TOMA SELECTED TO ROYALS HALL OF FAME
Induction for Royals Groundskeeper Set for August 31

KANSAS CITY, MO (June 29, 2012) — The Kansas City Royals today have announced that former groundskeeper George Toma has been voted into the Royals Hall of Fame.  Toma will become the 25^th member of the Royals Hall of Fame when inducted during on-field ceremonies prior to the Minnesota Twins versus Royals game at Kauffman Stadium on Friday, August 31.

Toma is the first inductee elected through the Royals Hall of Fame Veterans Committee which was part of a redesigned voting process established in 2011.  The veterans committee vote, taken in even numbered years,considers the candidacy of non-field personnel in addition to players and managers no longer eligible for election by Regular Phase Royals Hall of Fame Voting.  The committee consists of 16 members, comprised of select Royals Hall of Fame Members, Royals’ Club Executives and media members.  Candidates must be named on at least seventy-five percent (75%) of all ballots cast to be elected.

George Toma originally came to Kansas City in 1957 as head groundskeeper for the Kansas City Athletics. Generally regarded as the finest groundskeeper in the history of team sports, he first made his name by taking a notorious poor field at Municipal Stadium and transforming it into one of the best in the game.  Toma’s stature as a groundskeeper extended well beyond his baseball work, including associations with the Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football League among others.  His work as turf consultant for the National Football League at every Super Bowl earned him the Professional Football Hall of Fame Pioneer Award in 2001.  He joined mentor Emil Bossard as the first two inductee’s into the MLB Groundskeeper Association Hall of Fame earlier this year.  He has continued to work in recent years, assisting the Minnesota Twins at their spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla.

Toma served as the Royals Head Groundskeeper from their inception in 1969 through the 1995 season. He also served as a consultant to the ballclub from 1995-97.  He and his wife, Donna, still make their home in theKansas City area, and his son, Chip, served with him for many years both with the Royals and Chiefs.

Previous Hall of Fame inductees include:

1986: Pitcher Steve Busby and Outfielder Amos Otis
1987: Manager Dick Howser, Second Baseman Cookie Rojas and Pitcher Paul Splittorff
1989: Pitcher Dennis Leonard and Designated Hitter Hal McRae
1992: Club President Joe Burke, Pitcher Larry Gura and Shortstop Fred Patek
1993: Owner Ewing Kauffman
1994: Third Baseman George Brett
1995: Second Baseman Frank White
1996: Royals First Lady Muriel Kauffman and first baseman John Mayberry
1998: Relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry
2000: Manager Whitey Herzog and outfielder Willie Wilson
2003: Pitcher Jeff Montgomery
2004: Radio Announcer Denny Matthews
2005: Pitcher Bret Saberhagen
2006: Pitcher Mark Gubicza
2008: Scout Art Stewart
2011: Pitcher Kevin Appier

The changes in St Louis continue. Thursday Joe Strauss reported Dave Duncan will step down as the St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach.

Duncan has had one of the more remarkable baseball careers. A catcher, he broke into the majors as an 18-year old with the Kansas City Athletics (1964), playing in 25 games. Although he returned to the minors for the next 2 seasons (due to major league signing rules of the time) he returned to the big club to stay in 1967. Duncan’s best year was 1971, when he hit .253/.307/.419 in 103 games and was named an All-Star. The A’s had moved to Oakland following the 1967 season, and Duncan won a World Title in 1972 with the club. After (or perhaps because of) a contract dispute he was traded to Cleveland just before the 1973 season for George Hendrick (who eventually played in St Louis), and then to Baltimore 2 years later. Duncan retired as a player following the 1976 season.

He started his coaching career in 1978 with the Indians. In 1982 he became the Seattle Mariners pitching coach under manager Rene Lachemann, but that didn’t last and he was hired by the Chicago White Sox to work with Tony LaRussa, beginning a professional relationship that lasted the next 30 years.

Duncan is widely considered the best pitching coach in baseball during the last 3 decades. Periodically other names appear in the spotlight and dent the national consciousness, like Leo Mazzone, Dave Stewart, and Mel Stottlemyre, but they rapidly fade away; Duncan has endured and prospered. He coached 4 Cy Young Award Winners (LaMarr Hoyt, Bob Welch, Dennis Eckersley, and Chris Carpenter), one for each team that employed him.

