Royals Continue Fight Against The Evil Empire

From 1976-1980, there was no more bitter of a rivalry in all of sports than the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals. In four out of five seasons the Bronx Bombers took on the Boys in Blue for the American League Championship. As far as American League rivalries go, no other teams have meet more frequently in this series than the Yankees and Royals. And only two sets of teams have met more often in the National League. The only other teams to meet three times in a row for a (World) Championship Series were the the 1921, 22, and 23 New York Yankees and New York Giants.

This rivalry has seen some of the games best players from Reggie Jackson, to George Brett, Frank White to Goose Gossage. In fact part of Reggie Jackson's nickname "Mr. October" can be traced back to his heroics during these games. And Frank White became the first ever ALCS MVP, a feat that current Royal Lorenzo Cain also accomplished this year. Making an interesting trivia question that will only be relevant for about 6 more months…which team had the first and last ALCS MVP.

All told the Yankees got the better of the Royals 3 of the 4 times. In 1976 the Yankees and Royals broke an impressive streak of either the Baltimore Orioles or Oakland Athletics not making the Playoffs. One of these two teams had been in the Championship every year since the ALCS's inception in 1969. In '76 it took a Walk-Off home run by Yankee's hitter Chris Chambliss to finally end the series in game 5 (they were only 5 game series back then). In 1977 the series again went 5 games, seeing the Yankees win their way into a second straight World Series.

The Yankees decided to skip the theatrics in 1978 beating the Royals 3-1 and advanced to their third consecutive World Series, a feat they hadn't accomplished since group of guys named Mantle, Maris, and DiMaggio were ruining pitchers careers. In 1979 both teams decided to give other teams a try, so the Orioles and California Angels (yes they were just the California Angels then) stepped in. Then Finally in 1980 (America's Finest Decade) the Royals broke through sweeping the Yankees in 3 straight games, sending them to their first ever World Series!

It was not just during the post season that the Royals and Yankees played some memorable games. July 24th….and August 18th, is a day that will go down in MLB infamy as George Brett seemingly hit a 9th inning go-ahead homerun at Yankees Stadium when Billy Martin comes out to protest Brett's bat. Brett was called out, and immediately bolted out of the dugout and nearly destroyed any and all members of the umpiring crew he could spit his chaw at. The game was protested, and resumed from the point at which Brett hit the bomb nearly three weeks later, eventually giving the Royals the win!

Personally one of my favorite Royals Vs. Yankee's games was not a memorable outcome on the field, but when the Royals passed out "I KC" shirts during the Yankee's series in 2008. My buddy and I Matt Wengert decided to go to the game to get the shirts. In our section was the biggest, meanest looking dude in the stadium, who just so happened to be a Yankee fan. Well he received one of the shirts upon walking into the game and promptly got a big black marker and crossed out the heart and proceeded to wear it proudly. Not one person said anything to that guy…..even about the fact he was wearing a Yankee hat.

So finally this weekend, for the first time since the 80's the Royals are the defending A.L. Champs and the Yankees are the surprising team in the A.L. The Royals are actually the known commodity (maybe not in players names) with a World Series run fresh in their belt, and the Yankees are the team with the postseason drought (3 long years Yankee fans).

It will be an exciting series lining up with Michael Pineda fresh off his best outing of the year, and A-Rod finding some new juice to take belting out 9 homers in somewhat of a platoon role. But the Royals finally come home, with the A.L.'s best batting average and bullpen. This will be a popular series, that will undoubtedly bring 3 more sell outs to the K! And the eyes of the country will once again be drawn to a Royals vs. Yankees series. One that hasn't meant this much in a very very long time!

Photo: Originally found here

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