1977 Kansas City Royals season

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1977 Kansas City Royals
1977 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 (second full season)
Local televisionKBMA
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1977 Kansas City Royals season was their ninth in Major League Baseball. The Royals' franchise-best 102-60 record led the majors and Kansas City won its second consecutive American League West title. Once again the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the postseason, falling 3-2 in the 1977 American League Championship Series. Hal McRae led the American League in doubles with 54. Al Cowens set a franchise single-season record with 112 runs batted in.

Offseason[]

  • November 5, 1976: Ruppert Jones was drafted from the Royals by the Seattle Mariners with the first pick in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft.[1]
  • December 6, 1976: Jamie Quirk, Jim Wohlford and a player to be named later were traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter. The Kansas City Royals completed the trade by sending Bob McClure to the Brewers on March 15, 1977.[2]
  • December 7, 1976: Frank Ortenzio was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Rudy Kinard (minors).[3]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 102 60 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 94 68 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 90 72 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 84 77 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 74 88 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 64 98 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 63 98 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents[]

1977 American League Records
  • v
  • t

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


Opening Day starters[]

Notable transactions[]

  • May 27, 1977: Tim Ireland was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[4]

Roster[]

1977 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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 Darrell Porter 130 425 117 .275 16 60
1B John Mayberry 153 543 125 .230 23 82
2B Frank White 152 474 116 .245 5 50
3B George Brett 139 564 176 .312 22 88
SS Freddie Patek 154 497 130 .262 5 60
CF Amos Otis 142 478 120 .251 17 78
RF Al Cowens 162 606 189 .312 23 112
DH Hal McRae 162 641 191 .298 21 92

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
Pete LaCock 88 218 66 .303 3 29
Joe Zdeb 105 195 58 .297 2 23
Cookie Rojas 64 156 39 .250 0 10
John Wathan 55 119 39 .328 2 21
Buck Martinez 29 80 18 .225 1 9
Joe Lahoud 34 65 17 .262 2 8
Bob Heise 54 62 16 .258 0 5
Dave Nelson 27 48 9 .188 0 4
Willie Wilson 13 34 11 .324 0 1
U L Washington 10 20 4 .200 0 1
Clint Hurdle 9 26 8 .308 2 7

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 38 292.2 20 12 3.04 244
Jim Colborn 36 239 18 14 3.62 103
Paul Splittorff 37 229 16 6 3.69 99
Andy Hassler 29 156.1 9 6 4.20 83

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
Marty Pattin 31 128.1 10 13 3.58 55

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 53 11 4 14 3.88 83
Larry Gura 52 8 5 10 3.13 46
Mark Littell 48 8 4 12 3.58 55
Steve Mingori 43 2 4 4 3.09 19
Tom Hall 6 0 0 0 3.52 10
George Throop 4 0 0 1 3.38 1
Randy McGilberry 3 0 1 0 5.14 1
Gary Lance 1 0 1 0 4.50 0

Other events[]

Before they were to play a game on June 12th against the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, thieves stole gloves and uniforms belonging to Royals players. Due to this, all but seven Kansas City Royals players had to wear Milwaukee road uniforms for the game played that day.[5]

ALCS[]

Main article: 1977 American League Championship Series

Game 1[]

October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 9 0
New York 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0
W: Paul Splittorff (1–0)  L: Don Gullett (0–1)  
HRs: KC – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) NYY – Thurman Munson (1)

Game 2[]

October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 1
New York 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 - 6 10 0
W: Ron Guidry (1–0)  L: Andy Hassler (0–1)  
HRs: KC – none; NYY – Cliff Johnson (1)

Game 3[]

October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 1
Kansas City 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 - 6 12 1
W: Dennis Leonard (1–0)  L: Mike Torrez (0–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 4[]

October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 0
Kansas City 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 2
W: Sparky Lyle (1–0)  L: Larry Gura (0–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 5[]

October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 10 0
Kansas City 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1
W: Sparky Lyle (2–0)  L: Dennis Leonard (1–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association John Sullivan
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gordon Mackenzie
A Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League José Martínez
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Bill Scripture

Notes[]

  1. ^ Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Frank Ortenzio at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Tim Ireland at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Kansas City Royals have gloves, uniforms stolen before game

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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