Kansas City Royals - The Beginning Years (1969-1979)  
   
 

KC
Home
Click
on Logo		                                                    
      Yr P W L     Yr P W L   Yr P W L                  
      1969 4 69 93     1972 4 76 78   1977 1 102 60               1970  
      1970 4 65 97     1973 2 88 74   1978 1 92 70               Decade  
      1971 2 85 76     1974 5 77 85   1979 2 85 77               Click  
                  1975 2 91 71                         on Logo  
                    1976 1 90 72                            
                                                             
   
  Titles: Top Royals Players of the Sixties / Seventies  
  1976 - Won Division (Lost to Yankees in ALCS)  
  1977 - Won Division (Lost to Yankees in ALCS) Pitchers:  
  1978 - Won Division (Lost to Yankees in ALCS) Paul Splittorff (18.78) -   73  
    Dennis Leonard (17.04) -   57  
  Ballpark: Dick Drago (13.61) -   46  
  Municipal Stadium (1969-1972) Steve Busby (16.77) -   37  
  Royals Stadium (1973-1979) Al Fitzmorris (15.39) -   33  
  Doug Bird (7.78) -   24  
  Team Name: Larry Gura (7.54) -   18  
  Royals Marty Pattin (7.35) -   16  
  Ted Abernathy (4.17) -   14  
  Owner:  Jim Rooker (1.75) -    11  
  Ewing Kauffman Roger Nelson (8.15) -    11  
    Bruce Dal Canton (4.57) -    11  
  General Managers: Wally Bunker (4.46) -   10  
  Cedric Tallis (1969-1974) Jim Colborn (3.47) -   10  
  Joe Burke (1974-1979) Mark Littell (4.28) -    8  
    Bob Johnson (4.49) -   6  
  Managers: Steve Mingori (5.36) -   4  
  Joe Gordon (1969)    
  Charlie Metro (1970) Catchers:  
  Bob Lemon (1970-1972) Ed Kirkpatrick (9.32) -   36  
  Jack McKeon (1973-1975) Darrell Porter (14.39) -   32  
  Whitey Herzog (1975-1979) Fran Healy (4.91) -   12  
       
  Hall of Famers: First Basemen:  
  George Brett John Mayberry (21.35) -   49  
    Bob Oliver (1.64) -   11  
  Rookie of the Year:  Tony Solaita (3.88) -   5  
  Lou Piniella (1969)    
    Second Basemen:  
  MVP Frank White (10.82) -   26  
  None Cookie Rojas (7.17) -   20  
       
  No Hitters: ShortStop:  
  Steve Busby (1973) Fred Patek (20.51) -   70  
  Steve Busby (1974)    
  Jim Colborn (1977) Third Base:  
    George Brett (36.17) -   62  
  Notable Events: Paul Schaal (9.95) -   17  
       
  1968 - The Royals are one of four expansion teams. The original franchise  Outfield:  
   owner is Ewing Marion Kauffman, 52, a self made millionaire who owned Amos Otis (40.76) -   116  
    and founded Marion Labs. Kauffman was a true entrepreneurial spirit and Hal McRae (17.27) -   44  
    innovator who was a brilliant businessman. He was extremely successful Al Cowens (12.13) -   28  
   at everything he did and Kansas City fans were extremely fortunate to have Lou Piniella (3.19) -   22  
   him as the Royals owner. Willie Wilson (7.6) -   22  
    Tom Poquette (4.33) -   18  
  1968 - Kauffman's first order of business was to build a management team  Pat Kelly (3.49) -   16  
   and his innate business sense got him to hire Cedric Tallis, 54, as General Jim Wohlford (0.87) -   11  
   Manager. Tallis had been with the Angels organization, but not as GM.    
    Cedric brought in several young, top quality, individuals for his  Notable Events:  
   management team:    
  □  Lou Gorman, 40, from Balitmore - Farm System Director 1970 - Kansas City hires on Bob Lemon as manager, He is the first of    
  □  Syd Thrift, 40, - Scouting Director a string of quality field managers that the Royals employ as their  
   □  John Schuerholz, 29, he would later be the architect of the great  proclivity for mangerial excellence extends to the field of play.  
   Braves dynasty of the 90's  Jack McKeon is hired on in 1973 and Whitey  
  □  Herk Robinson, 28, assistant director of scouting Herzog comes in in 1975  
       
