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Kansas City Royals,
professional baseball team and one of five teams in the Central
Division of the American League (AL). Named after Kansas City’s
annual American Royal Livestock Parade and Pageant, the club plays
at Ewing Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and wears
uniforms of white and blue.
In the years after the club entered the AL in 1969, the Royals were
one of the most successful expansion teams in major league history.
The club won four division titles and one pennant in its first 12
seasons. The key to Kansas City’s success during the 1970s and 1980s
was third baseman George Brett. One of the most versatile offensive
performers of his era, Brett won three batting titles, collected
3,154 hits, and compiled a .305 batting average during his 21-year
career with the Royals. The franchise dominated its division during
the 1980s and won its first World Series championship in 1985. In
addition to Brett, the club’s lineups in the 1980s featured Amos
Otis, Frank White, Freddie Patek, Willie Wilson, and pitchers Dan
Quisenberry and Bret Saberhagen. Quisenberry led the league in saves
five times during the 1980s.
In 1969, two years after Kansas City lost its major league club, the
Athletics, to Oakland, pharmaceuticals millionaire Ewing Kauffman
was awarded an American League franchise. Kauffman wasted little
time in creating the Kansas City Royals. During the team’s first
year of play outfielder Lou Piniella won the 1969 AL rookie of the
year award. Two years later the Royals stole a league-high 130
bases.
In 1973 rookie George Brett joined Amos Otis and John Mayberry in
the Royals’ lineup, which was backed by strong pitching from Steve
Busby, Dick Drago, and Paul Splittorff. Brett won his first of three
AL batting titles in 1976, and under manager Whitey Herzog the
Royals captured the first of three consecutive division
championships. In the AL Championship Series, however, the Royals
lost to the New York Yankees three years in a row. First-year
manager Jim Frey steered Kansas City to the club’s first pennant in
1980. Brett had a sensational year, hitting .390, driving in a
league-high 118 runs, and winning the AL most valuable player (MVP)
award. Although the Royals swept the Yankees in the AL Championship
Series, the team fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World
Series.
The team won another division title in 1984 but lost to the eventual
World Series champion Detroit Tigers in the AL Championship Series.
A year later, manager Dick Howser harnessed Kansas City’s power
hitting, base-running prowess, and pitching to defeat the
cross-state rival St. Louis Cardinals in the 1985 World Series.
Pitcher Bret Saberhagen finished the year with a 20-6 win-loss
record and won the first of his two AL Cy Young Awards while with
the team.
Saberhagen’s second Cy Young Award came in 1989, when he posted a
23-6 record. Also that year, multitalented football running back Bo
Jackson had his finest season as a professional baseball player,
finishing the year with 32 home runs and 105 runs batted in (RBIs).
The Royals’ domination of their division ended in the 1990s,
although in 1994 David Cone won the AL Cy Young Award and designated
hitter Bob Hamelin was named AL rookie of the year. The team
struggled during most of the mid- and late 1990s.CHAMPIONSHIPS
1985 - Defeated St.
Louis in 7 games
Won the AL Pennant in 1980 and 1985
TOP MANAGER
Whitey Herzog led the Royals to three straight division
championships from 1976-78 and finished with a 410-304 record. Dick
Howser managed Kansas City to its only World Series Championship in
1985 and finished with a 404-365 record.
MVP
George Brett (1980)
CY YOUNG
Bret Saberhagen (1985, 1989), David Cone (1994)
ROOKIE OF YEAR
Lou Piniella (1969), Bob Hamelin (1994), Carlos Beltran (1999)
RETIRED NUMBERS
5 - George Brett (3B)
10 - Dick Howser (Mgr)
20 - Frank White (2B)
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