George Brett paid off a 40-year debt to teammate ahead of 1985 Royals reunion
With all due respect to Yogi Berra, the Royals knew they had won Game 7 of the 1985 World Series before it was over.
The Royals led the Cardinals 11-0 in the eighth inning when players hatched a plan.
“We were all saying, ‘OK, whoever catches the last out gets a hundred bucks from everybody on the team,’” Brett recalled Thursday ahead of a gala at Union Station honoring that 1985 team.
In those days, Mike Schmidt had the biggest contract at $2.1 million while rookies were paid $60,000, so a C-note from all your teammates was big money.
The final out was a flyball off the bat of Andy Van Slyke to right field. The Royals’ Darryl Motley camped under the ball and caught the final out of the first World Series championship in Kansas City history.
You might think Motley cleaned up that night, but the agreement in the dugout at Royals Stadium that night was quickly forgotten — until Thursday.
“I knew Darryl Motley was coming today,” Brett said. “I never paid him his 100 bucks. I saw him in the lobby there, and I went up and I gave him $100. He wouldn’t take it. I said, ‘No, here’s $100. I’ve owed it to you for 40 years, I’ve told this story a thousand times, I’m getting it off my conscience. We’re even.’ I don’t know if anybody else has paid him but I know I wiped my debt clear with him today.”
Brett, who is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, may have finally paid off the debt, but he might be the only one taking part in Thursday’s celebration who did so.
Motley showed off that $100 bill and recalled the scene that night on Oct. 27, 1985.
“To my knowledge, nobody else has ever paid me for that,” he said ahead of the gala. “And I remember they told me, ‘Hey, whoever catches the last out, everybody’s gotta give him $100.’ As soon as we won the whole thing, I caught the last out, I couldn’t even believe it was coming to me, actually.
“Well, after I caught it, everybody scattered.”
Fortunately for Motley, most of that 1985 team will be at Union Station for the celebration that will include the 2015 World Series championship squad.
It could be a profitable night for Motley.
“If I can get them to do like George did,” Motley said, “I’ll do pretty good.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 7:02 PM.
