Kansas City Times - October 16, 1980
Phillies win, put Royals down two games
By Mike Fish, A Member of the Sports Staff
PHILADELPHIA — They had Steve Carlton on the ropes.
Any inning the Royals were certain to deliver the knockout punch. Carlton, the best pitcher the Philadelphia Phillies have, couldn’t flirt with danger forever.
Sure enough, Carlton wasn’t around at the end. But it was Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry who was battered and beaten in Game 2 of the 1980 World Series.
Quisenberry, who has saved the Royals most of the season, didn't save them Wednesday. The Phillies scored four eighth-inning runs and went on to a 6-4 come-from-behind victory, leaving the Royals behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven Series.
Carlton surrendered 10 hits and six walks through eight innings, but he was the winning pitcher. The Series resumes at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Royals Stadium with right-handers Rich Gale and Dick Ruthven scheduled to pitch.
Quisenberry, who had 33 saves during the regular season and another save and a victory in the American League Championship Series, entered the game in the seventh after the Royals had scored three runs for a 4-2 lead. Starter Larry Gura had pitched six strong innings, but Manager Jim Frey wanted his late-inning specialist to finish off the Phillies.
It was the other way around. The Phillies took care of Quisenberry.
“He's been the guy that’s been doing it all year," Frey said. "We had the right man in there; it just didn't work out.
"Gura came off the mound after that inning (sixth). He said he just didn’t feel he had his fastball anymore. He said he was getting tired. He more or less told me he was running out of gas."
The late Philadelphia rally started when Quisenberry walked Bob Boone. Pinch-hitter Del Unser drove the next delivery into the left-center field gap, scoring Boone and bringing the Phillies within a run.
Pete Rose bounced a ground ball to the right side of the infield, advancing Unser to third. Bake McBride bounced a chopper over the head of second baseman Frank White and Game 2 was tied.
Mike Schmidt followed with a double to the base of the right-field wall, scoring the go-ahead run. Keith Moreland drove in the final run with a single.
"I don't think anybody thought we wouldn’t scare them (Royals) to death," said Schmidt. "We’ve just got a great deal of confidence. This is why teams win championships.
“We knew we were gonna win. Steve (Carlton) at his worst will keep us in every ballgame he pitches.”
Once again, the Phillies had bounced back. The Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 1, but Philadelphia came back.
"Not too shabby" said Phils' Manager Dallas Green. It looked like one of the wins was gonna be a loss for a while. But we got some key hits and fought back.
"That's been Philly baseball all season long. We got some juices flowing in that dugout right now. Everybody is involved."
The story in Game 2 was not only that Quisenberry couldn't hold a 2-run lead. The Royals did not take advantage of a sub-par performance by Carlton. Ron Reed pitched the ninth inning.
“Lefty (Carlton) was struggling," Green admitted. “But Lefty was struggling because of the baseballs. The baseballs tonight were as slick as any I've ever seen.
"I’m gonna make a complaint to the commissioner. We gotta get these balls rubbed up. Boonie came in (the dugout) one time and told me, ‘These things are as slick as ice.’
"Lefty has to have the feel of the slider and he didn’t have it tonight.”
Arnos Otis who killed, two scoring opportunities in the first three innings, got the Royals started in the sixth when he singled and scored Kansas City's first run.
Otis put the Royals ahead 3-2 with a 2-run double in the seventh and he scored Kansu City’s final run on John Wathan’s sacrifice fly.
It was some personal revenge for Otls, who could think back to the 1969 season when — in his only previous confrontation with Carlton — he struck out four times. Otls, then a Met, was the final strikeout victim of the game in which Carlton fanned a career-high 19.0
And while Otis was warming up, Carlton was staggering. He walked three Royals before Otis stepped to the plate in the seventh.
Meanwhile, Gura was a model of perfection through the first four innings. He retired the first 13 Phillies in order before rookie Moreland reached on an Infield single with one out in the fifth. Shortstop U.L. Washington made a brilliant effort on Moreland's ground ball into the hole, fielding and releasing the ball in midair. But the throw was not in time and Gura's early good fortune was soon ended.
Garry Maddox followed with a double to left, putting runners at second and third, and Manny Trillo hit a sacrifice fly to Jose Cardenal in right for the game's first run. Larry Bowa put the Phillies ahead, 2-0, scoring Maddox from third on a single.
Meanwhile Carlton was able to work his way out of trouble. The Royals stranded a pair of runners in the first two innings, and eight through the first six innings.
Phillies’ bench blasts Royals out of Game 2
By Gib Twyman, A Member of the Sports Staff
PHILADELPHIA – The bench was a bomb. The Phillies dropped it on the Royals and exploded from behind for a 6-4 victory that left Kansas City's chances of evening up the 1980 World Series in rubble.
An old warhorse named Del Unser opened the door to a 4-run eighth inning with his trademark, the pressure pinch hit. After Bake McBride batted in the tying run and Mike Schmidt put the Phillies ahead, Keith Moreland, a little-used rookie, sealed the Royals' second straight defeat with his second single of the night.
It is an old story for Unser, who has made the major league rounds from the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, Phillies, New York Mets, Montreal Expos and Phillies again. The 35-year-old utility man set a major league record last year when he hit home runs in three consecutive pinch-hit appearances. He also had another pinch homer in 1979 and has seven for his career.
