1987 Kansas City Royals season

1987 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)	John Schuerholz
Manager(s)	Billy Gardner, John Wathan
Local television	WDAF-TV (Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1987 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing 2nd in the American League West with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses.

Offseason[]

• December 10, 1986: Scott Bankhead, Steve Shields, and Mike Kingery were traded by the Royals to the Seattle Mariners for Danny Tartabull and Rick Luecken.^[1]
• December 22, 1986: Alan Hargesheimer was released by the Royals.^[2]
• March 20, 1987: Derek Botelho was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Kansas City Royals for Eddie Tanner (minors) and Pete Carey (minors).^[3]
• March 27, 1987: David Cone and Chris Jelic were traded by the Royals to the New York Mets for Ed Hearn, Rick Anderson, and Mauro Gozzo.^[4]
• March 30, 1987: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Thad Bosley and Dave Gumpert.^[5]
• March 31, 1987: Larry Owen was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[6]
• Billy Gardner is officially named the team's manager as Dick Howser's replacement during spring training. Howser had contracted brain cancer the previous season and was relieved of duty at the All-Star break. Howser attempted to return as manager for the season, but was physically incapable due to after-effects from his cancer treatments.

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

v t AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	85	77	0.525	—	56–25	29–52
Kansas City Royals	83	79	0.512	2	46–35	37–44
Oakland Athletics	81	81	0.500	4	42–39	39–42
Seattle Mariners	78	84	0.481	7	40–41	38–43
Chicago White Sox	77	85	0.475	8	38–43	39–42
Texas Rangers	75	87	0.463	10	43–38	32–49
California Angels	75	87	0.463	10	38–43	37–44

Record vs. opponents[]

1987 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	—	1–12	9–3	8–4	7–6	4–9	9–3	2–11	5–7	3–10	7–5	4–8	7–5	1–12
Boston	12–1	—	4–8	3–9	7–6	2–11	6–6	6–7	7–5	7–6	4–8	7–5	7–5	6–7
California	3–9	8–4	—	8–5	7–5	3–9	5–8	7–5	8–5	3–9	6–7	7–6	5–8	5–7
Chicago	4–8	9–3	5–8	—	7–5	3–9	6–7	6–6	6–7	5–7	9–4	6–7	7–6	4–8
Cleveland	6–7	6–7	5–7	5–7	—	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	6–7	4–8	5–7	2–10	5–8
Detroit	9–4	11–2	9–3	9–3	9–4	—	5–7	6–7	8–4	5–8	5–7	7–5	8–4	7–6
Kansas City	3–9	6–6	8–5	7–6	6–6	7–5	—	4–8	8–5	5–7	5–8	9–4	7–6	8–4
Milwaukee	11–2	7–6	5–7	6–6	9–4	7–6	8–4	—	3–9	7–6	6–6	4–8	9–3	9–4
Minnesota	7–5	5–7	5–8	7–6	9–3	4–8	5–8	9–3	—	6–6	10–3	9–4	6–7	3–9
New York	10–3	6–7	9–3	7–5	7–6	8–5	7–5	6–7	6–6	—	5–7	7–5	5–7	6–7
Oakland	5–7	8–4	7–6	4–9	8–4	7–5	8–5	6–6	3–10	7–5	—	5–8	6–7	7–5
Seattle	8–4	5–7	6–7	7–6	7–5	5–7	4–9	8–4	4–9	5–7	8–5	—	9–4	2–10
Texas	5–7	5–7	8–5	6–7	10–2	4–8	6–7	3–9	7–6	7–5	7–6	4–9	—	3–9
Toronto	12–1	7–6	7–5	8–4	8–5	6–7	4–8	4–9	9–3	7–6	5–7	10–2	9–3	—

Notable transactions[]

• June 2, 1987: Bret Barberie was drafted by the Royals in the 65th round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[7]

Notable events[]

• June 17, 1987: Manager Dick Howser passes away from brain cancer.

Roster[]

1987 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers 17 Rick Anderson 40 Bud Black 49 John Davis 26 Steve Farr 28 Gene Garber 39 Jerry Don Gleaton 23 Mark Gubicza 30 Dave Gumpert 15 Danny Jackson 37 Charlie Leibrandt 31 Mélido Pérez 29 Dan Quisenberry 18 Bret Saberhagen 31 Bob Shirley 19 Bob Stoddard		Catchers  7 Ed Hearn 28 Mike Macfarlane 24 Larry Owen  9 Jamie Quirk Infielders 45 Steve Balboni  1 Buddy Biancalana  5 George Brett  3 Ross Jones 38 Scotti Madison 32 Bill Pecota  2 Ángel Salazar 33 Kevin Seitzer 20 Frank White		Outfielders 12 Juan Beníquez 27 Thad Bosley 16 Bo Jackson 21 Lonnie Smith  4 Danny Tartabull 25 Gary Thurman  6 Willie Wilson Other batters 22 Jim Eisenreich 11 Hal McRae  3 Jorge Orta		Manager 14 Billy Gardner 12 John Wathan Coaches 43 Gary Blaylock 41 Joe Jones 42 José Martínez 11 Hal McRae 46 Ed Napoleon 44 Jimmie Schaffer

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	Jamie Quirk	109	296	70	.236	5	33
1B	George Brett	115	427	124	.290	22	78
2B	Frank White	154	563	138	.245	17	78
3B	Kevin Seitzer	161	641	207	.323	15	83
SS	Ángel Salazar	116	317	65	.205	2	21
LF	Bo Jackson	116	396	93	.235	22	53
CF	Willie Wilson	146	610	170	.279	4	30
RF	Danny Tartabull	158	582	180	.309	34	101
DH	Steve Balboni	121	386	80	.207	24	60

Other batters[]

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Larry Owen	76	164	31	.189	5	14

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Danny Jackson	36	224	9	18	4.02	152

Other pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers[]

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	John Wathan and Frank Funk
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Bob Schaefer
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Jerry Terrell
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Ken Berry
A-Short Season	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	Rick Mathews
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Luis Silverio

^[8]

References[]

• 1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac