U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year of the Card – Bud Black, 1985

It must be very gratifying for a general manager and a scouting department when a little-noticed transaction pays off in a big way. When all the hard scouting work and all the effort that can go in to making even a small trade gets rewarded with a quality major-leaguer, it has to be a good feeling.

The Royals, in the early days of the franchise, became known for making shrewd trades, and the core of the 1970s playoff teams was largely built that way. But those trades almost all involved known players, as the Royals dealt off veterans for other teams’ blocked prospects or (to that point) underachieving players.

However, one of the key trades that helped build the Royals’ first World Series winner was a very minor trade, pretty much relegated to the agate type. After the  1981 season, the Royals dealt backup infielder Manny Castillo, who had appeared in seven major league games, to Seattle for a player to be named later. The Royals didn’t get around to picking their player until the following March. That player turned out to be Bud Black, or Harry Black as the AP transaction wire listed him. But Black would go on to win 56 games and save 10 more as a Royal, helping Kansas City to a division title in 1984 and a World Series victory in 1985. Not bad for a trade of virtual unknowns.

Harry Ralston “Bud” Black was born on June 30, 1957, in San Mateo, California, but grew up in Longview, Washington. Despite that West Coast pedigree, Black’s parents were both Canadian; his dad (Harry Black Sr.) was a professional hockey player, although he was retired by the time Bud was born.

Black gravitated towards baseball, playing collegiately at Lower Columbia College in Longview and then at San Diego State. The Mariners picked him in the 17th round of the 1979 draft. Black moved through the minors quickly, making his major-league debut on September 5, 1981.

At this point, what looked like a heartwarming story of hometown boy starring for hometown team took a turn. The Mariners saw that Castillo had led the American Association in hits for three straight years, and that his two positions (second base and third base) were already spoken for in Kansas City.

But luck, in addition to scouting acumen, was on the Royals’ side. Kansas City had been interested in Seattle outfielder Tom Paciorek for some time, but before they could convince Seattle to make him part of the trade, the Mariners dealt him to the White Sox. So the Royals went with Plan B, a left-handed pitcher whom scout Tom Ferrick had watched strike out 14 batters in a Class AA game the previous summer.

After making 14 starts for the Royals in 1982, Black began the 1983 season at Omaha. But he was soon back in the rotation, and wound up winning 10 games while working the second-highest number of innings on the staff. After the turmoil of the 1983 season, the Royals made wholesale changes. Black found himself one of the veteran leaders, and the ace of the rotation to begin the 1984 season despite having just 48 career games under his belt. Black responded with a terrific 17-12 record, a 3.12 ERA, and 140 strikeouts in 257 innings.

So the Royals expected big things from Black as 1985 began. He and Charlie Leibrandt would anchor the rotation, which would be filled out with youngsters Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, and Danny Jackson. Accordingly, Black got the Opening Day nod.

He won that game and pitched well for two months. His only hiccup was an early May start in New York when the Yankees scored six unearned runs and Black was pulled in the fourth inning. But he responded with two complete games (one a shutout) and eight strong innings in the start after that. Black woke up on Memorial Day with a 5-3 record and a 2.48 ERA in 72 2/3 innings.

But things went downhill from there. When Black pitched well, the Royals didn’t hit. When he pitched poorly, which was happening more often, the Royals still didn’t hit. Kansas City lost eight straight games Black started as his ERA ballooned to 3.95. Although the streak was snapped by a decent outing in Cleveland, when he was finally backed up with some run support, he continued to struggle. The Royals won three of his starts in a row, but then he failed to get out of the first inning in Boston, allowing six hits and five runs while only getting two outs. The game after that, he pitched well but the Royals only managed one run and lost. Black’s next four starts were subpar, although the Royals slugged their way to wins in the last two.

But on September 15, Black took the mound in Oakland for the second game of a doubleheader. The Royals, trying to fend off California in the division race, had lost the first game while the Angels had won earlier in the day. Black pitched a complete game, striking out eight and allowing just four hits as the Royals won and moved to 2.5 games ahead.

And Black’s final start of the regular season was one of his best. The Royals and Angels met in Kansas City in the penultimate series of the year, four games of utmost importance. California came in with a one-game lead, and the teams split the first two games to maintain that. In game three, Black pitched a shutout, holding an Angels offense that featured Rod Carew and Reggie Jackson to three hits, all singles. The Royals took a 4-0 win to climb into a tie for first. They won the next night, then the next two to clinch the division title.

In the postseason, Black pitched well in game two of the ALCS, but the bullpen could not hold the lead and the Royals lost. Black came back to pitch 3 1/3 scoreless relief innings in game six, ending a Toronto rally and helping ensure a Royals win. He was less effective in the World Series, taking a loss in his only start as St. Louis won Game Four 3-0.

Black would spend most of the next two and a half seasons in the Royals’ bullpen. His Royals career came to a close on June 3, 1988, when the team dealt him to Cleveland for Pat Tabler. The Indians put him in their rotation, and he had a couple of nice seasons for some bad teams. He would go on to pitch for Toronto and San Francisco before ending his career with Cleveland in 1995.

Black moved into coaching when he was done playing, winning a World Series ring as Anaheim’s pitching coach in 2002 before becoming San Diego’s manager before the 2007 season. He managed the Padres for eight full seasons before getting fired last year. He’s now a special assistant to the GM for the Angels.

Bud Black’s best games of 1985:
10/2 vs. CAL: Pitched shutout, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out five in 4-0 win.
5/21 @ TEX: Gave up three hits and three walks and struck out four in shutout 5-0 win.
9/15 @ OAK: Allowed  two runs on four hits, walked none, struck out eight in complete-game 7-2 win.
5/16 @ CLE: Scattered six hits, walked none and struck out one in complete-game 7-1 win.
6/16 @ SEA: Struck out 10, allowed seven hits and two walks in eight innings in 2-1 loss.

About the card:
A nice action shot of Black in mid-delivery. That mustache is peak 80s, in my opinion. By the time he became a manager, Black was clean-shaven. And to this day I think he looks weird without it. The tidbit on the back about Black’s dad…I couldn’t find him listed as a Blackhawks player. I found two different stories on Black and his hockey heritage and neither one made that claim. I wonder where it came from.