"This scratches a 30-year itch for me,” said Unser, whose father Al also was a major league player but never played in the World Series. "With my father being in baseball, I got interested in it about 5 years old. I’ve thought about getting into a World Series game like this ever since."
Unser came up to hit for Lonnie Smith after catcher Bob Boone worked reliever Dan Quisenberry for a leadoff walk. Kansas City had put together a 3-run seventh to take a 4-2 lead. But when Unser doubled up the left-center field alley to score Boone, the gates were open.
Pete Rose bounced out to first, moving Unser to third. McBride chopped a bouncer over a drawn-in infield into right field to make it 4-4. Schmidt cracked a double off the base of the fence in right center. That made it 5-4. But Steve Carlton, the Phils' starter, had thrown 158 pitches to that point and was constantly behind hitters. A 1-run lead didn't look that safe.
That’s when Moreland, a former linebacker and safety for the University of Texas football team in 1973-74, blitzed the Royals with a single to left that scored Schmidt.
"I had faced Quisenberry the last two years in the American Association when he was with Omaha and I was with Oklahoma City," said Moreland, who hit .302 with 20 homers and 100 runs batted in before being called up to the Phils. "I don’t really remember having that much success against him. All I know is that it was an advantage to know the way his ball moved. I was able to tell some of the guys what to expect. I also knew more or less what it would look like. It helped me when I came up against him.
"He's a good pitcher. I could tell back then he was going to make it to the majors. But I also knew his ball tails away from a left-hander and in on a right-hander. I was ready for it.”
Schmidt turned attention away from his hit and credited Unser with having the most telling hit in the inning.
"The guy has been just unreal all year," Schmidt said. "It’s unbelievable how many times Del Unser comes through in a situation like that. He has been a very, very big man on this team."
"I was fortunate," said Unser. "I had an idea of what to do against a pitcher like Quisenberry. I had a hit to beat Pittsburgh off Kent Tekulve (another submarine pitcher) on a pitch just exactly like that earlier this year. You can’t try to pull a guy like that. I just tried to loop it into left. It’s just as easy when you're trying to do that to top it and bounce out to shortstop. Lucky for us, it didn’t happen that way tonight."
"Unser. Moreland. (John) Vukovich, (Greg) Gross, they've been doing the job for a long time for us off the bench," Schmidt said. “For the first time, we're seeing the meaning of being a 25-man team."
Spotlight misses Maddox
Centerfielder is overlooked despite 5 Gold Gloves
By Gib Twyman, A Member of the Sports Staff
PHILADELPHIA – Outside, a firestorm of activity swept across the Veterans Stadium playing field. Players bustled through their pre-game workouts. They braced for the crush of humanity from the media caving in ardfohd them.
Garry Maddox sat by himself in the runway to the Philadelphia Phillies' dressing room. The only thing keeping him company was his thoughts. It is symbolic of Maddox's role with the Phillies.
Pete Rose is the heart of the National league champions, pumping the lifeblood of his unquenchable enthusiasm through the team. Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski command attention with the bulging of muscles and contrails left by baseballs blasted out of the park.
Tug McGraw wears Snoopy T-shirts with “I Want to Make You Happy'' on them, drawing listeners like an only grandchild. Dallas Green fastens steely eyes on those he meets and wows them with his impersonation of Marshal Matt Dillon as manager the leatherlung who cleaned up the Dodge City of major-league baseball and led than to the pennant.
Garry Maddox sits silently by himself, completely at peace, and plays the best centerfield in the National League — some say the best in baseball.
And, while attention has focused on nearly everything else connected with the Phillies, Maddox is also the man who has driven in what were eventually the winning runs in the Phils’ last two games.
Those games gave Philadelphia the pennant in the fifth and deciding game of the NL Championship Series against Houston and earned a 1-0 advantage in the World Series over Kansas City.
Maddox’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning Tuesday night in Game 1 drove home Philly's seventh run. It proved enough for a 7-6 victory over the Royals. It also got lost in the shuffle.
“I’m primarily noted for my defense,'' said Maddox. “That usually doesn't draw as much attention as other phases of the game. I think I'm just as happy this way. I don’t think I would fare as well if I was always in the spotlight and had to do a lot of interviews.
"That's why I would rather sit in here in the runway before the game. I can collect my thoughts. It's hard for you to even swing a bat or bend your body over to stretch a little out there. In here I can get loose.’’
There’s not the slightest bitterness or disappointment when he talks. Only softness.
“I guess I’m just as happy the way I am because baseball is not the most important thing to me. It’s very, very important of course. But my faith in God and my family— these things are No 1. They are very strong in my life right now and they make me feel satisfied, no matter what happens in baseball.''
Not that he doesn't care. Even though he has won five Gold Gloves, he also has been a good enough hitter to carry a .293 lifetime average through 7½ seasons with San Francisco and Philadelphia.
But this year, he never got untracked at the plate. He hit .259, although he drove in 73 runs, third best on the club.
"During spring training is where it really began," Maddox said. “They tried to trade me. They told me they were going to trade me. I hadn't signed my contract yet. So, I never seemed to get in a groove. It seemed to affect me totally.
"Normally I have the ability to adjust to a given style of pitcher. I might stand one way for a breaking ball pitcher, another way for a sinker, fast ball pitcher. But once I got turned around, it didn’t matter what I did because nothing worked.”
Still, he hit 300 in the National League playoffs. He had six hits in 20 trips and drove in three runs. It was his double to left-center that drove in the winner in the 10th inning of the final game for an 8-7 victory over the Astros.
