1971 Kansas City Royals season

1971 Kansas City Royals
Major league affiliations
Location
1971 information
Owner(s) Ewing Kauffman
Manager(s) Bob Lemon
Local television KMBC-TV
Local radio KMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews)
Previous season     Next season

The 1971 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 85 wins and 76 losses, 16 games behind the Oakland Athletics. This was also the first time in franchise history that the Royals had finished with a winning record.[1] It happened in only their third season, the fastest of any expansion club in Major League Baseball history to that point. The record would stand until the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks won the National League West title in their second season.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

AL West W L GB Pct.
Oakland Athletics 101 60 -- .627
Kansas City Royals 85 76 16 .528
Chicago White Sox 79 83 22.5 .488
California Angels 76 86 25.5 .469
Minnesota Twins 74 86 26.5 .463
Milwaukee Brewers 69 92 32 .429

Notable transactions

Roster

1971 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 May, JerryJerry May 71 218 55 .252 1 24
3B Schaal, PaulPaul Schaal 161 548 150 .274 11 63
LF Piniella, LouLou Piniella 126 448 125 .279 3 51

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
Harrison, ChuckChuck Harrison 49 143 31 .217 2 21
Taylor, CarlCarl Taylor 20 39 7 .179 0 3
Savage, TedTed Savage 19 29 5 .172 0 1

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
Drago, DickDick Drago 35 241.1 17 11 2.98 109
Hedlund, MikeMike Hedlund 32 205.2 15 8 2.71 76
Dal Canton, BruceBruce Dal Canton 25 141.1 8 6 3.44 58
Bunker, WallyWally Bunker 7 32.1 2 3 5.01 15

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
Fitzmorris, AlAl Fitzmorris 36 127.1 7 5 4.17 53
Nelson, RogerRoger Nelson 13 34 0 1 5.29 29
Clemons, LanceLance Clemons 10 24 1 0 4.12 20
Montgomery, MontyMonty Montgomery 3 21.1 3 0 2.11 12
McCormick, MikeMike McCormick 4 9.2 0 0 9.31 2

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
Burgmeier, TomTom Burgmeier 67 9 7 17 1.73 44
Abernathy, TedTed Abernathy 63 4 6 23 2.56 55

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Jack McKeon
AA Elmira Royals Eastern League Harry Malmberg
A San Jose Bees California League Buddy Peterson
A Waterloo Royals Midwest League Steve Boros
Rookie Kingsport Royals Appalachian League Owen Friend
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Buzzy Keller
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Gary Blaylock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elmira, GCL Royals

Notes

  1. ^ Kansas City Royals Team History & Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Ellie Rodríguez page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Gary Lance page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Tom Matchick page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ George Brett page at Baseball Reference

References
AL East
AL West
California • Chicago • Kansas City • Milwaukee • Minnesota • Oakland
NL East
NL West
The franchise
Ballparks
Culture
Lore
Rivalries
Team Hall of Fame
Retired numbers
5 • 10 • 20 • 42
Minors
Key personnel
Owner: David Glass • General Manager: Dayton Moore • Manager: Ned Yost
World Series
championships (1)
American League
pennants (2)
Division titles
Western: 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1980 • 1981 (second half) • 1984 • 1985 • Central: none • Wild Card: none