He resurrected numerous careers. Remember Kent Bottenfield? Kent had not won more than 5 games in any major league season before Duncan turned him into an 18-game winner in 1999. Bottenfield actually won as many games in that one season as he had in his major league career to that point. Ask Jeff Weaver what Duncan did for him in 2006. Or Jason Simontacchi (2002). Or Kyle Lohse more recently. Or dozens of other pitchers that saw their effectiveness improve thanks to Duncan’s tutelage.

No word yet on who will replace Duncan in the Cardinals dugout. Perhaps Blake Ilsley, the current Memphis pitching coach, will be promoted, or perhaps Derek Lilliquist will take the job on a permanent basis. Lilliquist, the current bullpen coach for the Cardinals, filled in for Duncan after Dave took a leave of absence to be with his ailing wife last season.

We wish Duncan’s wife Jeannie a complete and speedy recovery from her illness, and Dave all the best during his leave of absence.

Mike Metzger is a I-70 contributing writer. Follow him on Twitter.

Here are the final seven players on the list of top KC A’s players as ranked by wins above replacement (WAR) as found on Baseball-Reference.com. (Click here for Part I.)

7. Ray Herbert ∙ P ∙ 1955, 1958—61 ∙ 152 GP ∙ 7.5 WAR

Herbert made a living as a serviceable pitcher for 14 years in the majors, including a standout year with the A’s in 1960. The A’s purchased his contract from the Tigers before 1955 and used him sparingly that season before sending him to the minors for ’56 and ’57. He returned to Kansas City in ’58 and had a solid year, then regressed a bit in ’59. Then came the big 1960, in which Herbert started 33 games for the A’s, registered a miniscule 3.28 ERA (122 ERA+) and the second highest WAR (5.8) among pitchers in the AL. The A’s sent Herbert packing to the White Sox in the middle of ’61. That was enough to propel Herbert to the highest spot on this list for a pitcher.

6. Bob Cerv ∙ LF ∙ 1957—60 ∙ 413 GP ∙ 8.5 WAR

Cerv is another player on this list who spent time with the Kansas City Blues as a member of the Yankees farm before joining the A’s. His contract was purchased from New York prior to the ’57 season, and he spent the next three and a half years as a fixture in the A’s left field. Much of his value came from one season, 1958, when he broke out with the greatest season a KC A’s player ever had: 38 homers (a Kansas City record, A’s or Royals), a .305/.371/.592 slash line (159 OPS+), an All-Star game start, the third highest WAR in the AL, and a fourth place finish in the MVP vote. The season would have been remarkable enough from a healthy player, but Cerv battled through serious injury. From the book The Kansas City Athletics by John E. Peterson: “(Cerv) was batting .344 on May 17 and led the American League with 11 home runs and 30 runs batted in when he broke his jaw in a collision at home plate…Cerv broke his jaw in two places when the left side of his face collided against (Red) Wilson’s shoulder.” Cerv forced himself back into the lineup after missing just three games, and continued playing at a high level in spite of his jaw being wired shut and living on a liquid diet for a month. He homered six times during that span. Again from Peterson’s book: “By the end of the season Cerv suffered a broken jaw, a broken hand, two broken toes along with an injured knee and ankle.” The season sticks out like a sore thumb in Cerv’s long career, which was otherwise fairly unremarkable.

Cerv is the highest ranking outfielder on the list; the top five spots are all held by infielders:

4. Hector Lopez ∙ 3B ∙ 1955—59 ∙ 586 GP ∙ 8.9 WAR

Lopez shifted between various defensive positions throughout his 12 year career, but the A’s deployed him primarily at third base. Bill James has called him “As bad a defensive player as you would ever want to see,” but he made up for defensive shortcomings with his bat. He wasn’t an elite slugger in his four and a third seasons in KC, but hit consistently. His final tallies with the A’s feature 99 doubles, 67 homers, and a 107 OPS+. He was swapped to the Yankees (who else?) mid-season 1959 in a trade that netted the A’s the other number four on this list:

4. Jerry Lumpe ∙ 2B ∙ 1959—63 ∙ 715 GP ∙ 8.9 WAR

A Missouri native, Lumpe attended Warsaw High School and Southwest Missouri State. As a college basketball player, he won back to back NAIA national championships. The Yankees signed him to play baseball, and he broke into the bigs with them as a part-time player between ’56—’58. When he was sent to the A’s in ’59, he became the everyday second baseman for the next four and half seasons. He was a consistent presence in the A’s lineup, and was especially good in his career years of ’61 and ’62. He was sent to Detroit in the trade that brought Rocky Colavito to KC for the ’64 season.