"It just happened to be me the last two games,” he said. "There were a whole lot of other rune that had to count before mine meant anything."
His defensive style is pretty. He takes long loping strides that make him seem to materialize, rather than run, at the gaps. He seems to get a jump almost before the crack of the bat. Partly, he said he owes that to his childhood hero, Willie Mays.
“I was one of those fortunate few who actually got to play with his hero. He was still in San Francisco when I first came up with the team. He would teach you things.
"One of the things he taught me was to keep one foot in front of the other when I get set in the outfield. You notice how in the infield, they get set with their feet together and, in order to react to the ball they sort of lunge forward with the pitch? Well, in the outfield you’ve got more time. With one foot in front, I don't have to lunge forward with the pitch. I just lean. That way, if my weight is shifted the wrong way, it’s easier to recover. That's why it seems I get such a good jump."
If he seems overshadowed by his more ballyhooed teammates, his talents are more than well known among members of the team.
Let Pete Rose, the eloquent team spokesman, tell it:
“Maddox? He s the Secretary of Defense. He's like a windshield wiper out there. He just goes back and forth and cleans up everything in his path.
"See, I played with Cesar Geronimo at Cincy and he was a great one, too. He had probably a little better arm than Garry. But covering ground? Maddox is the best.
“He doesn't draw attention because he’s quiet. He's not like me and (Larry) Bowa and some of the guys who enjoy hearing ourselves talk. But if you speak to Garry Maddox, you find out he's very intelligent. He's a gentleman. And a ballplayer. A very very good ballplayer."
0-2 Royals hanging on by fingertips
The Morning Line by Mike McKenzie
PHILADELPHIA – How does Larry Gura get the first 13 batters out and the Royals lose? How does Dan Quisenberry come in with a 4-2 lead, no men on base, and the Royals lose?
Answer: Because they both lost their "stuff" and got clubbed by the free-swinging Phillies. Because Gura "ran out of gas… couldn’t pop the fastball," according to Royals Manager Jim Frey. Because Quisenberry didn't have his usual "quick sinker" pitch, rather what he called a "poop sinker, instead of one that goes ‘pop.'"
How can George Brett play ailing, remove himself from the game and the Royals win? How can Willie Wilson strike out the first three times at bat, five of his first eight in the World Series and the Royals win?
Answer: They can’t. Or haven't, so far.
Because the Royals are not taking charge when in charge, they trail the Phillies two games to none as the Series moves to Kansas City for the weekend. At the rate the Royals are blowing leads, it will be a short weekend. Or, in another way, a long winter.
In each of these games, the Royals had the Phillies on the window ledge of a high rise with nothing but hard concrete below. But the Phillies clung by their fingertips when behind 4-0 and 4-2 — and pulled themselves upright.
Now the Royals feel their grip slipping.
The Phillies have had a field day with the best pitchers the Royals have to offer. Dennis Leonard and Gura with 38 regular season victories between them, both were clobbered when apparently in control. Quisenberry had an unusually terrible outing Wednesday, suffering through a 4-run eighth inning filled with line drives to the outfield walls.
But there are more subtle factors, too.
Brett, playing with hemorrhoidal pain, said he felt if he had normal running ability, he could have stopped two hits off Gura that led to a two-run inning. "I just couldn't move, so I had to play everybody shallow at third," Brett said. I couldn't help the club."
Brett passed that information to Frey, and Frey removed his star third baseman from the game in the sixth inning — even though Brett was due to bat the next time up for the Royals. Darrell Porter drew an analogy about having Brett missing. "On ‘Gunsmoke,' whenever Matt Dillon left town, everything went wrong. But Matt always comes back and saves the day.”
After some surgical procedures today in St Luke's Hospital, Brett hopes to be able to play Friday for Game 3.
Then there is Wilson. In Game 1, he struck out twice and went hitless in five at-bats. In Game 2, he was three of Steve Carlton's 10 strikeouts.
Then, when Wilson worked Carlton for one of six walks leading off the seventh inning, the Royals clicked. With Wilson on base, they’re a different team. His speed dominates many situations.
For example: After Dave Chalk walked, he was picked off first. However the Phillies made no play on Chalk at second base, preferring to make sure Wilson didn't score. Then Carlton, working carefully to Hal McRae with first base empty, gave up a walk. That set up Amos Otis’ bases-loaded double.
Typical Royals baseball and Wilson showed the way. And he singled in the eighth for his first hit in 10 trips to the plate.
"I think that stuff about keeping me off the bases to beat us is overexaggerated,” said Wilson "I'm not the whole team.”
But the Phillies say that strategy is at the top of their priority list on the scouting reports. And pitcher Larry Christenson said a diet of fastballs — in and out — is putting Wilson away on late swings.
"I wasn’t seeing the ball good," Wilson said. “They could have rolled the ball up there and I would have missed. I was swinging too hard. I was off mechanically. I had to relax. But it’s hard to relax. I can feel what ’s wrong, but it's hard to correct. Mainly because of the oh-fer (0-for-8).
“I feel pressure trying to get on, get something started. I’m trying to do more maybe than 1 should be. You read so much about it, see so much about it on TV. You try not to think about it, not to show emotion. But what you feel inside is what turns your head or your stomach.”
Said Otis: “If Willie had the two games I had, I believe we would have won both. He's our spark plug. He shook them up tonight.”
Otis hit a 2-run home run the first game, and a single and double Wednesday to knock in two runs and score one.
