July 15, 1977 – Royals 7, Yankees 4
- Sal Maiorana
- Jul 15, 2017
- 3 min read
KANSAS CITY – George Steinbrenner rejoined the club in Kansas City after his quick side trip to Minnesota, and before the game the boss held a 25-minute meeting with the team at its hotel, and one could surmise that he did not apologize for his criticisms levied earlier in the week. As far as he was concerned, the pitching was still “horrendous.”
“It’s something that’s between the family,” Steinbrenner told reporters, refusing to elaborate on the discussion. “Nothing that earth-shaking, but something Billy and I felt was needed.”
He had asked the players not to comment on what was said, but Lou Piniella broke rank and offered up that Steinbrenner told the players to “stop complaining, quit alibiing, quit blaming the owner and the manager, and start blaming yourself if you’re not playing good baseball.”
Sparky Lyle, always a rebel, didn’t even show up. “I was sleeping, resting for the game.” And Roy White skipped because he had to go to the airport to pick up his family and he said, “I had to decide who to upset” meaning his wife or his boss. He probably chose wisely.
Steinbrenner’s team meeting came as no surprise, given it was already the third time he’d called one this season. But Catfish Hunter, who usually stayed out of the media circus, raised some eyebrows after the meeting and before the game. He spoke on a Milwaukee radio show and essentially blasted both his teammates and his manager - his teammates for their greed, and Martin for his constant shuffling of the rotation.
“The Yankees could repeat if they put their minds to playing ball instead of what the other guy is making,” he said. “He’s making more than me; that’s all they ever think about over here. In Oakland, if one guy didn’t hustle, the guys jumped on him and made him hustle. Over here if you jump on a guy, he’ll dog it, he’ll stop, he’ll quit on you.”
That was probably true, but his attack on Martin may have been triggered by his own season-long struggles. “You go from one day to the next not knowing who is going to pitch,” Hunter said. “Here, you know one day ahead of time who’s going to pitch.”
However, Martin hadn’t really had a choice regarding the rotation due to all the injuries, so it had been impossible to get into a four-man rhythm, and Hunter’s injuries had been a critical ingredient in the upheaval.
“I don’t understand it,” said Martin. “I never expected this from him. He’s such a great competitor, he might be disappointed in himself. He’s not doing the job.
We’ve got a rotation set up three weeks in advance. I go in and work it out together with Cloyd Boyer (the pitching coach). But what am I supposed to do? Catfish is hurt; Gullett is hurt. Guidry needed to be moved back a day this time so I had to move Figueroa up. I’ve even had Holtzman in the rotation at times this year because of our problems.”
Just like the first two times Steinbrenner spoke to the players en masse, the Yankees went out and lost. Ron Guidry was terrible as he gave up six earned runs on eight hits and a walk and failed to get through the fifth inning when he was torched for five runs.
Thurman Munson’s two-run single had given the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the fifth, but the Royals sent 12 men to the plate in the bottom half against Guidry and Dick Tidrow, the big blow coming from Frank White who hit a go-ahead three-run homer.
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