The Thrill of it All
Royal history.
The most watched VHS tape in my childhood home was not Star Wars or some animated Disney classic. No, it was a blank tape on which my mom had recorded four different movies. No one ever taught my mom the intricacies of VHS recording. She was less concerned with the quality of the copy than how many movies she could fit on one tape.
This particular tape contained the 80’s classics Silverado and Witness in the two and four spots. Nobody in the house ever watched these films. If they were worn out, it was because I was constantly fast-forwarding and rewinding through them.
Number three was Rocky IV. You better believe I watched the hell out of that. Rocky, Apollo, and Drago duking it out in the biggest proxy war the Cold War had seen since Vietnam? I was all over that, even if most of the movie’s runtime is filled with cheesy songs and flashback/training montages.
In that way, it worked well with the first movie on the tape, which got the bulk of the playing time. Actually, it wasn’t even a real movie. It was a thirty-minute highlight reel of the 1985 Kansas City Royals season and World Series, produced by the then-local Royals affiliate, WDAF channel 4 in Kansas City. I remember that because my mom had caught the end of the preceding local newscast when she taped it.
The title of the broadcast was The Thrill of It All. This was the team’s slogan for the upcoming 1986 season. Probably not the PR department’s best work, but it was still better than the 1985 slogan: You’ve Got a Hit on Your Hands. Yeesh. So at least they didn’t name it after that.
I rewatched it on YouTube in preparation for this post, and it was amazing to me how familiar it all still felt. I guess that’s what happens when you watch something so much as a kid that it permanently imprints itself on your brain.
I blame the Royals for that. I went to my first Royals game in 1985, and I vividly remember watching the I-70 Series vs. the Cardinals while lying in front of the TV in our living room. I jumped up and down with excitement when Daryl Motley hit his second inning home run in Game 7. I was sure that they were going to win at that point.
When Motley caught the final out in the 11-0 shellacking the Royals put on the Cardinals, and George Brett bear-hugged World Series MVP Bret Saberhagen on the mound, I went crazy and jumped all around our living room. I don’t remember if my parents were more amused or annoyed. I didn’t care. I was too happy. And I was too young to realize that every season didn’t end like this, with my team hoisting the trophy.
So, over the years that followed, as the Royals consistently failed to make the playoffs again, young me was forced to relive the glory of the 1985 team over and over through repeated viewings of The Thrill of It All.
The film is truly a glorious product of its time, complete with instantly recognizable 80’s graphics and bombastic music combined in an over-the-top fashion. In some ways, it feels like a knock-off of This Week in Baseball, the classic Saturday morning show hosted by Mel Allen, but the former’s excessive approach doesn’t seem to have aged as well.
The Thrill of It All opens with a quick homage to the first decade-and-a-half of Royals baseball, then quickly cuts to the victory parade following the 1985 World Series. Confetti rains down on the magnificently bald head of Steve Balboni as Denny Matthews narrates, before things turn serious. A funky baseline introduces the title one word at a time in bold letters that fill the screen.
The mood lightens as the scene turns to Spring Training ’85. Charlie Leibrandt cracks a few bad jokes and then puts Mark Gubicza into a figure-four leglock like he’s Ric Flair. Everyone in camp is all smiles and optimism. They were the defending 1984 AL West champions, after all.
The music turns somber as the season begins though, interspersed with clips of Willie Wilson getting hurt and Frank White getting rocked as he rams an opposing catcher at home plate. I don’t know what the song is that plays in this section, though it sounds to me like a bad impression of Springsteen. Hell, maybe it is Springsteen. Either way, it quickly covers the first half of an uninspiring season, noting that the Royals were 7.5 games back of first place at the break.
Things pick up after that. The music goes up-tempo as manager Dick Howser relays signs to a smiling Frank White. Numerous Royals smack base hits, record strikeouts, and slide safely into bases. A special nod is given to the return of DH Hal McRae, who promptly runs through a hapless second baseman in his trademark style.
Denny Matthews notes the Royals’ propensity for dramatic comebacks, a key characteristic of that year’s team, and turns his attention to the team’s leader, George Brett. “You’re the Best” by Joe Esposito, best known for its use in The Karate Kid, plays in the background of what is basically a Brett highlight reel, and if you’re not really getting into it at this point, can you even call yourself a Royals fan?
After paying homage at the altar of Brett, it moves on to acknowledge other Royals contributors, including the important acquisitions of Lonnie Smith and Jim Sundberg behind the plate. This provides a natural segue to the pitching staff. Mark Gubicza, Danny Jackson, Charlie Leibrandt, and Bud Black all take a bow, followed by another musical montage celebrating the Cy Young season of Bret Saberhagen.
All this leads to a pivotal four game series against the California Angels that would determine the division title. California came into Kansas City up a game, but Brett homered in Game 1 (his fifth in six games), and Sabes earned his twentieth win of the season to force a tie atop the standings.
