biancalana
George Brett
Onix Concepcion
Greg Pryor
Frank White

Outfielders
Dane Iorg
Lynn Jones
Hal McRae
Darryl Motley
Jorge Orta
Pat Sheridan
Lonnie Smith
Willie Wilson

Brett Steps Up in Game 3

Among the general truths in baseball, there's this one: a position player can't dominate a game and lead his team to a win. A pitcher can throw a perfect game and overwhelm his opponent. A non-pitcher, though? No. There are too many factors. Defensively, he might have a chance to record only a few outs. Offensively, he'll likely get only three or four at-bats.

Someone forgot to tell George Brett all of that.

In the 1985 American League playoffs, the Royals looked as if they were going face another playoff disappointment, a similar fate as 1984. And 1978. And 1977. And 1976. Taking a 91–71 record into the postseason, the Royals headed north of the border to face the AL East champion Toronto Blue Jays, who had won a league-best 99 games. For the first time, the league championship series would be best of seven instead of best of five. In another first Toronto was hosting a postseason series.

The Blue Jays weren't hospitable hosts. They didn't have any problems with Charlie Leibrandt and the Royals in Game 1, winning 6–1. After taking a 2–0 lead in the third inning of Game 2, the Royals needed a run in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 4–4. Then after taking a 5–4 lead in the top of the 10th, the always reliable Dan Quisenberry couldn't hold the one-run lead in the bottom of the inning, and the Blue Jays took a two-games-to-none lead with a 6–5 victory.

Game 3 would be in Kansas City on Friday, October 11. Cue No. 5, George Brett.

In the third game, Brett went 4-for-4 with two homers and a double and he scored four of the club's six runs, including the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth. Defensively, he played a great game — highlighted by one of the best plays of his career. Brett backhanded a grounder by Lloyd Moseby and threw out Damaso Garcia at home plate. "You won't see a better play in baseball," manager Dick Howser said. "You can't do better than that. But he's done that all year both offensively and defensively." Joe McGuff wrote in The Kansas City Star on October 12: "If you were there, you saw a performance that will become a part of baseball's postseason lore along with Don Larsen's perfect World Series game, Babe Ruth's called-shot home run, and Reggie Jackson's three home runs in the sixth game of the 1977 Series."

Although the Royals lost the next game and still had to battle back from a three-games-to-one deficit against Toronto, things likely would've worked out differently had they not won Game 3 behind Brett. "George literally willed the Royals to win that game," said broadcaster Denny Matthews. "That was the biggest game of George's career and the most important in Royals history. If we don't win Game 3, we still wouldn't have a World Series championship."

Mr. K

There's never been a more unlikely owner in sports. And with all due respect to the team across the parking lot, there's never been one who has done so much for Kansas City. After Charlie Finley jilted Kansas City and headed for Oakland with the Athletics, a group of local businessmen, plus Joe McGuff and Ernie Mehl, longtime sportswriters and editors at The Kansas City Star, convinced Major League Baseball owners that Kansas City needed an expansion team. The only condition was that they had to secure an owner.

After much searching that owner came in the gift of longtime Kansas Citian and pharmaceutical billionaire Ewing Kauffman. He was everything Finley wasn't. Conservative in his thinking and loved by his employees and others around him, Kauffman loved Kansas City and felt the city needed a major league team. After further encouragement from close friends and his wife, Kauffman decided to step up to the plate for the city. "[Businessmen] like Earl Smith and Les Milgram really got the thing rolling, and then Ewing's wife, Muriel, put him over the edge," said Denny Matthews, who is one of a handful of people who has been with the club since its first season. "Muriel was the last one to kick him in the seat of the pants and say, `Let's do it.'"

It's funny, but Kauffman didn't really understand the game of baseball. In fact he wasn't much of a sports fan at all. Sure, he played golf occasionally and gin (if you count cards as a sport) most days at the Kansas City Club. But he did care deeply about two things: guarding his investment and winning. Both served Kansas City well.

In the mid-1960s, Kauffman started the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to help develop — in essence — entrepreneurs and to improve the education for youths. Among his ventures was Project Choice. In 1988 it gave students at Westport High School, Kauffman's alma mater, a chance to attend college on Kauffman's dime — if they graduated high school and stayed out of trouble. The program, which covered students from 1988–92, saw 767 students graduate from high school on time. (Almost 1,400 students signed up for the program.) Of those 767 students, 709 attended college.

