2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the last Whitey Herzog team to reach the World Series, and an occasional look at the men on that St. Louis Cardinals’ roster.

Tom Lawless. 1987 World Series Game 4.  Today they are synonymous to St Louis Cardinals fans.  Before that October night in St Louis, however, one could be forgiven for not knowing who Tom Lawless was.  After the fourth inning on 21 October, however, everyone knew his name.

Tom Lawless is known for two things.  He hit a 3-run HR off Frank Viola in the fourth inning of Game 4, snapping a 1-1 tie and propelling the Cardinals to a 7-2 win.  Well, he’s known for the home run AND the bat flip that accompanied his trot down the first base line.  The other thing?  He was the player Cincinnati sent to Montreal when they got Pete Rose back in 1984.  In fact, he is the only player ever traded for Pete Rose.

Lawless grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University, Erie, graduating in 1978.  He was drafted in the 17th round by the Cincinnati Reds, and progressed through their minor league system.  He started the 1982 season in Indianapolis with the Reds AAA club, and got called up on 15 July.  Johnny Bench had gone down with an injury, causing regular second baseman Ron Oester to shift to third and leaving a whole at second.  Yes – HOF catcher Johnny Bench played third base in 1982.  Lawless had hit a little bit in the minor leagues, and was hitting .308/.378/.410 when called up; but he struggled to hit major league pitching, posting only a .212/.253/.248 line in 176 plate appearances.

It was the most plate appearances he would ever get in one season at the major league level.

Tom returned to the minors for the entire 1983 season, and seemingly recovered his stroke, hitting .279/.350/.440.  He broke camp in 1984 with the Reds, but continued to struggle to hit.  He appeared in 43 games for the Reds, and after the trade for 11 with Montreal.  He started training camp in 1985 with the Expos, but in late march was traded to St Louis as the player to be named later in the Mickey Mahler deal.

Lawless stuck around the Cardinals for 4 years, never got more than 80 plate appearances in a season, never appeared in more than 50 games.  Still, he won 2 NL pennants in that 4-year span.  Lawless’ best season at the plate for the Cardinals was 1986; he went 11-for-39 for the defending NL champs.  He appeared in both World Series.  First, in 1985, he came on as a pinch-runner in that infamous Game 6 (eighth inning).  Then, in 1987, he started all 3 games Viola pitched.  His lone hit was that home run.

The most ridiculous thing about that home run was the fact that Lawless hit it.  In his entire major league career to that point, he had hit exactly one home run, three years earlier.  Yes Frank Viola had given up 24 regular season home runs to right-handed hitters, but Lawless was not a home run threat.  The event sent a charge through the hometown crowd and shifted the series momentum to St Louis.  The Cardinals would carry that momentum to a 3-2 series lead.

Lawless spent one more year with the Cardinals, then part of two seasons with Toronto, before retiring in 1990.  He has worked as a coach since, and is currently a roving minor league instructor for the Houston Astros.  His playing career may not have become the stuff of legend, but the 0-1 pitch he drove into the left field seats at Busch on October 21, 1987 certainly was.

One year.

It really doesn’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things. One calendar year is not that impressive. Life spans are much greater, careers span much longer, and most websites will simply see it as a stepping stone.

In all reality, this site sees it as the same. A stepping stone. The plans for this site go far beyond one year and we honestly plan to be around for a very long time. All in all, though, this first year was a pretty good one.

While we had been working for over a week to get the site ready for public eyes, it was on July 11th of 2010 that I wrote the post that welcomed the world to our little corner of the internet. I-70 Baseball was open for business and our writers started bringing their voice to a grand stage.

We provided opinions and coverage of the two teams, the Royals and Cardinals, over the last half of the 2010 season. During the off-season, we would provide some unique coverage of the two franchises. We would open our own “Hall Of Legends” and induct Whitey Herzog, Dan Quisenberry, Danny Jackson, Reggie Sanders, and Darrel Porter as players that had an impact on both franchises in their careers. We also “retired” the number 20 in honor of Lou Brock and Frank White.

Before the Hall Of Legends would take shape, former editor Matt Kelsey would breathe life into a series of articles dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the World Series that gave this site it’s name.

It was not just the former editor that came up with a series of articles during the off-season, however. Our current editor, Angela Weinhold, penned a history of the St. Louis Cardinals in five year increments in a series titled “The Cardinals In Time” which you can also find in our exclusives area.

Our team of writers has evolved over the year and features many different voices today than it did then. The year ahead promises more in depth coverage from our team of writers, as well as a major expansion of the site’s coverage that will feature many new writers during the season.