After losing Game 2, Brett hit a 3-run inside-the-park HR in Game 3, which was all Bud Black needed. He tossed a shutout, and the Royals were tied for the AL West lead again. In Game 4, Balboni and Frank White homered off Don Sutton, and Danny Jackson and Dan Quisenberry combined to shut down the Angels and claim sole possession of first place. The Royals took care of Oakland in the next series to clinch the division and punch their ticket to the postseason.
The Thrill of It All doesn’t waste much time on the first two games of the ALCS, which the Royals lost at home to the Toronto Blue Jays. Why bother with that when you can skip straight to the “George Brett Game” in Game 3, in which he hit 2 HRs, a double, and made a dazzling defensive play to bring the Royals back from the brink.
The rest of the ALCS is covered quickly, highlighting Buddy Biancalana’s game-winning double in Game 6. This is followed by Bob Costas’ call of Quisenberry’s save. (Costas even sounded less pretentious back then.) Jim Sundberg then cleared the bases in Game 7 with a triple, and the Royals were on to the World Series.
Footage of road signs from Interstate 70 fills the screen, and the Governor of Missouri is shown wearing a hat that is split down the middle— Royals on one side, Cardinals on the other. The I-70 Series was probably the biggest sporting event of my childhood, and it split Missouri down the middle, but there was never any question of my loyalty. I grew up in a small town in Kansas, right on the Missouri River, roughly an hour from Kansas City. I was KC all the way.
The Cardinals were the heavy favorite, coming off a 4-2 NLCS victory over the Dodgers. They also rallied from a 2-0 deficit in that series, and the dagger was effectively delivered by Ozzie Smith’s walk-off HR in Game 5, punctuated by the iconic Jack Buck’s famous call of “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!”
The first two games did nothing to change the experts’ opinions, despite the Cardinals being without Vince Coleman, who was injured in a freak accident during the NLCS. Arguably the fastest man in baseball, he somehow couldn’t get out of the way of the slow-moving automatic tarp during a pregame warmup. This turned out to not be a big deal for St. Louis, as Tito Landrum filled in admirably, and John Tudor was dominant in a 3-1 Game 1 win.
The Royals wasted eight shutout innings from Charlie Leibrandt (who was already developing a hard-luck postseason rep) in Game 2, as the Cardinals rallied in the ninth to take a commanding 2-0 series lead, sweeping the first two games in Kansas City.
The Thrill of It All then cuts to Ozzie Smith backflipping his way across the infield to his shortstop position. These acrobatics were part of Smith’s regular routine, but they accurately highlighted how high-flying the Cards must have felt at this point in the series. Unfortunately for them, they were about to run into Bret Saberhagen.
Sabes was dominant, striking out eight and giving up one run in a complete game performance that the Royals won 6-1. This is highlighted in the video by Saberhagen striking out a frustrated Willie McGee, juxtaposed with Frank White and other Royals finally busting out at the plate.
Willie McGee was the 1985 NL MVP for a reason though. He bounced back in Game 4 with a home run off Bud Black. Landrum homered as well, but the Cardinals only really needed one of them as Tudor shut down the Royals again, 3-0, putting Kansas City on the ropes with only one more loss between them and elimination.
If you didn’t know how the series turned out, the upbeat music that begins to play in The Thrill of It All is a dead giveaway. The coverage of Game 5 opens with one of the most iconic almost-catches in Royals’ history. Sacrificing his body, George Brett goes all out attempting an amazing sliding catch as he crashes into the Busch Stadium dugout chasing a Terry Pendleton foul ball. Even though he didn’t come up with it, this might have been the turning point of the entire series.
The Royals jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, and just as he had done in Game 5 of the ALCS, Danny Jackson came through with another gem when the Royals needed him most. Jackson gave up one run in a complete game, and threw an immaculate inning in the seventh. To date, it is still the only immaculate inning in World Series history.
Now we come to Game 6. If your only exposure to the 1985 World Series was The Thrill of It All, you would have no idea that this game featured one of the most controversial plays in World Series history. The video completely glosses over it and makes no mention of Don Denkinger.
So let’s talk about it. The game was a scoreless pitching duel between Charlie Leibrandt and Danny Cox through seven innings. Fun irrelevant fact: I have several relatives in the St. Louis area with the surname Cox, and young me liked to imagine that Danny Cox was a distant relative. I did the same thing with Eddie Murray, since Murray was my mom’s maiden name, though that one was a real stretch. Spoiler alert: I’m not related to Danny Cox or Eddie Murray.
In the top of the eighth, PH Brian Harper singled in Terry Pendleton to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead. Things were looking bleak for KC as the game entered the bottom of the ninth. St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog brought in his closer, Todd Worrell, to get him the last three outs. Worrell was a late season call-up in 1985 who had quickly become the anchor of the Cards’ bullpen and would go on to win the 1986 NL Rookie of the Year Award.
