The 7 best MLB Trade Deadline deals in KC Royals history

1976: The Royals snare an excellent southpaw starter

A month into the 1976 season, the Royals were viewed as the most likely threat to unseat five-time American League West Division champion Oakland. Like a lot of teams then and now, though, they lacked one key element — front-line pitching.

So, Tallis gambled. He offered the New York Yankees Fran Healy, who'd been splitting catching duties with Buck Martinez, for a journeyman left-hander who had never fulfilled the promise many saw in

Larry Gura.

Over parts of six seasons with the Cubs, Rangers and Yankees, Gura had a 15-16 record. In his best season, with the 1975 Yankees, he went 7-8 with a 3.51 ERA in 20 starts. That was enough to persuade Tallis he was worth half the team’s catching tandem.

Gura started slowly in Kansas City, working 18 times in relief but making only two starts.   But one of those was a 4-0 shutout victory over the Athletics on Sept. 29 that clinched the AL West. It was enough to persuade manager Whitey Herzog to give Gura two postseason starts and to lock Gura in as a rotation regular for 1977.

Through 1984, Gura ran up a 111-78 record for the Royals with winning starts against the Yankees in both the 1978 and 1980 AL Championship Series. He made two starts against the Phillies in the 1980 World Series, but got no decision in either one.

A 1980 All Star, Gura was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1992.