1985 Kansas City Royals season

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The 1985 Kansas City Royals season ended with the Royals' first world championship win over their intrastate rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Royals won the Western Division of the American League for the second consecutive season and the sixth time in ten years. The team improved their record to 91-71 on the strength of their pitching, led by Bret Saberhagen's Cy Young Award-winning performance.

In the playoffs, the Royals went on to win the American League Championship Series for just the second time and the World Series for the first time. Both series were won in seven games after losing three of the first four games. The championship series against the Cardinals was forever remembered by umpires' blow calls: one that cost the Royals a run in the 4th, and a "blown call" in Game Six by umpire Don Denkinger that let the Royals tie the game.

The team was managed by Dick Howser in his fourth and final full season with the Royals.

Contents 1 Offense 2 Pitching 3 Regular season 3.1 All-Stars 4 Postseason 4.1 ALCS 4.2 World Series 4.3 Free agents 5 Awards and honors 6 Records and milestones 6.1 Batting 6.2 Pitching 7 Roster 8 Transactions 9 Trivia 10 References

[edit] Offense

Team leaders

Statistic		Name
Runs	108	George Brett
Hits	184	George Brett
Doubles	38	George Brett
Triples	21	#Willie Wilson
Home runs	36	³Steve Balboni
Runs batted in	112	George Brett
Stolen bases	43	Willie Wilson
Batting average	.335	²George Brett
Notes: #Led the majors ¹Led league ²Second place ³Third place †Tied

[edit] Pitching

Team leaders

Statistic		Name
Games pitched	84	#Dan Quisenberry
Innings pitched	237.2	Charlie Leibrandt
Wins	20	²Bret Saberhagen
Strikeouts	158	Bret Saberhagen
Complete games	10	Bret Saberhagen
Shutouts	3	Danny Jackson & Charlie Leibrandt
Saves	37	¹Dan Quisenberry
Earned run average	2.69	²Charlie Leibrandt
Notes: #Led the majors ¹Led league ²Second place ³Third place †Tied

Still rehabilitating from a tendon injury in 1983, Dennis Leonard remained out for most of the year—pitching just two innings of relief in September.

[edit] Regular season

American League West final standings

Rank	Club	Wins	Losses	Win %	GB
1st	Kansas City Royals	91	71	.562	—
2nd	California Angels	90	72	.556	1.0
3rd	Chicago White Sox	85	77	.525	6.0
4th	Minnesota Twins	77	85	.475	14.0
4th	Oakland Athletics	77	85	.475	14.0
6th	Seattle Mariners	74	88	.457	17.0
7th	Texas Rangers	62	99	.385	28.5

The Royals opened the season at home on Monday, April 8, in a three-game series versus the Toronto Blue Jays. In his second straight opening day start, Bud Black faced off against the Blue Jay's Dave Stieb and allowed only a single earned run on four hits as the Royals won 2-1. Stieb held the Royals scoreless for 6⅔ innings before giving up the game winning runs on a double by Willie Wilson. Black exited the game in the eighth inning with two outs after giving up a single and a walk. Dan Quisenberry closed out the game for his first save of the new season. The attendance of 41,086 was the highest of any home opener and wasn't exceeded until the 2005 season. It was also the second highest of any of the Royals' regular season home games in 1985.

The Seattle Mariners had the strongest start in the division—winning their first six games at home by sweeping the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins. But the Mariners quickly faded into sixth place as they lost twelve of their next thirteen games. After their losses in Seattle, the Athletics returned home to win seven of their next nine games, and on April 21 were in a three-way tie for first with the Mariners and the California Angels. However, a seven-game losing streak at the end of April pushed them down into sixth place on May 1 and five games below the Angels. At the end of April the Royals had a record of 11-8 (.579), but they had fallen two games behind the Angels who had finished the month with a six-game winning streak and had a 14-7 record.

The Royals began the month of May by losing seven of their first eight games, culminating in a 11-3 loss on May 11 at home to the New York Yankees. The team was three games below .500, in fourth place and 5½ games behind the Angels. Three days and three wins later, with a record of 15-15, the Royals would not drop below .500 at any time during the remainder of the season. (But they would have a .500 record as late as July 10 when they were 41-41.) With two 6-game winning streaks, the team won thirteen of their next seventeen games to enter a first place tie with the Angels on May 29, with a record of 25-19. This stretch of games was highlighted by three complete game shutouts pitched by Brett Saberhagen, Bud Black, and Charlie Leibrandt in which they allowed only a combined 8 hits and 4 walks. And despite being on the road, from May 15 through May 17, the three starters each threw a complete game and allowed a combined two earned runs (a 0.67 ERA), 14 hits, and just one walk.

