NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Recognizing there was a good possibility the Royals would serve as his team's opposition in the 1976 American League Championship Series, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner sent his Triple-A Syracuse manager, Bobby Cox, on a late September scouting mission to Kansas City.
Cox arranged his ticket and parking requests through a young executive named John Schuerholz, who at the time was running the Royals' Minor League system. These two men had never previously met, but the time they shared together during that week in Kansas City enabled them to form a bond that significantly influenced their respective Hall of Fame careers and the construction of the greatest era in Braves history.