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1977 Kansas City Royals season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Kansas City Royals |
| season | 1977 |
| misc | American League West champions |
| league | American League |
| division | West |
| ballpark | Royals Stadium |
| city | Kansas City, Missouri |
| record | 102–60 (.630) |
| divisional_place | 1st |
| owners | Ewing Kauffman |
| general_managers | Joe Burke |
| managers | Whitey Herzog (second full season) |
| television | KBMA–TV 41 |
| (Denny Matthews, Fred White) | |
| radio | WIBW–AM 580 |
| KMBZ–AM 980 | |
| (Denny Matthews, Fred White) |
(Denny Matthews, Fred White) KMBZ–AM 980 (Denny Matthews, Fred White) |}} The 1977 Kansas City Royals season was their ninth in Major League Baseball. The Royals' franchise-best 102–60 record led the majors and Kansas City won its second consecutive American League West title. Once again, the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the postseason, falling 3–2 in the ALCS. Hal McRae led the American League in doubles, with 54. Al Cowens set a franchise single-season record with 112 runs batted in.
Offseason
- November 5, 1976: Ruppert Jones was drafted from the Royals by the Seattle Mariners with the first pick in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft.
- December 6, 1976: Jamie Quirk, Jim Wohlford and a player to be named later were traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter. The Kansas City Royals completed the trade by sending Bob McClure to the Brewers on March 15, 1977.
- December 7, 1976: Frank Ortenzio was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Rudy Kinard (minors).
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day starters
- George Brett
- Al Cowens
- Pete LaCock
- John Mayberry
- Hal McRae
- Amos Otis
- Freddie Patek
- Darrell Porter
- Paul Splittorff
- Frank White
Notable transactions
- May 27, 1977: Tim Ireland was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
Roster
| 1977 Kansas City Royals |
|---|
| **Roster** |
| **Pitchers** |
Game log
Postseason Game log
|-style="background:#cfc;"
| 1 || || 2:15p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || W 7–2 || Splittorff (1–0) || Gullett (0–1) || — || 2:40 || 54,930 || KC 1–0 || W1
|-style="background:#fcc;"
| 2 || || 7:15p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || L 2–6 || Guidry (1–0) || Hassler (0–1) || — || 2:58 || 56,230 || Tied 1–1 || L1
|-style="background:#cfc;"
| 3 || || 7:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || W 6–2 || Leonard (1–0) || Torrez (0–1) || — || 2:19 || 41,285 || KC 2–1 || W1
|-style="background:#fcc;"
| 4 || || 12:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || L 4–6 || Lyle (1–0) || Gura (0–1) || — || 3:08 || 41,135 || Tied 2–2 || L1
|-style="background:#fcc;"
| 5 || || 7:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || L 3–5 || Lyle (2–0) || Leonard (1–1) || — || 3:04 || 41,133 || NYY 3–2 || L2
|-
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Royals team member
Player stats
| = Indicates team leader |
|---|
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 | 130 | 425 | 117 | .275 | 16 | 60 | |
| 1B | 153 | 543 | 125 | .230 | 23 | 82 | |
| 2B | 152 | 474 | 116 | .245 | 5 | 50 | |
| 3B | 139 | 564 | 176 | .312 | 22 | 88 | |
| SS | 154 | 497 | 130 | .262 | 5 | 60 | |
| LF | 106 | 342 | 100 | .292 | 2 | 33 | |
| CF | 142 | 478 | 120 | .251 | 17 | 78 | |
| RF | 162 | 606 | 189 | .312 | 23 | 112 | |
| DH | 162 | 641 | 191 | .298 | 21 | 92 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | 218 | 66 | .303 | 3 | 29 | |
| 105 | 195 | 58 | .297 | 2 | 23 | |
| 64 | 156 | 39 | .250 | 0 | 10 | |
| 55 | 119 | 39 | .328 | 2 | 21 | |
| 29 | 80 | 18 | .225 | 1 | 9 | |
| 34 | 65 | 17 | .262 | 2 | 8 | |
| 54 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | 5 | |
| 27 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 0 | 4 | |
| 13 | 34 | 11 | .324 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 2 | 7 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 292.2 | 20 | 12 | 3.04 | 244 | |
| 36 | 239.0 | 18 | 14 | 3.62 | 103 | |
| 37 | 229.0 | 16 | 6 | 3.69 | 99 | |
| 29 | 156.1 | 9 | 6 | 4.20 | 83 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 128.1 | 10 | 13 | 3.58 | 55 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 3.88 | 83 | |
| 52 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 3.13 | 46 | |
| 48 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 3.58 | 55 | |
| 43 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3.09 | 19 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.52 | 10 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.38 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |
Other events
Before they were to play a game on June 12 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, thieves stole gloves and uniforms belonging to Royals players. Due to this, all but seven Kansas City Royals players had to wear Milwaukee road uniforms for the game played that day.
ALCS
Main article: 1977 American League Championship Series
Game 1
October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Kansas City** | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | **7** | **9** | **0** |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **2** | **9** | **0** |
| **W**: Paul Splittorff (1–0) **L**: Don Gullett (0–1) | ||||||||||||
| **HRs**: **KC** – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) **NYY** – Thurman Munson (1) |
Game 2
October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **2** | **3** | **1** |
| **New York** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | **6** | **10** | **0** |
| **W**: Ron Guidry (1–0) **L**: Andy Hassler (0–1) | ||||||||||||
| **HRs**: **KC** – none; **NYY** – Cliff Johnson (1) |
Game 3
October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | **2** | **4** | **1** |
| **Kansas City** | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | **6** | **12** | **1** |
| **W**: Dennis Leonard (1–0) **L**: Mike Torrez (0–1) | ||||||||||||
| **HRs**: **NYY** – none; **KC** – none |
Game 4
October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **New York** | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | **6** | **13** | **0** |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **4** | **8** | **2** |
| **W**: Sparky Lyle (1–0) **L**: Larry Gura (0–1) | ||||||||||||
| **HRs**: **NYY** – none; **KC** – none |
Game 5
October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **New York** | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | **5** | **10** | **0** |
| Kansas City | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | **3** | **10** | **1** |
| **W**: Sparky Lyle (2–0) **L**: Dennis Leonard (1–1) | ||||||||||||
| **HRs**: **NYY** – none; **KC** – none |
Farm system
Notes
References
References
- [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesru01.shtml Ruppert Jones] at ''Baseball-Reference''
- [https://www.baseball-reference.com/q/quirkja01.shtml Jamie Quirk] at ''Baseball Reference''
- [https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/ortenfr01.shtml Frank Ortenzio] at ''Baseball Reference''
- [https://www.baseball-reference.com/i/irelati01.shtml Tim Ireland] at ''Baseball Reference''
- [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19770613&id=rZsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0OgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1786,1369705 Kansas City Royals have gloves, uniforms stolen before game]
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