Royal Retainers

[bernieh]

[i:ad49371d2c]by Mike Fish
photos: Rich Pilling, Dave Peterson, Dave Peterson
originally printed: The Sporting News, March 3, 1986[/i:ad49371d2c]

[size=18:ad49371d2c]In Light of Recent Baseball Trends, Keeping the Crown Will Be Difficult[/size:ad49371d2c]

<img src="http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/images/baseball/stratomatic/1986/story_photos/kc_world_series3_150x224.jpg" align="left" style="margin-right: 10px;" /> FORT MYERS, Fla — Everywhere they traveled this winter, the Kansas City Royals soaked up the glory. They were showered with praise from the Rose Garden at the White House to the hamlets of Kansas and Missouri.

Ah, yes, world champions.

Just four months ago, the champagne was guzzled and sprayed with childlike fervor. Now, it's time to get back to work - time for a dose of reality.

And once again, before the first strained muscle of spring training, the Royals find themselves in a familiar position: at a disadvantage.

You see, the odds are against a repeat performance by these come-from-behind characters. This championship stuff seems to have evolved into a one-year reign, anyway. Remember how the Detroit Tigers slid from grace in the heat of last summer? The same thing happened to the Baltimore Orioles the previous summer, and to the St. Louis Cardinals the year before that.

No team has won back-to-back World Series since the New York Yankees of 1977 and '78. Not only that, but in the last seven years, no team has won two consecutive American League or National League championships.

And now the Miracle Royals? Will Bret Saberhagen, he of the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player honors in the World Series, and his youthful cronies stumble upon complacency?

Well, George Brett says he's prepared to deal with that malady, should it surface. Last time, he wasn't. Brett remembers well the Royals' collapse in 1981 after they had won the American League championship the previous season. The fall was so severe that Manager Jim Frey was fired at season's end when the Royals limped home with a 50-53 overall record. In that year of the 50-day players' strike, the Royals had been fifth in the A.L. West in the first half of the split season, and then won the second half with a 30-23 record before being swept by Oakland in the divisional championship series.

<img src="http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/images/baseball/stratomatic/1986/story_photos/kc_world_series2_150x220.jpg" align="right" style="margin-left: 10px;" /> In 1981, the A's won their first 11 games - a start-of-the-season record that lasted until the 1984 Tigers won their first 13 — and were 18-3 in April. Meanwhile, the Royals, the defending league champions, came out of April with a 3-10 mark and fell 11 games off Oakland's pace.

"If you see people taking things for granted, I guess you just tell them," Brett said. "I know we had that problem in '81. You just walk out on the field and think you're going to win. The next thing you know, you're 10 games out of first place.

"That might have happened to the Tigers last year. The way they played the year before (the 13-0 getaway and a 35-5 record in the first quarter of the '84 season), they were unbeatable. Last year, they were just another team. They lost that desire, I guess.

"I know we have some players who have been around a long time, guys that waited a long time to be world champions. I think we learned in '81 what can happen if you let it."

Hal McRae remembers. So does Frank White. They recall a lot about this young franchise.

Brett, McRae and White first put on their Royals uniforms in 1973. They became major reasons why Kansas City has dominated the West Division, winning six division titles in the last 10 years.

The Class of '73. Until last fall, they had thought that a world championship was going to pass them by.

Three straight times, 1976 through '78, the Royals fell victim to the Yankees in the League Championship Series. Then, they swept the Yankees in 1980 and were favorites in the World Series, only to fall in six games to the over-the-hill Philadelphia Phillies.

Now that the Royals have won a world championship, the members of that Class of '73 are prepared for a different sort of experience.

Sure, the Royals are defending champions, the team to beat. But, hey, this is a new year.

"What's last year going to do for you this year?" asked McRae, the clubhouse guru. "That's history. All you can do is try and ready yourself for what is going to happen with the other ball clubs — the way they're going to feel when they play you.

"Everybody is going to try to knock you off. But we can't put pressure on ourselves, saying, 'We've got to defend the world championship.' We're really not defending anything. We're trying to get through another season.

"It's going to be impossible to draw on the championship season for six months, anyway. You have to hope you get to August 15 or so with a chance to win in your division. That's when the year before comes into play, and being world champions might help you."

<img src="http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/images/baseball/stratomatic/1986/story_photos/kc_world_series_150x209.jpg" align="left" style="margin-right: 10px;" /> World champions?

It still hasn't fully hit Frank White. Not the World Series comeback against St. Louis. Nor even the comeback against Toronto in the A.L. Championship Series. Each time, the Royals trailed, three games to one, but rallied to win.

Little more than two years ago, in the weeks after the 1983 season, White and a lot of others figured the Royals were a dying franchise. There was the drug scandal. Willie Wilson would be suspended for the first six weeks of the 1984 season. Jerry Martin, Willie Aikens and Vida Blue were gone.

"I thought all my glances of getting into a World Series and winning a World Series were over," White said. "That was the only time that I had really asked to be traded from the ball club.

"I didn't want to finish the three or four years that was left in my career in a rebuilding situation. That was the only time I didn't think I would get a World Series ring."

