Interstate '85: The Road Trip Through Memory

Some World Series are remembered for greatness.
Others are remembered for arguments that never die.

In Interstate ‘85, author Marshall Garvey takes readers directly into one of baseball’s most debated championship matchups — the dramatic seven-game showdown between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1985 World Series.

But this isn’t simply a retelling of box scores and highlight reels.
What makes this book stand out are the interviews and perspectives from people connected to both clubs. The result is a layered, human look at a World Series that still sparks debate more than four decades later.

It’s also more than just the Don Denkinger call, which we all know about.
Cardinals fans still see it as the play that altered the championship. Royals fans often point out that the series still required Game 7 — a game Kansas City dominated.
Garvey’s book doesn’t reduce the series to a single controversial moment.
Instead exploring the full emotional and competitive landscape surrounding the Fall Classic, capturing the pressure, momentum swings, clubhouse dynamics, and lingering emotions that made the series unforgettable.

The 1985 Royals carried years of frustration into that postseason.
Led by stars like George Brett, Bret Saberhagen, and Dan Quisenberry, Kansas City had spent years knocking on the door before finally breaking through.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, embodied Whitey Herzog’s brand of baseball — speed, defense, pitching, and relentless pressure. “Whiteyball” had turned St. Louis into one of the National League’s defining teams of the 1980s.

It’s baseball memory and perspective wrapped up in a single book: Interstate ‘85 and Marshall Garvey joins us to talk all about it.