I’ve got pieces of April, I keep them in a memory bouquet
I’ve got pieces of April, but it’s a morning in May
—Three Dog Night
On this morning in May, I’m looking back at some pieces of April for the Royals. No, not 2023 (too painful), but going back 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 years.
Three Dog Night released “Pieces of April” in November of 1972. It peaked at #19 in January of 1973. Three months later…
50 Years Ago – Inaugural Game at Royals Stadium: On April 10, 1973, the Royals played their first game at the new Royals Stadium. I was among the 39,464 fans in attendance. Good ticket price.
The temperature at game time was 39 degrees. No halter tops for the Royalettes on the field.
The Royals won 12-1 with Paul Splittorff pitching a complete game (remember those?). John Mayberry hit the first home run in the new stadium.
The starting lineup included Mayberry, Freddie Patek, Amos Otis and Hal McRae. During the summer, Frank White and George Brett were called up from the minors for their first MLB action. This nucleus of players would go on to win three AL West titles in 1976, 1977 and 1978. Some would stay on for the AL pennant in 1980 and the World Series win in 1985.
Game Time Trivia: The game lasted two hours and 25 minutes. That would have seemed quaint in recent years when games have averaged over three hours. But with the pitch clock in use this year, game times like this are again normal.
The shorter games have prompted the Royals to join other teams in changing the cutoff time for beer sales – instead of stopping at the end of the 7th inning, fans will now be able to buy until the end of the 8th. If I’ve got this right, this means you can consume about the same amount of beer, but in less time and with a shorter wait to get on the interstate after last call.
Broadcast Trivia: The lead broadcasters for the game were Buddy Blattner and Denny Matthews. Both had been with the team since the Royals first year in 1969. Blattner ended his tenure with the Royals after the 1975 season, but Denny is still the radio guy today, now in his 55th season. With Steve Physioc’s retirement last year, the new sidekick for 80-year-old Denny on radio is 28-year-old Jake Eisenberg (photo below).
Piece of April Trivia: On April 27, 1973, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter by a Royal.
40 Years Ago – Pinstripes: On April 4, 1983, the Royals opened their season in Baltimore. Manager Dick Howser and coach Rocky Colavito were on probation for an incident in the stadium parking lot the previous year. Colavito’s car had been hit by a drunk driver, leading to a heated argument. When the police came, Howser and Colavito were also charged – for interfering with a police officer. They were fined and put on probation.
But this was nothing compared to the end of the season. Four Royals players pled guilty to cocaine possession charges. Reliever Dan Quisenberry quipped, “I’m surprised we didn’t make more trades with the Yankees. Half our players are already in stripes.”
The Royals finished second in the AL West, but had a losing record (79-83). After finishing 20 games behind the White Sox, and living under the cloud of the drug scandal, it looked like the club was set for a rebuild. But Howser led them to back-to-back division titles in 1984 and 1985, topping it off with a World Series victory in 1985.
1983 Royals Trivia: Looking back 40 years, one key event holds the hearts and minds of Royals fans. On July 24, 1983, George Brett hit a home run with a bat smothered in pine tar.
1983 Movie Trivia: One of the big hits of the year was The Big Chill. I will connect the dots on this in Lonnie’s Jukebox.
30 Years Ago – Hal McRae Meltdown: On April 26, 1993, Royals manager Hal McRae set the all-sports record for expletives in an answer to a sportswriter’s post-game question. McRae also threw many objects around his office, including his phone. Click here for the video (1:30), but be warned, if bleeps had been used, most of McRae’s answer would have been lost.
In his playing days, Hal thrilled Kansas City fans after joining the team in 1973, coincidentally the inaugural year of the designated hitter. McRae became the consummate DH and helped lead the Royals to many postseasons. His aggressiveness on the base paths was notorious, and slides like this one led to the “Hal McRae Rule” to protect fielders trying to complete a double play.
1993 Stadium Trivia: On July 2, Royals Stadium was renamed Kauffman Stadium.
20 Years Ago – Royals Winning Streak: In April of 2003, the Royals won their first nine games of the season – the most for any team this century…until the Tampa Bay Rays won their first 13 this season.
The cover of the Royals Yearbook for 2003 featured batting star Mike Sweeney (29) and manager Tony Pena (6) who had had taken the helm in mid-season 2002. Spring training in 2003 started with two pieces of big news for the Royals:
(i) The team had left its long-time Florida connection and held their first spring training in Arizona at the new stadium in Surprise.
(ii) Tony Pena gained attention for his motivational plan. As reported by Murray Chase in the New York Times, “Beginning his first training camp as manager of the Kansas City Royals, Pena took it off – not all off – but he took it off and off and off. One by one, he peeled off his shirts, and his players could not take their eyes off of him.”
Some of the messages delivered by the T-shirts: “We believe in what we can do,” “We don’t care what anybody says. We just play to win,” “Dream/Goal” and “We believe 2003.”
Pena gave T-shirts to the players (below). “Nostros Creemos” is Spanish for “We Believe.”
Pena also put up motivational signs around the clubhouse. Sound familiar? We’ll get back to that.
