But back in 1969 the Kansas City Royals were just another baseball club trying to get a footing in a league dominated by the New York Yankees. One of the first special players to grace Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium was Lou Piniella. But it wouldn’t be until 1976 that the team was ready to start elevating their play to postseason potential. Unfortunately, the Yankees beat the Royals in their first 3 trips to the MLB playoffs and always had the upper hand in their perennial ALCS appearances. But in 1980, everything changed for the better.
The Royals swept the 4th playoff meeting between the two teams and reached their first World Series! Unfortunately, they would lose to the Philadelphia Phillies. While they did experience much disappointment in their quest along the baseball ladder, losing at every next step of the way for over a decade, Kansas City would eventually manage the feat. There was even public shaming as George Brett was denied a home run during the 1983 season when an umpire detected too much pine tar on Brett’s bat after he had hit a thought-to-be game winning home run as the last out in the ninth inning! Baseball legends such as the “Pine Tar Incident” will always live in the heart of the sport. The game was eventually re-played at the same point with the home run allowed, giving the Royals a very controversial victory on the season. But in 1985 glory was to be had!
The team reached the World Series for a second time with players like Frank White, Bret Saberhagen, and of course George Brett. It was a glorious affair as they dominated the St. Louis Cardinals and earned their first title! But after they achieved the ultimate feat in professional baseball, the Kansas City Royals entered a slow period of waning success, despite the arrival of Bo Jackson the following season. They still won a lot of games but they would never win another AL Central Division title again…
As we’ve entered the new millennium, the picture of the Royals has been bleak due to financial restrictions and by the rise of the Detroit Tigers in their division. There have been some bright players over the years like 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, though they usually leave for more high-spending clubs.
But while the lean years can be a struggle, there is always hope of a bright young future for any baseball team, even the Royals. Nevertheless, that magical 1985 Royals season will forever be remembered by baseball fans through memorabilia and collectibles.
AAA Sports Memorabilia has a great selection of Kansas City Royals autographed memorabilia both online and offline. Collectors go to great lengths to find and acquire collectibles that have significance to them. Autograph collectors are always looking for that unique autograph, a game-used item, or an autographed collectible that depicts a great moment in sports history. Since 2006, AAA Sports Memorabilia has been helping sports collectors in finding these great collectibles. All of our autographed sports memorabilia, including our autographed Kansas City Royals collectibles, are guaranteed for life to be authentic or your money back. Our autographed memorabilia is obtained during private sessions with the athletes and a representative is there to watch each signature being applied to the collectible.
Visiting our Kansas City Royals autographed sports memorabilia section often is best if you are looking for that next valuable Kansas City Royals collectible to add to your collection. We have even more autographed Kansas City Royals memorabilia in stock then what is on our website, so if you can’t find that collectible that you really want on our site, please contact us at cs@aaasportsmemorabilia.com to see if we have it in stock.
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