Royal Flush in K.C.

Kansas City Royals Manager Whitey Herzog watched from the dugout as baseball's two leading hitters took batting practice. The air crackled as Hal McRae (.351) and George Brett (.344) sprayed hits from one foul line to the other, then back again. "Looks like fun, doesn't it?" said Herzog.

Baseball is fun these days in Kansas City. Leading Oakland in the American League's Western Division by 7 games, the Royals bask in the front-runner's knowledge that this year playing catch-up is for other guys. The roster includes some of the best young players in either league. Says Director of Player Development John Schuerholz: "We have a lot to look forward to. Our superstars are in the making."

The making of superstars is the result of a lushly budgeted, aggressive scouting and farm system. When Charlie Finley took his A's to Oakland after the 1967 season, the American League promised an expansion franchise for Kansas City in 1969. That was too long to wait for Owner Ewing Kauffman, 59, a Pharmaceuticals manufacturer, so he fielded a minor league team at once. Said he: "I wanted to get started toward the World Series." With an unusually large scouting staff, the Royals searched the high schools for players. Some of them attended the Royals' Baseball Academy in Sarasota, Fla. Young athletes were tested for speed, eyesight and reflexes. Those who scored well were sent to Manatee Junior College in the morning and in the afternoon studied baseball. Others went directly into a farm system staffed with coaching specialists. Says Kauffman: "There's more to learn in the minors than how to chew tobacco."

Elements Mixed. While waiting for their young players to season, Kansas City's management built a new 40,000-seat stadium. Built exclusively for baseball, Royals Stadium has some of the intimacy of the older parks, but also much that is new. The field is a Tartan Turf carpet; beyond the outfield fence is a 100-yd.--long wall of fountains and waterfalls.

To supplement players developed at home, the team traded for experienced players in key positions. The elements were there, but it remained for Whitey Herzog to mix them. When he took over the team in July of last year, he found a talented but badly divided club of disgruntled veterans and confused younger players. "I held more meetings than Henry Kissinger my first month here," Herzog says. His biggest success has been in stabilizing the pitching staff, especially the bullpen. There, Steve Mingori, a 32-year-old reliever who credits acupuncture for the first pain-free season of his career, has the cunning and toughness under pressure of his breed. His righthanded counterpart, Mark Littell, 23, is a flaky rookie known as "Air Head," who has been anything but airy about learning from Mingori. Between them they have 21 saves.

The Royals lost their best pitcher when Steve Busby injured his shoulder early in the season, but with Dennis Leonard and Al Fitzmorris, Busby is hardly missed. Leonard, 25, in his second season, has a young pitcher's fastball and a record (14 wins, 4 losses) to go with it. The only player left from the expansion draft is Righthander Fitzmorris, 30, whose record is 14 and 8. Says Herzog: "I think Fitz does it with mirrors--a little something here, a little something there. But he's the winningest pitcher this team ever had."

Golden Boy. The rest of the Royals reflect the balance of the pitching staff. Fred Patek is a 5-ft. 4-in. shortstop with the arm of a six-footer. John Mayberry is, at 26, an experienced first baseman and the Royals' only home-run hitter. Outfielder Tom Poquette, with a .330 batting average, is a candidate for Rookie of the Year.

But the pair who typify the team are the exuberant Brett and quiet McRae. McRae, 30, came to Kansas City from Cincinnati, where he was used as pinch hitter. He has become a .300-plus hitter since starting regularly with the Royals. "He's the leader here," says Littell. When Pitcher Andy Hassler broke a long losing streak recently, McRae drove in the winning run, then sent the clubhouse attendant out for champagne.

George Brett could be baseball's next golden boy. "He just loves to play," says Manager Herzog, "the way you do when you're young and strong and it's still a game." Brett grew up in Southern California, the youngest of four brothers (one of whom, Ken, pitches for the Chicago White Sox), using hand-me-down gloves. At 23, he is breaking in his first new glove. So far, his fielding makes up in range what his throwing arm lacks in accuracy. With the help of Hitting Coach Charley Lau, Brett has become a dangerous all-fields hitter. "Charley widened out the ballpark for me when he got me to go to the opposite field with outside pitches," Brett says. "Now it's fun when I go to the plate because I can see them trying to figure out where to defend against me."

Conventioneering Republicans will get a look at the Royals against Cleveland. With fewer than 50 games remaining, Kansas City seems certain to win its division and should be an even match for the New York Yankees in the playoffs. Or, as George Brett puts it: "This is a happy place to be."

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