1987 Kansas City Royals season explained

Kansas City Royals
Season:	1987
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Royals Stadium
City:	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners:	Ewing Kauffman
General Managers:	John Schuerholz
Managers:	Billy Gardner, John Wathan
Television:	WDAF-TV (Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White)
Radio:	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)

The 1987 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 83 wins and 79 losses.

Offseason

• December 10, 1986: Scott Bankhead, Steve Shields, and Mike Kingery were traded by the Royals to the Seattle Mariners for Danny Tartabull and Rick Luecken.^[1]
• December 22, 1986: Alan Hargesheimer was released by the Royals.^[2]
• March 20, 1987: Derek Botelho was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Kansas City Royals for Eddie Tanner (minors) and Pete Carey (minors).^[3]
• March 27, 1987: David Cone and Chris Jelic were traded by the Royals to the New York Mets for Ed Hearn, Rick Anderson, and Mauro Gozzo.^[4]
• March 30, 1987: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Thad Bosley and Dave Gumpert.^[5]
• March 31, 1987: Larry Owen was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[6]
• Billy Gardner is officially named the team's manager as Dick Howser's replacement during spring training. Howser had contracted brain cancer the previous season and was relieved of duty at the All-Star break. Howser attempted to return as manager for the season, but was physically incapable due to after-effects from his cancer treatments.

Regular season

Notable transactions

• June 2, 1987: Bret Barberie was drafted by the Royals in the 65th round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[7]

Notable events

• June 17, 1987: Manager Dick Howser passes away from brain cancer.

Roster

1987 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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		109	296	70	.236	5	33
1B		115	427	124	.290	22	78
2B		154	563	138	.245	17	78
3B		161	641	207	.323	15	83
SS		116	317	65	.205	2	21
LF		116	396	93	.235	22	53
CF		146	610	170	.279	4	30
RF		158	582	180	.309	34	101
DH		121	386	80	.207	24	60

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	57	174	41	.236	3	26
	48	167	42	.251	3	8
	76	164	31	.189	5	14
	66	156	43	.276	3	14
	80	140	39	.279	1	16
	39	114	29	.254	0	10
	44	105	25	.238	4	21
	27	81	24	.296	0	5
	21	50	9	.180	2	4
	37	47	10	.213	1	7
	18	32	10	.313	1	9
	8	19	4	.211	0	3
	6	17	5	.294	0	3
	7	15	4	.267	0	0

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
	33	257.0	18	10	3.36	163
	35	241.2	13	18	3.98	166
	35	240.1	16	11	3.41	151
	36	224.0	9	18	4.02	152
	3	10.1	1	1	7.84	5

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
	29	122.1	8	6	3.60	61
	6	13.0	0	2	13.85	12

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
	47	4	1	8	2.76	17
	48	4	4	5	4.26	44
	47	4	3	1	4.15	88
	27	5	2	2	2.27	24
	17	1	3	1	4.28	23
	13	0	0	8	2.51
	8	0	0	0	6.05	13
	3	0	0	0	14.73	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[8]

References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tartada01.shtml Danny Tartabull
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hargeal01.shtml Alan Hargesheimer
3. Web site: Derek Botelho Stats.
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coneda01.shtml David Cone
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sundbji01.shtml Jim Sundberg
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/owenla01.shtml Larry Owen
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/barbebr01.shtml Bret Barberie
8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

• 1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac