So really, how did the 1979 Kansas City Royals really do for me at the Chicago Retro World Series APBA Tournament? Below is a game-by-game synopsis of our adventure through Saturday’s tourney.
vs. Kevin Burghardt’s 1970 Baltimore Orioles
In Game 1, Hal McRae made his presence known quickly against Jim Palmer (AYZ). He drove home two runs in the first inning. For the game, McRae was 3 for 4 with a double and a triple.
KC 5 Balt 2
Baltimore got their revenge in Game 2 against Paul Splittorff. Paul Buford drove home two with a triple in the third inning and pinch hitter Andy Etchebarren doubled home two in the sixth.
Balt 6 KC 5
vs Kurt Bergland’s 1982 Milwaukee Brewers
Brewers’ starter Mike Caldwell had things well in hand allowing just one run in 8 innings. Meanwhile the Brew Crew racked up the runs with Ben Oglivie collecting three rbis. Cecil Cooper went 3 for 5 with a double two runs scored. Willie Wilson added a two-run HR against Rollie Fingers in defeat.
Milw 7 KC 3
Down 4-3 in Game 2, KC mounted a three-run rally to win it. Singles by Amos Otis and George Brett, a groundout rbi for Darrell Porter and a walk to McRae. It was up to Steve Braun who came in for injured Al Cowens. Braun who already had one hit, doubled in two-runs to give KC the win.
KC 5 Milw 4
vs. Shawn Witt’s 1978 New York Yankees
Game 1 against the Yanks and the mighty A&C Ron Guidry…KC did manage to score four runs thanks to homers by Pete LaCock and Darrell Porter but a George Brett error helped Lou Piniella score the winning run in the 8th inning.
NY 5 KC 4
Paul Splittorff was the story of Game 2. He pitched a two-hit shutout against the Yankees tough lineup. McRae helped the cause by going 2 for 5 with a homer and 3 rbis
KC 7 NY 0
vs. Gary Lindley’s 1972 Oakland A’s
Despite homers by Amos Otis and George Brett (who finally began to hit at this point), the A’s proved to be tough against Larry Gura. Sal Bando contributed a homer and KC’s normally clean defense committed two key errors, one by Brett again. Ken Holtzman gets the win.
Oak 6 KC 3
KC starter Rich Gale (DYW) had been relatively stable up until this point. Not today. He faced seven Oakland batters and couldn’t get any of them out. When Cullen tripled home two, he hit the showers. Dave Duncan contributed a homer in the third inning.
Oak 10 KC 4
vs Rob Spatz’ 1984 Detroit Tigers
Brett continues to hit as he is a triple away from the cycle and drive home three runs. Down 4-3 in the 8th inning, KC get four hits from Wilson, Otis, Brett and a game winner from Porter.
KC 5 Det 4
No doubt about this one. KC brought their bats for Game 2. Wilson 3 for 5. Otis 3 for 6. Porter 3 for 4. McRae 3 for 5. Another win for Paul Splittorff who gives up three runs in the complete game.
KC 11 Det 3
Playoff game vs. Larry Eichman’s 1987 Oakland A’s
It was a pitching duel between KC’s Dennis Leonard (CZ) and Dave Stewart (BX). Game score remained 1-1 until Luis Polonia walked in the 8th inning then Alfredo Griffin drove him home with a double. For good measure, Mark McGwire put one in the seats for a two-run homer.
Oak 4 KC 1
A few addendums: Amos Otis was the big hero. He led the team in batting, rbis, runs, homers, hits, pretty much everything. George Brett was 3 for 25 in Games 1-5. He was 8 for 20 (with 2 HR) for the rest of the tournament. Frank White didn’t get a hit till Game 8 but he hit in last four straight games. I managed to get 24 players into the tournament. I believe infielder Todd Cruz was the odd man out.
Below are the 1979 Kansas City Royals’ full stats for the tournament.
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | HBP | AVG | SLG | OBP |
| Wilson, Willie | 11 | 46 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 1 | .304 | .522 | .333 |
| Otis, Amos | 11 | 45 | 11 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | .378 | .533 | .417 |
| Brett, George | 11 | 45 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .244 | .489 | .261 |
| Porter, Darrell | 11 | 37 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .297 | .514 | .409 |
| McRae, Hal | 11 | 43 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | .256 | .442 | .289 |
| Cowens, Al | 11 | 37 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .162 | .162 | .225 |
| LaCock, Pete | 11 | 34 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .206 | .324 | .341 |
| White, Frank | 11 | 37 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | .135 | .162 | .220 |
| Patek, Fred | 11 | 38 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .211 | .237 | .231 |
| Braun, Steve | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 1.000 |
| Washington, U.L. | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Hurdle, Clint | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .500 |
| Quirk, Jamie | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .333 |
| Wathan, John | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Totals | 11 | 369 | 53 | 92 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 52 | 29 | 46 | 13 | 3 | .249 | .388 | .309 |
| Pitcher | G | GS | CG | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | W | L | Sv | Sho | ERA | |
| Leonard, Dennis | 4 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 32 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | |
| Splittorf, Paul | 3 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.24 | |
| Gura, Larry | 2 | 2 | 0 | 14 1/3 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.02 | |
| Pattin, Marty | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Gale, Rich | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15.00 | |
| Quisenberry, Dan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Hrabosky, Al | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Busby, Steve | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Chamberlain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | |
| Rodriguez, Ed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Totals | 11 | 11 | 6 | 96 | 94 | 51 | 45 | 28 | 32 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4.22 |
What was the final decision with your lineup(s)? Did you use the same lineup throughout the Tournament did you swap things up a bit based on hot or cold players, dice or opposing pitchers?
Hi Steve,
I used the same lineup for all the games in the tournament.
1. Willie Wilson LF
2. Amos Otis RF
3. George Brett 3B
4. Darrell Porter C
5. Hal McRae DH
6. Al Cowens CF
7. Pete LaCock 1B
8. Frank White 2B
9. Fred Patek SS
Starters:
Dennis Leonard CZ
Paul Splittorff CZ
Larry Gura CZ
Rich Gale DYW
LaCock hit only .206 but he had a stretch where he got on base six times in a row. That’s why I chose him to the AL team for the tournament All-Star Game. As it turned out, he walked before DeCinces’ game winning HR
Lineup looks like something Whitey would have done then but when it is all said and done, an A pitcher would have helped a lot. All those C pitchers make things tough. Glad to see so many had a lot of fun however your team does!
I’m pretty happy all things considered. We went 0-2 against the tournament champion. That’s the breaks.
The C starters did ok. We even won one when DYW Rich Gale started.
Great job getting those 79 Royals to the playoffs Tom. That staff has got to be tough to overcome in that format. Congrats. George Brett sure did have some awesome cards.