3. Wayne Causey ∙ SS ∙ 1961—66 ∙ 689 GP ∙ 9.0 WAR

Causey was another consistent presence in the A’s middle infield, and garnered some MVP votes in his career years of ’63 and ’64. Causey didn’t hit for a lot of power, but was a tough out in his time with the A’s (.350 OBP). According to Jane Charnin-Aker on baseballlibrary.com, Causey kept losing his position to hotshot rookies while with the A’s. Dick Howser knocked him off short, then Ed Charles off third. He held down short in ’63 and ’64 before Bert Campaneris took over. After his playing days, Causey spent some time as a scout for the Royals.

2. Norm Siebern ∙ 1B ∙ 1960—63 ∙ 611 GP ∙ 12.1 WAR

Another Missouri native, Siebern hails from Wellston in the St. Louis area. He teamed with Lumpe on the back-to-back NAIA champion basketball teams at Southwest Missouri State. Siebern joined the A’s in the Maris trade—it is ironic that even though the trade was infamously bad, the A’s did get a terrific player in the deal. I rate Siebern as the best hitter the A’s had for all four seasons he played with the club—a rare bout of consistency in the ever volatile A’s lineups. His ’62 was especially impressive: he played every game, bashed 25 homers, and got on base at an eye-popping .412 clip to go along with a .495 slugging percentage. He represented the A’s at the All-Star games of ’62 and ’63. Like Causey, Siebern also went on to do some scouting for the Royals.

1. Ed Charles ∙ 3B ∙ 1962—67 ∙ 726 GP ∙ 14.4 WAR

Ed Charles, a 29 year-old rookie in ’62, wore the KC A’s uniform for more games than any other player, and judging by wins above replacement, provided the most value to the team. Signed by the Boston Braves in 1952, Charles racked up nine seasons and 1,148 games in the minors before finally getting his break in the form of a trade to Kansas City. He broke into the majors with style, fashioning a .288/.356/.454 hitting line (114 OPS+), and continued on as a supremely reliable presence as the A’s third sacker for five years. According to Charles biographer Ed Hoyt, Charles “offered no standout skill, but usefully adequate levels of contact, power, speed, and defense.” Like David DeJesus on recent Royals teams, Charles never rose to stardom or All-Star recognition, but quietly contributed in all aspects of the game. That steadiness over many years added up to significant value. Hoyt writes that Charles “achieved fame as a baseball poet, reciting his poetry on television a few times a year and mailing verse to young fans with requested autographs.” Following his individual success with the A’s, he was sent to the New York Mets in a 1967 trade. In his final playing year, Charles enjoyed the ultimate team success with the 1969 “Miracle” Mets. The 36 year-old provided a veteran presence on the mostly baby-faced champions.

Aaron Stilley also bloggercizes at Kansas City Baseball and makes tweet-tweets here.

With all this talk recently about the 25^th anniversary of the 1985 World Series, I thought we should take time to look back at another Kansas City baseball championship.

True KC baseball fans know the Royals aren’t the only local team to win it all. The Kansas City Monarchs won the Negro Leagues World Series twice, in the 1924 and 1942.

And then there’s the little-remembered 1962 World Series title won by the Kansas City Athletics.

It’s probably little remembered because it didn’t really happen. But this is a minor detail we’ll dispense with right now:

In “reality,” the New York Yankees won the 1962 World Series. In that same “reality,” the Kansas City A’s finished in ninth place, next-to-last in the American League, with a 72-90 record.

But, darnit, those Yankees have 27 World Championships to their name. When it comes to Major League Baseball championships, Kansas City has one.

So, by golly, on behalf of all Kansas Citians, I’m claiming the 1962 World Series for the Kansas City A’s.

What gives me the right to do this? The simple fact that without the Kansas City A’s, the New York Yankees would not have won nearly as many world titles.

Recently on the I-70 Baseball Radio Hour, we interviewed Tom Clavin and Danny Perry, the authors of “Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero.” To research for the interview, I read their wonderful book, which was reviewed on our website here. The book reminded me that Maris, in the years before his Yankee greatness, was a member of the Kansas City A’s, and like so many members of the A’s, he was shipped off to New York for chicken feed.

