Interstate ’85

Description

In the annals of MLB history, the 1985 World Series is remembered almost solely for “The Call.” In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6, umpire Don Denkinger errantly ruled Kansas City Royals pinch hitter Jorge Orta’s groundout a hit, leading to a rally that enabled Kansas City to win the game and later defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7. In Interstate ’85: Whitey’s Cardinals, Howser’s Royals, The Call, and the Battle for the Heart of Missouri Baseball, author Marshall Garvey shows the 1985 series was so much more than just “The Call.” The seven-game battle between Kansas City and St. Louis served as the culmination of a decade of direct and indirect cross-pollination between Missouri’s esteemed franchises, as if they were beckoning to each other for a meeting in October one day. It’s rife with human stories, including Royals shortstop Buddy Biancalana’s ascension from David Letterman punchline to postseason hero, reliever Steve Farr saving Kansas City’s season after nearly being out of baseball, and St. Louis outfielder Tito Landrum completing his arc from mall security guard to clutch World Series hitter. Includes brand-new interviews with Denkinger, Biancala, George Brett, Ozzie Smith, and many others. A writer with almost two decades of experience, Marshall Garvey has been published by The Sacramento Bee, Screen Rant, Dodgers Nation, Richard Nixon Foundation, Teen Ink, the Pacific Coast League Historical Society, and Cygnus X-1. In 2013, he cofounded Last Token Gaming, a video game blog that became a mainstay in the burgeoning gaming scene in Sacramento, California. For two years, he worked as a full-time history-book author and researcher for History Specialists. He lives in Citrus Heights, a cozy town in Sacramento County. This is a look at the 1985 World Series, in which both teams were from Missouri. This will be a big book in that area and at all stores that carry the history of baseball. The book is full of interviews from both teams talking about the controversy surrounding this game as well as many other highlights from the series.