1978 Kansas City Royals season

1978 Kansas City Royals 1978 AL West Champions
Major league affiliations
American League (since 1969) West Division (since 1969)
Location
Royals Stadium (since 1973) Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
1978 information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
Manager(s)	Whitey Herzog
Local television	KBMA (Steve Shannon)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1978 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing first in the American League West with a record of 92 wins and 70 losses. The team went on to lose in the 1978 American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees, 3 games to 1.

Contents 1 Regular season 1.1 Season standings 1.2 Notable transactions 1.2.1 Draft picks 1.3 Roster 2 Player stats 2.1 Batting 2.1.1 Starters by position 2.1.2 Other batters 2.2 Pitching 2.2.1 Starting pitchers 2.2.2 Other pitchers 2.2.3 Relief pitchers 3 ALCS 3.1 Game 1 3.2 Game 2 3.3 Game 3 3.4 Game 4 4 Farm system 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

Regular season

Season standings

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
Kansas City Royals	92	70	--	.568
Texas Rangers	87	75	5	.537
California Angels	87	75	5	.537
Minnesota Twins	73	89	19	.451
Chicago White Sox	71	90	20.5	.441
Oakland Athletics	69	93	23	.426
Seattle Mariners	56	104	35	.350

Notable transactions

• April 4, 1978: John Mayberry was purchased from the Royals by the Toronto Blue Jays.^[1]
• June 5, 1978: The Royals traded a player to be named later to the San Diego Padres for Steve Hamrick (minors). The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.^[2]
• August 3, 1978: Gerry Ako (minors) and cash were traded by the Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jamie Quirk.^[3]

Draft picks

• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Jeff Cornell was drafted by the Royals in the 8th round.^[4]
  • Frank Viola was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round, but did not sign.^[5]

Roster

1978 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 29 Doug Bird 40 Steve Busby 48 Jim Colborn 16 Steve Foucault 38 Rich Gale 37 Larry Gura 16 Andy Hassler 39 Al Hrabosky 22 Dennis Leonard 28,31 Randy McGilberry 23 Steve Mingori 43 Bill Paschall 33 Marty Pattin 34 Paul Splittorff 35 George Throop		Catchers 37 Jim Gaudet 21 Art Kusnyer 15 Darrell Porter Infielders  5 George Brett 31 Dave Cripe  8 Pete LaCock  2 Fred Patek 10 Jamie Quirk  1 Jerry Terrell 30 U L Washington 12 John Wathan 20 Frank White		Outfielders  3 Steve Braun 18 Al Cowens  9 Clint Hurdle 10 Joe Lahoud 11 Hal McRae 26 Amos Otis 25 Tom Poquette 17 Luis Silverio  6 Willie Wilson 19 Joe Zdeb Other batters  7 Randy Bass		Manager 24 Whitey Herzog Coaches 14 Steve Boros 36 Galen Cisco  4 Chuck Hiller 27 Charley Lau

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
2B	White, FrankFrank White	143	461	127	275	7	50
3B	Brett, GeorgeGeorge Brett	128	510	150	.294	9	62
SS	Patek, FreddieFreddie Patek	138	440	109	.248	2	46

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
Washington, U LU L Washington	69	129	34	.264	0	9
Quirk, JamieJamie Quirk	17	29	6	.207	0	2
Silverio, LuisLuis Silverio	8	11	6	.545	0	3
Cripe, DaveDave Cripe	7	13	2	.154	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
Leonard, DennisDennis Leonard	40	294.2	21	17	3.33	183
Gura, LarryLarry Gura	35	221.2	16	4	2.72	81
Gale, RichRich Gale	31	192.1	14	8	3.09	88
Hassler, AndyAndy Hassler	11	58.1	1	4	4.32	26

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
Bird, DougDoug Bird	40	98.2	6	6	5.29	48
Colborn, JimJim Colborn	8	28.1	1	2	4.76	8
Busby, SteveSteve Busby	7	21.1	1	0	7.59	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
Foucault, SteveSteve Foucault	3	0	0	0	3.86	0
Paschall, BillBill Paschall	2	0	1	1	3.38	5
Throop, GeorgeGeorge Throop	1	1	0	0	0.00	2

ALCS

Game 1

October 3: Royals Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	3	0	7	16	0
Kansas City	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	2
W: Jim Beattie (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-1)  S: Ken Clay (1)
HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1)

Game 2

October 4: Royals Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	4	12	1
Kansas City	1	4	0	0	0	0	3	2	X	10	16	1
W: Larry Gura (1-0)  L: Ed Figueroa (0-1)
HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1)

Game 3

October 6: Yankee Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas City	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	5	10	1
New York	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	X	6	10	0
W: Goose Gossage (1-0)  L: Doug Bird (0-1)
HRs: KCR – George Brett 3 (3)   NYY – Reggie Jackson (2) Thurman Munson (1)

Game 4

October 7: Yankee Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas City	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0
New York	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	X	2	4	0
W: Ron Guidry (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-2)  S: Goose Gossage (1)
HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	John Sullivan
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Gordon Mackenzie
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Gene Lamont
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	José Martínez

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Omaha

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 

External links

• 1978 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

1978 MLB season by team AL East Baltimore • Boston • Cleveland • Detroit • Milwaukee • New York • Toronto AL West California • Chicago • Kansas City • Minnesota • Oakland • Seattle • Texas NL East Chicago • Montréal • New York • Philadelphia • Pittsburgh • St. Louis NL West Atlanta • Cincinnati • Houston • Los Angeles • San Diego • San Francisco 1978 Major League Baseball Draft • 1978 All-Star Game • 1978 World Series

Preceded by Kansas City Royals 1977

AL West Championship Season 1978

Succeeded by California Angels 1979

Kansas City Royals Based in Kansas City, Missouri The franchise History • Expansion Draft • Seasons • Current Roster • Owners and executives • Managers • Opening Day starting pitchers • All-Time Roster • First-round draft picks • Team Records • No-hitters • Awards & League Leaders • Broadcasters • Fox Sports Kansas City • Royals Sports Television Network Ballparks Municipal Stadium • Kauffman Stadium Spring Training: Terry Park • Baseball City Stadium • Surprise Stadium Culture Sluggerrr • Denny Matthews • Ryan Lefebvre • American Royal Lore Pine Tar Incident • The Call Rivalries St. Louis Cardinals Team Hall of Fame Steve Busby • Amos Otis • Dick Howser • Cookie Rojas • Paul Splittorff • Dennis Leonard • Hal McRae • Joe Burke • Larry Gura • Freddie Patek • Ewing Kauffman • George Brett • Frank White • Muriel Kauffman • John Mayberry • Dan Quisenberry • Whitey Herzog • Willie Wilson • Jeff Montgomery • Denny Matthews • Bret Saberhagen • Mark Gubicza • Art Stewart Retired numbers 5 • 10 • 20 • 42 Minors AAA: Omaha Storm Chasers • AA: Northwest Arkansas Naturals • A: Wilmington Blue Rocks • Kane County Cougars • Rookie: Idaho Falls Chukars • Burlington Royals • AZL Royals • Dominican League Key personnel Owner: David Glass • General Manager: Dayton Moore • Manager: Ned Yost World Series championships (1) 1985 American League pennants (2) 1980 • 1985 Division titles Western: 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1980 • 1981 (second half) • 1984 • 1985 • Central: none • Wild Card: none   Seasons (43) 1960s 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 1970s 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 1980s 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 1990s 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 2000s 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 2010s 2010 • 2011 • 2012