Several Royals mentioned returning home as good medicine for what ails them.
'It'll be good to hear friendly fans who use nice four-letter words,” said Quisenberry. It’ll be nice to hear a drawl. I try to be rational. We’ve lost two before, and won four before. My whole job is to change momentum, so I don’t see why we can’t again."
"If we win one, they 'll be scared to death,” said Frey. “If we win two people will say we’re in the driver’s seat.”
Getting into that seat hasn't been a problem the first two nights of this Series. Staying there has.
“Like MacArthur, we shall return," said Otis. “There’s only two nails in our coffin. It takes four to seal it."
Carlton has largest strikeout total in World Series game since 1973
By The Associated Press
Clutch pitching by Steve Carlton and a tight defense, elements which lifted Philadelphia to a 2-0 lead in the World Series, accounted for several new entries in the Series record book.
By striking out 10 Royals Carlton, became the first man to record double strikeout figures in a Series game since Tom Seaver of the New York Mets struck out 12 Oakland A s in the third game of the 1973 Series. St Louis' Bob Gibson struck out 17 Detroit Tigers in 1968 for the Series record.
Carlton had waited a long time between Series starts: 13 years and six days to be exact. On October 9, 1967, Carlton made his only other World Series start, pitching for St Louis in the fifth game against Boston. Carlton gave up only three hits in six innings of work then, but lost the game as Ken Harrelson's RBI tingle led to a 3-1 Red Sox victory. Carlton appeared in two games for the Cards in the 1968 Series, both in relief.
The Phillies removed themselves from trouble by pulling off four double plays, tying a Series record for a 9-inning game. The 1973 Oakland A’s were the last team to make four double plays in one game.
The Royals had two of their own for a combined total of six on the night, tying another Series mark. The New York Yankees (three) and Brooklyn Dodgers (three) combined for six double plays in the second game of the 1955 Series.
Larry Bowa tied a record for Series shortstops by starting three of the Phillies’ four double plays.
Pain forces Brett out in the sixth
By Mike McKenzie, A Member of the Sports Staff
PHILADELPHIA – In the first inning, he bounced a single up the middle. In the third, he singled to center. In the fifth, he walked on four pitches. And in the sixth he took himself out of the game.
George Brett, suffering from hemorrhoids, had had enough. He was in pain. He couldn’t run. He felt he was letting down his Royals teammates. He realized he could no longer play Wednesday night in what turned out to be a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the World Series.
“I couldn't help the club,” said Brett afterward, adding that he was going to check into St Luke’s Hospital when the Royals arrive in Kansas City this morning. "I’ve experienced worse pain. It's just that I couldn’t run.
"I’m going to have some surgical procedure tomorrow, probably lancing. Dr Meyer (Royals’ team doctor) says a day helps a lot and I expect to be ready Friday.
“It's kind of an embarrassing subject. Any of you who haven't had these, don't get them. I think I could have fielded the two big hits (a single by Keith Moreland and a double by Garry Maddox in the fifth inning).”
Brett’s condition was bad enough Wednesday that it dominated World Series conversation.
How do you talk about a man’s hemorrhoids? About the only thing worse than suffering from the “thrombosed vein,” as Dr Meyer termed the ailment, is talking about it.
That's why Brett the center of the baseball universe this summer, kept quiet about his condition that developed during the playoffs in New York last weekend. That’s why euphemisms such as "personal medical problem" were forwarded by Royals officials when word filtered throughout World Series headquarters that Brett might not play Wednesday night. That’s why his hotel phone was disconnected and a security guard would allow no visitors in Brett 's wing of the team hotel.
At the ballpark, after Brett was in the lineup after a day of heat treatment while lying on his belly, Tug McGraw of the Phillies said: "George is in the toughest position of anyone in the world. He had to announce to the nation he has hemorrhoids.”
During pre-game batting practice, the media swarmed around the batting cage — 350 reporters in search of insight.
Manager Jim Frey was encircled and he patiently repeated over and over: His superstar third baseman was afflicted with, pause, hemorrhoids.
It was all-important because it was Brett, the center of attention all season long. For once, Brett wished he wasn’t. He timed his arrival from the clubhouse to the batting practice cage for 6:44 p.m. Practice started at 6:45. The only utterance he had for reporters was, "I feel great."
He didn’t, though. In a World Series, you don’t take yourself out of a game when your bat could very well mean the difference between victory and defeat.
But Brett did just that.
Callers have a cure for George’s ailment
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – It seems as though every Kansu City Royals fan who ever had hemorrhoids wants to help George Brett.
A Royals' spokesman said office personnel Wednesday were flooded with calls with people offering cures. Kansas City radio and television stations also received numerous offers of help for the stricken third baseman.
Brett, in extreme pain after Tuesday night’s World Series opener against Philadelphia, was a questionable starter for Wednesday night's game. The decision to let him play was made about two hours before game time after doctors and a Philadelphia proctologist spent the day treating the All-Star third baseman. Brett left the game in the sixth inning.
Royals' fans, including doctors and "little old ladies," had come forth with cures.
"A doctor asked us to call George and tell him to put Listerine on it,” said a Royals' spokesman in Kansas City. "Some woman said he should eat orange peels and that would do it. Several people suggested hot packs."
One caller from Ogden, Utah, asked The Kansas City Times to get word to Brett that he eat whole wheat. The problem would be cured within 24 hours, the caller promised.
