Late-Night Hero Biancalana Finally Makes a Hit in Prime Time

Buddy Biancalana, cult hero to a nation of television-watching insomniacs, stepped into prime time Tuesday night, delivering two hits and an RBI during the Kansas City Royals’ 5-3 victory over Toronto in Game 6 of the American League playoffs.

To understand why Biancalana is a hit with the late-night crowd, one must first understand that this sort of things does not happen often to Biancalana. Hits, that is.

Biancalana doesn’t have many of them. After two seasons in the major leagues, his hit total stands at 56. His career batting average: .194.

This fact was duly noted in early September by talk-show host and baseball junkie David Letterman, just as Pete Rose was rounding into the final lap of his chase of Ty Cobb and baseball’s all-time hit record.

Biancalana remembers that fateful night.

“He said that after Pete Rose reaches Ty Cobb’s record, ‘We’ll be keeping tabs on veteran utility infielder Buddy Biancalana.’ He had a hit-counter and everything,” Biancalana said.

“I didn’t know if I was being criticized or what. I guess it was all in fun. I guess he was running out of material when he did it.”

Biancalana could hardly work up his dander over it. He knows what a late-night jab from Letterman can do for a baseball player. Exhibit A: Terry (Tub Of Goo) Forster.

Suddenly, around ballparks all over America, Buddy Biancalana was a hero.

“Before games, fans start chanting my name,” Biancalana said. “They say, ‘Only 4,000 hits to go.’ It’s been fun. It’s given me a little publicity.”

He’s already been contacted by NBC, which broadcasts the Letterman show, for a response. And Biancalana has one ready.

“Even though I’m 4,000 hits behind Pete Rose,” he says with a gremlin-like grin overtaking his face, “I’m still a lot closer in my pursuit of Rose than he is in his pursuit of Johnny Carson.”

Ouch. Admit it, Dave: Pretty nutty stuff.

Biancalana has been waiting for weeks with that comeback. Finally, he had more of an audience than the clubhouse boy to share it with.

“I’m not used to this,” Biancalana said as reporters swarmed his locker, asking him such things as how it feels to save a country and how it feels to be known as “Babe” Biancalana--nickname courtesy Toronto Manager Bobby Cox. “Usually when I find a crowd at my locker, it’s because Quiz (Dan Quisenberry) is on one side and (Bret) Saberhagen is on the other.”

Biancalana took advantage of this rare forum. And why not? He may never come this way again.

Biancalana chided Letterman for shoddy research. “He said I had 12 hits when I had 50-some at the time,” Biancalana said.

So, there. Even .194 hitters have pride.

Biancalana also questioned Letterman’s knowledge of the game. “The other day, he said I had ‘a turf-stopper.’ I don’t even know what that is,” Biancalana said. “I don’t know why he picked me. Maybe because I have a catchy name.”

That he does. It rolls off the tongue, much like the way many of his infield dribblers roll to shortstop: Bud-DEE Bee-ON-ka-lan-a.

Sounds like an Italian sports car. Hits like a plate of Italian pasta.

Biancalana has had to live with such jokes all of his baseball-playing life. You know: “He’s a .194 switch-hitter--.097 from each side of the plate.”

He’s had to live with them, basically, because he’s never hit.

Not in high school. “I was never a real good hitter,” he recalled. “I bunted a lot and got by with my speed.”

Not in the minor leagues. The results of his seven seasons in the Royal farm system: .171, .199, .171, .210, .251, .223, .260.

And not in the major leagues. In 81 games with Kansas City this season, Biancalana batted .188. At home games, while the Royals Stadium scoreboard flashes such blurbs as “Steve Balboni hit a club-record 16 home runs at home in 1985” and “George Brett holds five LCS records,” it has shows this message when Biancalana steps up to bat: “Buddy started 49 games at shortstop for the Royals this year.”

Oh my. That’s just one notch better than: “Buddy has been a human being for 25 years.”

Kansas City Manager Dick Howser juggled his two shortstops, Biancalana and Onix Concepcion, all season before opting for Biancalana as his regular starter in mid-September. One reason made good sense: Biancalana’s fielding ability.

“He’s got good quickness and hands out there,” Howser said. “In a close game, we prefer to have him out there.”

Howser’s other reason is a little quirky. Howser considers Biancalana to be a sort of good-luck charm.

“Nothing scientific about it. I just don’t like to change the lineup when we’re winning,” Howser said. “It’s a daily thing. Usually, I go with the lineup that won the previous night.”

Biancalana had been 1 for 10 with three strikeouts during the first five games of the playoffs. But in Game 6, he stunned the baseball world--first with a second-inning single, then with sixth-inning that scored Jim Sundberg and, with an error, left Biancalana at third.

Biancalana drove the ball into the right-center field gap, and Toronto right fielder Jesse Barfield, perhaps out of sheer shock, couldn’t handle the ball. What’s this doing out here?”

By the time Barfield retrieved the ball, the Royals had a 4-2 lead, courtesy of Mr. Offense, Buddy Biancalana. For several seconds, Blue Jays’ center fielder Lloyd Moseby stood with hands on hips, staring at Biancalana in disbelief.

This was the American League’s answers to the Miracle of Oz--Ozzie Smith’s improbable home run in Game 5 of the National League playoffs.

“I saw that and said, ‘Buddy is due for one of those,’ ” Howser said. “You gotta give Buddy credit. He’s had a lot of at-bats, battling and battling. Sooner or later, you’re going to get some hits.”

It wasn’t, however, a perfect night for Biancalana. After turning a double play for the first two outs of the seventh inning, Biancalana thought it was the third out and began running off the field. He was nearly at the foul line before second baseman Frank White grabbed him and revised his arithmetic.

“I was just into the flow of the game,” he said. “I’ve never done that before in my entire career. And what I time to do it--with 40 million people watching. I couldn’t hide it.”

A moment’s worth of embarrassment, yes, but Biancalana can handle it. He’s handled worse.

“I wonder what Dave will say now,” Biancalana mused, getting in, on this night at least, the last laugh.