1977 Kansas City Royals season

The 1977 Kansas City Royals season was their ninth in Major League Baseball. The Royals' franchise-best 102-60 record led the majors and Kansas City won its second consecutive American League West title. Once again the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the postseason, falling 3-2 in the 1977 American League Championship Series. Hal McRae led the American League in doubles with 54. Al Cowens set a franchise single-season record with 112 runs batted in.

1977 Kansas City Royals
1977 AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)Joe Burke
Manager(s)Whitey Herzog (second full season)
Local televisionKBMA
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 10260 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 9468 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 9072 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 8477 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 7488 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 6498 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 6398 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents
1977 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–85–65–511–412–34–711–46–48–78–27–34–610–5
Boston 8–6—7–33–78–79–65–59–64–68–78–310–16–412–3
California 6–53–7—8–76–44–66–95–57–84–75–109–65–106–4
Chicago 5–57–37–8—6–44–68–76–510–53–710–510–56–98–3
Cleveland 4–117–84–64–6—8–73–711–42–93–127–37–32–99–5
Detroit 3–126–96–46–47–8—3–810–55–56–95–55–62–810–5
Kansas City 7–45–59–67–87–38–3—8–210–55–59–611–48–78–2
Milwaukee 4–116–95–55–64–115–102–8—3–88–75–57–35–58–7
Minnesota 4–66–48–75–109–25–55–108–3—2–88–67–88–79–1
New York 7–87–87–47–312–39–65–57–88–2—9–26–47–39–6
Oakland 2–83–810–55–103–75–56–95–56–82–9—7–82–137–3
Seattle 3–71–106–95–103–76–54–113–78–74–68–7—9–64–6
Texas 6–44–610–59–69–28–27–85–57–83–713–26–9—7–4
Toronto 5–103–124–63–85–95–102–87–81–96–93–76–44–7—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions
  • May 27, 1977: Tim Ireland was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[4]

Roster
1977 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
CDarrell Porter130425117.2751660
1BJohn Mayberry153543125.2302382
2BFrank White152474116.245550
3BGeorge Brett139564176.3122288
SSFreddie Patek154497130.262560
CFAmos Otis142478120.2511778
RFAl Cowens162606189.31223112
DHHal McRae162641191.2982192

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
Pete LaCock8821866.303329
Joe Zdeb10519558.297223
Cookie Rojas6415639.250010
John Wathan5511939.328221
Buck Martinez298018.22519
Joe Lahoud346517.26228
Bob Heise546216.25805
Dave Nelson27489.18804
Willie Wilson133411.32401
U L Washington10204.20001
Clint Hurdle9268.30827

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
Dennis Leonard38292.220123.04244
Jim Colborn3623918143.62103
Paul Splittorff372291663.6999
Andy Hassler29156.1964.2083

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
Marty Pattin31128.110133.5855

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 Bird53114143.8883
Larry Gura5285103.1346
Mark Littell4884123.5855
Steve Mingori432443.0919
Tom Hall60003.5210
George Throop40013.381
Randy McGilberry30105.141
Gary Lance10104.500

Other events

Before they were to play a game on June 12th against the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, thieves stole gloves and uniforms belonging to Royals players. Due to this, all but seven Kansas City Royals players had to wear Milwaukee road uniforms for the game played that day.[5]

ALCS
Main article: 1977 American League Championship Series

Game 1

October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 222 000 010 790
New York 002 000 000 290
W: Paul Splittorff (1–0)  L: Don Gullett (0–1)  
HRs: KC – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) NYY – Thurman Munson (1)

Game 2

October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 001 001 000 231
New York 000 023 01- 6100
W: Ron Guidry (1–0)  L: Andy Hassler (0–1)  
HRs: KC – none; NYY – Cliff Johnson (1)

Game 3

October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 000 010 001 241
Kansas City 011 012 01- 6121
W: Dennis Leonard (1–0)  L: Mike Torrez (0–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 4

October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 121 100 001 6130
Kansas City 002 200 000 482
W: Sparky Lyle (1–0)  L: Larry Gura (0–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 5

October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 001 000 013 5100
Kansas City 201 000 000 3101
W: Sparky Lyle (2–0)  L: Dennis Leonard (1–1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association John Sullivan
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gordon Mackenzie
A Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League José Martínez
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Bill Scripture

Notes
  1. Ruppert Jones at Baseball-Reference
  2. Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference
  3. Frank Ortenzio at Baseball Reference
  4. Tim Ireland at Baseball Reference
  5. Kansas City Royals have gloves, uniforms stolen before game

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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.