The Royals struggled to make headway in the divisional race through June and into late July. Between May 30 and July 21 they were 21-25 and fell to 7½ games behind the Angels. With New York arriving in Kansas City to start a six-game home series on Monday, July 22, the Royals began a seven-game winning streak which was the longest in the season to that point. Dan Quisenberry picked up his 19th, 20th, and 21st saves as the Royals swept the Yankees, and he put in relief appearances in three of the next four games—picking up two more saves. On July 29, the Angels' lead had shrunk to 2½ games. They would remain there through September 1 as the Royals were 16-14 during that period and the Angels were 17-15.

The eight-game winning streak (all at home) between September 2 and September 8 was the longest of the season for the Royals. The streak included three games in extra innings. After winning five of their next seven games, the Royals achieved a 2½ game lead over the Angels on September 15. However, the Mariners who had given them trouble earlier in the year—winning five of their six previous contests—shut out the Royals twice in a four-game sweep in Kansas City, dropping the Royals into a tie for first place on September 19. Winning just four of their next nine games, the Royals dropped a game behind the Angels on September 29.

After being swept at home in three games by the Twins and with only seven games remaining in the regular season, the Royals faced a four-game series at home versus the Angels. On September 30 the Royals won the first game 3-1 with Saberhagen pitching a complete game and giving up just one run on a home run by Doug DeCinces. Saberhagen collected ten strikeouts in the game and allowed only seven batters to reach first base. The Angels claimed the following game on October 1 by the score of 4-2 with Mike Witt pitching. The Royals won the third game on October 2 with Black pitching a complete game shut out and allowing only five batters to reach first base. Three of the four runs scored by the Royals came in the bottom of the first inning with no outs as George Brett hit an inside-the-park home run to center field with two runners on base. The final game of the series on October 3 was won 4-1 by the Royals with Quisenberry recording the final out of the game and his 36th save of the season. Starting pitcher Danny Jackson had given up just one run in 8⅔ innings despite allowing 11 hits. The Royals' runs came on three home runs by Frank White, Steve Balboni, and Brett. With the win, the Royals had a one game lead on the Angels.

The Royals hosted the Athletics for the final three games of the season while the Angels traveled to Arlington Stadium to battle the Rangers. On October 4, the Royals defeated the Athletics by the score of 4-2, and the Angels were shut out 6-0 by the Rangers' starting pitcher Dave Schmidt. This gave the Royals a two game lead and assured them of at least a tie for first. The division championship was claimed in a dramatic fashion on the following day as the Royals come from behind to defeat the Athletics in ten innings by the score of 5-4. The final game of the season on October 6 was a loss, and the Royals finished the season with a record of 91-71 (.562).

[edit] All-Stars

• Dick Howser, coach
• George Brett, 3B

[edit] Postseason

[edit] ALCS

Main article: 1985 American League Championship Series

[edit] World Series

Main article: 1985 World Series

With the St. Louis Cardinals defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the National League Championship Series, the 1985 World Series was destined to become one of the most memorable series for the cross-state rivals. It was popularly known as the Show-Me Series (Missouri is "the Show-Me State") and the I-70 Series.

As they had done in the ALCS, the Royals lost three of their first four games with the Cardinals. The key game in the Royals' comeback was Game 6. Facing elimination, the Royals trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, before rallying to score two runs and win. In what has been called "one of the most controversial and famous plays in Series history",^[1] Jorge Orta led off the bottom of the ninth with a ground ball to Cardinal first baseman Jack Clark, who flipped the ball to pitcher Todd Worrell covering first. First base umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe, but television replays later showed that Worrell had beaten him to the base. The call shifted momentum of the Series to the Royals and following the tension and frustration of Game 6, the Cardinals came undone in Game 7. The Royals' Bret Saberhagen pitched a five-hit shutout, allowing the Royals to win 11-0 and clinch the franchise's first World Series title.

