# 1987 Kansas City Royals season

The 1987 Kansas City Royals season was the 19th season for the franchise, and their 15th at Kauffman Stadium. 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.
* December 22, 1986: Alan Hargesheimer was released by the Royals.
* March 20, 1987: Derek Botelho was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Kansas City Royals for Eddie Tanner (minors) and Pete Carey (minors).
* 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.
* March 30, 1987: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Thad Bosley and Dave Gumpert.
* March 31, 1987: Larry Owen was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* 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
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 85 | 77 | .525 | — | 56‍–‍25 | 29‍–‍52 |
| Kansas City Royals | 83 | 79 | .512 | 2 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Oakland Athletics | 81 | 81 | .500 | 4 | 42‍–‍39 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Seattle Mariners | 78 | 84 | .481 | 7 | 40‍–‍41 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 77 | 85 | .475 | 8 | 38‍–‍43 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Texas Rangers | 75 | 87 | .463 | 10 | 43‍–‍38 | 32‍–‍49 |
| California Angels | 75 | 87 | .463 | 10 | 38‍–‍43 | 37‍–‍44 |

### Record vs. opponents

1987 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 1–12 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 2–11 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 1–12 |
| Boston | 12–1 | — | 4–8 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 2–11 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| California | 3–9 | 8–4 | — | 8–5 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–8 | — | 7–5 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 6–7 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 5–8 |
| Detroit | 9–4 | 11–2 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| Kansas City | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 8–4 |
| Milwaukee | 11–2 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 8–4 | — | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 9–4 |
| Minnesota | 7–5 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 9–3 | — | 6–6 | 10–3 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 3–9 |
| New York | 10–3 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 3–10 | 7–5 | — | 5–8 | 6–7 | 7–5 |
| Seattle | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 8–5 | — | 9–4 | 2–10 |
| Texas | 5–7 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 10–2 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–9 | — | 3–9 |
| Toronto | 12–1 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 10–2 | 9–3 | — |

### 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.

### Notable events

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

### 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 | Jamie Quirk | 109 | 296 | 70 | .236 | 5 | 33 |
| 1B | George Brett | 115 | 427 | 124 | .290 | 22 | 78 |
| 2B | Frank White | 154 | 563 | 138 | .245 | 17 | 78 |
| 3B | Kevin Seitzer | 161 | 641 | 207 | .323 | 15 | 83 |
| SS | Ángel Salazar | 116 | 317 | 65 | .205 | 2 | 21 |
| LF | Bo Jackson | 116 | 396 | 93 | .235 | 22 | 53 |
| CF | Willie Wilson | 146 | 610 | 170 | .279 | 4 | 30 |
| RF | Danny Tartabull | 158 | 582 | 180 | .309 | 34 | 101 |
| DH | Steve Balboni | 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 |
| Juan Beníquez | 57 | 174 | 41 | .236 | 3 | 26 |
| Lonnie Smith | 48 | 167 | 42 | .251 | 3 | 8 |
| Larry Owen | 76 | 164 | 31 | .189 | 5 | 14 |
| Bill Pecota | 66 | 156 | 43 | .276 | 3 | 14 |
| Thad Bosley | 80 | 140 | 39 | .279 | 1 | 16 |
| Ross Jones | 39 | 114 | 29 | .254 | 0 | 10 |
| Jim Eisenreich | 44 | 105 | 25 | .238 | 4 | 21 |
| Gary Thurman | 27 | 81 | 24 | .296 | 0 | 5 |
| Jorge Orta | 21 | 50 | 9 | .180 | 2 | 4 |
| Buddy Biancalana | 37 | 47 | 10 | .213 | 1 | 7 |
| Hal McRae | 18 | 32 | 10 | .313 | 1 | 9 |
| Mike MacFarlane | 8 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 0 | 3 |
| Ed Hearn | 6 | 17 | 5 | .294 | 0 | 3 |
| Scotti Madison | 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 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 33 | 257.0 | 18 | 10 | 3.36 | 163 |
| Mark Gubicza | 35 | 241.2 | 13 | 18 | 3.98 | 166 |
| Charlie Leibrandt | 35 | 240.1 | 16 | 11 | 3.41 | 151 |
| Danny Jackson | 36 | 224.0 | 9 | 18 | 4.02 | 152 |
| Mélido Pérez | 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 |
| Bud Black | 29 | 122.1 | 8 | 6 | 3.60 | 61 |
| Rick Anderson | 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 |
| Dan Quisenberry | 47 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2.76 | 17 |
| Jerry Don Gleaton | 48 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.26 | 44 |
| Steve Farr | 47 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4.15 | 88 |
| John Davis | 27 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2.27 | 24 |
| Bob Stoddard | 17 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4.28 | 23 |
| Gene Garber | 13 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2.51 | |
| Dave Gumpert | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.05 | 13 |
| Bob Shirley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.73 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | John Wathan and Frank Funk |
| AA | Memphis Chicks | Southern League | Bob Schaefer |
| A | Fort Myers Royals | Florida State League | Jerry Terrell |
| A | Appleton Foxes | Midwest League | Ken Berry |
| A-Short Season | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Rick Mathews |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Luis Silverio |