Q&A: Saberhagen Reflects on '85 World Series

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October 22, 2017 NATIONAL Saberhagen: You have butterflies and the anxiety, but once you throw a few pitches and get into the flow of the game, you go and do what you're supposed to be doing: trying to Q&A: Saberhagen reflects on '85 keep your team in the ballgame. There's something to be said World Series about going to the postseason, and the older that I got, the October 21, 2017 By Tracy Ringolsby/MLB.com more I realized how difficult it really is to get there. http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/259256756/bret- saberhagen-reflects-on-1985-world-series/? MLB.com: You might not realize what it means to be a topicId=27118382 regular in the postseason at that age, but I would assume being 20 and coming straight out of Double-A was Royals manager Ned Yost told something you did appreciate. heartwarming story about Dale Saberhagen: What made it easier for me coming up at that Earnhardt Jr. and his dad young age was Mark Gubicza came up that year, too. We October 21, 2017 By Michelle R. Martinelli/USA Today were teammates at Double-A, and we were roommates in For the Win Kansas City. It made that transition a lot easier, and George http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/10/dale-earnhardt-jr-sr-retire- [Brett] took us under his wing. And Buddy Black and Charlie ned-yost-kansas-city-royals-kansas-speedway-gift Leibrandt were awesome mentors. It just was a pretty good MLB TRANSACTIONS fit for me, but you've got to go back and thank Dick Howser October 22, 2017 •.CBSSports.com for giving me that opportunity and having the confidence in http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions me at that age to be one of the guys. I was hoping to make the Triple-A team. Right before Spring Training broke, Dick Howser called me in. I assumed that he was telling me I was NATIONAL going to go to Triple-A, and then when he said I was going to the big leagues, it was like, "Really? You're not [messing] Q&A: Saberhagen reflects on '85 with me?" World Series MLB.com: You came up big twice in the '85 World Series. October 21, 2017 By Tracy Ringolsby/MLB.com The Royals lose the first two games to the Cardinals, then http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/259256756/bret- you pitch a complete game, giving up one run, to win Game saberhagen-reflects-on-1985-world-series/? 3. Then, the team is down, 3-1, and wins Games 6 and 7, topicId=27118382 with you pitching the complete game in Game 7.

Bret Saberhagen turned 20 early during his rookie season in Saberhagen: John Tudor started [for the Cardinals]. He 1984, which ended with his Royals losing to the Tigers in the already had two wins and was going for the third, and American League Championship Series. The next year, the Joaquin Andujar came in after him. Royals were not only in the postseason again, but Saberhagen, at age 21, started and won Game 7 of the World MLB.com: How nervous were you? Series against the Cardinals. A month later, he won the AL Cy Young Award. Saberhagen: I don't think I felt my feet touching the ground until about the third inning. By the time Saberhagen's career ended, he was a three-time All-Star, a two-time Cy Young Award winner and a member MLB.com: Yet, you pitched that shutout. How big were the of five teams that made the postseason, including two with runs early? the Royals. It was a quick rise, as he jumped from Double-A in the summer of 1983 to the big leagues in the spring of '84. Saberhagen: It was great. I think that's for anybody. If you can go out there and shut them down for a few innings, and When Saberhagen looks back at being a rookie with once your team puts a few numbers up on the board, it's a big teammates like Dan Quisenberry and George Brett and a relief. You don't feel like just one mistake that you might manager, Dick Howser, who was so special, he now realizes make is going to cost you the game, which, when you're in a how fortunate he was. 0-0 ballgame, just one mistake can actually cost you winning that game. Any time you get a few runs, I think any pitcher Saberhagen talks about his quick rise to the top in this week's feels a little sigh of relief. Q&A. MLB.com: The amazing thing, you guys came back from a MLB.com: When you reflect on pitching in the postseason in 3-1 deficit in the AL Championship Series and the World each of your first two years and winning the World Series in Series. You didn't do it the easy way either time. 1985, do you appreciate what happened more today than you did at the time? Saberhagen: I think that's what made the World Series a little easier. I wouldn't say it was easy by any means, but we just Saberhagen: Yeah, you realize that it's not as easy as it came off a series in which we were down, 3-1, and we came seemed to be. But I was 20 years old, I didn't know better. back and won. We felt like we could do it again. We felt that [Game 7 of] the World Series was the most nervous I've ever they had the pressure on them to try to win that last game. been before a game, just because of the fact that if we win, They didn't want to go back to Kansas City. They wanted to we're champions, if we lose, I feel like I let my teammates close us out in St. Louis. Didn't happen. Once we got back to down, our fans down, the front office down. Kansas City, the home fans, we felt pretty confident.