The good news is that it worked. The Royals kept winning after the initial 9-game streak. They held a 7-game division lead in mid-season and spent 93 days in first place. They faded in September, but still finished above .500. Pena was named AL manager of the year.
But it was an outlier for the era…
2001: 65-97
2002: 62-100
2003: 83-79
2004: 58-104
2005: 56-106
Tony Pena’s “BELIEVE” campaign may have motivated the Royals to a winning season in 2003, but it did not sell for another. The team lost 104 games in 2004, and after going 8-25 to start the 2005 season, Pena resigned.
“BELIEVE” Trivia: So was soccer manager Ted Lasso channeling Tony Pena with his “BELIEVE” sign in the popular sitcom? Jason Sudeikis, who created and stars in Ted Lasso, is from Kansas City and often includes props in the show featuring his hometown. In 2003, the Pena “Believe” year, Sudeikis started the year with Second City Las Vegas and then moved to New York to begin his ten-year gig on Saturday Night Live. Was he keeping track of the Royals and their rare good season? Don’t know.
But there are hints that Ted Lasso’s “Believe” is actually borrowed from Al Michaels’ legendary call when the USA upset the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics: “Do you believe in miracles. YES!” (clip here).
Ted Lasso is back on the air for its 3rd (and maybe last) season. Although AFC Richmond (Ted’s team) is off to a slow start, I’m betting Ted Lasso will have a much better Season 3 than Tony Pena.
Ten Years Ago – Boston Marathon Bombing: On Monday, April 15, 2013, the Boston Red Sox played at Fenway Park on Patriot’s Day. This is a traditional game that starts in late morning so fans have time to walk about a mile to see the finish of the Boston Marathon. About 45 minutes after the game, a bomb exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds.
The Red Sox played their next three games as scheduled in Cleveland and then returned to open a series with the Royals on Friday night, April 19. But the city was in lockdown because one of the terrorists was still at large. The game was postponed, and the Royals were sequestered at the Westin Copley Place Hotel near Copley Square, a block from the marathon finish line. They were told to not go outside.
The suspect was captured Friday night, and so the Saturday game (April 20) was played. David Ortiz, speaking before the game, noted the special revised uniforms being worn by the team, “This jersey that we wear today, it doesn’t say Red Sox, it says Boston.” He finished with these memorable lines, “This is our (expletive) city. And nobody’s gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong.” Video here.
Both teams added a “B Strong” patch to the front of their jerseys (Royals starter James Shields below).
An emotional day. For the record, Boston won 4-3.
Lonnie’s Jukebox – Three Dog Night Edition: The first selection is obvious…
“Pieces of April” (1972). The song was written and first recorded by Dave Loggins, but Three Dog Night made the song a hit. Peaked at #19.
The band was led by three vocalists (Chuck Negron, Cory Wells and Danny Hutton). They worked on their first album with producer Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, but that effort was unsuccessful. They went out on their own, added a backup band, named the group Three Dog Night, and went on to knock out 21 Top 40 hits from 1969 to 1975. Eleven records made the Top Ten and three went to #1.
The band name is derived from Aboriginal Australians who are said to keep warm on cold nights by embracing a dingo, a native specie of wild dog. On colder nights, two dogs. And even colder, a “three dog night.”
Below, six of their Top 10 hits.
“One” – Written and first recorded by Henry Nilsson. He wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal, which became the opening notes in the record. The cover version by Three Dog Night peaked at #5.
“Easy To Be Hard” – From the 1967 rock musical Hair. The Three Dog Night single peaked at #4.
“Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” – Randy Newman wrote this song for Eric Clapton’s first solo album in 1966. The cover by Three Dog Night went to #1 in 1970.
“An Old Fashioned Love Song” – Paul Williams wrote a couple of big hits for the Carpenters – “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Williams then wrote “An Old Fashioned Love Song” for them, but the Carpenters turned it down. Williams then offered it to Three Dog Night who took it to #4.
“Black and White” – This song was written in 1954 by David Akin and Earl Robinson in response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. It was first recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956 and has been covered by many artists over the years. The original lyrics included this verse:
Their robes were black, their heads were white,
The schoolhouse doors were closed so tight,
Nine judges all set down their names,
To end the years and years of shame.
Later covers, including the one by Three Dog Night, deleted this verse to make the song more universal and less historically specific. It was a #1 hit for Three Dog Night.
“Joy To The World” – Hoyt Axton wrote this song, and after repeated tries, finally convinced Three Dog Night to record what became their biggest hit. It was the top Billboard song in 1971, holding down the #1 slot for six weeks.
I always associate this song with the 1983 movie The Big Chill, which opens and closes with “Joy To The World.” The movie begins with a young boy singing “Jeremiah was a bull frog…,” the opening line of the song. As the opening credits begin to roll, the music changes to Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Characters are shown beginning their journey to the funeral of an old college friend who is depicted getting prepped for his coffin. The face of the deceased is never seen, but he is the then-mostly-unknown Kevin Costner whose speaking parts in flashbacks were cut from the film.
In the final scene of the movie, the old friends from college are departing, and “Joy To The World” plays over the closing credits.
For those who want to relive this movie nostalgia: Opening Scene/Credits, click here (5:04); Closing Scene/Credits, click here (5:37).
Joy to the Royals World! Please.