The first batter was Jorge Orta, pinch-hitting for Daryl Motley, who had earlier replaced Pat Sheridan in RF. Orta slapped a chopper to Jack Clark at 1B. Worrell ran to cover the bag, Clark flipped it to him, and in a bang-bang play, umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe.
Replay appeared to show that Orta was out. Denny Matthews, Steve Balboni, and other Royals have basically acknowledged as much over the years. As a die-hard Royals fan, I plead the fifth. I know what the replay shows, but the real reason I’ll never concede that play is that Cardinals fans still act like this blown call cost them the World Series, and it most definitely did not. Well, not directly anyway.
Sports fans often grossly overreact to missed calls and mistakes. Take for example the infamous Bartman incident in Chicago during 2003 NLCS. Sure, the guy reached out for a foul ball. Maybe he cost Moises Alou a chance to catch it, though I have my doubts that Alou would have brought it in. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have ended the inning. It would have only been the second out.
Instead, Alou (a player I usually liked) threw a fit and basically ruined Steve Bartman’s life by turning an entire city against him. As if his interference cost them the game and series, and not the series of errors the Cubs made by losing their cool, which allowed the Marlins to come back and win the game. And of course, that doesn’t even include the fact that all this went down in a Game 6. Even after the Cubs blew it, they still had a chance to win Game 7 and they failed to do that too.
The same could be said of the Cardinals in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series. Not to mention that the game should have been tied at 1-1 in the ninth anyway, because the umps blew a call in the bottom of the fourth inning when they incorrectly called Frank White out attempting to steal second base. Had the correct call been made, White would have surely scored two pitches later when Pat Sheridan singled to RF. But Cardinals fans never want to bring up that call.
Nevertheless, none of it excuses the Cardinals’ meltdown following the Denkinger call. Let’s review the aftermath.
Following a lengthy tirade from Herzog, Steve Balboni popped a fly ball into foul territory down the first base line. Darrell Porter, an elite catcher and former Royal, and 1B Jack Clark came together and let it drop. It was mostly Clark’s fault, but an inexcusable play from both in such a big moment. Two pitches later, Balboni singled, giving KC runners at first and second with no outs. Onix Concepcion came into pinch-run for Balboni.
Sundberg attempted to bunt the runners over, but sent it right back to Worrell on the mound instead. Worrell threw to third for the out, taking Orta off the board. The Royals still had runners at first and second, now with one out. You could make the case that the Denkinger call was now rendered irrelevant, but St. Louis wasn’t done collapsing.
Porter then allowed a rare passed ball, and the runners both moved up ninety feet. Worrell intentionally walked Hal McRae to put the double play ball back on the table, and Dane Iorg, who had won a title with St. Louis in 1982, stepped in to pinch-hit.
Iorg hit a bloop single to RF, easily scoring Concepcion. Sundberg turned around third and headed home, barely beating Andy Van Slyke’s throw to walk it off with a 2-1 Royals win. Royals players mobbed Iorg, and Willie Wilson accidentally bopped him in the nose, breaking it and drawing blood. He tried to pull his teammates back, but when Iorg showed no signs of pain, the mobbing resumed.
As I mentioned before, blown call or not, the Cardinals still had a chance to win it in seven, but the psychological battle was lost. When Motley homered in the second inning, setting off the histrionics in my living room, the game was effectively over. Saberhagen cruised to another complete game and the Royals’ offense continued to pour it on (finally getting to Tudor) as the Cardinals self-destructed.
The breaking point came in the bottom of the fifth when the Royals scored 6 runs, and Herzog called on one of his best starting pitchers, Joaquin Andujar, to take the mound in relief. My friends and I loved Andujar, even if he was a Cardinal, and affectionately referred to him by his nickname, “Walking Underwear.” But he was still stuck in Game 6, and immediately started jawing with Denkinger, who was behind the plate for Game 7.
This pulled Herzog out of the dugout to defend his pitcher. Yelling at Denkinger, he accurately summed up the St. Louis mindset for Game 7: “We wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t missed the fucking call last night!”
Denkinger shot back: “Well, if you guys weren’t hitting .120 in the World Series, we wouldn’t be here.” Ouch. Long story short, Herzog and Andujar were both ejected, and the Royals rolled to their first World Championship.
Denkinger had a point. The Cardinals batted .185 as a team in the World Series, the lowest total ever for a seven-game series— at least until the Yankees topped it by hitting .183 in 2001. The Royals’ pitching, led by series MVP Saberhagen and the always timely Danny Jackson, was dominant, and Kansas City became just the fifth team to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series. And they were first to do it after losing the opening two games at home.
So yeah, maybe the slogan had it right. For Royals fans of all ages, the 1985 season and I-70 Series were thrilling as hell.
Thankfully, we’ll always have the video to remind us when times get lean.
Thanks for reading Powder Blue Nostalgia. Please spread the word with your baseball friends and leave any memories you might have of the ‘85 World Series in the comments below.
I wonder if you could upload that video to YouTube...
"You’ve Got a Hit on Your Hands" That has to be the worst team slogan of all time