Royals Hall of Famer Dennis Leonard part of team's early playoff success

Apr. 12—COMMERCE, Okla. — Dennis Leonard won at least 20 games in three different seasons in his career, and his most was 21 in 1978.

Leonard spent his entire career as a starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, and the first words out of his mouth when asked about his success were about his teammates.

"I think a lot of a pitcher's success depends on the team you play on. I was fortunate to play on a team that played good defense, scored runs, so it was my job basically to throw strikes," he said recently at the Mickey Mantle Classic in Commerce.

Those teams went on to have plenty of success. The Royals had a four-year battle with the perennial powerhouse in the American League that was the New York Yankees in the championship series from 1977-80.

That battle was more than a battle of two good teams, though. There was a bit of a personal battle for Leonard. The 72-year-old was born in Brooklyn, New York, and went to high school in Oceanside, New York. He had plenty of people back home watching those games.

Kansas City lost the first three matchups.

"All my friends that I grew up with were rooting for the Yankees. Except for one," he said. "Losing those, I just said, 'I hope we have one more shot at this. I'll never live it down.'"

In 1980, Kansas City got revenge by beating the Yankees in an ALCS matchup. The Royals then fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games in the World Series.

Leonard got to pitch Game 1 of that series and recalls following the scouting report that told him to use a lot of breaking balls against the Phillies' lineup. He regrets that decision as he fell behind 4-0 due to not using his fastball.

He returned to the mound in Game 4 and earned a win after holding the Phillies to three runs — two earned — in seven innings of work. His hope was to pitch in Game 7 as well, but the series never got there.

Leonard was right in the middle of the Royals' first bit of playoff success in the late 1970s.

He also was with the Royals in 1985 when they beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, but he had been rehabbing a nagging knee injury that occurred during 1983 when he was pitching to Cal Ripken Jr.

The right-hander had only pitched a few innings during the 1985 season and was on the bench during Games 1 and 2, which St. Louis won in K.C. When asked about traveling to St. Louis, Leonard made this choice:

"I need to go to Florida to work on the things I need to work on to be able to pitch in '86. I went to Sarasota, Florida, and when they won it, I was actually at an oyster bar eating oysters and drinking beer."

Leonard talked about battling that injury and the frustrations of thinking his arm was fine to keep going but that his knee was holding him up. He recognized a "stable of young pitchers" led by Bret Saberhagen coming up behind him in the Kansas City organization and knew he needed to focus on just being ready for 1986 instead of trying to stay for the '85 World Series.

Leonard missed most of 1983, all of 1984 and practically all of 1985.

He made that return and threw a complete-game shutout in his first game of '86. Leonard only allowed three hits to the Toronto Blue Jays and struck out three batters.

"That's probably one of the biggest highlights of my own career. Not so much what other people think, but after missing (parts of) three years ... I never had to work that hard between starts, but that was a special day for me," Leonard said.

1977 was a career best for Leonard as he had his best WHIP in a season, at 1.11. His 244 strikeouts was his most in a single season. He pitched 292 2/3 innings that year, which is second most in his career. His 3.04 ERA was second best behind his 2.99 during the 1981 strike season.

Leonard finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 1977 as well. His 20 wins led the League that year. His career record was 144-106 with an ERA of 3.70.

THE 1981 STRIKE

Leonard's pro career ranged from 1974 to 1986, the year of a strike. All games were put on hold from June 12 to Aug. 10 before things were resolved.

"We never really wanted to go on strike. Each year, there's always going to be a battle between the playing side and the business side," Leonard said. "We wanted to get something done. Unfortunately, you had to go on strike to do it."

He noted that people such as Curt Flood in 1981 put their careers on the line to make a change for athletes and were successful.

Leonard may not have been getting paid for two months, but he made sure to enjoy himself during that time off, just waiting to get back to work.

