Bulldog pitcher Dennis Leonard is a source of Sailor pride

When the Kansas City Royals played in the wild-card round of the American League playoffs last week, it was their first appearance in the postseason in 29 years, but that’s not how it used to be. There was a time when the Royals were truly regal, when they were perennial contenders. Their greatest player then was George Brett, and their best pitcher was a workhorse out of Oceanside High School named Dennis Patrick Leonard.

Leonard first showed his pitching potential, and his heart, playing for Andrew Scerbo and the Sailors. From there, he went on to Iona College. He was drafted by the Royals in the second round of the 1972 amateur draft.

Leonard’s arrival in Kansas City coincided with the team’s rise to prominence. They were a good little team from 1969, their inaugural season, through 1974, winning 460 games and losing 503. They added Leonard to the major-league roster in September 1974, but the rookie lost all four of his starts. It was going to get a lot better for both Leonard and the Royals.

In 1975, Leonard pitched 212 innings and won 15 games, and the Royals won 91 times. Over the next decade, the Royals would make it to the postseason six times, culminating in a World Series title in 1985. In that span, Leonard would pitch more than 1,690 innings and win 121 games. Injuries wiped out his 1984 campaign and limited him to two innings for the ’85 champs, but Leonard fought his way back from four knee surgeries and threw a three-hit shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays at Royals Stadium on April 14, 1986. He finished his 12-year career with 144 victories and a place in the Royals Hall of Fame.

Leonard also has a place in the Oceanside High School Hall of Fame, which is preparing to induct a new class. Oceanside’s Hall of Fame was championed by Frank Januszewski, who believed that “A school that has no past has no future.” Under Coach Jan’s direction, the school opened its Hall of Fame in 1960. For the next 55 years, with the help of curators Mike Limmer, Sean Keenan and Richie Woods, Januszewski worked tirelessly to make Oceanside’s Hall of Fame one of the most extensive in Nassau County.