Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy

On September 11, 1969 -- Implementing an innovation he conceived, team owner Ewing Kauffman announces plans to start the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy. Syd Thrift, presently a member of KC's scouting department, will be named the director of the academy which will be designed to develop gifted athletes into major-league ready ballplayers for the organization.

All seven of the academy's instructors had playing experience in Major League Baseball. They were Bill Fischer, Joe Gordon, Tommy Henrich, Steve Korcheck, Jim Lemon, Johnny Neun and Chuck Stobbs.

The first graduating class from the Royals Baseball Academy included Frank White, a marvelous defensive shortstop who was switched to second base in his second season with Kansas City. White had attended Longview Community College in the Kansas City suburbs, but wasn’t considered a top baseball prospect. But his range was still that of a shortstop and his arm was as strong as any in the game. He learned to play second base on the fast astroturf in Kansas City. He developed techniques to quicken his throws and to use the turf to bounce the ball on one hop to first. He played deep…very deep…which allowed him to get to fast-traveling balls and also gather in popups hit into the outfield. He won eight Gold Gloves and played his entire 18-year career as a Royal.

Kauffman let his crusty baseball men talk him out of funding the Academy after a few years, and he regretted that for the remainder of his life. It yielded U.L. Washington and a few others, but the crown jewel of the experiment was Frank White, one of the best fielding second baseman in baseball history and a key member of the 1985 World Champion Royals.

If you are a member you can visit Frank White’s Audio Vault here that features 88+ games he played in a Royal’s uniform.

1980 World Series: Here

1985 World Series: Here

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TRIVIA

Nicknames for players on teams that were the first of their franchise to reach the postseason or other watershed year:

A.O., Mullet, Smooth, Duke, Willie and Quiz

September 11, 1915 — Eddie Plank of the Federal League’s St. Louis Terriers records his 300th victory when he defeats the Newark Peppers 12-5. The future Hall of Famer (1946) is the ninth player and first southpaw to reach this milestone.

Gettysburg Eddie’s is a must stop if you are in Gettysburg.

September 11, 1918 -- In the earliest conclusion of the Fall Classic, The Red Sox win the World Series in Game six, on Carl Mays's 2nd victory, a 2 - 1 three-hitter. With two on and two out in the 3rd, utility OF George Whiteman lines a hard drive to RF. Max Flack drops it, allowing the only runs off Lefty Tyler. Righty Claude Hendrix, 20 - 7 during the year, finally makes an appearance, tossing a final inning for the Cubs. Cubs pitchers compile a 1.04 ERA, while Boston's .186 BA is the lowest ever for a World Series winner, but they compensate by making just one error, a record not beaten this century in a 6-game World Series. The Red Sox will realize $1,102 each, the Cubs $671, the smallest winner's share ever earned. The inning by inning results of the game are relayed to Fort Devans, 58 miles away, via nine homing pigeons.

The regular season was shortened by a month to meet the obligation of many major leaguers to leave their team, after being drafted into the military to serve in World War I.

They had to wait a LONG time after this one.

September 11, 1947 -- At Forbes Field, Ralph Kiner hits 3 successive home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kiner hits one in the first & third off Bill Voiselle and in the 5th off Walt Lanfranconi. Kiner now has 47 on the season. Pittsburgh beats the Braves 10-8.

1951 Pennant Chase!

September 11, 1951 -- Clem Labine blanks the Reds on two hits as the visiting Dodgers win, 7 - 0. Andy Pafko drives in three runs on three singles.

In St. Louis, New York's Dave Koslo wins the opener of a twinbill, 10 - 5, ending the Cards' 7-game win streak. Bobby Thomson has three hits and Monte Irvin has a double and his 5th steal of home this year. He has 13 steals overall. Leading 6 - 4 in the 9th, Wes Westrum breaks an 0 for 20 skein and delivers a grand slam. The Cards win the nitecap, 4 - 3, behind Cliff Chambers to leave the Giants six games in back of the Dodgers.

September 11, 1956 -- Frank Robinson ties Wally Berger's 1930 National League record for home runs by a rookie for home runs with his 38th in the Reds' 11-5 victory over the Giants at Polo Grounds. A's first baseman Mark McGwire will establish the major league mark for freshman homers with 49 round-trippers in 1989.

September 11, 1966, future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan makes his major league debut with the New York Mets. In a two-inning relief stint against the Atlanta Braves, the hard-throwing right-hander strikes out three batters and allows one run. Ryan’s Mets lose the game, 8-3

[Listen to the complete broadcast — join our members-only archive today.]

September 11, 1970 -- Twenty-one-year-old Vida Blue, recalled from the minors just eight days earlier, hurls a one-hit shutout as the A's beat the Royals, 3 - 0. Pat Kelly's 8th-inning single is the only hit off the fireballing lefty.

September 11, 1972 -- Dick Allen's club record 34th home run gives the White Sox their only two runs as they beat Kansas City, 2 - 1. He will finish with 37 homeruns and capture the AL MVP collecting 21 of 24 first place votes.

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September 11, 1976– After not playing in a Major League Baseball game for 12 years, 53 year old Minnie Minoso will have 3 plate appearances as a DH for the Chicago White Sox vs. the California Angels at Comiskey Park, Frank Tanana held him hitless but it will make him one of only a handful of players to appear in four decades, he will appear again in the decade of the 80’s in 1980 to tie him with only former White Sox player Nick Altrock as a five decade player.

September 11 , 1979 -- Cincinnati overtakes Houston for the N.L. West lead during a tense 9-8 loss at Riverfront Stadium. It is the Astros' first true pennant-race showdown. Both aces, Tom Seaver and J.R. Richard, start. They are long gone by the time Dave Concepcion and George Foster homer off Joe Sambito for the decisive runs. Rafael Landestoy goes 5-for-5 to pace Houston.  

Relive it here

September 11, 1980 -- In a 6 - 5 win over the Chicago Cubs, Montreal's Ron LeFlore steals his 91st base of the season and Rodney Scott steals his 58th, breaking the major-league record for stolen bases by teammates in one season. Lou Brock and Bake McBride set the record with the 1974 Cardinals.

September 11, 1985,  At Riverfront Stadium in front of 47,237 hometown fans, Reds' player-manager Pete Rose collects his 4,192nd career hit to pass Ty Cobb, who had his last at bat on this date 57 years ago, to become the all-time major league hit leader.    In the first inning of a 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres, Rose singles to left field against San Diego starter Eric Show. Rose had tied the record at Wrigley Field on September 8 with a single off the Cubs' Reggie Patterson in a game that was later suspended due to darkness, enabling Rose to break the record at home.

September 11, 1987 --In the opening game of a critical series against the Mets, Terry Pendleton, with two outs and two strikes, hits a ninth-inning game-tying home run in the Cardinals' eventual 6-4 overtime victory at Shea Stadium. The Redbirds third basemen's dramatic long ball smashes the windshield of New York starter Ron Darling, who had pitched one-hit ball before being forced to leave the game in the top of the seventh when he tears ligaments in his thumb while fielding a Vince Coleman bunt during the game and will miss the rest of the season.

With his 30th stolen base, Mets third baseman Howard Johnson becomes the first National League infielder to become a member of the 30-30 club. The other players in the Senior Circuit to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season are outfielders Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bobby Bonds, Dale Murphy, and Eric Davis.

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