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Steve Balboni, the Royals’ first baseman, was the one exception. He looked and acted like a first baseman and was expected to hit the long ball. He hit nothing but singles in the Series. If Balboni was excluded, and*the teams had worn each other’s uniforms, it would have been hard to distinquish which team was which. Even Geofge Brett, without the plug of tobacco in his cheek might have passed for the Cardinal’s Tommy Kerr.
Batters in the batting order seemed to have been chosen almost at random. The only hitter on either team who was treated by opposing pitchers and managers was George Brett. Others might have been dealt with by the book, played or substituted for, according to the record of how they batted against left- or right-handed pitchers.
Even more subtly, since it *eemed that most of the players on either team were switch-hitters, by the marginal difference in batting averages achieved when batting from one side of the plate as against that achieved batting from the other side. Other, more refined, statistical data was presented by the television commentators, such as the batting average with men on the bases, or in late innings, or early innings, etc.
About 90 percent of each game looked like 90 percent of every other game in the Series. The greater part of each game looked like a replay of previous games. The most significant hits were singles. The best and worst fielding plays were made on pop fouls — Brett catching one, and Jack Clark, the Cardinal’s first baseman, a converted outfielder, failing to catch one.
Interspersed among the repetitious innings and games were special public service bulletins and messages from organized baseball extolling the virtues of family life, and declaring that Major League
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