Hello Royals Fan! Tell Me About the Sept 1985 Version of you.

[Archie F. Swin]

Poll forthcoming....

I was born in Topeka but my family moved to southwest Oklahoma when I was 6 years old. Had I never returned to Kansas/Missouri, Its doubtful I would be a Royals (or Chiefs) fan. Neither one of my parents were fans of KC sports teams. In the late summer of 1985 my father enrolled me in Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, MO. At the time, I was 13 years old and had braces on my teeth and had to be taken to KC for orthodontics work. From Lexington we had to take I 70 into town. One of my favorite things to see on the trip was the Truman Sports Complex. It made quite an impression on me as a young man from a small town in Oklahoma. I was inspired by the size and design of the stadium and the way it opened up to the freeway.

Those trips alone were enough to make me want to support the teams that called those stadiums home. I was not a major league baseball fan at the time, so I didn't know that '85 would be a big year for the Royals. I do remember one night my father picked me up from campus ad we drove into town and as we passed the Royals stadium and he said that the World Series was being played there. Looking back, I can safely assume it was a Saturday game (Game 1 or Game 6). What's really strange is, even though many of my fellow cadets were from KC and we had a TV in the barracks, I have no recollection of seeing a WS game on TV.

Anywho, because of a year at a Missouri military school and the need for orthodontia, I'm a Royals fan.

[a pp roach]

Lower left quadrant.

[007]

Junior in high school. Thought I-70 Series was the dumbest name for that World Series too. Should have been the Show Me Series.

[cdcox]

I was always a football fan first, but there was a time when I was true blue Royals fan.

I remember when Paul Schaal was the Royals 3rd baseman. Lou Pinella was one of our guys. Freddie Patek, Cookie Rojas. Scrappy teams with ALCS dreams.

I poured over the box scores every day in the 1970s. I loved those teams built around line drives, base running, defense and pitching.

I survived losing the 1976 ALCS to the Yankees. But losing the way we did, in the 9th inning in the 5th game, took a great deal out of me as a sports fan. I went to bed stunned and woke up stunned. I don't think I said a word before 10:00 AM the next day at school. Devastating. I learned I needed to protect my emotions from sports teams.

1977 was stunning. They drew me back in. 102 wins. A couple of really impressive win streaks. That team was so good. We were unbeatable. Until the Yankees. Not as dramatic, but how could we put forth a better team than that one?

1978. Third time is the charm! No, not for the Royals. We'll never win anything.

1980. I wanted George Brett to hit .400 so bad. .400! Couldn't quite get it done. My second favorite regular season as a Royals fan after 1977. We finally made it to the World Series and it was nice to get that monkey off our backs. The World Series was anti-climatic for me. I was a sophomore at Mizzou at the time and too busy with school to devote my full attention to the series. Besides, this team was a shadow of the 1977 team. It seemed clear we weren't as good as the Phillies. My clearest memory from that series was Pete Rose bouncing the ball off the turf every time they ended the inning in the field. I hope that bastard never gets in the HOF. By now, I'm completely numb as a Royals fan.

The seasons in between were a blur. Finished my last 2 years of undergrad, got married, then grad school, then early career. No time for a bunch of guys that would disappoint me. I could still name all the players, but much of the core that I loved was long gone.

1985. I watched a few of the playoff games. No big whoop, these weren't my guys any more, other than Brett, White, Wilson, and McCrae. I liked Sabes and Gubicza. Quisenberry was effective but untrustworthy. I may have watched 1 or 2 of games 1-5. We were at a party at my cousin's for game 6. By the 9th inning everyone was focused on the game. Safe? Safe! Instantly it was clear that our fate had changed. We EXPECTED to win game 6 and we did. We EXPECTED to win game 7 and it was a laugher. I really enjoyed that game as a kind of vindication for all the years of post-season disappointment. But it lacked the "umph!" that you get from following a team the entire season. No regrets on my part though.

It was also my swan song. Two years later we moved away from KC for good. Baseball is a slow sport, best followed by going to the park, listening to the games on the radio while doing something else, and reading the local rag. Tough to follow from a distance and not made for TV with the exception of the playoffs. And baseball was never my first love -- that was football.

And the Royals had left scars. The Chiefs were still gashing new ones. I understood that I could only handle one emotional attachment to a sports team, and that would be the Chiefs. So I said good bye to the Royals. I still followed George Brett, but not the rest of the team.

At this moment, I couldn't name a single player. I won't jump on this band wagon. Just not that interested. I wish them well. But even a world championship won't elicit a fist pump, a yell, or cause my feet to leave the ground.

