This is a man who was the talk of October and got on base more than any Cardinal during the I-70 Series. He captivated a nation during the best stretch of his career. I speak, of course, of Buddy Biancalana.

Buddy Biancalana.

Biancalana took over the starting shortstop job in September of 1985, wresting it from Onix Concepcion as the Royals overtook the Calfornia Angels in the AL West. Once he got into the World Series, Biancalana had what he called the best week of his life, getting on base ten times, playing great defense and delivering the game-winning hit in Game 5 while the Royals were down three games to one.

“I guess you can call him ‘Baby Ruth’ from now on instead of ‘Buddy’” is what Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog told the Sporting News after the game. Biancalana finished second in World Series MVP voting, but was edged by Bret Saberhagen.

How crazy would that be? World Series MVP Buddy Biancalana?

Back in June, the Kansas City Baseball Vault was happy to talk with Biancalana and at the time, we weren’t sure how open he’d be to acknowledging that, while his World Series was great, the rest of his year (and career) wasn’t very productive at all.

But he has a good sense of humor about it all.

“Well not only did I not play a whole lot, but I didn’t play well when I played!” he said with a chuckle.

Many will remember Biancalana for the ribbing he took from David Letterman, who had pitted him against Pete Rose in a hit countdown (during the season when Rose passed Ty Cobb as the all-time hits leader). The unusual name, the slight hitting numbers, and the wide gap between the two players made for entertaining segments. When Biancalana was a part of (and a huge part of) the World Series win, he ended up as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman.

Before Game 1 of the World Series, Biancalana sat in front of his locker room and said that he’d felt a “massive wave of fear” but didn’t have time to do anything but face it, and, as he says, it pushed him to have an experience in the zone. The rest is history. Not too bad for a player drafted ahead of Cal Ripken Jr. in 1978.

Now, Biancalana tries to help athletes prepare and find that zone experience through drills and concepts and training on the field to get the mind and body working for optimum performance. Here’s more:

Buddy Biancalana had a career OPS of .553 with the Royals. That’s pretty bad, but he’s remembered by Royals fans for a stretch in late 1985 when he was extraordinarily productive, earning him a bit of the national spotlight as the Royals went on to their only World Series victory.

He talked about that season and his experience “in the zone” and how he’s channeling that into a new generation of athletes through instruction and training programs.

We also talked about Wil Myers, Kyle Zimmer and the Royals trouble with certain innings this season.

We’ll be back next week with more discussion of Kansas City baseball, past, present and future on ESPN 1510 Thursday at 6 p.m. CST.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

Tonight we continue an exciting new venture for Kings of Kauffman and its podcast, the Royalman Report.

Jeff Logan of the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society joins forces with us to form the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Kansas City’s ESPN 1510 AM from 6-7 p.m. every Thursday night. Listeners can tune into traditional radio or streaming live on 1510.com.

Our guest will be Buddy Biancalana, part of the 1985 World Series team and a key part of their championship run.

We’ll also dig into the Royals draft from earlier in the week and dissect their “major announcement” from earlier in the day.

Just like last week, we plan to have a trivia question and a giveaway, so be sure to listen in. Last week, three listeners won free ticket packages to go see the Kansas City T-Bones. You like winning things, right? That trivia question can happen any time, so you have to listen to be ready.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.