# 1991 Kansas City Royals season

The 1991 Kansas City Royals season was the 23rd season for the franchise, their 19th at Kauffman Stadium and their 5th and final full season under the management of John Wathan. The Royals finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 82 wins and 80 losses, an improvement from 75–86 from the year prior, but were eliminated from postseason contention for the 6th consecutive season.

## Offseason

* October 4, 1990: Chris Codiroli was released by the Royals.
* November 21, 1990: Mike Boddicker was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* December 1, 1990: Kirk Gibson was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* December 4, 1990: Dan Schatzeder was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* March 18, 1991: Bo Jackson was released by the Royals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 8 | 46‍–‍35 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Texas Rangers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 10 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Oakland Athletics | 84 | 78 | .519 | 11 | 47‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 45‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Kansas City Royals | 82 | 80 | .506 | 13 | 40‍–‍41 | 42‍–‍39 |
| California Angels | 81 | 81 | .500 | 14 | 40‍–‍41 | 41‍–‍40 |

### Record vs. opponents

1991 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 8–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–8 |
| Boston | 5–8 | — | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–4 |
| California | 6–6 | 8–4 | — | 8–5 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 1–12 | 6–7 | 5–8 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | 5–7 | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Cleveland | 6–7 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 6–6 | — | 7–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 2–10 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 4–8 | 1–12 |
| Detroit | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 6–7 | — | 8–4 | 4–9 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| Kansas City | 8–4 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 4–8 | — | 9–3 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 |
| Milwaukee | 10–3 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 3–9 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Minnesota | 8–4 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | — | 10–2 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| New York | 8–5 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 2–10 | — | 6–6 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 9–3 | 4–8 | 12–1 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–7 | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Seattle | 8–4 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–7 | 10–2 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 7–6 | — | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | — | 6–6 |
| Toronto | 8–5 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–1 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 5, 1991: Warren Cromartie was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* May 29, 1991: Dan Schatzeder was released by the Royals.
* June 3, 1991: 1991 Major League Baseball draft
** Rod Myers was drafted by the Royals in the 13th round.
** Les Norman was drafted by the Royals in the 25th round. Player signed June 12, 1991.

### 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 | Brent Mayne | 85 | 231 | 58 | .251 | 3 | 31 |
| 1B | Todd Benzinger | 78 | 293 | 86 | .294 | 2 | 40 |
| 2B | Terry Shumpert | 144 | 369 | 80 | .217 | 5 | 34 |
| 3B | Bill Pecota | 125 | 398 | 114 | .286 | 6 | 45 |
| SS | Kurt Stillwell | 122 | 385 | 102 | .265 | 6 | 51 |
| LF | Kirk Gibson | 132 | 462 | 109 | .236 | 16 | 55 |
| CF | Brian McRae | 152 | 629 | 164 | .261 | 8 | 64 |
| RF | Danny Tartabull | 132 | 484 | 153 | .316 | 31 | 100 |
| DH | George Brett | 131 | 505 | 129 | .255 | 10 | 61 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Eisenreich | 135 | 375 | 113 | .301 | 2 | 47 |
| Mike Macfarlane | 84 | 267 | 74 | .277 | 13 | 41 |
| David Howard | 94 | 236 | 51 | .216 | 1 | 17 |
| Kevin Seitzer | 85 | 234 | 62 | .265 | 1 | 25 |
| Gary Thurman | 80 | 184 | 51 | .277 | 2 | 13 |
| Warren Cromartie | 69 | 131 | 41 | .313 | 1 | 20 |
| Carmelo Martínez | 44 | 121 | 25 | .207 | 4 | 17 |
| Tim Spehr | 37 | 74 | 14 | .189 | 3 | 14 |
| Sean Berry | 31 | 60 | 8 | .133 | 0 | 1 |
| Harvey Pulliam | 18 | 33 | 9 | .273 | 3 | 4 |
| Russ Morman | 12 | 23 | 6 | .261 | 0 | 1 |
| Nelson Liriano | 10 | 22 | 9 | .409 | 0 | 1 |
| Jorge Pedre | 10 | 19 | 5 | .263 | 0 | 3 |
| Terry Puhl | 15 | 18 | 4 | .222 | 0 | 3 |
| Bobby Moore | 18 | 14 | 5 | .357 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Clark | 11 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Stu Cole | 9 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Zuvella | 2 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Kevin Appier | 34 | 207.2 | 13 | 10 | 3.42 | 158 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 28 | 196.1 | 13 | 8 | 3.07 | 136 |
| Mike Boddicker | 30 | 180.2 | 12 | 12 | 4.08 | 79 |
| Mark Gubicza | 26 | 133.0 | 9 | 12 | 5.68 | 89 |
| Héctor Wagner | 2 | 10.0 | 1 | 1 | 7.20 | 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 |
| Tom Gordon | 45 | 158.0 | 9 | 14 | 3.87 | 167 |
| Luis Aquino | 38 | 157.0 | 8 | 4 | 3.44 | 80 |
| Storm Davis | 51 | 114.1 | 3 | 9 | 4.96 | 53 |
| Mark Davis | 29 | 62.2 | 6 | 3 | 4.45 | 47 |

#### 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 |
| Jeff Montgomery | 67 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 2.90 | 77 |
| Mike Magnante | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.45 | 42 |
| Steve Crawford | 33 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5.98 | 38 |
| Joel Johnston | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.40 | 21 |
| Dan Schatzeder | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.45 | 4 |
| Carlos Maldonado | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.22 | 1 |
| Andy McGaffigan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 3 |
| Wes Gardner | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.59 | 3 |
| Archie Corbin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 1 |
| Bill Pecota | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Sal Rende |
| AA | Memphis Chicks | Southern League | Jeff Cox |
| A | Baseball City Royals | Florida State League | Carlos Tosca |
| A | Appleton Foxes | Midwest League | Joe Breeden |
| A-Short Season | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Tom Poquette |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Bob Herold |