The path taken to the altar in '85 wasn't pretty, just effective.

The Royals ranked 13th in the American League last year in runs scored and batting average. They had a .188-hitting shortstop (Buddy Biancalana) and a right-field platoon (Darryl Motley and Pat Sheridan) that hit a combined .226.

This was a team that never led the division by more than three games — and that was only for the day of September 14. World champions, yes. But not the blueprint franchise of the '80s.

The Royals are a team with solid young pitching, a nice supporting cast and a bona fide superstar, Brett, who last year was among the A.L.'s top five in 10 offensive categories.

Though he plays in the smallest market in the major leagues, Brett has become one of the most recognizable, most popular professional athletes.

Brett is carving a path toward the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. He has two batting championships, one Most Valuable Player award, 10 All-Star berths and a .316 career batting average. Over the last five seasons, his .310 average is the highest in the majors.

Last year was arguably his finest season, better even than the remarkable .390 performance of 1980. Thanks to an off-season conditioning program, Brett finished with a .335 average (second highest of his career), a career-high 30 home runs and 112 runs batted in.

"It was the best year I ever had in the big leagues," Brett said. "I played 155 games, hit more home runs than I ever did, played the best defense of my career and was on a world championship team.

"I contributed my share. Whereas before when we had good teams and went to the playoffs, I did my share to lose those ball games. I Just don't think I played to the best of my ability."

At age 32, the hours in the weight room and in stretching exercises paid off for Brett. So did passing up cold brews in favor of diet soda and the early-morning running that once seemed like drudgery.

Something had to be done. Brett had been beset by nagging injuries, having played in 140 or more games only twice since 1976.

"He didn't get hurt last year; that made a difference," McRae said. "He was in maybe a little better shape. It helps your consistency anytime you're in real good shape, because you don't get injured and miss any games.

"The key, I think, is that he realized he was getting older. He realized it would be easier for him if he didn't have those nagging-type injuries."

And it was.

Yet the accomplishment Brett finds most refreshing is his first Gold Glove. He admits it helped having Buddy Bell out of the league (the former Texas Rangers third baseman was traded to Cincinnati in midseason of 1985). And while it did not translate into statistics, Brett showed better agility and movement around third base.

"I just have to go out and do it again," Brett said. "If I go out and hit .250, they're going to run me out of town. What it comes down to is people expect me to go out and h it .320 or .330, drive in my 100 runs and hit 25 to 30 home runs. I expect that, too. My expectations this year are to duplicate 1985.

"But I don't play this game to impress the fans. I play because I feel I'm good at it, and when the season is ready again this year, I'll be in top form."

Again, Brett is the offensive cornerstone of the Royals. The front office talked about adding another quality hitter, in particular an outfielder to hit cleanup behind Brett, but nothing had been accomplished by the start of spring training.

Management has been playing it safe, hoping that Lonnie Smith will improve in his first full year with the Royals and that either Motley or Sheridan can develop into an everyday player.

Pitching is the key, however. The heart of a pitching staff that ranked second in the A.L. last year with a 3.49 earned-run average is a youthful five-man starting rotation and relief ace Dan Quisenberry, the league leader in saves for the fourth year in a row.

Saberhagen is 21, Charlie Leibrandt is 29, Buddy Black is 28, Danny Jackson is 24, and Mark Gubicza is 23. They combined for more victories (75) than any other rotation in the A.L. last season.

They were the first starting five in Royals history where every member of the rotation won at least 10 games. And none of them had to miss a start.

"I just look for us to get even better this year," said pitching coach Gary Blaylock. "Right now, I don't think you'll find a staff with any better depth.

"Then, you have Quiz in the bullpen. Everybody said he had an off year (an 8-9 record and 37 saves). True, he didn't pitch as well as before. But look at the numbers he put on the board. A lot of clubs sure would be willing to take him off our hands."

McRae said this is the best pitching staff, by far, since he's been a member of the Royals.

"You know each night you've got a chance to win the ball game," McRae said. "You look at some clubs and they don't get a chance to win. So, in a sense, good pitching and defense is offense. You don't get blown out of many games. That makes you feel like playing, because there's that chance to win every night."

As further evidence, half of the Royals' 162 games in 1985 were decided by two runs or fewer, and so were five of the seven games of the A.L. Championship Series against Toronto. Only 14 of the Royals' 91 regular-season victories were by six runs or more.

Still, the Royals thought about trading a pitcher during the winter. They were unable to pry outfielder Chili Davis from the San Francisco Giants, and they weren't interested in deals for Gary Ward of Texas or Boston's Dwight Evans.

"Offensively is where you're going to need more help," White said. "That's the only thing I don't like about not doing anything. You don't want to go your whole season having your offense criticized for not winning close ball games.

"The only thing that will make a difference is if everyone does what they did last year and we get some improvement out of Motley in his average, and from Sheridan, (Onix) Concepcion and Biancalana. I don't think we're strong enough to carry one or two people. We're kind of a team where everybody has got to carry his own load."