All in all, I would like to take the time to thank our readers. Our readership, followers, and attention has grown exponentially over the first year and we hope to grow even further into the future. We hope our readers will continue to enjoy the voices that bring you stories that range from classics, to minor leagues, to the two featured teams themselves.

Here’s to a great first year and many more to come.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Last week, Michael Metzger took us back to Game 7 of the 1987 World Series with his article, The Other Game 7. It was truly an amazing game that had more plot twists than a Dan Brown novel. With the 25th anniversary coverage of the 1985 World Series last month, that leaves just one more Game 7 for the Cardinals in the Whitey Herzog era. That would be October 20, 1982: The Other Other Game 7.

Getting There

Even though they had the best record in the National League East in the strike shortened 1981 season, not everybody was convinced that the St. Louis Cardinals had the pieces in place to win the division in 1982. Cardinals fans were still upset over the sequence of events that brought Darrell Porter to St. Louis and sent long time favorite Ted Simmons to Milwaukee. There were also questions about where the production lost in the Garry Templeton for Ozzie Smith trade was going to come from. We did have Bruce Sutter, Bob Forsch and Joaquin Andujar, but Steve Mura, John Stuper and Dave LaPoint didn’t seem like the back end of a championship rotation. To make things more interesting, nobody on the Cardinals roster had career years, although Bruce Sutter, George Hendrick and Keith Hernandez were certainly very productive.

If there was a surprise, it was Lonnie Smith. He was just what manager Whitey Herzog needed at the top of the order – a good hitter with speed. A catalyst – the archetype of a Whitey Ball player. He would not be enough though, as the final piece fell into place when David Green, recently obtained in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, went down with an injury. A young speedster named Willie McGee was called up to fill in for Green. As Brock had done in June 1964, McGee turbocharged this lineup and transformation to Herzog’s “running rabbits” was complete.

A huge winning streak at the start of the season gave the Cardinals some separation from their chief competition, the Philadelphia Phillies. The two teams would battle all summer for the NL East championship. Another well timed winning streak in September proved to be too much for the Phils, and the Cardinals cruised to their first division title since the league adopted the format in 1969. Step one complete.

There was another roadblock to the date with Game 7 – the Atlanta Braves. The Braves, behind NL MVP Dale Murphy, won the NL West division on the last game of the season. This would be their second trip to the playoffs and were the slight underdog to Herzog’s Cardinals. But in a short series, anything can happen. And it did.

The original Game 1 was interrupted by rain at a most fortunate time for the Cardinals. Trailing 1-0, the game was just a few outs from being an official game before umpires called it. A do-over. In the second Game 1, Bob Forsch cruised to an easy win, throwing a complete game 3 hit shutout in the 7-0 victory. Game 2 was a nail biter and would go down to the wire. Newcomer Darrell Porter proved to be the hero with an important RBI double in the middle of the game, followed by scoring the tying run a few innings later. Ken Oberkfell would send the huge St. Louis crowd home delirious with a walk off single after some well executed small-ball. The series would briefly move to Atlanta as the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in the clincher and never looked back. A sweep of the NL West Champs sent the Cardinals to the World Series.

Meet the Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers were the exact opposite of the St. Louis Cardinals. Where the Cardinals were like a military band marching in precision, the Brewers looked like they just rolled out of a bar at closing time. The Cardinals ran, the Brewers slugged. The Cardinals played excellent defense all around the field. The Brewers slugged. What the two teams had in common were their closers – Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter, but Fingers would not be available for the World Series due to an injury. It was hoped that he would be able to return some time in the series, but that never happened, and the Brewers played with one less pitcher on their roster.

Herzog’s Cardinals were just supposed to be a speed bump on the Brewers path to immortality. When the Brewers opened the series with a 17 hit 10 run attack, it looked like that might be the way the series would go. Mike Caldwell did to the Cardinals what Bob Forsch had just done to the Braves – a demoralizing 3 hit shutout.

The Brewers jumped out to a quick lead in Game 2, but the intrepid Cardinals kept clawing their way back. An 8th inning run proved to be the difference in the game as the Cards tied the series.

Now, off to Milwaukee.

Thanks Ted

Game 3 was the coming out party for Willie McGee. He was a one man assault on the Brew Crew. Not only did he hit 2 home runs on the day, but he robbed Gorman Thomas of one with a Jim Edmonds like catch well above the center field fence. If that wasn’t enough, he made one of the most amazing diving catches, saving another run and preventing a possible rally. As good as McGee was, Andujar was better. He was throwing darts at the Brewers bats, and other than a couple of McGee gems, they weren’t hitting him. Until ex-Cardinal Ted Simmons comes to the plate in the 7th inning and lines the ball off Andujar’s right leg. Andujar had to be helped off the field and by all reports, was done for the series. The Cardinals held on for the win, but the heart and soul of the team just died. Or so we thought.

