Pitcher on the Kansas City Royals’ first playoff team dies at the age of 69

Mark Littell, a key member of the Royals’ bullpen during their first two division-winning seasons, died Monday at the age of 69. The Royals announced his passing when the team had a moment of silence before Tuesday’s game against Cleveland.

The Royals drafted Littell in the 12th round in 1971, after he was a star pitcher at Gideon High School in the Missouri bootheel. He had secured a scholarship to play for the University of Missouri but chose the Royals.

As he noted in a 2016 interview on “Monday Night Sports Talk” in Connecticut, Littell and George Brett were drafted and signed with the Royals the same year, and they roomed together for two years.

Littell made it to the majors a couple of months before Brett in 1973, the same year Littell was the American Association’s pitcher of the year for his work with the Triple-A Omaha Royals.

“I guess you might say I had to basically beat the odds, because the odds were really stacked against you going to the big leagues, and I didn’t know nor did I care at that time,” Littell said on “Monday Night Sports Talk.” “All I wanted to do was play baseball.”

The following year, Littell was in the minors, but he returned briefly to the Royals in 1975 before breaking through. In May 1976, Littell was approached by Royals manager Whitey Herzog, who used his nickname.

“We were playing in Baltimore,” Littell recalled on “Monday Night Sports Talk,” and he said, ‘Hey Country, you know what a closer does?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he’s the guy that slams the door.’ He said, ‘You’re gonna do that for me.’”

The Royals had a 9-8 record at the time, but with Littell at the back of the bullpen they rolled to a 90-72 record and a first-place finish in the American League West.

Littell appeared in 60 games with a 2.08 ERA and 16 saves. He struck out 92 in 104 innings pitched and tied for 24th in MVP voting.

The season ended with a thud for the Royals and Littell, who allowed a solo home run to Chris Chambliss that gave the Yankees a 7-6 walk-off win in the decisive fifth game of the American League Championship Series.

“I’m on the YES Network every other day,” Littell quipped on “Monday Night Sports Talk.”

What’s often overlooked is the delay before the home run. Fans at Yankee Stadium threw trash on the field, causing a delay of several minutes before Chambliss batted.

After the game, Littell told reporters: “I feel down a little but not too much. I challenged him with my best pitch — a fastball. It was only the second home run I gave up this year. If we were at it again in the same situation next year I’d give him the same pitch.”

In 1977, Littell had 12 saves and started five games for the Royals, with 106 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings pitched and a 3.61 ERA. He appeared in two games in the ALCS, which the Royals again lost to the Yankees in five games.

After the season, Littell was traded with catcher Buck Martinez to the St. Louis Cardinals for relief pitcher Al Hrabosky. Littell had a 2.53 ERA in 135 appearances in his first two seasons with the Cardinals but he suffered an arm injury in 1980 and his career was never the same.

That same year, Herzog took over as manager in midseason. Littell pitched for the Cardinals two more seasons after that and retired after being part of St. Louis’ 1982 World Series championship team.

“My arm was pretty much basically shot and Whitey Herzog gave me a big break by keeping me around as long as he did,” Littell recalled on “Monday Night Sports Talk.”

Littell later worked as a pitching coach for at least eight minor-league teams, wrote three books and invented the Nutty Buddy athletic cup.

The idea for the Nutty Buddy came while Littell working with the Royals after his playing days ended, as he told the East Bay Times in 2007.

“I asked my pitchers: How many of you guys don’t wear cups? And half of them raised their hand,” he said. “So I went off on a little mild tirade at the time.”

The Nutty Buddy website had this message on Wednesday: “In Loving Memory - Mark Alan Littell (1953-2022) RIP Our Fearless Leader aka Captain Ramrod. You will be dearly missed.”