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 | ||
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League | American League | |
Division | West | |
Ballpark | Royals Stadium | |
City | Kansas City, Missouri | |
Owners | Ewing Kauffman | |
General managers | Cedric Tallis | |
Managers | Jack McKeon (first season) | |
Television | KBMA | |
Radio | KMBZ (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.
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]
AL West | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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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 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |||||||||||||
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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 | — |
1973 Kansas City Royals | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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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 |
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C | Fran Healy | 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 |
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 |
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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 | 69 | 145 | 33 | .228 | 0 | 16 |
Frank White | 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 | 8 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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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 |
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 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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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 | 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 |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Kingsport, Billings