The next two games would reinforce that belief. The Brewers would get to Bob Forsch and Dave LaPoint in the next two games and take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Stuperman

Game 6 – the first elimination game. It was a cold and rainy night in St. Louis. The temperatures would quickly drop into the 30s – it was just a brutal night for baseball. Whitey Herzog gave the ball to rookie John Stuper, but all hands were on deck in case there was trouble. Through two long rain delays, Stuper was magnificent. He took a 1 hitter into the 9th inning while his teammates chewed up the Brewers bullpen to the tune of a 13-1 laugher. The young rookie right-hander may have just saved the World World Series.

The Other Other Game 7

To everybody’s surprise, Joaquin Andujar was announced as the Cardinals starting pitcher. Just a few days earlier, he had to be helped off the field. We’d last seen him standing on crutches with a huge bandage wrapping his knee. Now he’s standing in front of a sellout crowd at Busch Stadium in the biggest game of the season. His opponent would be former Cardinal, Pete Vukovich, who looked like he had slept in his uniform. Andujar was elegant, Vukovich unkempt. Andujar threw fastballs. Vukovich threw junk. The differences between these two couldn’t be greater.

Watching Andujar warm up, it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t right. He was landing gently, unable to put all of his weight on his right leg. He would throw across his body awkwardly. None of that seemed to matter though as Andujar, pitching on pure adrenaline, retired the first 9 men he faced. On the other side of the diamond, Vukovich was in trouble all night, throwing high pressure pitch after high pressure pitch. One of these two were about to crumble – we just didn’t know which one.

At first it looked to be Andujar. The second time through the order, the Brewers started a rally. Paul Molitor led off the fourth inning with a sharp single to right field. Robin Yount followed that with a slow ground ball to Ken Oberkfell at third base. Molitor was forced at second, but Yount easily beat the throw at first. Andujar was really struggling at this point in the inning. Cecil Cooper then dribbled a single to right field.

The Turning Point

What happens next will determine the winner of the 1982 World Series. On the Cooper single, the speedy Yount tried to take third base. George Hendrick, a vastly underrated defensive player, comes up firing and throws a strike to Ken Oberkfell. Oberkfell does his part by blocking off third base. The throw beats Yount and Oberfell makes the easy tag for the second out of the inning. If you know anything about Joaquin Andujar, you can guess what happens next. That is exactly the kind of play that can get Andujar back into the game, and it does just that. He throws two more pitches in the inning as Ted Simmons pops out. Brewers rally finished – momentum swing in the Cardinals direction.

As if scripted, the Cardinals would finally break through in the bottom of the fourth inning. Just moments after the run saving throw from Hendrick, the bottom of the order gets to Vukovich. A single by Lonnie Smith gives the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, and the hometown crowd is ecstatic. They fail to extend the inning though as Vukovich toughens.

Ben Oglivie would tie the game in the fifth inning with a long long long leadoff home run. Gorman Thomas nearly left the park with a long fly to the warning track that gave Lonnie Smith all sorts of trouble. Two ground balls end the inning without any further damage. Vukovich follows that with his best inning of the game so far, retiring the Cardinals with very little drama.

Andujar would get himself into a world of trouble in the sixth inning. A leadoff double sets up a disastrous sacrifice bunt that Andujar throws away. That allows Jim Gantner to score easily, plus put Paul Molitor into scoring position. A single and sacrifice fly would give the Brewers a 3-1 lead. It would also get the Cardinals bullpen busy. Andujar would close out the inning without any more trouble. There are now just 12 outs remaining and the Cards had a 2 run deficit.

Vukovich’s flirting with danger would finally get the best of him in the bottom of the inning. A one out single by Ozzie Smith followed by a double by Lonnie Smith set up the Cardinals best scoring opportunity of the game. Lefty Bob McClure replaces Vukovich and gets into trouble of his own. He walks pinch hitter Gene Tenace to load the bases. Mike Ramsey then runs for Tenace, putting good speed on the bases. On his 29th birthday, Keith Hernandez singles, scoring the 2 Smith’s. Silent George Hendrick follows that with a single, scoring Ramsey with what would turn out to be the game winning RBI.

