Mark Littell obit

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

He was not on the list.

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.”

The Kansas City Royals selected Littell in the 12th round of the 1971 MLB draft. Though he had committed to play college baseball for the University of Missouri, he signed with the Royals instead. Littell pitched for the Billings Mustangs of the Rookie-level Pioneer League in 1971 after he signed and for the Waterloo Royals of the Class A Midwest League in 1972. He opened the 1973 season with the Omaha Royals of the American Association, and made his major league debut as a starting pitcher on June 14, 1973.

On August 10, 1981, Pete Rose recorded his 3,631st hit off Littell to become the National League's all-time hits leader. Littell was a member of the Cardinals during their 1982 championship season; however, the club designated Littell for assignment in June. He accepted an assignment to the Louisville Bats.

Littell served as a coach in the minor leagues after his playing career. He became the pitching coach the Waterloo Diamonds, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate in the Midwest League in 1989. He joined the San Diego Padres organization and served as the pitching coach for the Charleston Rainbows of the Class A South Atlantic League for the 1990 season and the High Desert Mavericks of the Class A-Advanced California League in 1991. The Padres fired Littell in September 1991.

After the 1991 season, the Milwaukee Brewers hired Littell as the pitching coach of the Stockton Ports of the California League. He coached for Stockton through the 1994 season. In the 1993–94 Australian Baseball League season, he coached for the Brisbane Bandits. With Stockton in August 1994, the team had three games go into extra innings in a week, and Littell was activated to help the overworked pitching staff, pitching an inning in a game 12 years after his retirement as a player. He was the pitching coach for the New Orleans Zephyrs in 1996 and for the Tucson Toros in 1997. He coached the Ogden Raptors in 2001 and 2002 and coached for the Helena Brewers from 2003 to 2006. He was an assistant coach for the college baseball team of Dickinson State University in 2012