Baseball goes to Hollywood

Photo by Richard C. Miller/Getty Images A few days ago, I was thumbing through some old Royal pictures I had taken and came across one of Pete LaCock signing autographs after a game. LaCock was the first of many first basemen that the Royals used trying to replace the production of the disposed of John Mayberry. Big John had made himself persona non grata during the 1977 ALCS, when he showed up late for the pivotal Game Four, which was played in the afternoon. Word around the clubhouse was that Mayberry had spent the previous night celebrating a little too hard. He struck out twice and committed two errors, one being dropped a foul pop, which infuriated manager Whitey Herzog. Herzog yanked Mayberry in the top of the fifth and Big John never played another inning in Royals uniform. It was an unfortunate ending to one of the all-time great Royals careers.

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