1975 Kansas City Royals season

Major League Baseball team season

1975 Kansas City Royals

League| American League
Division| West
Ballpark| Royals Stadium
City| Kansas City, Missouri
Record| 91–71 (.562)
Divisional place| 2nd
Owners| Ewing Kauffman
General managers| Joe Burke
Managers| Jack McKeon (50–46, .521)
Whitey Herzog (41–25, .621)
Television| KBMA
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews)
Radio| WIBW (AM)
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews, Fred White)
| <- 1974 | Seasons | 1976 ->

|
|

The 1975 Kansas City Royals season was their seventh in Major League Baseball. The Royals' 91–71 record was the best in franchise history and Kansas City finished second in the American League West, six games behind the Oakland Athletics. Manager Jack McKeon was fired on July 24 and was replaced by Whitey Herzog.[1][2] John Mayberry became the first Royals player to hit at least 30 home runs in a season (34) and also set a franchise single-season record with 106 runs batted in.

## Offseason

[edit]

* January 24, 1975: Harmon Killebrew was signed as a free agent by the Royals.[3]

## Regular season

[edit]

### Season standings

[edit]

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* e

AL West Team  | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road

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Oakland Athletics | 98 | 64  | .605  | —  | 54‍–‍27  | 44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals | 91 | 71  | .562  | 7  | 51‍–‍30  | 40‍–‍41
Texas Rangers | 79 | 83  | .488  | 19  | 39‍–‍41  | 40‍–‍42
Minnesota Twins | 76 | 83  | .478  | 20½  | 39‍–‍43  | 37‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox | 75 | 86  | .466  | 22½  | 42‍–‍39  | 33‍–‍47
California Angels | 72 | 89  | .447  | 25½  | 35‍–‍46  | 37‍–‍43

### Record vs. opponents

[edit]

1975 American League record

* v
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* e

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Team  | BAL  | BOS  | CAL  | CWS  | CLE  | DET  | KC  | MIL  | MIN  | NYY  | OAK  | TEX
Baltimore | — | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–4 | 10–8 | 12–4 | 7–5 | 14–4 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 7–5
Boston | 9–9 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 10–2 | 11–5 | 6–6 | 8–4
California | 6–6 | 6–6 | — | 9–9 | 3–9 | 6–5 | 4–14 | 7–5 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 9–9
Chicago | 4–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 5–13
Cleveland | 8–10 | 11–7 | 9–3 | 5–7 | — | 12–6 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 3–6 | 9–9 | 2–10 | 5–7
Detroit | 4–12 | 5–13 | 5–6 | 7–5 | 6–12 | — | 6–6 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 1–11
Kansas City | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 14–4
Milwaukee | 4–14 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 5–7 | — | 2–10 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 6–6
Minnesota | 6–6 | 2–10 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–3 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 10–2 | — | 4–8 | 6–12 | 8–10
New York | 10–8 | 5–11 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | — | 6–6 | 8–4
Oakland | 8–4 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 12–6 | 6–6 | — | 12–6
Texas | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 11–1 | 4–14 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–12 | —

### Notable transactions

[edit]

* April 10, 1975: Doug Corbett was released by the Royals.[4]
* June 3, 1975: 1975 Major League Baseball draft
* Clint Hurdle was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (9th pick).[5]
* Ron Hassey was drafted by the Royals in the 22nd round, but did not sign.[6]
* September 15, 1975: Mark Williams was traded by the Royals to the Oakland Athletics for Rick Ingalls (minors).[7]

### Roster

[edit]

1975 Kansas City Royals

Roster
Pitchers

* 29 Doug Bird
* 19 Nelson Briles
* 40 Steve Busby
* 43 Bruce Dal Canton
* 39 Al Fitzmorris
* 22 Dennis Leonard
* 17 Mark Littell
* 10 Bob McClure
* 41 Lindy McDaniel
* 23 Steve Mingori
* 33 Marty Pattin
* 43 Ray Sadecki
* 34 Paul Splittorff
* 35 George Throop

|  | Catchers

* 16 Fran Healy
* 21 Buck Martinez
* 15 Bob Stinson

Infielders

* 5 George Brett
* 3 Harmon Killebrew
* 7 John Mayberry
* 2 Freddie Patek
* 1 Cookie Rojas
* 25,44 Rodney Scott
* 8 Tony Solaita
* 20 Frank White

|  | Outfielders

* 18 Al Cowens
* 12 Gary Martz
* 11 Hal McRae
* 26 Amos Otis
* 28 Vada Pinson
* 9 Jamie Quirk
* 6 Jim Wohlford

|  | Manager

* 24 Whitey Herzog
* 31 Jack McKeon

Coaches

* 14 Steve Boros
* 36 Galen Cisco
* 4 Harry Dunlop
* 27 Charley Lau

## Player stats

[edit]

### Batting

[edit]

#### Starters by position

[edit]

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

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C | Buck Martinez | 80 | 226 | 51 | .226 | 3 | 23
1B | John Mayberry | 156 | 554 | 161 | .291 | 34 | 106
2B | Cookie Rojas | 120 | 406 | 103 | .254 | 2 | 37
SS | Freddie Patek | 136 | 483 | 110 | .228 | 5 | 45
3B | George Brett | 159 | 634 | 195 | .308 | 11 | 89
LF | Hal McRae | 126 | 480 | 147 | .306 | 5 | 71
CF | Amos Otis | 132 | 470 | 116 | .247 | 9 | 46
RF | Jim Wohlford | 116 | 353 | 90 | .255 | 0 | 30
DH | Harmon Killebrew | 106 | 312 | 62 | .199 | 14 | 44