[edit] Free agents

After the season these players became free agents:

• Dane Iorg, signed with the San Diego Padres
• Lynn Jones, re-signed
• Hal McRae, re-signed
• Jamie Quirk, re-signed

[edit] Awards and honors

Cy Young Award 

Bret Saberhagen

Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award 

Dan Quisenberry

ALCS MVP 

George Brett

Gold Glove Award 

Third base—George Brett

Silver Slugger Award 

Third base—George Brett

Executive of the Year 

General Manager John Schuerholz

[edit] Records and milestones

[edit] Batting

Triples

• Willie Wilson set the Royals single season record with 21 triples.

Home runs

• Steve Balboni set the Royals single season record with 36 home runs.

Strikeouts

• Steve Balboni set the Royals single season record with 166 strikeouts.

Batting average

• George Brett set the Royals single season record with a .335 batting average.

[edit] Pitching

Games pitched

• Dan Quisenberry set the Royals single season record with 84 games pitched and finished the season with 444 on the all-time Royals list, passing Paul Splittorff (with 429) for first place.

Saves

• Dan Quisenberry, first on the all-time Royals list, finishes the season with 217.

[edit] Roster

Players on the active roster with prior number of seasons in the major leagues and seasons with the Royals ('R' indicates rookie):

Pitchers 27 Joe Beckwith, 5/1 40 Bud Black, 4/3 (SP) 26 Steve Farr, 1/0 * 41 Tony Ferreira, R 23 Mark Gubicza, 1/1 (SP) 32 Larry Gura, 15/9 * 38 Mark Huismann, 2/2 25 Danny Jackson, 2/2 (SP) 17 Mike Jones, 3/3 30 Mike LaCoss, 7/0 37 Charlie Leibrandt, 5/1 (SP) 22 Dennis Leonard, 10/10 29 Dan Quisenberry, 6/6 (CL) 31 Bret Saberhagen, 1/1 (SP) Catchers  9 Jamie Quirk, 10/7  8 Jim Sundberg, 11/0 (s-C) 12 John Wathan, 9/9

Infielders 45 Steve Balboni, 4/1 (s-1B)  1 Buddy Biancalana, 3/3  5 George Brett, 12/12 (s-3B)  2 Onix Concepcion, 5/5 (s-SS) 61 Bob Hegman, R  4 Greg Pryor, 8/3 16 Jim Scranton, 1/1 20 Frank White, 12/12 (s-2B) Outfielders  9 Dane Iorg, 8/1 35 Lynn Jones, 6/1 36 Dave Leeper, 1/1 28 Omar Moreno, 10/0 * 24 Darryl Motley, 3/3 (s-RF) 15 Pat Sheridan, 3/3 (s-RF) 21 Lonnie Smith, 7/0 * (s-LF)  6 Willie Wilson, 9/9 (s-CF) Designated hitters 11 Hal McRae, 16/12 (s-DH)  3 Jorge Orta, 13/1 (s-DH)

Coaching staff 10 Dick Howser (manager) -- Gary Blaylock (pitching) -- Mike Ferraro (third base) -- Jose Martinez -- Lee May (batting) -- Jim Schaffer

[edit] Transactions

• January 7: In a trade with the Montreal Expos, received minor-leaguers Mike Kinnunen and Ken Baker for U.L. Washington.
• January 18: As part of a four-team trade, the Royals sent Don Slaught to the Texas Rangers and Frank Wills to the New York Mets, and they received Jim Sundberg from the Milwaukee Brewers.
• February 19: Signed Mike LaCoss as a free agent.
• February 25: Signed Jamie Quirk as a free agent after being released by the Cleveland Indians.
• May 9: Signed Steve Farr as a free agent after being released by the Cleveland Indians.
• May 17: In a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, received Lonnie Smith for minor-leaguer John Morris.
• May 18: Released Larry Gura. He later signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs.
• September 3: Signed Omar Moreno as a free agent after being released by the New York Yankees.
• November 6: Released Mike LaCoss. He later signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.
• November 15: Released Omar Moreno. He later signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.

[edit] Trivia

• At the age of 39, Hal McRae was 6th oldest player in the American League and 14th oldest overall; the oldest player was Phil Niekro (age 46).

[edit] References

• 1985 Kansas City Royals Statistics and Roster. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.

Notes:

1. ^ Bad Call Gives Royals New Life. MLB.com (October 26, 1985). Retrieved on January 10, 2007.

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