MLB.com: There was a lot of pressure on you in that Game MLB.com: One thing that really stands out now about that 7. '85 World Series was you pitching twice and working 18 innings. Charlie Leibrandt worked 16 1/3 over his two starts. Knowing that NASCAR tracks would be sending him off And Danny Jackson worked 16 innings over his two starts. with a farewell gift for his last race there — Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 will be his last race at Kansas — Saberhagen: I guess there's more ways than one to skin a cat, Earnhardt has encouraged charitable donations, particularly so to speak. Again, the game has changed in that aspect, ones that help the local community. And many of them have where you've got so many great arms that are in the bullpen carried out his wishes. now that just can light it up. When you have that ability to do it with so many different guys in the bullpen, it makes a This summer at Kentucky Speedway, which donated a manager's job a dream job where he can just call on anybody jukebox in his name to a children’s hospital, Earnhardt said: at any given time and have guys with great breaking stuff, offspeed stuff, a 95-plus fastball. “These kind of contributions to the community are gonna be Royals manager Ned Yost told the ones that I like the most. I guess I’m encouraging anyone, going forward, that wants to do this to go in that direction, heartwarming story about Dale because it feels great but I’ve got everything I need. Earnhardt Jr. and his dad “I’ve got a great life, I don’t need anything. But to have October 21, 2017 By Michelle R. Martinelli/USA Today something that’s going to impact someone else or a group of For the Win folks long term is the best thing.” http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/10/dale-earnhardt-jr-sr-retire- ned-yost-kansas-city-royals-kansas-speedway-gift MLB TRANSACTIONS October 22, 2017 •.CBSSports.com As the NASCAR Cup Series season winds down, retirement http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions gifts for Dale Earnhardt Jr. continue to pour in. Saturday, Kansas Speedway told Earnhardt it was donating $8,800 in NONE his name to the University of Kansas Health System’s pediatric unit.

Track president Pat Warren also gave Junior a Kansas City Royals jersey with his name and his dad’s No. 3 team number on the back. But unlike many of the gifts tracks have given him so far, this one came with a video message from Royals manager Ned Yost, who shared some touching memories about Earnhardt and his father.

In the video, Yost wished Earnhardt luck in his retirement. Talking directly to the driver, Yost said:

“I remember being with your dad driving around the farm in the winter of ’97, and he told me that he was going to put you in a Busch (now XFINITY Series) car full-time, and I asked him, ‘You think he’s ready for that?’ And Dale said, ‘You’re damn right he’s ready for that.’ Of course, you proved him right. You won the championship in ’98 and again in ’99.

“It took 12 whole races for you to win your first Winston Cup (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) victory at Texas. It’s been fun to watch that. It’s been fun to watch you grow. It’s been fun to watch you become a two-time Daytona 500 Champion. But, more than anything, I can flash back to that win in Texas, and yeah it was great that you won, but what was so impressive to me was how proud your dad was that day.

“It’s been a wonderful experience sitting back and watching you accomplish what you’ve accomplished, but what you’ve accomplished is kind of hindsight to what you’ve become to me. You’ve become an outstanding person, you’ve become an outstanding man. It’s just been a fantastic career.”

Earnhardt described the video message from Yost as emotional and thanked him for being so supportive.

“It’s really nice to hear his memories and his thoughts,” Earnhardt said. “And I appreciate the track for the donation within their community here. That means a lot to me. That’s really what we’re hoping the tracks would take the initiative to do, and it’s been great all year to see that happen. So I’m glad that you guys did that, and that really makes my heart full.”