1969 Kansas City Royals season

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1969 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s) Cedric Tallis
Manager(s) Joe Gordon
Local television KMBC-TV
Local radio KMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews)
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The 1969 Kansas City Royals season was the Royals' inaugural season. The team finished fourth in the newly established American League West with a record of 69 wins and 93 losses.

Offseason

A franchise is born

The club's inception is connected to the Athletics franchise. On October 18, 1967, A.L. owners at last gave Charles O. Finley permission to move the Athletics to Oakland for the 1968 season. According to some reports, Joe Cronin promised Finley that he could move the team after the 1967 season as an incentive to sign the new lease with Municipal Stadium. The move came in spite of approval by voters in Jackson County, Missouri of a bond issue for a brand new baseball stadium (the eventual Kauffman Stadium) to be completed in 1973. When U.S. Senator Stuart Symington threatened to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked, the owners responded with a hasty round of expansion. Kansas City was awarded an American League expansion team, the Royals. They were initially slated to begin play in 1971. However, Symington was not willing to have Kansas City wait three years for another team, and renewed his threat to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked unless the teams began play in 1969. The owners complied.

Expansion draft

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Main article: 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft

The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft for the Royals and the Seattle Pilots was held on October 15.

Player Former Team Pick
Roger Nelson[1] Baltimore Orioles 1st
Joe Foy Boston Red Sox 4th
Jim Rooker New York Yankees 6th
Joe Keough Oakland A's 8th
Steve Jones Washington Senators 10th
Jon Warden Detroit Tigers 12th
Ellie Rodríguez New York Yankees 13th
Dave Morehead Boston Red Sox 15th
Mike Fiore Baltimore Orioles 17th
Bob Oliver Minnesota Twins 19th
Bill Butler Detroit Tigers 22nd
Steve Whitaker New York Yankees 23rd
Wally Bunker[2] Baltimore Orioles 25th
Paul Schaal[3] California Angels 27th
Dan Haynes Chicago White Sox 29th
Dick Drago[4] Detroit Tigers 31st
Pat Kelly Minnesota Twins 34th
Billy Harris Cleveland Indians 36th
Don O'Riley Oakland A's 38th
Al Fitzmorris Chicago White Sox 40th
Moe Drabowsky Baltimore Orioles 42nd
Jackie Hernández Minnesota Twins 43rd
Mike Hedlund Cleveland Indians 45th
Tom Burgmeier California Angels 47th
Hoyt Wilhelm[5] Chicago White Sox 49th
Jerry Adair Boston Red Sox 51st
Jerry Cram Minnesota Twins 54th
Fran Healy Cleveland Indians 56th
Scott Northey Chicago White Sox 58th
Ike Brookens Washington Senators 60th

Other offseason transactions

Regular season

  • May 4, 1969: Bob Oliver became the first Royal to collect six hits in a nine-inning game.[9]

Season standings

AL West		 W L Pct. GB Home Road
Minnesota Twins 97 65 0.599 — 57–24 40–41
Oakland Athletics 88 74 0.543 9 49–32 39–42
California Angels 71 91 0.438 26 43–38 28–53
Kansas City Royals 69 93 0.426 28 36–45 33–48
Chicago White Sox 68 94 0.420 29 41–40 27–54
Seattle Pilots 64 98 0.395 33 34–47 30–51