Porter pondered death of friend during Game 1
By Mike Fish, A Member of the Sports Staff
PHILADELPHIA – Darrell Porter was surrounded by members of the media Wednesday night before the second game of the World Series. There were questions to be again asked about his controversial play in Game 1.
Why didn't he slide into home plate in the third inning? Porter, trying to score from second on Clint Hurdle's single to left, went in standing up. Why?
The press wanted an answer. Was this a case of professional courtesy? Why not knock Phillie catcher Bob Boone into the upper deck? After all this was the World Series opener, and Porter had killed the Royals’ chances for a big inning.
The Royals' catcher answered the major question (he stumbled rounding third, broke his stride and was unable to slide without risking an injury) and others but while the questions rolled on, Porter had more pressing concerns. His longtime friend, Jerry Pemberton, died last Thursday from injuries sustained in an auto crash.
Pemberton was a friend, a beer-drinking buddy. The two had sworn off booze and drugs at about the same time last spring.
"I’m pretty shook up” Porter said. "I don't think it affected my play at all (in Game 1). I felt real sad, because I'd lost a real good friend.
"I kept thinking how much he loved baseball and how much he loved to watch me play. I just went out there (Tuesday night) with the idea of playing well for Jerry.”
Ironically, it was Pemberton who had often helped Porter during sever al crises.
"He tried to talk to me when I was struggling real bad," Porter said. “I went on a streak last winter where I was doing a lot of Quaaludes and things like that. He was real concerned about me and he kept telling me how worried he was for me.
"He didn’t want me to hurt myself or kill myself. Then, when I went to the rehabilitation center (The Meadows in Wickenburg, Ariz.), I got a letter from him saying how proud he was of me and that he was on the wagon.
“He came by and saw me on the last trip to Chicago. Back then, he had had a couple of months of sobriety. It seemed to me like he was doing well. But I don't know what happened, why he did it."
The Royals' catcher admits he is scared. It could have been him. He could have been partying with his friend, been driving home and could have lost control of his car.
"From what I understand he just went out one night and was partying,” Porter said. “I guess he just went a little bit too far and tried to drive. I think he passed out at the wheel and he hit a tree.
“It ended up killing him like it does a lot of people. It scares me sure… It makes me realize a whole lot how really close I was to death. I could have been there — dead.
"The things that I’ve done, as messed up as I've been, it could have been very likely that I’d have killed myself or something.”
Porter was not in the starting lineup Wednesday night. However, he discounted talk he was benched because of his failure to slide in the 7-6 loss the night before.
Manager Jim Frey said he wanted to give the right-handed John Wathan a start against the Phillies' Steve Carlton. Porter, however, did play against all three of the Yankees left-handed starters — Ron Guidry, Rudy May, and Tommy John — in the American League Championship Series.
"I would like to play,” Porter said. “I'm a little disappointed, but what can I say to the man (Frey).
“He's done a good job managing the team, gotten us this far, so you can’t argue. But I thought I might be playing."
Kansas City and its Royals – a love affair
By Jeffrey R. Coplon, A Member of the Staff
They say everyone loves a winner, but the bond between Kansas City and its baseball Royals goes deeper than that. It precedes the pennant-winning team of 1980 and seems sure to outlive the final box score of this World Series.
The Royals aren't paid as highly as many teams. And George Brett aside, they lack the national glamour of the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers, or their Series foes from Philadelphia.
But in their steady team play, their perseverance over the frustrations of seasons past, the Royals have won admirers from throughout Mid-America. No pretense, no mugging for the cameras here — just the down-to-earth application of some rarefied skills.
And this season, as the Royals became true champions, their fans shared their triumph deeply, as if members of the same extended family. No longer could Kansas City be ignored by the Eastern Establishment.
From all walks of life, fans here are rallying 'round the flag of one of their own — and will doubtless continue to do so at Royals Stadium Friday night.
For these champs belong to the people.
¶ ¶ ¶
"I’m proud for the Royals. I feel real good," said Glenn Slamon, a security guard at the City Bank at 18th and Grand.
“They've worked so hard, year in and year out, so they deserved it. When you work hard, you like to reap the benefit of your labors once in a while."
Slamon was still basking in last week's stunning sweep of the Yankees and in the luxurious feeling that every victory from here on is gravy.
When Brett homered in the playoff clincher last Friday, the guard recalled fondly, “The whole house just went in an uproar. I almost knocked the Coke I had off the corner of my ashtray. I turned around to say something to my wife and she was screaming, ‘They did it! They did it!' "
¶ ¶ ¶
Until the Royals dropped the Series opener, 7-6, Tuesday night many were predicting another Kansas City sweep, with a few armchair experts conceding one game to Philadelphia lefty Steve Carlton, arguably the finest pitcher in the game.
But the sense throughout town was that Dame Fortune was smiling on Mid-America this October, and that she was wearing blue and white.
"Pete Rose is so hateful and mean. I think he's arrogant," declared Rosalie Masucci, as she sat outside her brother’s fruit stand in Market Square. “Our team is more humble and nicer as far as people goes."
As much as Ms. Masucci loves the Royals, she concedes her baseball concentration may wander.
After all, she said, “It's just a game. I’m glad they won, but I’m not gonna go crazy. If we were having world peace, then I’d go crazy.”
One person took this attitude one step further.
“I'll probably watch the games, but that’s not really on my mind,” said Delores Lewis, a counselor at the Welfare Rights office near the Wayne Miner housing project.
