My favorite postseason moment? Granted, it’s been quite a while. But there were a fair number of great postseason moments in 1980 and 1985.
In 1980, I was in the stands when Willie Mays Aikens homered twice against the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series. A few days earlier, I was in Kemper Arena when Elton John told an adoring crowd that George Brett had clinched the Royals’ first American League flag with a homer in the ninth inning off Goose Gossage. Since then, of course, I’ve seen Brett’s upper-deck shot dozens of times; someday I’m sure I’ll remembering watching it on television when it actually happened.
In 1985, I was in the stands when Brett, one of the greatest clutch hitters in history, hit three homers and a double off the wall to help beat the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Later, I watched on TV when the Royals mounted their improbable, Denkinger-aided, Iorg-capped comeback in Game 6 of the World Series; and also when they crushed the Cardinals in Game 7, with Daryl Motley’s home run the highlight.
But as memorable and delightful as all those moments were, instead I’ll choose something painful. In 1976, my first season as a Royals fan, they lost the ALCS to the Yankees when Chris Chambliss hit a walk-off homer in Game 5. I cried. Almost exactly one year later, Game 5 was in Kansas City and I was there. The Royals took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning, only to give up three runs; they lost when Freddie Patek slapped into a game- and series-ending double play.
I cried.
On the way to the car, my dad said, “Hey buddy, we’ll get ‘em next year.”
Actually, we didn’t get ‘em next year. Next year, the #$%&@ Yankees beat us again. But we did get ‘em in 1980. And we outplayed ‘em in 2014, too. If you’re patient and lucky and don’t abuse your body, you’ll probably be around long enough to get ‘em next year.
