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.

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 Royals team, to date, to win at least 90 games.

Season standings

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

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

Other batters

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

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

^[9]

References

1. ↑ Bob Boone page at Baseball Reference
2. ↑ Bill Buckner page at Baseball Reference
3. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gozzoma01.shtml
4. ↑ Daryl Smith page 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, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
8. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maynebr01.shtml
9. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997

• 1989 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
• 1989 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com