1973 Kansas City Royals season

March 2026 November 2013 Kansas City Royals 1973 Kansas City Royals Insignia (1969–2001).svg American League West Royals Stadium Kansas City, Missouri 88 74 y 2nd Ewing Kauffman Cedric Tallis Jack McKeon (first season) KBMA KMBZ(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White) 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 November 30, 1972: Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum were traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson.Roger Nelson at Baseball Reference February 1, 1973: Joe Keough was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Lyttle.Joe Keough at Baseball Reference Regular season 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 at first pitch.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0rgrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xecFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5673%2C1172237 Lawrence Daily Journal-World Kansas Associated Press Royals Stadium ready for opener tonight April 10, 1973 9https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xrgrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xecFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7152%2C1360394 Lawrence Daily Journal-World Kansas Woodling Chuck Royals rap Rangers, 12–1 April 11, 1973 23 On April 27, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Royals history,Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 144, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 as visiting KC shut out Detroit 3–0 at Tiger Stadium.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yLgrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xecFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7134%2C3790641 Lawrence Daily Journal-World Kansas Associated Press KC's Busby throws first AL gem since '70 April 28, 1973 12 At Royals Stadium on May 15, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first no-hitter of his career.Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, 978-1-55365-507-7https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TZcyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rOcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6767%2C2025042 Lawrence Daily Journal-World Kansas Associated Press 'Ryan Express' hurls no-hitter at Royals May 16, 1973 24https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k-VVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6135%2C3768665 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon wire services Blazing Ryan finally gets his gem May 16, 1973 1D On August 2, George Brett made his major league debut,George Brett at Baseball Reference starting at third base and hitting a single in a 3–1 road win over the`Chicago White Sox.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=euZVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5574%2C867594 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon (box scores) Sports scoreboard August 3, 1973 4B Season standings Kansas City Royals Record vs. opponents KC Notable transactions April 2: Greg Minton was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Fran Healy.Greg Minton at Baseball Reference May 8: Tom Murphy was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Santorini.Al Santorini at Baseball-Reference June 5: 1973 Major League Baseball draft Ruppert Jones was selected in the third round.Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference Rob Picciolo was selected in the fourth round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.Rob Picciolo at Baseball Reference Roster 1973 Kansas City Royals Roster Pitchers 39 Norm Angelini 29 Doug Bird 22 Tom Burgmeier 40 Steve Busby 43 Bruce Dal Canton 41 Dick Drago 39 Al Fitzmorris 32 Gene Garber 27 Joe Hoerner 25 Mike Jackson 27 Mark Littell 23 Steve Mingori 20 Barry Raziano 45 Wayne Simpson 34 Paul Splittorff 28 Ken Wright Catchers 16 Fran Healy 42 Buck Martinez 12 Jerry May 14 Carl Taylor Infielders  2 Kurt Bevacqua 25 George Brett 15 Bobby Floyd 18 Gail Hopkins  7 John Mayberry 17 Frank Ortenzio 37 Freddie Patek  1 Cookie Rojas 10 Paul Schaal 19 Frank White Outfielders 30 Steve Hovley  8 Ed Kirkpatrick 42 Keith Marshall 11 Hal McRae 26 Amos Otis  9 Lou Piniella  5 Tom Poquette 12 Rick Reichardt  6 Jim Wohlford Manager 31 Jack McKeon Coaches  3 Galen Cisco (Pitching)  4 Harry Dunlop (Third base) 24 Charley Lau (Hitting & first base) Player stats = Indicates team leader 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 Fran Healy (baseball) 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 Carl Taylor (baseball) 69 145 33 .228 0 16 Frank White Frank White (baseball) 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 Keith Marshall (baseball) 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 Mike Jackson (left-handed pitcher) 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 Awards and honors All-Star Game Amos Otis, Outfield, Starter John Mayberry, 1B, Reserve Cookie Rojas, 2B, Reserve Farm system Minor League Baseball 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 2 External links Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference 1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac Category:Kansas City Royals seasons Kansas City Royals season Kansas City