1973 Kansas City Royals season

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.

1973 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersCedric Tallis
ManagersJack McKeon (first season)
Local televisionKBMA
Local radioKMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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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

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 (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
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 9468 0.580 — 50–31 44–37
Kansas City Royals 8874 0.543 6 48–33 40–41
Minnesota Twins 8181 0.500 13 37–44 44–37
California Angels 7983 0.488 15 43–38 36–45
Chicago White Sox 7785 0.475 17 40–41 37–44
Texas Rangers 57105 0.352 37 35–46 22–59

Record vs. opponents
1973 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —7–116–68–412–69–98–415–38–49–95–710–2
Boston 11–7—7–56–69–93–158–412–66–614–44–89–3
California 6–65–7—8–105–77–510–85–710–86–66–1211–7
Chicago 4–86–610–8—7–55–76–123–99–98–46–1213–5
Cleveland 6–129–97–55–7—9–92–109–97–57–113–97–5
Detroit 9–915–35–77–59–9—4–812–65–77–117–55–7
Kansas City 4–84–88–1012–610–28–4—8–49–96–68–1011–7
Milwaukee 3–156–127–59–39–96–124–8—8–410–84–88–4
Minnesota 4–86–68–109–95–77–59–94–8—3–914–412–6
New York 9–94–146–64–811–711–76–68–109–3—4–88–4
Oakland 7–58–412–612–69–35–710–88–44–148–4—11–7
Texas 2–103–97–115–135–77–57–114–86–124–87–11—

Notable transactions

Roster
1973 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CFran Healy9527977.276634
1BJohn Mayberry152510142.27826100
2BCookie Rojas139551152.276669
SSFreddie Patek135501117.234545
3BPaul Schaal121396114.288842
LFLou Piniella144513128.250969
CFAmos Otis148583175.3002693
RFEd Kirkpatrick126429113.263645
DHGail Hopkins7413834.246216

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 McRae10633879.234950
Kurt Bevacqua9927671.257240
Steve Hovley10423259.254224
Carl Taylor6914533.228016
Frank White5113931.22305
Rick Reichardt4112728.220317
Jim Wohlford4510929.266210
Bobby Floyd517826.33308
George Brett13405.12500
Buck Martinez14328.25016
Jerry May11304.13302
Tom Poquette21286.21403
Frank Ortenzio9257.28016
Keith Marshall892.22203

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 Splittorff38262.020113.98110
Steve Busby37238.116154.23174
Dick Drago37212.212144.2398
Al Fitzmorris1589.0832.8326
Mark Littell838.0135.6816

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 Garber48152.2994.2460
Ken Wright2580.2654.9175
Wayne Simpson1659.2345.7329

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 Bird5444202.9983
Bruce Dal Canton324334.8138
Joe Hoerner222045.1215
Steve Mingori193313.0446
Mike Jackson90006.8513
Tom Burgmeier60015.404
Barry Raziano20005.400
Norm Angelini70014.913

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. "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
  • 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
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