The A’s and the Yankees had what was called a “special relationship.” There’s a great passage in the book describing the “relationship” in this quote from Merle Harmon, the announcer for the A’s:

Ernie Mehl was the big, tough, loud, cigar-chomping sports editor of the Kansas City Star. He was the ringleader, along with Kansas City sportswriter Parke Carroll, in getting Arnold Johnson to buy the A’s and move them to Kansas City [from Philadelphia]. Mehl was a good friend of Del Webb, who along with Dan Topping owned the Yankees. Webb made his money as a construction magnate and real estate developer, and when Johnson needed the 19,000-seat [Kansas City] Blues Stadium transformed into the double-decked Municipal Stadium in just ninety days, who do you think the contract went to? The Dell Webb Construction Company. So Johnson was beholden to Webb, and Carroll, the new A’s GM, would do anything for his good friend Yankees GM George Weiss.

How’s that for a headlock? The owner of the Yankees literally built the stadium the A’s played in. Arnold Johnson, who apparently cared little for baseball and was only involved to make money, was happy to ship players to the Yankees for not much in return, because his intention was to move the team to Los Angeles, and low attendance at Municipal Stadium would help him get out of a city lease.

If it’s beginning to sound like the plot of the movie Major League, you’ve just about got your mind wrapped around the situation.

Incidentally, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat Johnson to the punch, moving their team to LA before Johnson had a chance.

The “special relationship” continued somewhat after Johnson died and Charlie Finley bought the team in 1960, even though Finley insisted the relationship was over. The damage was done, though. The Yankees already had all of the Athletics’ best players.

Including Roger Maris, who had a pretty good season for the Yankees in 1961.

Since ‘61 is so special to Yankees fans (Maris hit a then-record 61 homers, Mickey Mantle hit 54, and the team defeated the Reds in five games for the title), I’ll leave that one alone.

We’ll take 1962.

And that makes sense, really. The 1962 Yankees included a goodly handful of players they received from the A’s for little to nothing, and four of those players – Maris, Clete Boyer, Hector Lopez and Ralph Terry – were essential to New York’s winning season and their seven-game World Series win over the Giants.

In fact, Terry – who was sent from Kansas City along with Lopez to New York for (I swear I’m not making these names up) Johny Kucks, Jerry Lumpe and Tom Sturdivant – was the 1962 World Series MVP. In the regular season, he compiled a 23-12 record with 14 complete games, 298.2 (!) innings pitched and 176 strikeouts. In the World Series he was 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

Lopez played in 106 regular season games for the ’62 Yanks, hitting at a .275 clip over 335 at-bats.

Clete Boyer played in 158 games for the Yankees in ‘62, batting .272 with 18 home runs. He really shined in the World Series, batting .318 with a .833 OPS. He was sent to New York for a handful of players you’ve never heard of, or the equivalent of about 15 gallons of Gatorade.

And Maris was no slouch, either. Although he didn’t quite live up to his 1961 numbers, he mashed 33 taters, hit .256 and clubbed 100 RBIs with an .840 OPS in 1962. The Yankees acquired him for two impressive names, Don Larsen and Hank Bauer, but Bauer was at the end of his career and Larsen had fallen off sharply since his one shining perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

So guess what, Yankee fans? Now your team has only won 26 world titles. We’re claiming 1962.

How do you like them Big Apples?

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

“He didn’t have a long life. But his dreams came true.”
—Nancy Howser, July 12, 2004 Kansas City Star

Dick Howser is remembered with great fondness by fans in Kansas City, where his time in the big leagues began with the Athletics and ended as perhaps the Royals’ greatest manager. Howser skippered some great Royals teams between 1981—86, and is best remembered for guiding the club to their only championship.

Richard Dalton Howser was born May 14, 1936 in Miami, Florida. He played college baseball at Florida State, where he hit .422 in 1956, and became the school’s first All-American in 1957 and again as a senior in ’58. After graduation, he signed with the Kansas City Athletics. Howser toiled for three seasons in the A’s minor leagues before making the big club with a splash in 1961. The scrappy shortstop stole 37 bases and was only caught nine times. He got on base at a .377 clip with an OPS of .739 (98 OPS+). In the field, Howser was rung up for 38 errors. After just 59 games with the A’s, manager Hank Bauer named Howser the captain of the team.