With a slim 4-3 lead, Herzog stays with Andujar for the seventh inning, hoping he can get one more inning out of the right-hander. If so, he can turn the game over to Sutter – the best closer in baseball. Doug Bair and Jim Kaat are warming up, just in case. Andujar strikes out the dangerous Gorman Thomas, but the next batter silences the huge crowd. Roy Howell hits a towering shot to left field that totally fools Lonnie Smith. He breaks the wrong direction, turns the wrong way on the warning track, but somehow leaps at the very last second to catch the ball. Smith did absolutely everything wrong in the making that play, except he made the catch. 50,000+ fans in St. Louis exhaled in unison. A single by Charlie Moore sets up the Brewers last chance. Jim Gantner lines an Andujar pitch up the middle, but the “One Mean Dominican” snags it for a brilliant defensive play. He throws a 90 mile per hour strike to Keith Hernandez for the last out in the inning. Andujar knew he was done for the night, and being Andujar, wanted to go out with a flourish. Gantner takes exception to the showmanship and pleasantries were exchanged. Each of the players indicated that the other was #1 in their heart too, or something like that. Home plate umpire Lee Weyer quickly got in between the two players to prevent any unnecessary escalation.

That was the last we would hear out of the Brewers in the 1982 season. The Cards would tack on two insurance runs later in the 8th inning, but it was now Sutter’s game and he did not disappoint. The bearded one would face just six batters and retire them all with nothing leaving the infield. The only Brewer that put up a fight was Gorman Thomas, the last man Sutter would face. He worked the count full and then fouled off a number of pitches. That’s when Sutter would get the big man to swing at an outside fastball and miss.

The sight of Darrell Porter jumping up, throwing away his catchers mask and running out to hug Bruce Sutter is one of the greatest images in Cardinals history. Game 7 of the 1982 World Series was really one for the ages. An unexpected pitching performance from Joaquin Andujar, who was not even supposed to be available. George Hendrick’s run saving throw, and then a couple of innings later, driving in the winning run. And Bruce Sutter being Bruce Sutter.

Welcome back, everybody. After a week and a half of pausing our normal coverage to bring you a special series on the 25th Anniversary of the I-70 World Series, we return to “business as usual” here at the site. Low and behold, while we put everything on hold to bring you some great coverage on the 1985 World Series that gave this very website its name, the Cardinals went and started down the checklist of things that they needed to accomplish prior to Spring Training 2011.

While there will be player personnel changes that will be addressed, trades that are becoming the source of most rumors, and prospects that will realize that they have a legitimate chance to crack the roster, the most important decision that had to be handled first was the decision of who would lead this team. The coaching staff of the Cardinals was addressed over this last week and, in case you missed it, here is the basic rundown of the changes:

Tony LaRussa will return as manager.
The single most debated move of the off-season took place before fans even knew who the participants would be in this year’s World Series. Many fans and experts alike predicted the end of LaRussa’s tenure as manager for the club after the conclusion of his 15th year at the helm. A manager who no doubt is putting together a Hall Of Fame career, many people questioned his effectiveness and the staleness of his message in 2010. Amidst many discussions of who the next manager would be, LaRussa signed a one year deal with a mutual option to return to the franchise.

Dave Duncan is the highest paid Pitching Coach in the game.
On the heels of LaRussa’s decision to return, Dave Duncan signed a deal of his own, signing a two year deal worth $750,000 per year with an option for a third year. It has been rumored that the Cardinals pitching coach wanted to coach for three more years before considering retirement and the current contract will attempt to ensure that he will end his legendary career wearing the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Marty Mason was relieved of his duties as bullpen coach.
Mason was known as one of the most reliable and intelligent bullpen coaches in the game, even being rumored to be considered for future pitching coach positions around the league. However, Mason was also one of the most vocal employees of the organization that disagreed with upper management’s plans for the franchise. He openly shared his opinion on player development and the different coaching mentalities at the various levels of the organization. Ultimately, the franchise showed their level of dedication to the structure of the organization and have promised to replace Mason with someone from within the organization currently.

Mark McGwire, Dave McKay, and Jose Oquendo will all return
The only true question in this trio was Mark McGwire, who had expressed an interest in staying home to help his wife with their newborn triplets. In the long run, it has come out that McGwire simply was not interested in deciding his future without knowing who he would be working for. Shortly after the announcement that LaRussa would continue to lead the club, McGwire agreed to return. Jose Oquendo has been rumored in the past to be considered for management positions around the league, though his name has not surfaced in many of the vacancies this season. Dave McKay was probably the most silent of the entire coaching staff, agreeing to return as the first base coach under Tony LaRussa once again.

The coaching staff is now in place and the Cardinals know who will lead the team into the 2011 season. Now, the true work begins as they attempt to determine who will be on the field and how much it will take to retain the greatest player in the game for the remainder of his career.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Here we are, at the end of our 10-day-long look back at the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals – the only time the two teams have met in postseason play. Over the course of the past week and a half, I-70 Baseball has reminisced, rehashed, recapped and replayed that series game for game.

