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The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri . They are one of five teams in the Central Division of the American League . FRANCHISE HISTORY See Also: History of the Kansas City Royals 1969-1979: Taking off The Royals began play in 1969 in Kansas City, Missouri . In their inaugural game, on April 8 , 1969, the Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in 12 innings. The team was quickly built through a number of good trades engineered by its first General Manager, Cedric Tallis , including a trade for Lou Piniella , who won the Rookie Of The Year during the Royals' inaugural season. The Royals also invested in a strong farm system and soon developed such future stars as pitchers Paul Splittorff and Steve Busby , infielders George Brett and Frank White , and outfielder Al Cowens . In 1971 , the Royals had their first winning season, with manager Bob Lemon guiding them to a second-place finish. In 1973 , under Jack McKeon , the Royals adopted their iconic "powder blue" road uniforms and moved from Municipal Stadium to the brand-new Royals Stadium (now known as Kauffman Stadium). Manager Whitey Herzog replaced McKeon in 1975, and the Royals quickly became the dominant franchise in the American League Western Division, winning three straight division championships from 1976 to 1978 . However, the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in three straight American League Championship Series encounters. 1980-1984: From pennant to pine tar After the Royals finished in second place in 1979, Herzog was fired and replaced by Jim Frey . Under Frey, the Royals rebounded in 1980 and advanced to the ALCS , where they again faced the Yankees. In the 1980 ALCS, the Royals finally vanquished the Yankees in a three-game sweep punctuated by a George Brett Home Run off Yankees' star closer Goose Gossage . However, after reaching their first World Series , the Royals fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. The Royals returned to the post-season in 1981 , losing to the Oakland Athletics in a unique divisional series resulting from the split season caused by the 1981 Major League Baseball Strike . In 1983 , while the Royals were headed for a second-place finish behind the Chicago White Sox another chapter in the team's rivalry with the Yankees occurred in July. In the Pine Tar Incident , umpires discovered a substantial amount of Pine Tar on Third Baseman George Brett 's bat after he had hit a home run. The umpires immediately disallowed the home run and ejected Brett, who stormed out of the dugout to argue his defense. The incident has now become part of baseball lore. Under the leadership of manager Dick Howser , the Royals won their fifth division championship in 1984 , relying on Brett's bat and the young pitching of Bret Saberhagen , Mark Gubicza , Charlie Leibrandt , Bud Black and Danny Jackson , although they were swept by the eventual World Series champion Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series . 1985: Missouri's finest and the "I-70 Series" In the 1985 regular season the Royals topped the Western Division for the sixth time in ten years, led by Bret Saberhagan's Cy Young Award -winning performance. Throughout the ensuing playoffs, the Royals repeatedly put themselves into difficult positions, but improbably managed to escape each time. With the Royals down 3-games-to-one in the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays , the Royals eventually rallied to win the series 4-3. In the 1985 World Series against the cross-state St. Louis Cardinals – the so-called "I-70 Series" because the two teams are both located in the state of Missouri and connected by Interstate 70 – the Royals again fell behind 3-1. The key game in the Royals' comeback was Game Six . Facing elimination, the Royals trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, before rallying to score two runs and win. The rally was helped by an controversial call at first base by umpire Don Denkinger , which allowed Royals outfielder Jorge Orta to reach base safely as the first baserunner of the inning. Following Orta's single, the Cardinals dropped an easy popout and suffered a passed ball, before the Royals went on to win with a bloop base hit by seldom used Pinch Hitter Dane Iorg . Following the tension of Game Six, the Cardinals came undone in Game Seven , and the Royals won 11-0 to clinch the franchise's first World Series title. 1986-1994: Staying in the picture In the late 1980s and early 1990s , the Royals developed young stars such as Bo Jackson , Tom Gordon , and Kevin Seitzer , made some successful free-agent acquisitions, and generally posted winning records, but always fell short of the post-season. For example, in 1989 , the Royals won 92 games and posted the third-best record in baseball, but did not qualify for the playoffs. Many of the team's highlights from this era instead centered around the end of Brett's career, such as his third and final batting title in 1990 – which made him the first player to win batting titles in three different decades – and his 3,000th Hit . Though the team dropped out of contention from 1990 to 1992 , through the Strike-shortened 1994 Season , the Royals still could generally be counted on to post winning records. 