Record vs. opponents

1969 American League Records

Sources:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA WSH
Baltimore — 10–8 6–6 9–3 13–5 11–7 11–1 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–3 13–5
Boston 8–10 — 8–4 5–7 12–6 10–8 10–2 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 6–12
California 6–6 4–8 — 9–9 8–4 5–7 9–9 7–11 3–9 6–12 9–9–1 5–7
Chicago 3–9 7–5 9–9 — 8–4 3–9 8–10 5–13 3–9 8–10 10–8 4–8
Cleveland 5–13 6–12 4–8 4–8 — 7–11 7–5 5–7 9–8 5–7 7–5 3–15
Detroit 7–11 8–10 7–5 9–3 11–7 — 8–4 6–6 10–8 7–5 10–2 7–11
Kansas City 1–11 2–10 9–9 10–8 5–7 4–8 — 8–10 5–7–1 8–10 10–8 7–5
Minnesota 4–8 5–7 11–7 13–5 7–5 6–6 10–8 — 10–2 13–5 12–6 6–6
New York 7–11 7–11 9–3 9–3 8–9 8–10 7–5–1 2–10 — 6–6 7–5 10–8
Oakland 4–8 8–4 12–6 10–8 7–5 5–7 10–8 5–13 6–6 — 13–5 8–4
Seattle 3–9 6–6 9–9–1 8–10 5–7 2–10 8–10 6–12 5–7 5–13 — 7–5
Washington 5–13 12–6 7–5 8–4 15–3 11–7 5–7 6–6 8–10 4–8 5–7 —


Notable transactions

The first game

Starting lineup

  9 Lou Piniella CF
14 Jerry Adair 2B
  8 Ed Kirkpatrick     LF
  1 Joe Foy 3B
  7 Chuck Harrison 1B
33 Bob Oliver RF
11 Ellie Rodríguez C
24 Jackie Hernández    SS
27 Wally Bunker     P

Scorecard

April 8, Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 12 1
Kansas City 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 14 0
W: Drabowsky (1–0)  L: Grzenda (0–1)  
HRs: Nettles (1)

Roster

1969 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 Ellie Rodríguez 95 267 63 .236 2 20
1B Mike Fiore 107 339 93 .274 12 35
3B Joe Foy 145 519 136 .262 11 71
SS Jackie Hernández 145 504 112 .222 4 40
CF Bob Oliver 118 394 100 .254 13 43
RF Pat Kelly 112 417 110 .264 8 32

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
Ed Kirkpatrick 120 315 81 .257 14 49
Chuck Harrison 75 213 47 .221 3 18
Paul Schaal 61 205 54 .263 1 13
Joe Keough 70 166 31 .187 0 7
Dennis Paepke 12 27 3 .111 0 0
Billy Harris 5 7 2 .286 0 0

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
Wally Bunker 35 222.2 12 11 3.23 130
Bill Butler 34 193.2 9 10 3.90 156
Roger Nelson 29 193.1 7 13 3.31 82
Jim Rooker 28 158.1 4 16 3.75 108

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
Dick Drago 41 200.2 11 13 3.77 108
Mike Hedlund 34 125 3 6 3.24 74
Steve Jones 20 44.2 2 3 4.23 31
Jerry Cram 5 16.2 0 1 3.24 10

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
Moe Drabowsky 52 11 9 11 2.94 76
Tom Burgmeier 31 3 1 0 4.17 23
Dave Morehead 21 2 3 0 5.73 32
Don O'Riley 18 1 1 1 6.94 10
Galen Cisco 15 1 1 1 3.63 18
Al Fitzmorris 7 1 1 2 4.22 3

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Jack McKeon
AA Elmira Pioneers Eastern League Harry Bright
A High Point-Thomasville Royals Carolina League Harry Malmberg
A Waterloo Hawks Midwest League Rollie Hemsley
A-Short Season Corning Royals New York–Penn League Buddy Peterson
A-Short Season Winnipeg Goldeyes Northern League Spider Jorgensen
Rookie Kingsport Royals Appalachian League Red Norwood

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Omaha

Elmira affiliation shared with San Diego Padres

Notes

  1. ↑ Roger Nelson page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Wally Bunker page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Paul Schaal page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Dick Drago page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hoyt Wilhelm page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Dane Iorg page at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Galen Cisco page at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dennis Ribant page at Baseball Reference
  9. ↑ http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Bob_Oliver_1943
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Keith Marshall page at Baseball Reference
  12. ↑ Frank Ortenzio page at Baseball Reference

References

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