"I know poor people won’t benefit. People are spending money for tickets who can't pay their utility bills. It's just like this election. No matter which way it goes, people are going to pay for it.”
But the office receptionist, a devout Christian named Leotha Pinkney, is including the home team in her prayers.
"I'm saying, ‘Let them win, if it's Thy will,'” she said. "Charity begins at home and spreads abroad, meaning that I go for the Royals. I'm pushing for all of them to do their thing.”
¶ ¶ ¶
A World Series is more democratic than any election; anyone with the price of a beer is automatically registered.
Take Mike, for example, an old man who sat on the sidewalk on Missouri Avenue, alone with a few flies and the "' setting sun, outside the bar where he'd watch the game that night.
“I think the Royals are going to win. Yes I do," he said, proud as the father of a bride, as he drew his green winter jacket closer around him.
What did he think of the playoffs?
“It was hard for me to believe because they lost so many before.”
How did he celebrate7
"I went out and got in a bar."
¶ ¶ ¶
But for most people in Kansa City, there remained the reassurance that their team had fought nobly this year, even if it failed to win another game.
“In essence, I'm for anything that makes people happy," Leotha Pinkney said. "If they lose, I’ll say they may win next year."
Series pregame show to include look at KC
NBC television cameras will focus on Kansas City and its growth from frontier town to metropolitan area for a 1½ to 2-minute pregame show Saturday.
Neil Stempleman, a spokesman for the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Kansas City, said NBC officials told him that cameras would begin to roll today or Friday for the presentation. He said the stockyards Penn Valley Park, Westport, the Kansas City skyline and the Country Club Plaza might be some of the things the crew would film, along with shots to show how the area’s industries have grown.
McGraw works hard at job – and often
Notes From Staff and AP Reports
As long as the Philadelphia Phillies keep him busy, Tug McGraw will continue to brighten the locker room with his corny one-liners. And busy is just what the reliever has been.
The affable McGraw hasn’t missed a game in either the playoffs or World Series. Tuesday night, he came into Game l of the Series in the eighth inning and short-circuited a would-be Royals’ rally. And against the Astros, who took the Phillies to the full five games, McGraw was on the mound in each game.
Even "Humble" Howard Cosell was afraid McGraw might burn himself out.
"Well my strongest desire is to prove Cosell wrong," McGraw said. “Howard doesn't know the game. He said by going to the well too often, we would lose.
"I condition myself to go this way. The job out of the pen is to be called at any time. My job is to do that."…
When he homered in the second inning of Game 1, Amos Otis became the 18th player in World Series history to hit a home run in his first at-bat…
For a brief moment Tuesday night, Game 1 had not six umpires, but seven. The odd man on the field was Barry Bremen, the 33-year-old sports impostor who has gained national attention by sneaking into a host of major sporting events.
Dressed in full umpire attire, Bremen easily made his way on to the field for the playing of the National Anthem.
"This was always my fantasy… getting into a World Series game," he said. "I was a little apprehensive about it because, let's face it, the World Series is a big event.”
Bremen first came to national attention in 1978 when he participated in pre-game warmups for the National Basketball Association All-Star game. He scrounged a Kansas City Kings warm-up suit, bought new sneakers and jumped into the end of the line as the West squad came out of its locker room…
The Series rumor mill has Cardinals' general manager Whitey Herzog, the Royals' former manager, naming a new manager in the next day or two.
Herzog said he had considered doing both jobs — general manager and manager — but had ruled it out. He has also reportedly talked to both the Padres and Mets about trading for a relief pitcher. One of the pitchers the Cards are supposedly interested in is the Padres' Rollie Fingers…
Philadelphia fans set an unofficial World Series record Tuesday night, purchasing 32,800 game programs. That buying spree left Phillies’ officials frantic about programs for Game 2.
“We figured 32,800 would be enough for the first two games combined," said Tom Hudson, the Phils' advertising director. He said the company that printed the programs had agreed to rush an additional 42,000 copies to Philadelphia for Game 2. Previously, the highest single-game sale was 18,000 programs for Game 1 of the 1978 Series in Los Angeles…
Until this week, it was a violation of Postal Service regulations for employees to wear T-shirts advertising a commercial product — technically a Royals’ T-shirt. When Wichita workers, who happened to be Royals' fans, filed a union grievance, Kansas City's regional office changed the policy, allowing T-shirts for "bona-fide athletic teams"…
Pete Rose of the Phillies wasn't dodging pitches Tuesday night in Game 1 and it paid off. "I knew it wouldn't hurt," admitted Rose after Dennis Leonard’s 1-and-2 pitch hit him in the right calf. "So many guys did so many things that I don’t think my getting hit by a pitch had that much to do with it. It got me out of a hole and got him into it." Leonard walked the next batter, Mike Schmidt, and Bake McBride homered to put the Phils ahead for good…
Jim Condon has had a ringside seat at both World Series games, but so far he’s missed the action. Condon, a lieutenant in the Phillies’ part-time security force, missed Otis' home run in Game 1. He missed McBride's homer. "I wait 30 years for the World Series,” he said, “and I'm running around chasing drunks and kids.”…
Royals Stadium gets rewired for World Series
By Liz Reardon, A Member of the Staff
Jim Rende steadied a ladder as he worked among the bright orange seats of Royals Stadium Wednesday afternoon. A steady rain fell outside, but Rende was relatively oblivious to the weather as he made last-minute adjustments to electrical wiring in a press area in the stands.
