The Royals and Phillies held workouts at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia the day before World Series Game One. As Philadelphia manager Dallas Green and Kansas City manager Jim Frey announced their starting pitching plans for the Series, the Royals appeared to be in better shape. Frey planned to send 20-game winner Dennis Leonard to the mound, while Green was going to send rookie Bob Walk to the hill. With the Phillies coming off a five-game NLCS in which the last four games went to extra innings, and the fact the Phillies had one off-day between the two series, Green’s options were limited. Walk was the only Philly hurler who had not pitched in the NLCS. Three of the Phillies’ starting pitchers had appeared in Game Five, and the team hadn’t even returned to Philadelphia until mid-afternoon on this Monday.

For Game Two, the Royals would use Larry Gura, while Philadelphia would counter with Steve Carlton. Frey did make the controversial decision to not use Paul Splittorff in his Series rotation; the manager said his veteran lefty would be an emergency starter or bullpen option. Frey’s concern was Philadelphia’s right-handed power hitting, in the form of Mike Schmidt (48 home runs) and Greg Luzinski (19 home runs). Instead, Frey planned to use Rich Gale to start Game Three.

Today’s birthdays: Chris Gwynn (1964), Scott Cooper (1967), Julio Valera (1968)