# 1973 Kansas City Royals season

The 1973 Kansas City Royals season was their fifth in Major League Baseball and first in the new Royals Stadium. Promoted from Triple-A Omaha, Jack McKeon replaced the fired Bob Lemon as manager and the Royals finished second in the American League West in 1973 with a record of 88–74, six games behind the Oakland A's.
The 88 wins were the most in the franchise's brief history, five more than in 1971. Lefthander Paul Splittorff (20–11) became the first Royal to win twenty games in a season.

## Offseason

* November 30, 1972: Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum were traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson.
* February 1, 1973: Joe Keough was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Lyttle.

## Regular season

The Royals opened the new Royals Stadium with a 12–1 rout of the Texas Rangers on April 10. The Tuesday night game was attended by 39,464 braving cool temperatures; 39 °F (4 °C) at first pitch.
On April 27, Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Royals history, as visiting KC shut out Detroit 3–0 at Tiger Stadium.
At Royals Stadium on May 15, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels threw the first no-hitter of his career.
On August 2, George Brett made his major league debut, starting at third base and hitting a single in a 3–1 road win over the`Chicago White Sox.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 94 | 68 | .580 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Kansas City Royals | 88 | 74 | .543 | 6 | 48‍–‍33 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Minnesota Twins | 81 | 81 | .500 | 13 | 37‍–‍44 | 44‍–‍37 |
| California Angels | 79 | 83 | .488 | 15 | 43‍–‍38 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Chicago White Sox | 77 | 85 | .475 | 17 | 40‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Texas Rangers | 57 | 105 | .352 | 37 | 35‍–‍46 | 22‍–‍59 |

### Record vs. opponents

1973 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 10–2 |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 3–15 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 14–4 | 4–8 | 9–3 |
| California | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–12 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 6–12 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 6–12 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 7–5 |
| Detroit | 9–9 | 15–3 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 4–8 | 12–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 |
| Kansas City | 4–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 10–2 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Milwaukee | 3–15 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 4–8 | — | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 3–9 | 14–4 | 12–6 |
| New York | 9–9 | 4–14 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–3 | — | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 8–4 | 4–14 | 8–4 | — | 11–7 |
| Texas | 2–10 | 3–9 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 2: Greg Minton was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Fran Healy.
* May 8: Tom Murphy was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Santorini.
* June 5: 1973 Major League Baseball draft
** Ruppert Jones was selected in the third round.
** Rob Picciolo was selected in the fourth round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.

### 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 | Fran Healy | 95 | 279 | 77 | .276 | 6 | 34 |
| 1B | John Mayberry | 152 | 510 | 142 | .278 | 26 | 100 |
| 2B | Cookie Rojas | 139 | 551 | 152 | .276 | 6 | 69 |
| SS | Freddie Patek | 135 | 501 | 117 | .234 | 5 | 45 |
| 3B | Paul Schaal | 121 | 396 | 114 | .288 | 8 | 42 |
| LF | Lou Piniella | 144 | 513 | 128 | .250 | 9 | 69 |
| CF | Amos Otis | 148 | 583 | 175 | .300 | 26 | 93 |
| RF | Ed Kirkpatrick | 126 | 429 | 113 | .263 | 6 | 45 |
| DH | Gail Hopkins | 74 | 138 | 34 | .246 | 2 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Hal McRae | 106 | 338 | 79 | .234 | 9 | 50 |
| Kurt Bevacqua | 99 | 276 | 71 | .257 | 2 | 40 |
| Steve Hovley | 104 | 232 | 59 | .254 | 2 | 24 |
| Carl Taylor | 69 | 145 | 33 | .228 | 0 | 16 |
| Frank White | 51 | 139 | 31 | .223 | 0 | 5 |
| Rick Reichardt | 41 | 127 | 28 | .220 | 3 | 17 |
| Jim Wohlford | 45 | 109 | 29 | .266 | 2 | 10 |
| Bobby Floyd | 51 | 78 | 26 | .333 | 0 | 8 |
| George Brett | 13 | 40 | 5 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Buck Martinez | 14 | 32 | 8 | .250 | 1 | 6 |
| Jerry May | 11 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 2 |
| Tom Poquette | 21 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 0 | 3 |
| Frank Ortenzio | 9 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 1 | 6 |
| Keith Marshall | 8 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 3 |

### 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 |
| Paul Splittorff | 38 | 262.0 | 20 | 11 | 3.98 | 110 |
| Steve Busby | 37 | 238.1 | 16 | 15 | 4.23 | 174 |
| Dick Drago | 37 | 212.2 | 12 | 14 | 4.23 | 98 |
| Al Fitzmorris | 15 | 89.0 | 8 | 3 | 2.83 | 26 |
| Mark Littell | 8 | 38.0 | 1 | 3 | 5.68 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Gene Garber | 48 | 152.2 | 9 | 9 | 4.24 | 60 |
| Ken Wright | 25 | 80.2 | 6 | 5 | 4.91 | 75 |
| Wayne Simpson | 16 | 59.2 | 3 | 4 | 5.73 | 29 |

#### 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 | 54 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 2.99 | 83 |
| Bruce Dal Canton | 32 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.81 | 38 |
| Joe Hoerner | 22 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5.12 | 15 |
| Steve Mingori | 19 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3.04 | 46 |
| Mike Jackson | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 | 13 |
| Tom Burgmeier | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 4 |
| Barry Raziano | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 0 |
| Norm Angelini | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.91 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Harry Malmberg |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Billy Gardner |
| A | San Jose Bees | California League | Steve Boros |
| A | Waterloo Royals | Midwest League | Bill Scripture |
| Rookie | Kingsport Royals | Appalachian League | John Sullivan |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Buzzy Keller |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Gary Blaylock |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Kingsport, Billings