By now, you know the story: The Cardinals, the clear favorites in the series, won the first two games and split the next two, claiming a seemingly-insurmountable 3-1 series lead. No baseball team had ever come back from 3-1 to win the World Series. The Royals won Game 5 at Busch Stadium, pushing the series back to Kansas City, and forcing a Game 6.

Everyone remembers Game 6 for “The Call,” a controversial but, ultimately, not that critical bad call in the bottom of the ninth (it was quantified by Royals writer Aaron Stilley here, and yesterday, on the 25^th anniversary of Game 6, by Bill Ivie here and Adam Shupe here). Few fans still remember that the Royals were hosed on a call earlier in Game 6 when Frank White was called out on a stolen base attempt. But here was the difference: Royals manager Dick Howser moved on and focused on the rest of the series, while Cardinals skipper Whitey Herzog chose to focus on the bad call and hang the Cardinals’ ultimate loss on it. I’m not saying Whitey Herzog is a bad manager – he’s a former Royal, and a Hall of Famer, for crying out loud. But in that seven-game stretch in 1985, Whitey succumbed to the pressure and was out-managed by Dick Howser.

The Royals, of course, won Game 6, and forced a Game 7.

Many fans say the Cardinals simply rolled over and gave up in Game 7, while others claim the Cards lost because infamous umpire Don Denkinger was behind the plate that game. It’s hard to argue, though, with two facts: first, the Royals’ offense put up 11 runs against Cardinal pitching, led by Hall of Famer George Brett, and second, Royals ace Bret Saberhagen pitched a brilliant complete-game shutout to secure a victory by the score of 11-0.

To this day, the end of Game 7 – Saberhagen and Brett embracing on the pitcher’s mound – is undoubtedly the greatest moment in Kansas City Royals history.

And Royals fans should be proud of that. Some franchises haven’t won a single World Series title, while others won their last long before 1985.

While we should be able to look back with pride at 1985, fans should also be asking: When will we win another one?

(Even fans of the Yankees, a franchise that has won an astounding 27 World Series titles, or more than a fifth of all the World Series trophies ever awarded, ask that question.)

Since 1985, the Royals have taken a long and often heartbreaking journey to rock bottom.

In the late ‘80s, the Royals were a good, and often great, baseball team. They contended for a title every year, and posted a winning record every season except 1986. Then, in the early 1990s, five events occurred, which I believe helped lead to the Royals’ downfall:

1990: Eight-time Gold Glove winner Frank White retires

1990: General manager John Scheurholz leaves, taking his winning tradition to the Atlanta Braves

1991: The team trades two-time Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen to the New York Mets

1993: Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett retires

1993: Team owner Ewing Kauffman dies

The Brett and White retirements are not, in themselves, bad things – both players were at the end of great careers, and keeping them on the roster would have made the team worse. But losing the two most recognizable players in team history weas detrimental to the Royals’ culture. The Royals should have tried to do more to hang on to Scheurholz, and his departure was a major blow to the team. Perhaps Scheurholz doesn’t trade away their best pitcher in a feeble attempt to improve the offense.

The biggest blow of all was Kauffman’s death. Ewing Kauffman wasn’t a perfect owner (he allowed Scheurholz to leave, after all), but he was the heart and soul of the Royals, and the lifeblood of Kansas City. The effect of his death, and the team’s subsequent sale, is immeasurable.

The Royals produced mixed results in the early 1990s, posting winning records in ’91, ’93 and strike-shortened 1994. But after the strike, the Royals completely fell apart.

Since 1994, the Royals have had fifteen (!) losing seasons, including four seasons with 100 or more losses. And since 1994, the Royals have had one winning season.

One.

And that season, 2003, under manager Tony Pena, is largely considered a fluke.

I was born in 1979. Some of my earliest memories are the Royals winning the 1985 World Series, including Saberhagen’s Game 7 gem. By the time I was really old enough to understand what baseball meant, the Royals were on the downhill slide.

For two-thirds of my life, my favorite baseball team has been terrible.

But I still remember fondly the title we won in 1985.

And am I hopeful for the future?

You bet I am.

By many accounts, and not just in Kansas City, the Royals have the best minor league system in all of baseball. We also have a general manager in Dayton Moore who has not had success at the major league level yet, but he is largely responsible for building that farm system.

And under whom did Dayton Moore learn the game? John Scheurholz.

You bet I’m hopeful.

The Royals have some impressive young bats and arms coming up through the system, bats and arms that could make an impact on the big league level as soon as next year, bats and arms that will be in Kansas City in full force by 2012 and 2013, and bats and arms that will continue to come up beyond that.

The Royals are in a position to be the strongest team in the AL Central in a few years.