“Frankly, I was just trying to keep a job in the major leagues,” Howser said. “My first reaction was an uneasy one. I thought they might be expecting too much from me. I went to our owner, Mr. Finley, and to Hank also and discussed the appointment with both of them. They didn’t expect me to do anything different than I had done in the first 59 games. They wanted me to continue hustling and to set an example. They really seemed impressed with my hustle.”
—The Kansas City Athletics by John E. Peterson

He was named to the 1961 All-Star team and lost the official Rookie of the Year Award by one vote. The Sporting News named him top AL rookie. It was a promising start, but Howser was unable to put up another season quite as successful. Injuries took a toll on his playing time. In 1963 the A’s sent him to Cleveland, where he had a couple of productive years before being shipped to the Yankees prior to the 1967 season. He was done as a player after 1968, but remained with the Yankees as third base coach between 1969—78. Howser left the Yankees for the 1979 season to coach college ball for his alma mater, and led Florida State to a 43-17 record.

The Yankees lured him back for the 1980 season with an offer to manage. The rookie manager piloted the Yankees to 103 wins and a postseason appearance against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals swept in three games, and the fickle George Steinbrenner forced Howser out. The Yankees’ loss was the Royals’ gain. KC tapped Howser to manage the Royals in the middle of the ’81 season.

“Dan Quisenberry called him a distant general—he wasn’t much for strategy or heart-to-heart talks—but he had dignity. He had soul. He told those Royals they were the best team, and they believed him.”
—The Good Stuff by Joe Posnanski

Howser and the Royals found themselves in the ’81 postseason after just 33 games together, but they were swept by the A’s. After two straight second place finishes, the ’84 Royals returned to postseason play, but Howser fell to 0-9 as a playoffs manager when they were swept by the Tigers. The ’85 team returned to the playoffs, but dropped the first two games of the ALCS to Toronto. Howser had now lost all 11 postseason games he had managed. But the Royals rallied to take the series from Toronto, and found themselves in the franchise’s second World Series. But the Royals had their backs against the wall again after dropping three of the first four games to St. Louis.

“He never had a moment he felt defeated. His favorite line was, ‘We’ll get it done.’ You’re talking about a cool guy. You never saw him sweat.”
—Frank White, July 12, 2004 Kansas City Star

Howser’s previous playoffs troubles were forgotten when the Royals clawed their way back to take the championship. Royals players give Howser a tremendous amount of credit for his role in the title. His quiet confidence seemed to transfer to the players. He was not meddlesome. He filled out the lineup and let the players play, and the Royals loved playing for him.

“I played for some good managers, but Dick was great. He was so honest with you. If you messed around or did something wrong, he was in your face. But he allowed you to play if you were out there and ready, and he knew you were going to give your best. He was a confidence-builder.”
—Mark Gubicza, Denny Matthews’s Tales From the Royals Dugout

The elation of the championship quickly turned to horror. The team noticed something amiss with Howser during the first half of the ’86 season. Denny Matthews writes in Tales From the Royals Dugout that Howser, always sharp, was suddenly forgetting recent events and mixing up names. At the All-Star game that year, Howser couldn’t remember who the starting pitcher was going to be for his AL squad. He confused Frank White for Lou Whitaker in the dugout. Two days later, the terrible diagnosis: brain cancer. The All-Star game would be his last as a manager. (White helped ensure Howser was victorious by blasting a home run.)

The Royals did not name a permanent replacement, leaving the door open for Howser to return if he could. (Mike Ferraro took the helm for the second half of ’86.) After undergoing treatments, Howser attempted a comeback during 1987 spring training, but his return was short lived. Howser simply didn’t have the energy. He passed away months later on June 17 at Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Hospital at just 51 years of age. The Royals held a ceremony for Howser two weeks later in which they inducted him into the team’s hall of fame and made his #10 the first retired number in Royals history.

Dick Howser Trophy

Because Howser’s time was cut short, it is easy to forget that he has managed more Royals games than anyone else. His .544 winning percentage with the team is bested only by Whitey Herzog and Jim Frey. The Dick Howser Trophy was initiated in 1987 and is awarded to the country’s best collegiate baseball player each year. Florida State renamed their baseball stadium in Howser’s honor in 1988, and his #34 is the only retired number in their baseball program. The Royals again honored Howser with a statue at Kauffman Stadium that was unveiled in 2009.

Nancy Howser speaks at dedication of statue (photo by Chris Murphy, chrism70.com)