[BWillie]

I was one years old. No effing clue what I was doing. Probably drooling and looking up at some spinning toy in my crib while shitting my diaper

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I was one years old. No effing clue what I was doing. Probably drooling and looking up at some spinning toy in my crib while shitting my diaper

So not much has changed in 29 years.

[Archie F. Swin]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Company C here.

Your barracks were over by the Admin Bldg, yes?

[Archie F. Swin]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

If that series takes place today, do we still win?

Denkinger/Orta would be overturned obviously

True, it would have been the first out of the inning, but remember, Orta never scored. I think he was thrown out at 3rd. The cards blew several attempts to seal the deal that night.

[rockymtnchief]

Freshman year at Montana State. My best friend was/is a Blue Jays fan. The smack talk was thick during the ALCS.

My dorm roommate was a Cardinals fan. We ended up fighting after game 7 of the World Series. 29 years later, he's still one of the biggest dumb asses I know.

[PunkinDrublic]

9 years old. My family had just moved to Overland Park from KCMO. Was lucky enough to go to game 1. Still have the ticket stubs framed. The year before went to a playoff game against the tigers when they lost 1-0 against Jack Morris.

[Nzoner]

Originally Posted by Guru

Junior in high school. Thought I-70 Series was the dumbest name for that World Series too. Should have been the Show Me Series.

I used to own a shirt that had a Missouri Mule with a KC Royals logo on its hindquarters kicking the living shit out of a redbird with red feathers flying everywhere that read THE SHOW-ME-STATE SHOWDOWN 11-0

[Nzoner]

IN October of 1985 I was trying my best not to be bothered by my S/O with petty details about our upcoming November wedding so I could watch the series with the guys.

I'll never forget being at a place called Wimpy's in St Joseph with 9 friends during game 7 and we all ordered a fresh pitcher of beer and poured them over one another when that last catch was made.

[RockChalk]

3 years old living in Enid, OK. Pushing around a bubble mower and following around my dad on the golf course were the highlights of my day back then.

[KCUnited]

I was 9 living in a STL Cardinal household. My dad grew up in W. Kansas on the STL broadcast before the Royals came to town. He loved Stan Musial. I was a Royals/Mets fan as my dad let us kids pick our own teams and took us to Kauffman to see the Royals.

It was a long, quiet week after that '85 series. No joke, my dad didn't/couldn't speak to us for a week. He's still a Cards fan first, but he's down with the Royals, though I know he still hates that '85 KC team.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by cdcox

1980. I wanted George Brett to hit .400 so bad. .400! Couldn't quite get it done. My second favorite regular season as a Royals fan after 1977. We finally made it to the World Series and it was nice to get that monkey off our backs. The World Series was anti-climatic for me. I was a sophomore at Mizzou at the time and too busy with school to devote my full attention to the series. Besides, this team was a shadow of the 1977 team. It seemed clear we weren't as good as the Phillies. My clearest memory from that series was Pete Rose bouncing the ball off the turf every time they ended the inning in the field. I hope that bastard never gets in the HOF. By now, I'm completely numb as a Royals fan.

I think it's wildly off base to say the 80 team was "a shadow" of the 77 team. They are very close statistically, the 77 team pretty much tread water through the first half of the season before getting insanely hot in August and September, while the 80 team pretty much dominated the whole season before shifting to cruise control in September. You certainly can make the case the 77 team was overall better, but it's not a slam dunk.

And I still don't believe the Phillies were an obviously better team. The Royals blew a 4-0 lead in Game 1 and late leads in Games 2 and 5. We had those ****ers. We should've won that series.

I also was pissed off with Rose bouncing the ball off the turf. Also when he got hit by a pitch by Leonard in Game 1, starting the Phillies' rally, and he made a big deal of it by taking a step or two toward the mound before running to first. Such an asshole.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I was 9 living in a STL Cardinal household. My dad grew up in W. Kansas on the STL broadcast before the Royals came to town. He loved Stan Musial. I was a Royals/Mets fan as my dad let us kids pick our own teams and took us to Kauffman to see the Royals.

It was a long, quiet week after that '85 series. No joke, my dad didn't/couldn't speak to us for a week. He's still a Cards fan first, but he's down with the Royals, though I know he still hates that '85 KC team.

My dad's a lifelong Cards fan too, and so was I growing up (Royals being 1a, Cards 1b). So I thought it was great when they met in the 85 Series. But Cardinal fans at Mizzou were such insufferable dicks to us Royals fans that they pretty much destroyed my Cardinal fanhood.