"At the time, I was living in Sarasota, Florida, so when we went on strike, I took off and went down there. I went fishing and had a good ol' time," Leonard admitted.

It was a relief to both parties, Leonard thinks, to get the games underway again.

The much larger contracts and difference in contract negotiations today is something that might be overlooked by today's players.

"Now they're giving out money like it's candy on Halloween. It's good for the players, but they have to realize we're the ones who got them where they are," Leonard said.

WHITEY HERZOG AS MANAGER

Jack McKeon was Leonard's first manager, and he was the skipper for the first season and a half of the pitcher's career.

But then it was Whitey Herzog for the second half of 1975 and the next four full seasons. That was during the Royals' battle with the Yankees in the ALCS.

"Loved him," Leonard said of Herzog. "I don't know how else to explain it."

Herzog's managerial style was different from McKeon's, as Leonard recalls. McKeon was more about guidelines and rules and even curfews, while Herzog let the guys handle their own business outside of the field. But Leonard did say that Herzog didn't put up with any sort of drug use.

A story Leonard shared with Herzog was that the manager didn't let him go into the pitcher's meetings. When it was time to scout or talk about how to attack certain team's batters, Herzog sent Leonard out to pitch.

"He didn't want me to think. He wanted me to throw," Leonard said with a laugh. "He didn't want me to try and hit spots."

Herzog even reached out to Leonard after the manager left Kansas City. Herzog was managing in St. Louis and invited Leonard to join the Cardinals following the 1986 season.

Leonard was in a discussion with the Royals at the time to restructure his contract, which had a two-year team option on it. He wasn't going to be able to stay on the same contract, and what Kansas City offered was too low for his liking.

He admits he got stubborn in asking for more money from the team he started with and didn't want to leave. His option to go to St. Louis was turned down as well as he said he didn't want to uproot his family in what may have been his final year in 1987.

'VERY GOOD SPORTS TOWN'

Leonard lives in the Kansas City area — Blue Springs — and has since his playing days. He makes sure to follow the pro sports today.

"Yeah, I do. I mean, you have to with the Chiefs," he said. "Kansas City is a very good sports town. What I've noticed is if you win, they will come."

He sees potential in the young Royals pitchers Brady Singer and Cole Ragans. But he says that potential has to turn into results and the team must piece it together.

"Not too many teams go from last to first, but it does happen, so everybody has their fingers crossed," Leonard said.

The main ingredient in order to make a leap like that is star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. That's someone Leonard and others got to spend time with this spring.

"He's amazing. The Royals have some of the former players that are in the Royals Hall of Fame come down for spring training, and we get the opportunity to sit on the bench for spring training games," Leonard said.

"Here's Bobby. ... He looks like a little kid playing his first Little League game. He's always so excited. He's a joy to be around."

NO BATTING

Leonard never swung a bat in an MLB game. He wishes he could have hit the ball some in the big leagues, but playing his entire career in the AL, he always had a designated hitter.

"I liked to hit, but I knew Hal McRae was a hell of a lot better hitter than me," Leonard said.

He didn't even hit much in college, only on days that he got the nod as starting pitcher. In high school, it was the same as he graduated from a large school and he was dedicated as a pitcher only and never got to play in the field.

Leonard believes the recent call to go to a designated hitter in both the American League and the National League helped extend some position players' careers by letting them only hit and not have to go into the field.

Only being a pitcher in high school turned out to help Leonard prepare for college by giving him time to work on conditioning when he wasn't pitching. It frustrated him that he couldn't play in the field but admitted it worked out.

THE SAVE

Leonard was a starting pitcher. Never at any point did he have an extended amount of time getting relief appearances. In 10 career outings from the bullpen, he managed a save.

That was his first appearance of the 1977 season. Leonard came in just to get some work during a 16-0 blowout of the Detroit Tigers. He pitched three innings and recorded a save for the long relief work.

"I was a starter. That (relief) was not my thing," Leonard said.