1973 Kansas City Royals season

1973 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)	Cedric Tallis
Manager(s)	Jack McKeon
Local television	KBMA
Local radio	KMBZ (Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1973 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing second in the American League West with a record of 88 wins and 74 losses.

Offseason

November 30, 1972: Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum were traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson.^[1]
February 1, 1973: Joe Keough was traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Lyttle.^[2]

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:
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

April 2, 1973: Greg Minton was traded by the Royals to the San Francisco Giants for Fran Healy.^[6]
May 8, 1973: Tom Murphy was traded by the Royals to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Santorini.^[7]
June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball draft
- Ruppert Jones was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round.^[8]
- Rob Picciolo was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.^[9]

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

4 Harry Dunlop

24 Charley Lau

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	Healy, FranFran Healy	95	279	77	.276	6	34
DH	McRae, HalHal McRae	106	338	79	.234	9	50

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
Hovley, SteveSteve Hovley	104	232	59	.254	2	24
Taylor, CarlCarl Taylor	69	145	33	.228	0	16
White, FrankFrank White	51	139	31	.223	0	5
Brett, GeorgeGeorge Brett	13	40	5	.125	0	0
Ortenzio, FrankFrank Ortenzio	9	25	7	.280	1	6
Marshall, KeithKeith 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
Busby, SteveSteve Busby	37	238.1	16	15	4.23	174

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
Simpson, WayneWayne 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
Bird, DougDoug Bird	54	4	4	20	2.99	83
Jackson, MikeMike Jackson	9	0	0	0	6.85	13
Burgmeier, TomTom Burgmeier	6	0	0	1	5.40	4
Angelini, NormNorm Angelini	7	0	0	1	4.91	3

Farm system

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

Notes

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

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.
1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1973 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

1973 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York

AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

1973 All-Star Game 1973 World Series

Kansas City Royals

Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Franchise

Ballparks

Municipal Stadium; Kauffman Stadium
Spring training: Terry Park; Baseball City Stadium; Surprise Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

St. Louis Cardinals

Team Hall of Fame

Minors

AAA: Omaha Storm Chasers
AA: Northwest Arkansas Naturals
A Adv.: Wilmington Blue Rocks
A: Lexington Legends
Rookie Adv.: Idaho Falls Chukars; Burlington Royals
Rookie: AZL Royals; DSL Royals

Key personnel

Owner: David Glass
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Manager: Ned Yost

World Series
championships (2)

1985
2015

American League
pennants (4)

Division titles

West: 1976; 1977; 1978; 1980; 1981 (second half); 1984; 1985
Central: 2015
Wild Card: 2014

Seasons (49)

1960s	1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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