1973 Kansas City Royals season

1973 Kansas City Royals
1973 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1969) West Division (since 1969); ;
Location
	Royals Stadium (since 1973); Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969);
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	Cedric Tallis
Manager(s)	Jack McKeon (first season)
Local television	KBMA
Local radio	KMBZ; (Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1973 Kansas City Royals season was their fifth in Major League Baseball. Jack McKeon replaced the fired Bob Lemon as manager and the Royals finished second in the American League West with a record of 88-74, six games behind the Oakland Athletics. Kansas City's 88 wins were the most in franchise history. Paul Splittorff (20-11) became the first Royals pitcher to win 20 games in a season.

Offseason[]

November 30, 1972: Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum were traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson.^[1]
February 1, 1973: Joe Keough was traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Lyttle.^[2]

Regular season[]

On April 10, the Royals open their new park, Royals Stadium, with a 12–1 rout of the Texas Rangers. The game is attended by 39,464 fans braving 39-degree weather.

On April 16, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Royals history.^[3] The Royals beat Detroit by a score of 3–0.

On May 15, in a game against the Royals, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first no-hitter of his career.^[4]

On August 2, George Brett made his major league debut.^[5]

Season standings[]

v t AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	94	68	0.580	—	50–31	44–37
Kansas City Royals	88	74	0.543	6	48–33	40–41
Minnesota Twins	81	81	0.500	13	37–44	44–37
California Angels	79	83	0.488	15	43–38	36–45
Chicago White Sox	77	85	0.475	17	40–41	37–44
Texas Rangers	57	105	0.352	37	35–46	22–59

Record vs. opponents[]

1973 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	12–6	9–9	8–4	15–3	8–4	9–9	5–7	10–2
Boston	11–7	—	7–5	6–6	9–9	3–15	8–4	12–6	6–6	14–4	4–8	9–3
California	6–6	5–7	—	8–10	5–7	7–5	10–8	5–7	10–8	6–6	6–12	11–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	10–8	—	7–5	5–7	6–12	3–9	9–9	8–4	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	6–12	9–9	7–5	5–7	—	9–9	2–10	9–9	7–5	7–11	3–9	7–5
Detroit	9–9	15–3	5–7	7–5	9–9	—	4–8	12–6	5–7	7–11	7–5	5–7
Kansas City	4–8	4–8	8–10	12–6	10–2	8–4	—	8–4	9–9	6–6	8–10	11–7
Milwaukee	3–15	6–12	7–5	9–3	9–9	6–12	4–8	—	8–4	10–8	4–8	8–4
Minnesota	4–8	6–6	8–10	9–9	5–7	7–5	9–9	4–8	—	3–9	14–4	12–6
New York	9–9	4–14	6–6	4–8	11–7	11–7	6–6	8–10	9–3	—	4–8	8–4
Oakland	7–5	8–4	12–6	12–6	9–3	5–7	10–8	8–4	4–14	8–4	—	11–7
Texas	2–10	3–9	7–11	5–13	5–7	7–5	7–11	4–8	6–12	4–8	7–11	—

Notable transactions[]

April 2, 1973: Greg Minton was traded by the Royals to the San Francisco Giants for Fran Healy.^[6]
May 8, 1973: Tom Murphy was traded by the Royals to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Santorini.^[7]
June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball draft
- Ruppert Jones was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round.^[8]
- Rob Picciolo was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.^[9]

Roster[]

1973 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

16 Fran Healy
42 Buck Martinez
12 Jerry May
14 Carl Taylor

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

31 Jack McKeon

Coaches

3 Galen Cisco (Pitching)
4 Harry Dunlop (Third base)
24 Charley Lau (Hitting & first base)

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Fran Healy	95	279	77	.276	6	34
1B	John Mayberry	152	510	142	.278	26	100
2B	Cookie Rojas	139	551	152	.276	6	69
SS	Freddie Patek	135	501	117	.234	5	45
3B	Paul Schaal	121	396	114	.288	8	42
LF	Lou Piniella	144	513	128	.250	9	69
CF	Amos Otis	148	583	175	.300	26	93
RF	Ed Kirkpatrick	126	429	113	.263	6	45
DH	Gail Hopkins	74	138	34	.246	2	16

Other batters[]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Hal McRae	106	338	79	.234	9	50
Kurt Bevacqua	99	276	71	.257	2	40
Steve Hovley	104	232	59	.254	2	24
Carl Taylor	69	145	33	.228	0	16
Frank White	51	139	31	.223	0	5
Rick Reichardt	41	127	28	.220	3	17
Jim Wohlford	45	109	29	.266	2	10
Bobby Floyd	51	78	26	.333	0	8
George Brett	13	40	5	.125	0	0
Buck Martinez	14	32	8	.250	1	6
Jerry May	11	30	4	.133	0	2
Tom Poquette	21	28	6	.214	0	3
Frank Ortenzio	9	25	7	.280	1	6
Keith Marshall	8	9	2	.222	0	3

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Paul Splittorff	38	262	20	11	3.98	110
Steve Busby	37	238.1	16	15	4.23	174
Dick Drago	37	212.2	12	14	4.23	98
Al Fitzmorris	15	89	8	3	2.83	26
Mark Littell	8	38	1	3	5.68	16

Other pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Gene Garber	48	152.2	9	9	4.24	60
Ken Wright	25	80.2	6	5	4.91	75
Wayne Simpson	16	59.2	3	4	5.73	29

Relief pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Doug Bird	54	4	4	20	2.99	83
Bruce Dal Canton	32	4	3	3	4.81	38
Joe Hoerner	22	2	0	4	5.12	15
Steve Mingori	19	3	3	1	3.04	46
Mike Jackson	9	0	0	0	6.85	13
Tom Burgmeier	6	0	0	1	5.40	4
Barry Raziano	2	0	0	0	5.40	0
Norm Angelini	7	0	0	1	4.91	3

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Harry Malmberg
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Billy Gardner
A	San Jose Bees	California League	Steve Boros
A	Waterloo Royals	Midwest League	Bill Scripture
Rookie	Kingsport Royals	Appalachian League	John Sullivan
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Buzzy Keller
Rookie	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Gary Blaylock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Kingsport, Billings

References[]

^ Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference
^ Joe Keough at Baseball Reference
^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 144, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
^ George Brett at Baseball Reference
^ Greg Minton at Baseball Reference
^ Al Santorini at Baseball-Reference
^ Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference
^ Rob Picciolo at Baseball Reference

External links[]

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

[1] Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference

[2] Joe Keough at Baseball Reference

[3] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 144, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[4] Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7

[5] George Brett at Baseball Reference

[6] Greg Minton at Baseball Reference

[7] Al Santorini at Baseball-Reference

[8] Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference

[9] Rob Picciolo at Baseball Reference

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1973 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969) West Division (since 1969)
Location
Royals Stadium (since 1973) Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	Cedric Tallis
Manager(s)	Jack McKeon (first season)
Local television	KBMA
Local radio	KMBZ (Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
< Previous season Next season >