Rende, an electrician for Boese Hilburn Electric Service Co., was among many workers at the stadium Wednesday making sure everything is ready when the World Series moves to Kansas City Friday night.
The electrician and a co-worker prepared wiring for typewriters used by sports writers from newspapers across the country. The press area on the plaza reserve level provides additional facilities for reporters, Rende said.
Several telephones were already in place Wednesday, some with names of newspapers, such as The Providence Journal and The St Petersburg Times taped to their receivers.
Television technicians wearing heavy equipment belts and carrying coils of wire also were on hand, sometimes gathering to talk near the entrance to the Royals administrative offices.
A switchboard operator answered a phone that rang throughout the afternoon. “No sir," she told more than one caller. "I'm sorry. All World Series tickets have been sold.”
Near one of the concession stands on the plaza reserve level, Dave Gash unloaded 16-gallon kegs of Hamm's Beer from a forklift.
Gash, an employee of Tri-County Products, a Raytown beer distributorship, said his firm will bring about 940 kegs to help fans enjoy the game. Gash said he'd delivered about 476 kegs Wednesday.
The Royals are going to take the Series, Gash vowed, nodding his head and brushing back the hair beneath a Royals' baseball cap. And he added a prediction about the fans. "They’ll drink more beer if they (the Royals) do,” he laughed.
Last-minute work at the stadium will continue today, workers said, as the Royals return to Kansas City.
“Is this going to be wilder than the playoffs?" one staff member asked late Wednesday.
“Easily,” another answered with a laugh.
Early Neilsen returns show Royals-Phillies is a hit on TV
Commentary By Steve Nicely, TV Critic
Don't believe it when someone says the nation is not as interested in the Royals as it is in those tradition-steeped teams from the big population centers in New York and California. The overnight Nielsen ratings for the first World Series game Tuesday night proved the contrary.
There was a 23 percent increase in audience size in New York over the audience that watched the first game of the Pittsburgh-Baltimore World Series last year. Chicago and Los Angeles audience shares were both 11 percent larger for the first game this year than for the 1979 opener.
Projecting the three audience to the nation as a whole and making other statistical allowances, the NBC research department estimates 68 million viewers in the United States watched the Royals and Phillies Tuesday night. If the estimate is verified when national ratings returns are tallied, the audience was the fourth largest to watch a World Series telecast.
NBC spokesmen attribute the increased interest to three primary factors: George Brett, two playoff contests that were unusually exciting, and Pete Rose. Brett, whether he likes it or not, has become a modern version of a matinee idol.
Last week when Brett visited Bryant Gumbel In NBC studios In New York, a witness said Brett had women employees “swooning and thanking the producer for bringing Brett in. He gets that kind of reaction. He could be America's next great sex symbol.”
Predictions were made that Brett would get movie offers after the Series, and would get more national television commercial offers than he can comfortably handle. He is wall on the road to becoming another Joe Namath. The merchandising of Brett has just begun, whether he knows it or not. He will get offers he can’t refuse.
Everybody loves him — the press, the public, the fens. He is accessible. He never turns down interviews and always signs autographs. He is a personification of the macho, sexy, red-blooded American hero.
The television networks are quick to recognize those essential and rare ingredients and are quick to capitalize upon them. Every telecast features an interview with Brett. The cameras are attracted to “George Brett for President” bumper stickers.
When NBC arrives in Kansas City, the network will air pre-game features about the cultural differences between the home towns of both teams. Don’t be surprised if Kansas City becomes known as George Brett City.
Rose,, the Phillies' first baseman is the other side of the same coin. But Rose has a more rough-and-tumble image than Brett, and appeals more to men. He is a player who eats, sleeps and lives baseball. NBC sportscaster Joe Garagiola described Rose Tuesday as having a 39-year-old body and a 16-year-old attitude.
Rose probably doesn't get many movie offers, but his energetic presence in TV commercials has been familiar to the national audience for several years.
The New York viewership increase was twice those of Chicago and Los Angeles. It may be attributed to the stunning defeat of the Yankees by the Royals in the playoffs, and the natural interest in an adversary to see what happens next. Fifty-one percent of the total New York audience was tu the Tuesday game compared to 45 percent last year.
In Chicago, 43 percent of the audience was watching compared to 39 percent last year. The Los Angeles audience represented the highest of the three with 58 percent watching the game, up from 54 percent last year.
The 68 million viewers estimated by NBC ranks fourth in size after 76 million for a game in 1975, 74 million in 1978 and 71 million in 1979. Each of the four audience sizes roughly represent one-third of the population of the United States.
The final Nielsen results will not be known until late next month.
Keeping the media happy is a full-time job
Series a busy time for Royals’ public relations director
By Mark Fraser, A Member of the Staff
Even during the World Series, Dean Vogelaar's job means he’s in the background.
“Ninety percent of the time it’s my job to keep the other guys on the air or in the newspaper," said Vogelaar, public relations director for the Royals.
But by Wednesday Vogelaar had become an actor in his own right in one of the sporting world's yearly dramas – the World Series. Radio announcers and newspaper reporters were on the telephone for a definitive pronouncement on George Brett's physical condition. Other media members sought him out in the hope of obtaining more press credentials. “It’s wild," Vogelaar said, "but it sure beats the alternative.”