My team won the World Series in 1985, twenty-five years ago, and since then they have appeared in the postseason a grand total of zero times.

But I have hope. I have all the hope a fan needs. This team is going to be good. In a few years, this team could even be great.

And until then, we’ll always have 1985.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.

The 1985 Cardinals squad was the best Cardinal team Whitey Herzog ever managed. They fell just short, and Herzog would never get within 12 outs of another World Series championship again. Whether Don Denkinger’s call, the subsequent Cardinal meltdown both in that ninth inning and Game 7, the lack of offensive production finally catching up to them (they hit .185/.248/.269 in the series), or some combination of events led to their defeat will continue to be debated.

Although Herzog once described the locker room after that Game 6 as the most despondent one he had ever sat in, the Cardinals would eventually recover from this loss. It would not be in 1986; they finished 3 games under .500. Not that it would have mattered, because in 1986 the New York Mets won 108 games, tying the 1975 Cincinnati Reds for the third most wins in a season in NL history.

It would be 1987. That Cardinal team sprinted out of the gate, opening a 9-game lead over Montreal at the All-Star Break. They would stumble down the stretch, entering a key September series with New York clinging to a 1.5 game lead. But they took two of three, won the division, then held off the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS (thanks to back-to-back shutouts in Games 6 and 7) to reach the World Series.

Sadly that series ended like the one two years before, although the Cardinals took a different route to get there. In the first Series where the home team won every game, the Cardinals returned to Minneapolis with a 3-2 lead but lost Games 6 and 7. Even more excruciating, the Cardinals held early leads in both those games (5-2 after 4.5 innings in Game 6, and 2-1 at the same point in Game 7) but could not hold off the Twins. It would be their last World Series appearance for 17 years.

Mark McGwire

The 1987 team was also Herzog’s last foray into the post-season as a manager. The 1989 edition scrapped and clawed, but were unable to catch the Cubs. From there the club entered a mini-Dark Age of mediocre teams and bad personnel decisions. But like the Phoenix, the Cardinals would rise from the ashes of those early 90′s teams. Hiring Walt Jocketty before the 1995 season signaled the end of bad personnel decisions. Hiring Tony LaRussa before the 1996 season foretold the end of mediocre play on the field. The Cardinals surprisingly won their division in 1996, and although they sank back into mediocrity from 1997-1999, the acquisition of Mark McGwire helped keep fans interested. Once the new millennium started, the Cardinals embarked on a period of sustained superior performance unprecedented in Cardinal history.

Those of us who lived through that 1985 World Series will never forget it, but it did not haunt the Cardinals like, for instance, trading away Babe Ruth seemed to haunt the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals recovered, and ultimately returned to their rightful place among the National League’s elite teams.

Twenty-five years ago today, the Cardinals lost the World Series, and bragging rights for the state of Missouri, because of one call made by a first base umpire.

Wait, what?

Allow me to break away from my Cardinal brethren and stand out on the limb here and say that the opening statement of this article may be the biggest lie in Cardinal Nation.

Cardinal fans will always remember that call. The call at first base is emblazoned in my mind. The images, the commentary, the arguments and the replays play vividly in my memories. I was angry when it happened. I am still angry now. I think it is time for fans of both teams to live in reality here.

First of all, it was not a deciding out. It is not like “The Call” would have ended the game and handed the Cardinals the championship. The Cardinals had every opportunity to finish that inning, produce in the next inning, or show up at all for game seven of the series. They failed.

Secondly, the Cardinals were a young ball club, and they were subject to the mistakes on the field causing things to unravel. If that play would have ended in an error, would they be so adamant about that being the turning point in the game? Would any player on that field be put through the scrutiny that the umpire, Don Denkinger, was?

Finally, the Royals seized a moment in time to overcome adversity and put together a win. That, by definition, is what a championship team does.

Perhaps it is time to bury “The Call.” It is time for Royals fans to embrace a World Series win and continue to remind Cardinal fans that, when it came down to a Championship, they had a better team in 1985.

Cardinal fans can take solace in the fact that other than 1985, their team has been better since the existince of two teams in the state of Missouri came in to being.

When it comes down to it, Jeffery Maier, Steve Bartman, Don Denkinger and countless other bystanders on the baseball field should not be held responsible for the loss or win of a baseball game. Ultimately, it comes down to the players on the field being able to produce the results a professional is paid to produce at the end of the day.

After all, we all know that the Cardinals lost the World Series in 1985 because of a freak accident with a tarp in the National League Championship Series. Rookie of the Year Vince Coleman would have made all the difference.

But I could probably go on for quite a while with multiple excuses.

It is time to simply congratulate the Kansas City Royals on a phenomenal 1985 season.