#### Other batters

[edit]

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

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Al Cowens | 120 | 328 | 91 | .277 | 4 | 42
Vada Pinson | 103 | 319 | 71 | .223 | 4 | 21
Frank White | 111 | 304 | 76 | .250 | 7 | 36
Tony Solaita | 93 | 231 | 60 | .260 | 16 | 44
Fran Healy | 56 | 188 | 48 | .255 | 2 | 18
Bob Stinson | 63 | 147 | 39 | .265 | 1 | 9
Jamie Quirk | 14 | 39 | 10 | .256 | 1 | 5
Rodney Scott | 48 | 15 | 1 | .067 | 0 | 0
Gary Martz | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0

### Pitching

[edit]

#### Starting pitchers

[edit]

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

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

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Steve Busby | 34 | 260.1 | 18 | 12 | 3.08 | 160
Al Fitzmorris | 35 | 242.0 | 16 | 12 | 3.57 | 78
Dennis Leonard | 32 | 212.1 | 15 | 7 | 3.77 | 146

#### Other pitchers

[edit]

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

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

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Marty Pattin | 44 | 177.0 | 10 | 10 | 3.25 | 89
Paul Splittorff | 35 | 159.0 | 9 | 10 | 3.17 | 76
Nelson Briles | 24 | 112.0 | 6 | 6 | 4.26 | 73
Mark Littell | 7 | 24.1 | 1 | 2 | 3.70 | 19
Bruce Dal Canton | 4 | 8.2 | 0 | 2 | 15.58 | 5

#### Relief pitchers

[edit]

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

Player  | G  | W  | L  | SV  | ERA  | SO

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Doug Bird | 51 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 3.25 | 81
Lindy McDaniel | 40 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4.15 | 40
Steve Mingori | 36 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2.50 | 25
Bob McClure | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 15
George Throop | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.00 | 8
Ray Sadecki | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 0

## Farm system

[edit]

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level  | Team  | League  | Manager

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AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Billy Gardner
AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Bill Scripture
A | Waterloo Royals | Midwest League | John Sullivan
Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Gary Blaylock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Waterloo

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Royals fire McKeon, hire Herzog". Spartanburg Herald. South Carolina. Associated Press. July 25, 1975. p. D1.
2. ^ "Royals fire McKeon, hire Angles' Herzog". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. July 25, 1975. p. 1, part 2.
3. ^ Harmon Killebrew at Baseball Reference
4. ^ Doug Corbett at Baseball Reference
5. ^ Clint Hurdle at Baseball Reference
6. ^ Ron Hassey at Baseball Reference
7. ^ Mark Williams at Baseball Reference

## References

[edit]

* 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.

## External links

[edit]

* 1975 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
* 1975 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

* v
* t
* e

1975 MLB season by team

| AL East|

* Baltimore
* Boston
* Cleveland
* Detroit
* Milwaukee
* New York

|

AL West|

* California
* Chicago
* Kansas City
* Minnesota
* Oakland
* Texas

| NL East|

* Chicago
* Montréal
* New York
* Philadelphia
* Pittsburgh
* St. Louis

|

NL West|

* Atlanta
* Cincinnati
* Houston
* Los Angeles
* San Diego
* San Francisco

* 1975 MLB draft
* 1975 All-Star Game
* 1975 World Series

* v
* t
* e

Kansas City Royals

* Established in 1969
* Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Franchise|

* History
* Expansion and draft
* Seasons
* Current roster
* Owners and executives
* Managers
* Opening Day starting pitchers
* All-time roster
* First-round draft picks
* Records
* No-hitters
* Awards and league leaders
* Royals Academy
* Broadcasting
* FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City
* KSMO-TV

Ballparks|

Municipal Stadium
Kauffman Stadium
New Royals Stadium (proposed)
Spring training
Terry Park
Baseball City Stadium
Surprise Stadium

Culture|

* Sluggerrr
* Denny Matthews
* Ryan Lefebvre
* George Toma
* American Royal
* "Royals" (song)

Lore|

* Pine Tar Incident
* The Call
* 2014 AL Wild Card Game
* MLB in Omaha
* A drive into deep left field by Castellanos
* Bo Knows

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
* Kevin Appier
* Mike Sweeney
* Ned Yost

Retired numbers|

* 5
* 10
* 20
* 42

Minor league
affiliates|

Triple-A
Omaha Storm Chasers
Double-A
Northwest Arkansas Naturals
High-A
Quad Cities River Bandits
Single-A
Columbia Fireflies
Rookie
ACL Royals
DSL Royals Fortuna
DSL Royals Ventura

Key personnel|

* Owner: John Sherman
* President of Baseball Operations & General Manager: J. J. Picollo
* Manager: Matt Quatraro

World Series
championships (2)|

* 1985
* 2015

American League
pennants (4)|

* 1980
* 1985
* 2014
* 2015

Division titles|

West
1976
1977
1978
1980
1981 (second half)
1984
1985
Central
2015
Wild Card
2014
2024

Seasons (57)

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
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019

2020s|

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025

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