1980 Kansas City Royals season

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1980 Kansas City Royals
1980 AL West Champions
1980 AL 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)Jim Frey (first season)
Local televisionWDAF-TV
(Al Wisk, Denny Trease)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
< Previous season     Next season >

The 1980 Kansas City Royals season was their 12th in Major League Baseball. The Royals, under new manager Jim Frey, finished first in the American League West with a record of 97-65. Kansas City finally broke through in the postseason, sweeping the New York Yankees 3-0 in the 1980 American League Championship Series after falling to the Yankees in the ALCS in 1976, 1977 and 1978. The Royals lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in the World Series.

George Brett had one of the best seasons in Major League Baseball history. Brett became the first Royals player to win a Most Valuable Player award, and his league-leading .390 batting average was the highest in the majors since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Brett also led the team in home runs (24) and set a single-season franchise record with 118 runs batted in.

Offseason[]

  • October 26, 1979: Keith Drumright was acquired by the Royals from the Houston Astros to complete an earlier deal (the Astros sent a player to be named later to the Royals for George Throop) made on April 27, 1979.[1]

Regular season[]

On September 30, while pitching for the Seattle Mariners against the Royals, Rick Honeycutt taped a thumbtack to his finger to cut the ball. Royals baserunner Willie Wilson spotted the tack from second base. The umpires investigated and not only found the tack, but also a gash in Honeycutt's forehead. Honeycutt was ejected from the game, suspended for 10 games, and fined.[2]

Opening Day starters[]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 97 65 0.599 — 49–32 48–33
Oakland Athletics 83 79 0.512 14 46–35 37–44
Minnesota Twins 77 84 0.478 19½ 44–36 33–48
Texas Rangers 76 85 0.472 20½ 39–41 37–44
Chicago White Sox 70 90 0.438 26 37–42 33–48
California Angels 65 95 0.406 31 30–51 35–44
Seattle Mariners 59 103 0.364 38 36–45 23–58

Record vs. opponents[]

1980 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 — 8–5 10–2 6–6 6–7 10–3 6–6 7–6 10–2 7–6 7–5 6–6 6–6 11–2
Boston 5–8 — 9–3 6–4 7–6 8–5 5–7 6–7 6–6 3–10 9–3 7–5 5–7 7–6
California 2–10 3–9 — 3–10 4–6 5–7 5–8 6–6 7–6 2–10 3–10 11–2 11–2 3–9
Chicago 6–6 4–6 10–3 — 5–7 2–10 5–8 5–7 5–8 5–7 6–7 6–7 6–7–2 5–7
Cleveland 7–6 6–7 6–4 7–5 — 3–10 5–7 3–10 9–3 5–8 6–6 8–4 6–6 8–5
Detroit 3–10 5–8 7–5 10–2 10–3 — 2–10 7–6 6–6 5–8 6–6 10–2–1 4–8 9–4
Kansas City 6–6 7–5 8–5 8–5 7–5 10–2 — 6–6 5–8 8–4 6–7 7–6 10–3 9–3
Milwaukee 6–7 7–6 6–6 7–5 10–3 6–7 6–6 — 7–5 5–8 7–5 9–3 5–7 5–8
Minnesota 2–10 6–6 6–7 8–5 3–9 6–6 8–5 5–7 — 4–8 6–7 7–6 9–3 7–5
New York 6–7 10–3 10–2 7–5 8–5 8–5 4–8 8–5 8–4 — 8–4 9–3 7–5 10–3
Oakland 5–7 3–9 10–3 7–6 6–6 6–6 7–6 5–7 7–6 4–8 — 8–5 7–6 8–4
Seattle 6–6 5–7 2–11 7–6 4–8 2–10–1 6–7 3–9 6–7 3–9 5–8 — 4–9 6–6
Texas 6–6 7–5 2–11 7–6–2 6–6 8–4 3–10 7–5 3–9 5–7 6–7 9–4 — 7–5
Toronto 2–11 6–7 9–3 7–5 5–8 4–9 3–9 8–5 5–7 3–10 4–8 6–6 5–7 —


Notable transactions[]

Roster[]

1980 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats[]

= Indicates team leader

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB
C Darrell Porter 118 418 51 104 14 2 .249 7 51 1
1B Willie Aikens 151 543 70 151 24 0 .278 20 98 1
2B Frank White 154 560 70 148 23 4 .264 7 60 19
3B George Brett 117 449 87 175 33 9 .390 24 118 15
SS U L Washington 153 549 79 150 16 11 .273 6 53 20
LF Willie Wilson 161 705 133 230 28 15 .326 3 49 79
CF Amos Otis 107 394 56 99 16 3 .251 10 53 16
RF Clint Hurdle 130 395 50 116 31 2 .294 10 60 0
DH Hal McRae 124 489 73 145 39 5 .297 14 83 10

