# 1975 Kansas City Royals season

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. 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

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

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| 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

1975 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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

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

### 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
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| 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

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 |
| 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
#### 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 |
| 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

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

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

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| 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