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)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	Joe Burke
Manager(s)	Whitey Herzog
Local television	KBMA (Steve Shannon)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
< Previous season Next season >

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.

Regular season

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	92	70	0.568	—	56–25	36–45
Texas Rangers	87	75	0.537	5	52–30	35–45
California Angels	87	75	0.537	5	50–31	37–44
Minnesota Twins	73	89	0.451	19	38–43	35–46
Chicago White Sox	71	90	0.441	20½	38–42	33–48
Oakland Athletics	69	93	0.426	23	38–42	31–51
Seattle Mariners	56	104	0.350	35	32–49	24–55

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–8	4–6	8–1	9–6	7–8	2–8	7–8	5–5	6–9	11–0	9–1	7–4	8–7
Boston	8–7	—	9–2	7–3	7–8	12–3	4–6	10–5	9–2	7–9	5–5	7–3	3–7	11–4
California	6–4	2–9	—	8–7	6–4	4–7	9–6	5–5	12–3	5–5	9–6	9–6	5–10	7–3
Chicago	1–8	3–7	7–8	—	8–2	2–9	8–7	4–7	8–7	1–9	7–8	7–8	11–4	4–6
Cleveland	6–9	8–7	4–6	2–8	—	5–10	5–6	5–10	5–5	6–9	4–6	8–1	1–9	10–4
Detroit	8–7	3–12	7–4	9–2	10–5	—	4–6	7–8	4–6	4–11	6–4	8–2	7–3	9–6
Kansas City	8–2	6–4	6–9	7–8	6–5	6–4	—	6–4	7–8	6–5	10–5	12–3	7–8	5–5
Milwaukee	8–7	5–10	5–5	7–4	10–5	8–7	4–6	—	4–7	10–5	9–1	5–5	6–4	12–3
Minnesota	5–5	2–9	3–12	7–8	5–5	6–4	8–7	7–4	—	3–7	9–6	6–9	6–9	6–4
New York	9–6	9–7	5–5	9–1	9–6	11–4	5–6	5–10	7–3	—	8–2	6–5	6–4	11–4
Oakland	0–11	5–5	6–9	8–7	6–4	4–6	5–10	1–9	6–9	2–8	—	13–2	6–9	7–4
Seattle	1–9	3–7	6–9	8–7	1–8	2–8	3–12	5–5	9–6	5–6	2–13	—	3–12	8–2
Texas	4–7	7–3	10–5	4–11	9–1	3–7	8–7	4–6	9–6	4–6	9–6	12–3	—	4–7
Toronto	7–8	4–11	3–7	6–4	4–10	6–9	5–5	3–12	4–6	4–11	4–7	2–8	7–4	—

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.	RBI
Washington, U LU L Washington	69	129	34	.264	9
Quirk, JamieJamie Quirk	17	29	6	.207	2
Silverio, LuisLuis Silverio	8	11	6	.545	3
Cripe, DaveDave Cripe	7	13	2	.154	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

Main article: 1978 American League Championship Series

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

Notes

↑ John Mayberry at Baseball Reference
↑ Gary Lance at Baseball Reference
↑ Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference
↑ Jeff Cornell at Baseball Reference
↑ Frank Viola at Baseball Reference

References

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

1978 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1978 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

American League West champions

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 MLB draft 1978 All-Star Game 1978 World Series

Kansas City Royals

Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Franchise

Ballparks

Municipal Stadium; Kauffman Stadium
Spring training: Terry Park; Baseball City Stadium; Surprise Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

St. Louis Cardinals

Team Hall of Fame

Minors

AAA: Omaha Storm Chasers
AA: Northwest Arkansas Naturals
A Adv.: Wilmington Blue Rocks
A: Lexington Legends
Rookie Adv.: Idaho Falls Chukars; Burlington Royals
Rookie: AZL Royals; DSL Royals

Key personnel

Owner: David Glass
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Manager: Ned Yost

World Series
championships (2)

1985
2015

American League
pennants (4)

Division titles

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

Seasons (49)

1960s	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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.