History of the World Series – 1985
Jack Clark belted a single to left field, scoring McGee. Tito Landrum blooped a double down the right-field line, sending Clark to third. Cesar Cedeno was given an intentional walk, loading the bases. And then Terry Pendleton doubled down the line in left, sending Clark, Landrum and Cedeno across the plate.
What had been a pitching masterpiece blew up in Leibrandt’s face. Unable to bounce back in the last of the ninth at Royals Stadium, Kansas City went down to a stinging 4-2 defeat. Coupled with a Series-opening 3-1 defeat in the same ballpark at the hands of Cardinals lefthander John Tudor, Manager Dick Howser’s Royals were in a two games-to-none hole.
The deficit was hardly insurmountable. Or was it? The record books showed that seven previous teams had rebounded to win best-of-seven Series after falling behind 2-0. But those same record books also showed that no team had ever rallied to win the Series after losing the first two games in its home park.
Howser entrusted 21-year-old righthander Bret Saberhagen with the job of righting the Royals’ course when the all-Missouri fall classic resumed in St. Louis. Saberhagen, a second-year major leaguer who in ’85 had emerged as one of the bright young talents in the majors as evidenced by his 20-6 record, didn’t disappoint. Besides flashing television messages from the Royals’ bench to his wife (who was about to deliver the couple’s first child), Saberhagen flashed a message to the Cardinals: Kansas City was down but far from out. The pitcher’s missive came in the form of a six-hit, eight-strikeout performance. Frank White socked a two-run homer and a run-scoring double in support of Saberhagen, who was a 6-1 winner. Former Cardinal Lonnie Smith got Kansas City rolling in the fourth inning with a two-run double off Joaquin Andujar that snapped a scoreless tie.
Tudor, who started the season 1-7 and then won 20 of his last 21 regular-season decisions, baffled the Royals again in Game 4. The crafty lefthander set down the American Leaguers on five hits and got home-run backing from Landrum and McGee. Landrum, in the Cardinals’ lineup because of a Championship Series pregame injury suffered by rookie base-stealing sensation Vince Coleman, hit a bases-empty shot off Kansas City starter Bud Black in the second inning and McGee followed with a solo blast the next inning. Tom Nieto’s squeeze bunt in the fifth netted the final run in St. Louis’ 3-0 conquest. As was the case in their triumphant American League Championship Series against Toronto, the Royals found themselves down three games to one.
Looking to close out the Royals in the final Series game scheduled in St. Louis, the Cardinals sent veteran Bob Forsch to the mound to oppose 23-year-old Danny Jackson in Game 5. Both clubs notched single runs in the first inning before Kansas City struck for three in the second — the outburst featured a two-run triple by Willie Wilson — and drove Forsch from the game. Jackson, on the other hand, was around at the finish as he completed a five-hit, 6-1 victory that sent the Series back to the western side of the state.
Leibrandt, Kansas City’s tough-luck loser in Game 2, wasn’t exactly blessed in Game 6. Through seven innings, he had pitched scoreless ball and permitted only two hits. But to that point his stellar effort had gotten the Royals no more than a tie against St. Louis’ Danny Cox, whose shutout pitching had been punctuated with eight strikeouts.
A breakthrough in the pitchers’ duel came in the eighth when Brian Harper, batting for Cox, looped a two-out single to center field that scored Pendleton. Pendleton had singled with one out and moved to second on a walk.
Lefthander Key Dayley took over for Cox, worked a scoreless eighth and was on the mound preparing to guard a 1-0 lead when the Royals came to bat in the last of the ninth. Howser sent up a righthanded-hitting pinch batter, Darryl Motley, to lead off the inning and St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog immediately called for hard-throwing righthander Todd Worrell, who two months earlier had been in the minor leagues. Howser countered with Jorge Orta, a lefthanded batter, to hit for Motley. Orta grounded to first baseman Clark, whose throw to Worrell covering the bag appeared to be in time. But umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe, enraging Herzog and the Cardinals. Television replays indicated Denkinger had blown the call, but Orta remained perched on first base.
Steve Balboni then lifted a catchable popup near the first-base dugout, but Clark inexplicably failed to make the play. Balboni then singled Orta to second base. After Onix Concepcion ran for Balboni, Jim Sundberg bunted into a forceout at third base. Hal McRae then went to the plate as a pinch-hitter for Buddy Biancalana and, after Cardinals catcher Darrell Porter committed a passed ball that advanced runners to second and third, he was given an intentional walk. Dane Iorg batted for Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry and poked a single to right field. Concepcion trotted home on the play and Sundberg made it, too, although the Royals’ catcher had to slide around a tag by Porter. The Royals had pulled a victory out of the hat, 2-1, and thereby tied the Series.
Saberhagen, exhibiting poise far beyond his years, then blew the Cardinals away in Game 7 by tossing a five-hitter in a game that deteriorated into a blowout and a blowup. Motley blasted a two-run homer off Tudor in the second inning, Balboni delivered a two-run single in the Royals’ three-run third and Smith bashed a two-run double in a six-run fifth during which Herzog and Cardinals pitcher Andujar — incensed by the umpiring — were ejected in a stormy and disturbing scene. George Brett went 4-for-5 for the Royals and Motley finished with three hits in the 11-0 blitz.
World Series hero Saberhagen, who became a father for the first time the day before the finale against the Cards, had much to celebrate. He wasn’t alone.
In putting away the Cardinals, the Royals hadn’t flinched either after losing the first two games at home or falling behind three games to one. As a result, they were World Series champions for the first time.
