1973 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)Cedric Tallis
Manager(s)Jack McKeon (first season)
Local televisionKBMA
Local radioKMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1973 Kansas City Royals season was their fifth in Major League Baseball. Jack McKeon replaced the fired Bob Lemon as manager and the Royals finished second in the American League West with a record of 88-74, six games behind the Oakland Athletics. Kansas City's 88 wins were the most in franchise history. Paul Splittorff (20-11) became the first Royals pitcher to win 20 games in a season.

Offseason

Regular season

On April 10, the Royals open their new park, Royals Stadium, with a 12–1 rout of the Texas Rangers. The game is attended by 39,464 fans braving 39-degree weather.

On April 16, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Royals history.[3] The Royals beat Detroit by a score of 3–0.

On May 15, in a game against the Royals, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first no-hitter of his career.[4]

On August 2, George Brett made his major league debut.[5]

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 94 68 0.580 — 50–31 44–37
Kansas City Royals 88 74 0.543 6 48–33 40–41
Minnesota Twins 81 81 0.500 13 37–44 44–37
California Angels 79 83 0.488 15 43–38 36–45
Chicago White Sox 77 85 0.475 17 40–41 37–44
Texas Rangers 57 105 0.352 37 35–46 22–59

Record vs. opponents

1973 American League Records

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

Roster

1973 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

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 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

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

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
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

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

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

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

  1. ^ Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Joe Keough at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  5. ^ George Brett at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Greg Minton at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Al Santorini at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Rob Picciolo at Baseball Reference

External links

1973 MLB season by team
Kansas City Royals
Categories