Spring Break
Dave's Place - Big Ed's Royals
David Cordill
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Sports
People tend to recall a significant news event by remembering exactly where they were and what they were doing when it occurred. It's no different in the world of sports.
Take Game Three of the 1980 American League Championships Series for example.
I was 16 years old. Big Ed, who was 17 but could easily pass for 30, brought over beer and the both of us hustled it up to my attic bedroom because we didn't want my dad to find it in the fridge. There, amid the red painted walls and ceiling, both decorated with tin foil strips and posters of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, we sipped lukewarm Budweiser and watched the game on a tiny black and white television set.
At that time Royals fans were spoiled. The team had been in the league barely 10 years but had already experienced great success. They'd won three straight divisional titles from 1976-78. The team featured a solid pitching staff, a core of veterans and a developing youth movement.
But with their upstart accolades came perennial heartbreak. Invariably, this would arrive dressed in black Yankee pin stripes. During this particular string of postseason appearances, the New York Yankees would pull off the improbable against the Royals and advance to the World Series. Watching the events unfold game by game during this era was like watching an Old Yeller movie marathon.
The two teams first squared off in 1976, when the American and National League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) consisted of five games. For the Kansas City faithful, this ALCS was the most traumatic because of its sudden result.
The series itself was a see-saw battle as a team would win one game then lose the next. Thus, when the Royals and Yankees met for Game Five at a rowdy Yankee Stadium, the series was tied up at 2-2. A trip to the World Series was at stake.
The Yankees were up 6-3 when George Brett jacked a three-run shot off Grant Jackson in the eighth inning to knot the score at 6-6.
Relief pitcher, Mark Littell retired the Yankees in order in the bottom of the inning. But the Royals failed to score in their next at bat.
Take Game Three of the 1980 American League Championships Series for example.
I was 16 years old. Big Ed, who was 17 but could easily pass for 30, brought over beer and the both of us hustled it up to my attic bedroom because we didn't want my dad to find it in the fridge. There, amid the red painted walls and ceiling, both decorated with tin foil strips and posters of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, we sipped lukewarm Budweiser and watched the game on a tiny black and white television set.
At that time Royals fans were spoiled. The team had been in the league barely 10 years but had already experienced great success. They'd won three straight divisional titles from 1976-78. The team featured a solid pitching staff, a core of veterans and a developing youth movement.
But with their upstart accolades came perennial heartbreak. Invariably, this would arrive dressed in black Yankee pin stripes. During this particular string of postseason appearances, the New York Yankees would pull off the improbable against the Royals and advance to the World Series. Watching the events unfold game by game during this era was like watching an Old Yeller movie marathon.
The two teams first squared off in 1976, when the American and National League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) consisted of five games. For the Kansas City faithful, this ALCS was the most traumatic because of its sudden result.
The series itself was a see-saw battle as a team would win one game then lose the next. Thus, when the Royals and Yankees met for Game Five at a rowdy Yankee Stadium, the series was tied up at 2-2. A trip to the World Series was at stake.
The Yankees were up 6-3 when George Brett jacked a three-run shot off Grant Jackson in the eighth inning to knot the score at 6-6.
Relief pitcher, Mark Littell retired the Yankees in order in the bottom of the inning. But the Royals failed to score in their next at bat.
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