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.
• February 1, 1973: Joe Keough was traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Lyttle.

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. 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.

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

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

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

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	Fran Healy	95	279	77	.276	6	34
DH	Hal 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
Steve Hovley	104	232	59	.254	2	24
Carl Taylor	69	145	33	.228	0	16
Frank White	51	139	31	.223	0	5
George Brett	13	40	5	.125	0	0
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
Steve 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
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
Mike Jackson	9	0	0	0	6.85	13
Tom Burgmeier	6	0	0	1	5.40	4
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

• 1973 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
• 1973 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com