As far as the Royals, Kauffman, being a wise and competitive businessman, hired baseball people to run the organization. Possibly the best in the bunch was Cedric Tallis, who had been the California Angels' vice president in charge of operations. Kauffman first met Tallis during a trip to California when Kauffman was considering purchasing the Royals. He then hired Tallis as the Royals executive vice president/general manager on January 16, 1968. Tallis quickly assembled a staff that included Lou Gorman, Joe Burke, Herk Robinson, and John Schuerholz. The latter thought twice about leaving the Baltimore Orioles organization, where he had spent two years with Gorman, and taking the Royals job because he pictured Kansas City as "cowboy hats and horses attached to hitching posts in front of the general store." Schuerholz said: "I'm not so sure anyone knew what an excellent franchise they were creating. The organization was consistently dedicated and focused on doing things as best as they could be done in the baseball industry ... Mr. K gets most of the credit for [it] because he set such high standards."

Kauffman's competitive spirit and leadership helped the Royals become one of the most respected franchises in baseball as Kansas City won six division titles, two American League pennants, and a World Series championship. The club's success was part good baseball people — and a large part Kauffman's savvy and compassion. "In 1977, which was our best team, we went through a stretch when we lost five of six games," Royals Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Leonard said. "After a doubleheader against Chicago, Mr. Kauffman came into the clubhouse, which he didn't do very often. I thought he was going to be chewing us out. Instead Mr. Kauffman gave us all about $250 and said, `Take your wife out, relax, and have a good time.' We started to go on a streak during August and September where we won 10 in a row in mid-August, swapped a couple, and then won 16 in a row, lost one, and then won eight in a row. So we won 24 out of 25 games. It was phenomenal."

Kauffman's generosity could be seen in his financial dealings. "I went and talked to him one time about a contract, and he basically said to me, `Fred, go down to spring training, and I'll take care of [the contract],'" Royals Hall of Fame shortstop Fred Patek said. "I went to Florida without a contract, but two or three days later, general manager Cedric Tallis showed me the contract. I couldn't believe it. It was about three times more than what Mr. Kauffman and I had discussed."

Although he was considered a hands-off owner, Kauffman, according to former general manager Herk Robinson, was involved with the club until the end of his life. Robinson recalls a dinner for the Royals Lancers on July 31, 1993. "We had been trying to get Stan Belinda from the Pirates," Robinson said. "Our scouts weren't terribly high on him, but [manager] Hal McRae was, and [pitching coach] Bruce Kison was. I thought if we could get Belinda, we could win the division. Some of our people didn't want to give up the players we gave up [Dan Miceli and Jon Leiber], which was a lot. I called [Kauffman] at home at 9:00, and he answered the phone. He seemed so happy and at peace. He asked how the ballgame was going, asked what Lancers were there, and told me to tell them hello. After I told him about the trade, he said, `Sure, if you want to do that, let's do it.' I got a call at 5:00 the next morning, telling me that he'd passed away. That was the final deal that we made together."

On August 1, 1993, Mr. K lost a battle with cancer at the age of 76. His legacy, however, on the field and in the community lives on today through both the Royals and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. "Mr. K was a special man, not only to Kansas City but to me," said Frank White, who is the greatest success story from the Royals Baseball Academy, one of Kauffman's baseball innovations. "If it hadn't been for Mr. Kauffman, I wouldn't have been in baseball. He was very community-minded and he knew that Kansas City needed baseball, so he worked hard to purchase the new franchise. He stuck with the club during the lean times and he rewarded players with a chance to play championship baseball and the city of Kansas City to see championship baseball."

Getting Past the Yankees ... Finally!

John Wathan isn't the most emotional guy in the world. There was one time, though, when he couldn't contain himself. Specifically, October 10, 1980.

The Royals had just capped off an incredible season by sweeping their most heated rival, the New York Yankees, in the American League Championship Series and were headed to the World Series for the first time in club history. "I ran off the field with tears in my eyes," said Wathan, who was playing right field when closer Dan Quisenberry struck out Willie Randolph for the final out. "It was such an unbelievable feeling. They had our wives down below to protect them from the fans, so we all hugged them on our way into the clubhouse for the celebration. It was the coolest thing ever."

That entire season was the "coolest" one in the Royals' 12-year existence. By 1980 after a fantastic stretch of three trips to the postseason in four years, the Royals expected to reach the playoffs. The '80 season, though, didn't start off so well. The club started off slowly before taking over first place in the division in late May. The Royals became a dominant team and stayed atop the standings for the rest of the season, enjoying a double-digit lead for most of the last two months.