1995-2001: The decline At the start of the 1990s, the Royals had been hit with a double-whammy when General Manager John Schuerholz departed in 1990 and team owner Ewing Kauffman died in 1993 . Kauffman's death left the franchise without permanent ownership until Wal-Mart executive David Glass purchased the team for $ 96 million in 2000 . Partly because of the resulting lack of leadership, after the 1994 season the Royals decided to reduce payroll by trading pitcher David Cone and outfielder Brian McRae , then continued their salary dump in the 1995 season. In fact, the team payroll was sliced from $40.5 million in 1994 to $18.5 million in 1996 .http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/15496052.htm As attendance slid and the average MLB salary continued to rise, the Royals found it difficult to retain their remaining stars, and the club traded players such as Kevin Appier , Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye for prospects rather than pay higher salaries or lose them to free agency. Making matters worse, most of the younger players that the Royals received in exchange for these All-Stars proved of little value, setting the stage for an extended downward spiral. Indeed, the Royals set a franchise low with a .398 winning percentage (64-97 record) in 1999 , and lost 97 games again in 2001 . In the middle of this era, in 1997 , the Royals declined the opportunity to switch to the National League as part of a realignment plan to introduce the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays as expansion teams. 2002-2006: Rock bottom In 2002 , the Royals set a new team record for futility, losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history. The 2003 season saw a temporary end to the losing, when manager Tony Peña , in his first full season with the club, improbably guided the Royals to their first winning record since the 1994 season. He was named the American League Manager Of The Year for his efforts. Picked by many to win their division in 2004 after faring surprisingly well in the free agent market, the Royals got off to a disappointing start and by late June again were in rebuilding mode, releasing veteran reliever Curtis Leskanic before financial incentives kicked in and trading veteran reliever Jason Grimsley and superstar center fielder Carlos Beltrán for prospects, all within a week of each other. The team subsequently fell apart completely, establishing a new low by losing 104 games. The Royals did, however, see promising seasons from two rookies, center fielder David DeJesus and starting pitcher Zack Greinke . In 2005 , the Royals continued a youth movement, with one of the smallest payrolls in the Major Leagues. The Royals ended the 2005 season with a 56-106 record (.346), a full 43 games out of first place. It was the third time in four seasons that the team reestablished the mark for worst record in the history of the franchise. During that season, the Royals suffered a franchise record 19-game losing streak highlighted by a three-game stretch of blowout losses at home from August 6 through August 9; in that stretch the Royals lost 16-1 to the Oakland Athletics in the first game, were shut out 11-0 by Oakland in the second game, and then in the third game, against the Cleveland Indians , built a 7-2 lead in the ninth inning before allowing 11 runs to lose 13-7. Looking for a quick turnaround, General Manager Allard Baird signed several veteran players prior to the 2006 season, including Doug Mientkiewicz , Mark Grudzielanek , Joe Mays and Scott Elarton . Nevertheless, the Royals struggled through another 100-loss season in 2006 , becoming just the eleventh team in major league history to lose 100 games in three straight seasons.http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/15634743.htm 2007–''present'': "True. Blue. Tradition." See Also: 2007 Kansas City Royals season During the 2006 offseason, Kansas City appeared to be opening up its wallet. They outbid the Cubs and Blue Jays for free agent righty season looking to rebound from four out of five seasons ending with at least 100 losses. In the , former Royals stars George Brett and Frank White , Triple-A Omaha manager Mike Jirschele , former Major League managers such as Joe Girardi and Dusty Baker , and Atlanta Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton Dutton, Bob. {Link without Title} ''Kansas City Star'', 1 Aug 2007 are all people who have been the center of speculation for possible candidates. PLAYERS OF NOTE See Also: Kansas City Royals roster Baseball Hall of Fame Two individuals have been inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame based primarily upon their service with the Royals:
Three other Hall of Famers briefly wore Royal blue, all at the end of their careers:
Retired numbers
Royals Hall of Fame Listed by year of induction: 1986
1987
1989
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1998
2000
2003
2004
2005
2006
Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
CURRENT ROSTER MANAGERS
: ‡Record through 2006 season MINOR LEAGUE AFFILIATIONS
SEASON RECORDS RADIO AND TELEVISION As Of 2007 , the Royals will carry games on both WHB 810AM and KCXM 97.3FM, depending on the game schedule. All day games and most early-evening starts will air on WHB, with later-starting games, especially those on the West Coast , carried on KCXM (because WHB has a very weak signal at night, due to conflicts with clear channel outlets KGO , San Francisco and WGY , Schenectady ). The Royals' official flagship radio station is currently WHB , but starting in 2008 radio rights will once again head back over to Entercom and air on both KMBZ and KCSP depending on scheduling conflicts. {Link without Title} Television broadcasts are seen on RSTN, the Royals Sports Television Network . RSTN is an in-house service launched by the Royals in 2003 . In 2007, some games will also be seen on Metro Sports , a local cable channel, and local Independent Station KMCI . Games will not be seen in 2007 on an alternate feed of Fox Sports Net , however FSN Midwest will become the television home of the Royals again, beginning in 2008. {Link without Title} The radio announcers are Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre ; the TV team is Paul Splittorff and Bob Davis. On February 22, 2007, Matthews was selected as the 2007 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award , presented annually for major contributions to baseball broadcasting. {Link without Title} SEE ALSO
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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