[7]

Other batters[]

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

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
John Wathan 126 453 57 138 .305 6 58 17
Dave Chalk 69 167 19 42 .251 1 20 1
Jamie Quirk 62 163 13 45 .276 5 21 3
Pete LaCock 114 156 14 32 .205 1 18 1
Rusty Torres 51 72 10 12 .167 0 3 1
Rance Mulliniks 36 54 8 14 .259 0 6 0
José Cardenal 25 53 8 18 .340 0 5 0
Bob Detherage 20 26 2 8 .308 1 7 1
Steve Braun 14 23 0 1 .043 0 1 0
Jerry Terrell 22 16 4 1 .063 0 0 0
Onix Concepción 12 15 1 2 .133 0 2 0
Manny Castillo 7 10 1 2 .200 0 0 0
Ken Phelps 3 4 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Germán Barranca 7 0 3 0 ---- 0 0 0

[7]

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

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

Player G IP W L ERA BB SO
Larry Gura 36 283.1 18 10 2.95 76 113
Dennis Leonard 38 280.1 20 11 3.79 80 155
Paul Splittorff 34 204 14 11 4.15 43 53
Rich Gale 32 190.2 13 9 3.92 78 97

[7]

Other pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO
Renie Martin 32 137.1 10 10 2 4.39 70 68
Steve Busby 11 42.1 1 3 0 6.17 19 12
Mike Jones 3 4.2 0 1 0 11.57 5 2

[7]

Relief pitchers[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO
Dan Quisenberry 75 128.1 12 7 33 3.09 27 37
Marty Pattin 37 89 4 0 4 3.64 23 40
Gary Christenson 24 31.1 3 0 1 5.17 18 16
Jeff Twitty 13 22.1 2 1 0 6.04 7 9
Rawly Eastwick 14 22 0 1 0 5.32 8 5
Ken Brett 8 13.1 0 0 1 0.00 5 4
Craig Chamberlain 5 9.1 0 1 0 6.75 5 3
Jerry Terrell 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 1 0

[7]

Postseason[]

ALCS[]

Main article: 1980 American League Championship Series

Game 1[]

October 8 Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
Kansas City 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 2 X 7 10 0
W: Larry Gura (1-0)  L: Ron Guidry (0-1)  
HRs: NYY – Rick Cerone (1) Lou Piniella (1)   KCR – George Brett (1)

Game 2[]

October 9 Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 8 0
Kansas City 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 X 3 6 0
W: Dennis Leonard (1-0)  L: Rudy May (0-1)  S: Dan Quisenberry (1)
HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles

Game 3[]

October 10 Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 4 12 1
New York 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 8 0
W: Dan Quisenberry (1-0)  L: Rich Gossage (0-1)
HRs: KCR – George Brett (2) Frank White (1)

World Series[]

Main article: 1980 World Series
NL Philadelphia Phillies (4) vs. AL Kansas City Royals (2)
Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Royals – 6, Phillies – 7 October 14 Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia) 65,791 3:01
2 Royals – 4, Phillies – 6 October 15 Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia) 65,775 3:01
3 Phillies – 3, Royals – 4 (10 inns) October 17 Royals Stadium (Kansas City) 42,380 3:19
4 Phillies – 3, Royals – 5 October 18 Royals Stadium (Kansas City) 42,363 2:37
5 Phillies – 4, Royals – 3 October 19 Royals Stadium (Kansas City) 42,369 2:51
6 Royals – 1, Phillies – 4 October 21 Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia) 65,838 3:00

Awards and honors[]

  • George Brett – American League Batting Champion (.390)
  • George Brett, Hutch Award[8]

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Joe Sparks
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gene Lamont
A Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Brian Murphy
A Charleston Royals South Atlantic League Ron Mihal
Rookie GCL Royals Blue Gulf Coast League Joe Jones
Rookie GCL Royals Gold Gulf Coast League Roy Tanner

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Royals Blue

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b Keith Drumright at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html[bare URL]
  3. ^ http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1980&t=KCA
  4. ^ Eduardo Rodríguez at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Mark Huismann at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Kevin Kobel at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ a b c d e 1980 Kansas City Royals Statistics and Roster Baseball-Reference.com
  8. ^ http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_hut.shtml

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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