  1969 -     Notable Expansion Draft Selections: 1970 - The Royals establish The Kansas City Royals Baseball    
  □  1 - RHP Roger Nelson, 25. Baltimore Orioles Acadamy. A very Branch Rickey-ish concept.   
  □  4 - 3B Joe Foy, 26, Boston Red Sox The organization is looking to find the best of athletes who have  
  □  6 - RHP Jim Rooker, 26, New York Yankees  been outside of the mainstream baseball infrastructure and try    
  □  19 - OF  Bob Oliver, 26, Minnesota Twins  to mold them. The Experiment turns out to be a mixed bag.  
  □  22 - LHP Bill Butler, 22, Detroit Tigers  The Acadamy produces three major leaguers:  
  □  25 - RHP Wally Bunker, 24, Baltimore Orioles □  All star second baseman Frank White  
  □  27 - Paul Schaal, 26, California Angels  □  Shortstop UL Washington; 25, a rookie in '77  
  □  31 - RHP Dick Drago, 24, Detroit Tigers  □  Shortstop Ron Washington who was traded to the Dodgers   
  □  34 - CF Pat Kelly, 24, Minnesota Twins without appearing for KC. That was the plus side.   
  □  40 - RHP Al Fitzmorris, 23, Chicago White Sox The minus side is that the time, effort and money would  
  □  47 - LHP Tom Burgmeier, 25, California Angels probably have been spent more productively elsewhere.    
  □  56 - C Fran Healy, 22, Cleveland Indains That being said, it was a noble try.  
     The Experiment is terminated in 1974.  
  1969 - The Royals are named after the old Kansas City Negro League team.     
   They begin play in Municipal Stadium where the old Kansas City A's had   1973 - The Royals move into Royals Stadium. It will be renamed   
   played previously.  KC becomes, by far, the most successful expansion Kauffman Stadium in 1993 shortly before Ewing Kauffman's death.   
   team in their first decade of operation. They finish over .500 in their third season.  The Stadium is Kauffman-worthy.  
  And by their eighth season, the Royals were winning Division Titles.    
  The talent the Kansas City management group put together  1974 - Cedric Tallis is replaced as GM by Joe Burke.   
   in the early Seventies after the expansion draft:   Unclear what this was all about as Tallis had done one of the   
  □  1968 - Lefthander Paul Splittorff, 21, 25th round pick in amateur draft,  best team building jobs in baseball history and owner Kauffman  
   rookie in '70  was a savvy dude. Tallis signed on with the Yankees the   
  □  1968 - Outfielder Al Cowens, 17, 75th round pick in amateur draft, following year, at what you think would be a heavy spike in pay,   
    rookie in '74 maybe everyone knew that was coming.  
  □  1969 - OF Lou Piniella, 25,  obtained from Seattle     
   for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker 1975 - The Royals dynasty begins as they finish second with 91 wins.   
  □  1969 - C Ed Kirkpatrick, 24,  obtained from California for Hoyt Wilhelm  Their ascension is aided by the premature breakup of the their main  
  □  1969 - C Buck Martinez, 20,  obtained from Houston for Johnny Jones (who?)  rival , the A's, as Charlie Finley did not want to spend $ on his team.   
  □  1970 - Outfielder Amos Otis, 23,  stolen from the Mets for Joe Foy The Royals were great in their own right. From 1975 thru 1985    
  □  1971 - Righthander Steve Busby, 21, 2nd round pick in amateur draft, (minus the 1981 strike year),  the Royals finished first six times and   
    rookie in '72 second four times, topping ninety wins in seven of those seasons.  
  □  1971 - Future HOF Third Baseman George Brett, 18, 2nd round   
   pick in amateur draft, rookie in '73 1976 - Lefty Larry Gura, 28, is stolen from the Yankees in exchange  
  1971 - Shortstop Fred Patek, 26, six player trade with Pittsburgh   for journeyman catcher Fran Healy  
  □  1972 - Righthander Dennis Leonard, 21, 2nd round pick in amateur draft,  
    rookie in '74 1978 - The Royals win their third straight Division title only to lose   
  □  1972 - 1B John Mayberry, 23, three player trade with Houston to the Yankees in the ALCS for the third straight year.   
  □  1973 - Outfielder Hal McRae, 27, four player trade with Cincinnati  
  □  1973 - Second Baseman Frank White, 22, graduate of Baseball Acadamy 1979 - Whitey Herzog is fired as manager despite three 1st place   
  □  1974 - Centerfielder Willie Wilson, 19, first round pick in amateur draft, and two 2nd  place finishes in 5 years.  
   rookie in '76  Whitey didn't see eye to eye with the Kauffmans.  
    The firing didn't turn out to be a big deal for either side as the Royals   
    continued to win and Herzog hooked on with the regional rival   
    Cardinals and made them a force.  
   
    1979 - Ace Righty Reliever Dan Quisenberry, 26, is a rookie.  
     He was an undrafted amateur free agent in '75