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1973 Kansas City Royals season

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1973 Kansas City Royals
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkRoyals Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersCedric Tallis
ManagersJack McKeon (first season)
TelevisionKBMA
RadioKMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1972 Seasons 1974 →

The 1973 Kansas City Royals season was their fifth in Major League Baseball and first in the new Royals Stadium. Promoted from Triple-A Omaha, Jack McKeon replaced the fired Bob Lemon as manager and the Royals finished second in the American League West in 1973 with a record of 88–74, six games behind the Oakland A's.

The 88 wins were the most in the franchise's brief history, five more than in 1971. Lefthander Paul Splittorff (20–11) became the first Royal to win twenty games in a season.

Offseason

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Regular season

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The Royals opened the new Royals Stadium with a 12–1 rout of the Texas Rangers on April 10. The Tuesday night game was attended by 39,464 braving cool temperatures; 39 °F (4 °C) at first pitch.[3][4]

On April 27, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Royals history,[5] as visiting KC shut out Detroit 3–0 at Tiger Stadium.[6]

At Royals Stadium on May 15, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first no-hitter of his career.[7][8][9]

On August 2, George Brett made his major league debut,[10] starting at third base and hitting a single in a 3–1 road win over the`Chicago White Sox.[11]

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 94 68 .580 — 50‍–‍31 44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals 88 74 .543 6 48‍–‍33 40‍–‍41
Minnesota Twins 81 81 .500 13 37‍–‍44 44‍–‍37
California Angels 79 83 .488 15 43‍–‍38 36‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox 77 85 .475 17 40‍–‍41 37‍–‍44
Texas Rangers 57 105 .352 37 35‍–‍46 22‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

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1973 American League record

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 6–6 8–4 12–6 9–9 8–4 15–3 8–4 9–9 5–7 10–2
Boston 11–7 — 7–5 6–6 9–9 3–15 8–4 12–6 6–6 14–4 4–8 9–3
California 6–6 5–7 — 8–10 5–7 7–5 10–8 5–7 10–8 6–6 6–12 11–7
Chicago 4–8 6–6 10–8 — 7–5 5–7 6–12 3–9 9–9 8–4 6–12 13–5
Cleveland 6–12 9–9 7–5 5–7 — 9–9 2–10 9–9 7–5 7–11 3–9 7–5
Detroit 9–9 15–3 5–7 7–5 9–9 — 4–8 12–6 5–7 7–11 7–5 5–7
Kansas City 4–8 4–8 8–10 12–6 10–2 8–4 — 8–4 9–9 6–6 8–10 11–7
Milwaukee 3–15 6–12 7–5 9–3 9–9 6–12 4–8 — 8–4 10–8 4–8 8–4
Minnesota 4–8 6–6 8–10 9–9 5–7 7–5 9–9 4–8 — 3–9 14–4 12–6
New York 9–9 4–14 6–6 4–8 11–7 11–7 6–6 8–10 9–3 — 4–8 8–4
Oakland 7–5 8–4 12–6 12–6 9–3 5–7 10–8 8–4 4–14 8–4 — 11–7
Texas 2–10 3–9 7–11 5–13 5–7 7–5 7–11 4–8 6–12 4–8 7–11 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1973 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Fran Healy 95 279 77 .276 6 34
1B John Mayberry 152 510 142 .278 26 100
2B Cookie Rojas 139 551 152 .276 6 69
SS Freddie Patek 135 501 117 .234 5 45
3B Paul Schaal 121 396 114 .288 8 42
LF Lou Piniella 144 513 128 .250 9 69
CF Amos Otis 148 583 175 .300 26 93
RF Ed Kirkpatrick 126 429 113 .263 6 45
DH Gail Hopkins 74 138 34 .246 2 16

Other batters

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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
Hal McRae 106 338 79 .234 9 50
Kurt Bevacqua 99 276 71 .257 2 40
Steve Hovley 104 232 59 .254 2 24
Carl Taylor 69 145 33 .228 0 16
Frank White 51 139 31 .223 0 5
Rick Reichardt 41 127 28 .220 3 17
Jim Wohlford 45 109 29 .266 2 10
Bobby Floyd 51 78 26 .333 0 8
George Brett 13 40 5 .125 0 0
Buck Martinez 14 32 8 .250 1 6
Jerry May 11 30 4 .133 0 2
Tom Poquette 21 28 6 .214 0 3
Frank Ortenzio 9 25 7 .280 1 6
Keith Marshall 8 9 2 .222 0 3

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Paul Splittorff 38 262.0 20 11 3.98 110
Steve Busby 37 238.1 16 15 4.23 174
Dick Drago 37 212.2 12 14 4.23 98
Al Fitzmorris 15 89.0 8 3 2.83 26
Mark Littell 8 38.0 1 3 5.68 16

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Gene Garber 48 152.2 9 9 4.24 60
Ken Wright 25 80.2 6 5 4.91 75
Wayne Simpson 16 59.2 3 4 5.73 29

Relief pitchers

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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 54 4 4 20 2.99 83
Bruce Dal Canton 32 4 3 3 4.81 38
Joe Hoerner 22 2 0 4 5.12 15
Steve Mingori 19 3 3 1 3.04 46
Mike Jackson 9 0 0 0 6.85 13
Tom Burgmeier 6 0 0 1 5.40 4
Barry Raziano 2 0 0 0 5.40 0
Norm Angelini 7 0 0 1 4.91 3

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Harry Malmberg
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Billy Gardner
A San Jose Bees California League Steve Boros
A Waterloo Royals Midwest League Bill Scripture
Rookie Kingsport Royals Appalachian League John Sullivan
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Buzzy Keller
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Gary Blaylock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Kingsport, Billings

References

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  1. ^ Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Joe Keough at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ "Royals Stadium ready for opener tonight". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. April 10, 1973. p. 9.
  4. ^ Woodling, Chuck (April 11, 1973). "Royals rap Rangers, 12–1". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). p. 23.
  5. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 144, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  6. ^ "KC's Busby throws first AL gem since '70". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. April 28, 1973. p. 12.
  7. ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  8. ^ "'Ryan Express' hurls no-hitter at Royals". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. May 16, 1973. p. 24.
  9. ^ "Blazing Ryan finally gets his gem". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. May 16, 1973. p. 1D.
  10. ^ George Brett at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ "Sports scoreboard". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (box scores). August 3, 1973. p. 4B.
  12. ^ Greg Minton at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Al Santorini at Baseball-Reference
  14. ^ Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference
  15. ^ Rob Picciolo at Baseball Reference
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