1985 World Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals

Game 6 – October 26, 1985

Location: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

Attendance: 41,628

Recap: This game is remembered for “The Call,” an infamous blown call by umpire Don Denkinger in the ninth. But few fans now remember another blown call that went the Cardinals’ way: in the fourth inning, Royals second baseman Frank White was called out attempting to steal second base, even though replays showed he beat the tag (the next batter hit a single, meaning White may have scored if the call had been correct). The Cardinals scored the first run of the game in the eighth, and with a 1-0 lead the Cardinals progressed to the bottom of the ninth with the championship hanging in the balance. Kansas City manager Dick Howser sent pinch hitter Jorge Orta to the plate to lead off the inning against Todd Worrell. Orta hit a squibbler down the first base line to Jack Clark, and Clark flipped the ball to Worrell covering first. Worrell beat Orta to the bag by a step, but umpire Denkinger called Orta safe. The next batter, Steve Balboni, hit a routine pop-up in foul territory, but the catch was bungled by Clark and catcher Darrell Porter. Balboni then hit a single, advancing Orta to first. When Jim Sundberg tried to bunt the runners over, a quick-thinking Worrell threw to third and got the lead runner (Orta), leaving a runner on first and second with one out. But Porter allowed a passed ball, and the runners advance. Pinch hitter Hal McRae was walked to set up the double play. With the bases loaded, pinch hitter Dane Iorg hit a single to right. Onix Concepcion, running for Balboni, scored, and Sunberg slid around Porter’s tag for the winning run.

Line Score:

TEAM R H E

St. Louis 1 5 0

Kansas City 2 10 0

Winning pitcher: Dan Quisenberry

Losing pitcher: Todd Worrell

Notables: The Royals piled on 10 hits in the game, despite scoring only two runs; pinch hitter Brian Harper knocked in the only run for the Cardinals; The Cardinals’ Danny Cox and Kansas City’s Charlie Leibrandt started the game, and both pitched extremely well: Cox gave up no earned runs and struck out eight in seven innings, while Leibrandt gave up a single run in 7.2 innings; according to reports, a bad coincidence added insult to injury for the Cardinals: in preparation of their pending victory, the team’s locker room was filled with champagne on ice – and the champagne was waiting for them when the Cardinals walked into the locker room after the loss.

Tomorrow: A recap of Game 7.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.

Twenty-five years. It’s a quarter of a century. It’s also been that long since the Kansas City Royals were in the playoffs. Nobody at the time knew it. They were too busy celebrating the first of what people believed would be many World Series titles. What nobody saw coming were 25 years of failure, losing and despair. Major League Baseball even expanded the number of playoff teams in 1994, but the Royals couldn’t take advantage and continued ending their season with game number one hundred and sixty two. The real shame of the matter is that the entire generation of Kansas Citians born after the 1970’s hasn’t had a single thing, other than a strike shortened 1994 and flukey 2003 to cheer for. However, it’s still important as Royals fans and as Kansas Citians to hold our heads high, be proud of our fandom and to celebrate history.

I could certainly rattle off a whole number of things which have changed in 25 years to bring perspective to the length of time it’s been since 1985. Instead I’d like to focus on how the game has changed. Specifically, how the fantastic seven game series we all remember, likely should have ended prior to Game 7. No, I’m not talking Denkinger. I’m talking relief pitchers.

Specifically, I’m talking about Game 2. The Royals had lost their home-field advantage by losing Game 1 at Kauffman by a score of 3-1. Winning Game 2 before hitting the road to St. Louis was seen as paramount to their goal of becoming World Champions.

Charlie Leibrandt

Charlie Leibrandt was taking the hill as the starter. He was 28 and was having the best year he would ever have. He had a 2.69 ERA and came in 5^th in the Cy Young voting. The Royals needed him to do what he had done all year – put the Royals in a position to take this “must win” game. Leibrandt gave the team and the fans exactly that. He was absolutely dealing that night. A single by Willie Wilson in the bottom of the fourth inning, followed up by a pair of doubles by George Brett and Frank White put the Royals ahead 2-0. Usually a two-run lead seems precarious, but not on that night. The score remained the same through eight innings. Leibrandt had allowed only two hits and struck out six.

In baseball circa 2010, with a two run lead going into the ninth inning, most fans, announcers and managers are thinking “time to bring in the closer”. In fact, it wasn’t too different in 1985. Managers brought in their closers late in games when the score was close. It wasn’t as common as it is today, but it also wasn’t exactly a ground breaking bullpen move.

