1976 Kansas City Royals season

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1976 Kansas City Royals
1976 AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Royals Stadium (since 1973)
  • Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)Joe Burke
Manager(s)Whitey Herzog (first full season)
Local televisionKBMA
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1976 Kansas City Royals season was their eighth in Major League Baseball. The Royals won their first division title, taking the American League West with a record of 90-72 in the first full season as manager for Whitey Herzog. Kansas City was defeated 3-2 by the New York Yankees in the 1976 American League Championship Series. George Brett (.333) became the first Royals player to win a league batting title.

Offseason[]

  • September 29, 1975: Harmon Killebrew was released by the Royals.[1]
  • November 12, 1975: Nelson Briles was traded by the Royals to the Texas Rangers for Dave Nelson.[2]
  • March 3, 1976: Roger Nelson was signed by the Royals as a free agent.[3]

Regular season[]

A game at Royals Stadium on Sunday, September 19, 1976. The pitcher is Chris Knapp and the batter is Tom Poquette. The Royals would beat the White Sox 6 to 5.

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 90 72 0.556 — 49–32 41–40
Oakland Athletics 87 74 0.540 2½ 51–30 36–44
Minnesota Twins 85 77 0.525 5 44–37 41–40
Texas Rangers 76 86 0.469 14 39–42 37–44
California Angels 76 86 0.469 14 38–43 38–43
Chicago White Sox 64 97 0.398 25½ 35–45 29–52

Record vs. opponents[]

1976 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 8–4 8–4 7–11 12–6 6–6 11–7 4–8 13–5 4–8 8–4
Boston 11–7 — 7–5 6–6 9–9 14–4 3–9 12–6 7–5 7–11 4–8 3–9
California 4–8 5–7 — 11–7 7–5 6–6 8–10 4–8 8–10 5–7 6–12 12–6
Chicago 4–8 6–6 7–11 — 3–9 6–6 8–10 7–5 7–11 1–11 8–9 7–11
Cleveland 11–7 9–9 5–7 9–3 — 6–12 6–6 11–6 9–3 4–12 4–8 7–5
Detroit 6–12 4–14 6–6 6–6 12–6 — 4–8 12–6 4–8 9–8 6–6 5–7
Kansas City 6–6 9–3 10–8 10–8 6–6 8–4 — 8–4 10–8 7–5 9–9 7–11
Milwaukee 7–11 6–12 8–4 5–7 6–11 6–12 4–8 — 4–8 5–13 5–7 10–2
Minnesota 8–4 5–7 10–8 11–7 3–9 8–4 8–10 8–4 — 2–10 11–7 11–7
New York 5–13 11–7 7–5 11–1 12–4 8–9 5–7 13–5 10–2 — 6–6 9–3
Oakland 8–4 8–4 12–6 9–8 8–4 6–6 9–9 7–5 7–11 6–6 — 7–11
Texas 4–8 9–3 6–12 11–7 5–7 7–5 11–7 2–10 7–11 3–9 11–7 —


Opening Day lineup[]

Notable transactions[]

Roster[]

1976 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  • 24 Whitey Herzog

Coaches

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 Buck Martinez 95 267 61 .228 5 34
1B John Mayberry 161 594 138 .232 13 95
2B Frank White 152 446 102 .229 2 46
3B George Brett 159 645 215 .333 7 67
SS Freddie Patek 144 432 104 .241 1 43
LF Tom Poquette 104 344 104 .302 2 34
CF Amos Otis 153 592 165 .279 18 86
RF Al Cowens 152 581 154 .265 3 59
DH Hal McRae 149 527 175 .332 8 73

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
Jim Wohlford 107 293 73 .249 1 24
Bob Stinson 79 209 55 .263 2 25
Dave Nelson 78 153 36 .235 1 17
Cookie Rojas 63 132 32 .242 0 16
Jamie Quirk 64 114 28 .246 1 15
Tony Solaita 31 68 16 .235 0 9
Ruppert Jones 28 51 11 .216 1 7
John Wathan 27 42 12 .286 0 5
Fran Healy 8 24 3 .125 0 1
Tommy Davis 8 19 5 .263 0 0
Willie Wilson 12 6 1 .167 0 0

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
Dennis Leonard 35 259 17 10 3.51 150
Al Fitzmorris 35 220.1 15 11 3.06 80
Paul Splittorff 26 158.2 11 8 3.97 59
Andy Hassler 19 99.2 5 6 2.89 45
Steve Busby 13 71.2 3 3 4.40 29

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
Doug Bird 39 197.2 12 10 3.37 107
Marty Pattin 44 141 8 14 2.49 65

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
Mark Littell 60 8 4 16 2.08 92
Steve Mingori 55 5 5 10 2.32 38
Tom Hall 31 1 1 1 4.45 25
Larry Gura 20 4 0 1 2.30 22
Tom Bruno 12 1 0 0 6.75 11
Bob McClure 8 0 0 0 9.00 3
Jerry Cram 4 0 0 0 6.23 2
Roger Nelson 3 0 0 0 2.08 4
Ray Sadecki 3 0 0 0 0.00 1
Ken Sanders 3 0 0 0 0.00 2

ALCS[]

Main article: 1976 American League Championship Series

Game 1[]

October 9, 1976, at Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 12 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 2
W: Catfish Hunter (1–0)   L: Larry Gura (0–1)
HR: None

Game 2[]

October 10, 1976, at Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12 5
Kansas City 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 7 9 0
W: Paul Splittorff (1–0)   L: Ed Figueroa (0–1)
HR: None

Game 3[]

October 12, 1976, at Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 0
New York 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 X 5 9 0
W: Dock Ellis (1–0)   L: Andy Hassler (0–1)   S: Sparky Lyle (1)
HR: NYY: – Chris Chambliss (1)

Game 4[]

October 13, 1976, at Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 7 9 1
New York 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 11 0
W: Doug Bird (1–0)   L: Catfish Hunter (1–1)   S: Steve Mingori (1)
HR: NYY: – Graig Nettles 2 (2)

Game 5[]

October 14, 1976, at Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 6 11 1
New York 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 7 11 1
W: Dick Tidrow (1–0)   L: Mark Littell (0–1)
HR: KCR: – John Mayberry (1), George Brett (1)   NYY: – Chris Chambliss (2)

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Billy Gardner
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Bill Scripture
A Waterloo Royals Midwest League John Sullivan
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League José Martínez

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Waterloo

Notes[]

  1. ^ Killebrew cut by Royals
  2. ^ Royals trade Briles to Texas
  3. ^ Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Bill Paschall at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Ken Phelps at Baseball Reference

References[]

  • 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.

External links[]

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