1978 Kansas City Royals season

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1978 Kansas City Royals
1978 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 (third full season)
Local televisionKBMA
(Steve Shannon)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1978 Kansas City Royals season was their tenth in Major League Baseball. The Royals won their third consecutive American League West title with a record of 92-70. For the third postseason in a row, Kansas City lost to the New York Yankees, falling 3-1 in the 1978 American League Championship Series.

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 92 70 0.568 — 56–25 36–45
Texas Rangers 87 75 0.537 5 52–30 35–45
California Angels 87 75 0.537 5 50–31 37–44
Minnesota Twins 73 89 0.451 19 38–43 35–46
Chicago White Sox 71 90 0.441 20½ 38–42 33–48
Oakland Athletics 69 93 0.426 23 38–42 31–51
Seattle Mariners 56 104 0.350 35 32–49 24–55

Record vs. opponents[]

1978 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 — 7–8 4–6 8–1 9–6 7–8 2–8 7–8 5–5 6–9 11–0 9–1 7–4 8–7
Boston 8–7 — 9–2 7–3 7–8 12–3 4–6 10–5 9–2 7–9 5–5 7–3 3–7 11–4
California 6–4 2–9 — 8–7 6–4 4–7 9–6 5–5 12–3 5–5 9–6 9–6 5–10 7–3
Chicago 1–8 3–7 7–8 — 8–2 2–9 8–7 4–7 8–7 1–9 7–8 7–8 11–4 4–6
Cleveland 6–9 8–7 4–6 2–8 — 5–10 5–6 5–10 5–5 6–9 4–6 8–1 1–9 10–4
Detroit 8–7 3–12 7–4 9–2 10–5 — 4–6 7–8 4–6 4–11 6–4 8–2 7–3 9–6
Kansas City 8–2 6–4 6–9 7–8 6–5 6–4 — 6–4 7–8 6–5 10–5 12–3 7–8 5–5
Milwaukee 8–7 5–10 5–5 7–4 10–5 8–7 4–6 — 4–7 10–5 9–1 5–5 6–4 12–3
Minnesota 5–5 2–9 3–12 7–8 5–5 6–4 8–7 7–4 — 3–7 9–6 6–9 6–9 6–4
New York 9–6 9–7 5–5 9–1 9–6 11–4 5–6 5–10 7–3 — 8–2 6–5 6–4 11–4
Oakland 0–11 5–5 6–9 8–7 6–4 4–6 5–10 1–9 6–9 2–8 — 13–2 6–9 7–4
Seattle 1–9 3–7 6–9 8–7 1–8 2–8 3–12 5–5 9–6 5–6 2–13 — 3–12 8–2
Texas 4–7 7–3 10–5 4–11 9–1 3–7 8–7 4–6 9–6 4–6 9–6 12–3 — 4–7
Toronto 7–8 4–11 3–7 6–4 4–10 6–9 5–5 3–12 4–6 4–11 4–7 2–8 7–4 —


Notable transactions[]

  • April 4, 1978: John Mayberry was purchased from the Royals by the Toronto Blue Jays.[1]
  • June 5, 1978: The Royals traded a player to be named later to the San Diego Padres for Steve Hamrick (minors). The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.[2]
  • August 3, 1978: Gerry Ako (minors) and cash were traded by the Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jamie Quirk.[3]

Draft picks[]

Roster[]

1978 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

  •  7 Randy Bass
 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 150 520 138 .265 18 78
1B Pete LaCock 118 322 95 .295 5 48
2B Frank White 143 461 127 275 7 50
3B George Brett 128 510 150 .294 9 62
SS Freddie Patek 138 440 109 .248 2 46
LF Willie Wilson 127 198 43 .217 0 16
CF Amos Otis 141 486 145 .298 22 96
RF Al Cowens 132 485 133 .274 5 63
DH Hal McRae 156 623 170 .273 16 72

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
Clint Hurdle 133 417 110 .264 7 56
Tom Poquette 80 204 44 .216 4 30
John Wathan 67 190 57 .300 2 28
Steve Braun 64 137 36 .263 0 14
Jerry Terrell 73 133 27 .203 0 8
U L Washington 69 129 34 .264 0 9
Joe Zdeb 60 127 32 .252 0 11
Jamie Quirk 17 29 6 .207 0 2
Joe Lahoud 13 16 2 .125 0 0
Art Kusnyer 9 13 3 .231 1 2
Luis Silverio 8 11 6 .545 0 3
Dave Cripe 7 13 2 .154 0 1
Jim Gaudet 3 8 0 .000 0 0
Randy Bass 2 2 0 .000 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 40 294.2 21 17 3.33 183
Paul Splittorff 39 262 19 13 3.40 76
Larry Gura 35 221.2 16 4 2.72 81
Rich Gale 31 192.1 14 8 3.09 88
Andy Hassler 11 58.1 1 4 4.32 26

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 40 98.2 6 6 5.29 48
Marty Pattin 32 78.2 3 3 3.32 30
Andy Hassler 11 58.1 1 4 4.32 26
Jim Colborn 8 28.1 1 2 4.76 8
Steve Busby 7 21.1 1 0 7.59 10

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
Al Hrabosky 58 8 7 20 2.88 60
Steve Mingori 45 1 4 7 2.74 28
Randy McGilberry 18 0 1 0 4.21 12
Steve Foucault 3 0 0 0 3.86 0
Bill Paschall 2 0 1 1 3.38 5
George Throop 1 1 0 0 0.00 2

ALCS[]

Main article: 1978 American League Championship Series

Game 1[]

October 3: Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 3 0 7 16 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 2
W: Jim Beattie (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-1)  S: Ken Clay (1)
HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1)

Game 2[]

October 4: Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 4 12 1
Kansas City 1 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 X 10 16 1
W: Larry Gura (1-0)  L: Ed Figueroa (0-1)
HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1)

Game 3[]

October 6: Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 5 10 1
New York 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 X 6 10 0
W: Goose Gossage (1-0)  L: Doug Bird (0-1)
HRs: KCR – George Brett 3 (3)   NYY – Reggie Jackson (2) Thurman Munson (1)

Game 4[]

October 7: Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0
New York 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 X 2 4 0
W: Ron Guidry (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-2)  S: Goose Gossage (1)
HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1)

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 Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Gene Lamont
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League José Martínez

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Omaha

Notes[]

  1. ^ John Mayberry at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Gary Lance at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Jeff Cornell at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Frank Viola 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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