This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: April 3
Opening Day starts with a bang, and the Royals get good news about a key player.
It was a great day for the Royals, who won their Opening Day battle with the Yankees and learned their center fielder would be back on the field sooner than expected.
Due to the rainout of the scheduled opener, the Royals played before the smallest crowd they’d ever had for the first game, but the 10,006 people who did show up on a cool but sunny afternoon were thrilled from the start. After Bud Black retired the Yankees in order in the first, Onix Concepcion blasted Ron Guidry’s first pitch of the season over the left field fence. It was the first major-league home run for Concepcion, in the 471st plate appearance of his career.
Kansas City wasn’t done scoring, as Frank White doubled with one out and scored on a single by Steve Balboni, who had been traded to the Royals by the Yankees over the offseason.
The Royals added a run in the fourth when Darryl Motley led off with a triple, then trotted home on Don Slaught’s sacrifice fly.
Black, in his first Opening Day start since he pitched for Lower Columbia College in Longview, Wash., retired the first 12 batters he faced. But Don Baylor singled to center to start the fifth, and Dave Winfield followed with a home run, bringing the Yankees to within a run at 3-2.
It didn’t take Kansas City long to get one of those runs back. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, White hit a deep fly ball to center field. Omar Moreno was in position for the catch but dropped the ball at the fence. White raced to third and then scored on Hal McRae’s sacrifice fly.
Black resumed his fine pitching, turning aside the Yankees in order in the sixth and seventh before turning the game over to Dan Quisenberry. New York could only manage a pinch-hit single by Don Mattingly with two outs in the ninth, but Concepcion fittingly ended the game with a diving stop of Baylor’s grounder, throwing to first to seal the win.
“I feel great. The first game of the year, the first pitch, and my first big league home run. I just feel great.”--Concepcion, quoted by the Associated Press, April 4, 1984
One spectator was center fielder Willie Wilson, who watched the game from the press box. Wilson had been suspended for the entire 1984 season by commissioner Bowie Kuhn following his guilty plea for attempted cocaine possession. The players’ association had filed a grievance on behalf of Wilson and another suspended player, Jerry Martin. Arbitrator Richard Bloch heard the cases in mid-March, and finally issued his ruling: Wilson and Martin could return to action on May 15, which was the date Kuhn had promised to review the cases.
“I feel it’s a plus for us and a plus for Bowie. It makes Bowie feel like he has a little say-so. It also gets us back this year.”--Wilson, quoted by Mike Fish, The Sporting News, April 16, 1984
“All the guys might not feel the same way, but we know we’re a better club with him than without him. He’s a threat on the bases and he solidifies us in center field. It’s just a shame the baseball world and everybody else is crucifying the Royals when there’ve been five or six clubs (in the same situation) before us.”--White, quoted by Mike Fish, The Sporting News, April 16, 1984
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198404030.shtml
Today’s birthdays: Hawk Taylor (1939), Jim Pittsley (1974)