The alternative would be a 1980 World Series without the Royals. And while it's the job of others to make sure the Royals play well, Vogelaar is working to make sure the organization makes a good showing in off-field activities as well. With only one full day left before the Kansas City homestand of the Series, the public relations director thinks matters are in control.
Vogelaar, 33, joined the team full-time as traveling secretary and assistant to the public relations director in 1974. The next year he became director.
Vogelaar emphasizes he has plenty of help accommodating the press and grooming the image the Royals present to the public. About half a dozen other persons help handle matters ranging from the stadium's public address system and scoreboard to player appearances.
It is an occupation Vogelaar has pursued since he was a college sophomore.
"I’ve been involved in sports since I was in fifth grade" said Vogelaar, who has retained his football player build. “But I knew my athletic ability wouldn't allow me to go beyond Central Missouri State."
Vogelaar eventually became’ the school’s sports information director and then he joined the Royals full time shortly after helping coordinate the 1973 All-Star Game, played at Royals Stadium.
Vogelaar’s job makes him the Royals staff member most accessible to the media. But in the case of a trade that is not final, Vogelaar said he can work just as hard at keeping its confidential terms confidential as a reporter can work at ferreting out the developments.
And in the World Series, at least, the organization cannot grant the full run of privileges to all 600 members of the press who will descend on the stadium Friday.
“Everyone would like to be in the front row of the press box," Vogelaar said. "There simply isn't the room. When you explain how it is, most people understand."
Vogelaar also must deal with irate fans who might be angry for a myriad of reasons.
"We feel our first responsibility is to the people of Kansas City and the ticket holders," Vogelaar said "If you have to make a decision on who's going to be mad at you, I'd rather it be someone a long ways away.”
Vogelaar’s success must be measured in part by what the people he works with think of him, and at least one broadcaster is impressed.
"He’s one of the best," said Bob Meyers, a production manager for NBC who is here representing the network for the Series.
Although Vogelaar is harried these days, he said he would not be eager to trade his position with the Royals for a more sedate setting.
"I don't want to be a public relations director where nothing is happening," he said.
One man gave up, yes, gave up, Series tickets
State senator called back for session
By John Wolfe, Jefferson City Correspondent
JEFFERSON CITY Mo – It was enough to make a die-hard Royals’ fan cry.
State Sen. Harry Wiggins of Kansas City, who has been known to wear a Royals' warmup jacket in tm Senate chamber, gave up a box seat at the second game of the World Series in Philadelphia Wednesday night.
The reason? So he could take his seat in the Senate chamber in Jefferson City.
Wiggins attended the first game of the Series Tuesday night and had another ticket for Wednesday’s game. But on his way to Philadelphia Tuesday night he made a fatal mistake: He called his office to check for messages.
That’s when his secretary gave him the bad news.
It turned out that, last week, when the Senate passed a new version of the state’s hazardous waste law, the members forgot to include a technicality that would allow the bill to take effect immediately.
As a result they were scheduled to reconvene Wednesday night at 5 p.m. and Wiggins was expected to be there.
Not wanting to smudge his perfect attendance record, Wiggins decided duty came before pleasure. He went on to Philadelphia for the first game, but flew back to Jefferson City Wednesday to attend the Senate session.
“It was very disappointing,’’ Wiggins said. “On Tuesday night I had a seat on the third-base line that was so close to George Brett I could almost reach out and touch him."
Wiggins said he bought the hard-to-get tickets from the Royals who received an allotment for the games in Philadelphia.
A colleague, Democratic Sen. Edwin Dirck of St. Louis County, expressed sympathy for Wiggins.
“It was above and beyond the call of duty," Dirck said. “He probably won't even have to run for re-election the next time."
Wiggins is up for re-election to his Senate seat in 1982.
Pilots told to buzz off at stadium
FAA issues rules to keep airplanes away from Series
By Paul Vitello, A Member of the Staff
When the World Series takes over Kansas City this weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to-make sure the blue yonder over Royals Stadium is anything but wild.
A special flight restriction was issued Wednesday to discourage airborne rubber-necking over the stadium which will be packed with more than 40000 people for each Series game.
"Events like these have a tendency to draw well… let's call them curiosity seekers," said George Short, an FAA controller coordinating the plan. "We just want to prevent anything happening that might endanger 40,000 lives."
Any pilots who want to fly over the stadium during the games must contact Short (at 243-3850) to get permission. Priority is being given to the news media and anyone with official business, such as any major league baseball organization. Beyond that, said Short, others will be allowed — including commercial banner fliers — as far as safety permits.
For the rest of the private flying public, which according to an FAA spokesman numbers several thousand in the Kansas City area, the temporary rules will forbid any aircraft from getting within two miles of the stadium — or closer than 3,500 feet from the ground.
The rules will be in effect from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
"The Goodyear blimp will be there, of course," said FAA spokesman Jon Ellis. “And that is awfully big and awfully slow."
The blimp will carry a crew of 21, plus NBC cameramen and technicians covering the World Series below, according to a Goodyear spokesman.
The FAA considers the temporary flight restriction routine, though this "routine" only seems to happen when something historic is in progress.
"We do this for every World Series and every Super Bowl," said Ellis. "The last time we did it was when Mount St Helens erupted. You'd be surprised how many airplanes flew around that mountain to get a look.
"Something about ‘the big event' draws these people."
World Series news delays some papers
The Kansas City Times apologizes to readers who might have received their papers late this morning. Deadlines were extended Wednesday evening to bring you the most up-to-date coverage of the World Series game.