1983 Kansas City Royals season

The 1983 Kansas City Royals season was their 15th in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 79-83, 20 games behind the Chicago White Sox. Dan Quisenberry's league-leading 45 saves also set a single-season franchise record.

1983 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersJohn Schuerholz
ManagersDick Howser
Local televisionWDAF-TV
(Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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Offseason

Regular season

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9963 0.611 — 55–26 44–37
Kansas City Royals 7983 0.488 20 45–36 34–47
Texas Rangers 7785 0.475 22 44–37 33–48
Oakland Athletics 7488 0.457 25 42–39 32–49
California Angels 7092 0.432 29 35–46 35–46
Minnesota Twins 7092 0.432 29 37–44 33–48
Seattle Mariners 60102 0.370 39 30–51 30–51

Record vs. opponents
1983 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —8–57–57–56–75–88–411–28–46–78–48–49–37–6
Boston 5–8—6–66–67–64–95–74–95–77–68–47–57–57–6
California 5–76–6—3–108–44–86–76–66–75–75–86–76–74–8
Chicago 5–76–610–3—8–48–49–44–88–58–48–512–18–55–7
Cleveland 7–66–74–84–8—5–87–53–106–66–77–58–43–94–9
Detroit 8–59–48–44–88–5—7–56–79–35–86–68–48–46–7
Kansas City 4–87–57–64–95–75–7—6–66–76–67–68–58–5–16–6
Milwaukee 2–119–46–68–410–37–66–6—8–44–96–65–78–48–5
Minnesota 4–87–57–65–86–63–97–64–8—4–84–99–45–85–7
New York 7–66–77–54–87–68–56–69–48–4—8–47–57–57–6
Oakland 4–84–88–55–85–76–66–76–69–44–8—9–42–116–6
Seattle 4–85–77–61–124–84–85–87–54–95–74–9—6–74–8
Texas 3–95–77–65–89–34–85–8–14–88–55–711–27–6—4–8
Toronto 6–76–78–47–59–47–66–65–87–56–76–68–48–4—

Notable transactions

Pine Tar Game
Main article: Pine Tar Incident
The baseball bat used by Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983.

The Pine Tar Game refers to a controversial incident that took place in an American League baseball game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983.

Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U L Washington on first base. In the on deck circle, George Brett was heard remarking to a teammate, "Watch this baby fly" as he shook his bat. He then came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5-4 lead. As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested that Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members (most notably, third baseman Graig Nettles, who as a member of the Minnesota Twins, recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson) of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until the home run.

With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(b) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches (460 mm) from the tip of the handle."

Roster
1983 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 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
CJohn Wathan128437107.245232
1BWillie Aikens125410124.3022372
2BFrank White146549143.2601177
SSUL Washington144547129.236541
3BGeorge Brett123464144.3102593
LFButch Davis3312242.344218
CFWillie Wilson137576159.276233
RFAmos Otis9835693.261441
DHHal McRae157589183.3111282

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
Pat Sheridan10933390.270736
Don Slaught8327686.312028
Onix Concepción8021953.242020
Leon Roberts8421355.258824
Joe Simpson8911920.16808
Greg Pryor6811525.217114
César Gerónimo388718.20704
Darryl Motley196816.235311
Jerry Martin134414.318213
Cliff Pastornicky10324.12525
Ron Johnson9277.25901
Buddy Biancalana6153.20000

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
Larry Gura34200.111184.9057
Bud Black24161.11073.7958
Paul Splittorff27156.01383.6361
Gaylord Perry1484.1444.2740
Dennis Leonard1063.0633.7131
Eric Rasmussen1152.2364.7818
Frank Wills634.2214.1523
Danny Jackson419.0115.219

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
Steve Renko25121.16114.3054
Keith Creel2589.1256.3531
Vida Blue1985.1056.0153

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
Dan Quisenberry6953451.9448
Mike Armstrong5810733.8652
Don Hood272302.2717
Bill Castro182006.6417
Mark Huismann132105.5820
Bob Tufts60008.103
Joe Simpson20003.001

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Joe Sparks
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gene Lamont
A Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Rick Mathews
A Charleston Royals South Atlantic League Roy Tanner
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Joe Jones
Rookie Butte Copper Kings Pioneer League Tommy Jones

Notes
  1. Tim Ireland at Baseball Reference
  2. Cecil Fielder at Baseball Reference
  3. Bombo Rivera at Baseball Reference
  4. Gaylord Perry at Baseball Reference
  5. Mélido Pérez at Baseball Reference
  6. Eric Rasmussen at Baseball Reference
  7. Vida Blue 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.
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