Dick Howser, the Royals Manager had a decision to make after the 8^th inning. Leibrandt was dealing, but could he do it for three more outs? Dan Quisenberry, the AL leader in saves and owner of a 2.37 ERA had only walked 16 batters in 129 innings. However, Quisenberry had appeared in four of the seven games in the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, and he hadn’t fared well. He’d pitched 4 innings and given up 3 earned runs. He led all relievers in innings during the regular season and pitched four times in seven games during the ALCS. It’s possible he had been over-worked, but maybe Howser relied too much on a small sample size. He possibly put too much stock in a couple of rough outings against the Blue Jays.

While the use of relievers in 1985 was common late in games, it was still commonplace to see pitchers throw complete games. Leibrandt had eight complete games in 1985, so he wasn’t a stranger to that 9^th inning. However he wasn’t very effective in them. In the nine games during the 1985 regular season in which he pitched, his ERA in the 9^th inning was 6.14. It’s only 7.1 innings, so again we run into the sample size issue, but he wasn’t really effective in the eighth inning either, posting a 4.40 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .333 in 14.1 innings pitched.

It was one of those gut-instinct moments for Dick Howser. Does he run out the pitcher who is just rolling along, but tends to run out of gas in the last innings? Does he go to the closer, who dominated during the regular season but was having some troubles in the post season? It wasn’t a particularly unique moment; those are the kinds of decisions that managers are faced with all the time. However, in this case, the wrong decision could mean losing a championship.

Dan Quisenberry might have been a better option

Howser ultimately decided to go with Leibrandt and hope he could get the last three outs with a two run lead. The first batter, Willie McGee doubled to left field. Dick Howser might have questioned himself at that very moment. Ozzie Smith then grounded out and Tommy Herr flied out. All the Royals needed to take a two game lead in the World Series was a single out. The decision to leave Leibrandt in had worked pretty well up to that point. Then, a single by Jack Clark scored McGee and a double by Tito Landrum brought back the unease.

The tying run was now on third base, 90 feet away from resetting the score. Leibrandt walked Cesar Cedeno and the bases were loaded. Again, Dick Howser had to choose to either bring in his closer or let Leibrandt finish the game. He elected to let Leibrandt pitch to Terry Pendleton with the go-ahead run on second base. Pendleton hit a base clearing double to left field, the Cardinals had suddenly taken a two run lead, and the best relief pitcher in Royals history was sitting on the bench. The Cardinals took care of business in the bottom of the ninth, and suddenly, the Royals were down two games to none and had lost both games at home.

After the game Dick Howser said “I thought Charlie was in complete command.” It was a gut call for him at that moment, and it ended up being the wrong one. With the Cardinals in control of the series, lots of heat fell on the manager for his decision. In the moment, when all you need are a couple of outs, managers can tend to ignore the percentages and put their faith in their feel of the game. It’s something that’s as old as baseball and is what can make the game so great and so frustrating. Royals fans were seriously concerned about the World Series, but without that bad decision by Howser, we don’t get that fantastic (for Royals fans) Game 7. So, thanks Dick, for making that call. In the end it actually worked out better. Could you imagine the 1985 World Series without Bret Saberhagan taking the mound for Game 7?

1985 World Series

Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Game 5 – October 24, 1985

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Mo.

Attendance: 56,634

Recap: A day after John Tudor’s brilliant complete game for the Cardinals, placing Kansas City on the brink of elimination, the Royals bounced back with their own strong pitching performance to stay alive in the series. Danny Jackson threw a five-hit, one-run complete game at Busch Stadium, sending the series back to Kansas City. Offensively, the Royals put up an 11-hit attack led by Willie Wilson, who knocked in two runs and collected two hits, including a triple. Leadoff hitter Lonnie Smith smacked two singles, scored two runs and stole a base. Willie McGee had two hits for the Cardinals, while cleanup hitter Jack Clark drove in St. Louis’ only run.

Line Score:

TEAM R H E

Kansas City 6 1 2

St. Louis 1 5 1

Winning pitcher: Danny Jackson

Losing pitcher: Bob Forsch

Notables: Royals manager Dick Howser shook up the lineup a bit in Game 5, starting Pat Sheridan in right field over Darryl Motley, and Sheridan responded by collecting two hits and an RBI; Buddy Biancalana also had two hits, drove in a run and scored for Kansas City; The Cardinals’ offense received no production from the bottom half of the lineup; St. Louis starter Bob Forsch lasted only 1.2 innings, giving up four runs on five hits and leaving the game in the hands of the bullpen, and for their part, four relievers (Horton, Campbell, Worrell and Lahti) allowed only two runs the rest of the game; the Cardinals’ pitching staff struck out 15 KC batters, compared to Danny Jackson’s five strikeouts.

Tomorrow: Off day

Tuesday: A recap of Game 6

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.