Taking over the final third of the 1975 season, Whitey Herzog would win games at a 61 percent clip for the Kansas City Royals the rest of that year. He would then guide them to division titles in ’76, ’77 and ’78. Unfortunately, the franchise was never able to make it out of the American League Championship Series those three years, falling to the New York Yankees each time. Back then it was a best-of-five format and twice it came down to the deciding game.
A runner-up finish in 1979 would turn out to be the last run for Herzog in a Royals uniform.