1989 Kansas City Royals season

The 1989 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 92 wins and 70 losses. The Royals' record was tied for the third best in baseball, but in the pre-wild card era, the team did not qualify for the post-season.

1989 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)John Schuerholz
Manager(s)John Wathan
Local televisionWDAF-TV
(Paul Splittorff, Denny Trease)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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Offseason
  • November 30, 1988: Bob Boone was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[1]
  • December 6, 1988: Bill Buckner was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[2]
  • December 6, 1988: Mauro Gozzo was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Kansas City Royals in the 1988 minor league draft.[3]
  • March 22, 1989: Daryl Smith was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[4]

Regular season
  • May 15, 1989: Royals pitcher Floyd Bannister threw exactly three pitches and recorded three outs.[5] This was accomplished in the second inning.
  • June 5, 1989: Kansas City outfielder Bo Jackson made a spectacular defensive play in a game against the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome. With the game tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the 10th inning and Harold Reynolds on first, Scott Bradley lashed a double to deep left field. Reynolds, running with the pitch, thought he would easily score the winning run on the play, and was shocked when teammate Darnell Coles instructed him to slide. Jackson fielded Bradley's double and launched a flat-footed, 300-foot throw on the fly to Royals catcher Bob Boone, who tagged Reynolds out at the plate.[6]
  • During the season, Bret Saberhagen would be the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Royals in the 20th Century.[7]
  • The last time the Royals won at least 90 games until the 2015 season.

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 9963 0.611 — 54–27 45–36
Kansas City Royals 9270 0.568 7 55–26 37–44
California Angels 9171 0.562 8 52–29 39–42
Texas Rangers 8379 0.512 16 45–36 38–43
Minnesota Twins 8082 0.494 19 45–36 35–46
Seattle Mariners 7389 0.451 26 40–41 33–48
Chicago White Sox 6992 0.429 29½ 35–45 34–47

Record vs. opponents
1989 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–76–66–67–610–36–67–64–88–55–76–69–37–6
Boston 7–6—4–87–58–511–24–86–76–67–67–55–76–65–8
California 6–68–4—8–55–711–14–97–511–26–65–87–66–77–5
Chicago 6–65–75–8—7–54–86–710–25–85–65–87–63–101–11
Cleveland 6–75–87–55–7—5–88–43–105–79–42–106–67–55–8
Detroit 3–102–111–118–48–5—6–66–75–76–74–84–84–82–11
Kansas City 6–68–49–47–64–86–6—8–47–66–67–69–48–57–5
Milwaukee 6–77–65–72–1010–37–64–8—9–38–55–77–55–76–7
Minnesota 8–46–62–118–57–57–56–73–9—6–66–77–65–89–3
New York 5–86–76–66–54–97–66–65–86–6—3–98–45–77–6
Oakland 7–55–78–58–510–28–46–77–57–69–3—9–48–57–5
Seattle 6–67–56–76–76–68–44–95–76–74–84–9—6–75–7
Texas 3–96–67–610–35–78–45–87–58–57–55–87–6—5–7
Toronto 6–78–55–711–18–511–25–77–63–96–75–77–57–5—

Transactions
  • June 5, 1989: Brent Mayne was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (13th pick) of the 1989 amateur draft. Player signed June 16, 1989.[8]

Roster
1989 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

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
CBob Boone131405111.274143
1BGeorge Brett124457129.2821280
2BFrank White135418107.256236
3BKevin Seitzer160597168.281448
SSKurt Stillwell130463121.261754
LFBo Jackson135515132.25632105
CFWillie Wilson11238397.253343
RFDanny Tartabull133441118.2681862
DHPat Tabler123390101.259242

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jim Eisenreich134475139.293959
Brad Wellman10317841.230212
Bill Buckner7917638.216116
Mike Macfarlane6915735.223219
Matt Winters4210725.23429
Gary Thurman728717.19505
Luis de los Santos288722.25306
Bill Pecota658317.20535
Rey Palacios55478.17018
Jeff Schulz792.22201

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bret Saberhagen36262⅓2362.16193
Mark Gubicza3625515113.04173
Charlie Leibrandt331615115.1473
Floyd Bannister1475⅓414.6635
Stan Clarke270215.432

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Gordon491631793.64153
Luis Aquino34141⅓683.5068
Larry McWilliams832⅔224.1324
Kevin Appier621⅔149.1410
José DeJesús38004.502

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Jeff Montgomery6373181.3794
Steve Farr5125184.1256
Terry Leach305604.1534
Steve Crawford253102.8333
Rick Luecken192113.4216
Jerry Don Gleaton150005.659
Bob Buchanan200016.203

Awards and honors
  • Bo Jackson, All-Star Game, American League, Starting Lineup
  • Bo Jackson, MLB All-Star Game MVP
  • Bret Saberhagen, Cy Young Award

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Sal Rende
AA Memphis Chicks Southern League Jeff Cox
A Baseball City Royals Florida State League Luis Silverio
A Appleton Foxes Midwest League Brian Poldberg
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League P. K. Kirsch
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Carlos Tosca

[9]

References
  1. Bob Boone at Baseball Reference
  2. Bill Buckner at Baseball Reference
  3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gozzoma01.shtml
  4. Daryl Smith at Baseball Reference
  5. 3 Pitch Inning
  6. Posnanski, Joe (May 30, 2007). "Between the Seams: Recalling Bo Jackson's days in baseball". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on May 8, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  7. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maynebr01.shtml
  9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997
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