KANSAS CITY – From the first championship in franchise history to the 2014-15 postseason runs that brought Kansas City back onto the national stage, the Royals have had plenty of memorable moments over the past five-plus decades.
It’s hard to even limit it to 10, but we’ve tried our best. Here are 10 of the Royals’ best on-field moments, starting with the two teams that will forever be remembered in franchise lore because of the trophy each hoisted in October:
1. No outs to go
This list can’t start without a franchise first. Following a controversial Game 6, the Royals steamrolled the Cardinals for an 11-0 win in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series. Bret Saberhagen threw a complete game, and when Royals outfielder Darryl Motley caught the final out in the top of the ninth inning near the right-center-field warning track, the moment was etched in history forever as the club’s first championship.
“No outs to go,” Royals legend Denny Matthews said on the broadcast. “The Royals have won the 1985 World Series.”
2. Inside corner
If Motley’s catch will be remembered forever, so will this 95 mph fastball from Wade Davis. With two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning and Kansas City leading 7-2, Davis’ pitch froze the Mets’ Wilmer Flores, ending Game 5 of the 2015 World Series and handing the Royals their second championship in franchise history. Part of the “HDH” trifecta with Greg Holland and Kelvin Herrera, Davis procured that last out, throwing his hands to the sky and joining the history books.
3. A Wild Card walk-off
One of the greatest games in franchise history would not be anything if not for this moment: Salvador Perez’s slicing ground ball up the third-base line past a diving Josh Donaldson, just missing his glove and rolling into left field. It allowed Christian Colon – whose single earlier had tied it – to score from second as the winning run in the 12th inning, sending the Royals to the 2014 American League Division Series with a 9-8 victory over the A’s. This, of course, came after the Royals had been trailing 7-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. A wild Wild Card, indeed.
4. The Pine Tar Game
The video is priceless, an irate George Brett exploding out of the dugout and racing toward home plate umpire Tim McClelland, who had just ruled that Brett was out, negating the home run Brett had just hit off the Yankees’ Goose Gossage after inspection of his bat for excessive pine tar. Brett threw a full-on fit and had to be restrained – while still making his voice heard at McClelland. There’s a ton that happened after, too, eventually leading to the game having to be resumed 26 days later. July 24, 1983, lives in infamy around here – and the video is always worth watching.
5. Finally! Down go the Yankees
The old-guard Yankees and young upstart Royals were once fierce rivals, and they played each other in the AL Championship Series four times between 1976-80. The Royals won just one of those, but boy, did it feel good. In the seventh inning of the series-clinching Game 3 in ‘80, Brett connected with an inside fastball from Gossage, sending it to the third deck and turning Kansas City’s one-run deficit into a two-run lead en route to a 4-2 win. In 2024, when the Royals were preparing to play the Yankees in the ALDS, Brett told me that winning this ALCS was “like winning the World Series.”
6. The Brett-Nettles brawl
The 1977 ALCS was full of controversy and hatred between the Royals and Yankees. It was nearly boiling over when Brett came in hard at third base on a first-inning triple in Game 5. He knocked Graig Nettles off the bag, and Nettles lifted his foot and kicked Brett in the face. Brett wasted no time in popping up and punching Nettles in the face. That set off a big brawl between the teams. My favorite part: No one got ejected! The game just kept going. Now that’s baseball.
7. Hosmer’s mad dash
In order to get to No. 2 on this list, the Royals had to figure out a way to come back in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series. With Kansas City down by a run in the ninth inning, Eric Hosmer was on third when Perez chopped a grounder to third baseman David Wright. Wright looked Hosmer back to the base, then threw to first baseman Lucas Duda. That’s when Hosmer broke for home, putting all the pressure on Duda – who threw the ball high and wide, allowing Hosmer to slide in safely. Tie game, and the rest is history.
8. The Gordon pose
The 2015 Royals were a resilient club, and no one better exemplified that than Alex Gordon. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 of the World Series, Gordon blasted a game-tying home run to dead center field. After a few costly mistakes had put Kansas City in a hole in the first place, Gordon erased all that, and the Royals didn’t squander it, winning 5-4 in 14 innings. When Gordon gets a statue at Kauffman Stadium, it’ll be in the pose from this home run, his right hand pointed to the sky as he rounds first base.
9. Bo knows
There are many Bo Jackson moments to choose from. But I just love a perfect throw. And that’s what this was, when Jackson threw out Harold Reynolds at home from left field. In the bottom of the 10th inning on June 5, 1989, the speedy Reynolds was on first and running on the pitch when Scott Bradley connected for a double down the left-field line. In one motion, Jackson fielded the ball and unleashed an insane throw to catcher Bob Boone, who tagged the sliding Reynolds. It was so nonchalant. It was so perfect. It was so Bo.
10. Sabes’ no-hitter
The Royals have only four no-hitters in their history, and this was the most recent. On Aug. 26, 1991, Saberhagen shut down the White Sox in what was nearly a perfect game if not for Kirk Gibson’s error in left field in the fifth inning. That was originally called a hit before being reversed to an error by the official scorer. Saberhagen kept mowing down the Sox, and the final out came from Frank Thomas, who grounded out to second base to end the Royals’ 7-0 win. Saberhagen raised his arms in the air and celebrated the history-making moment.