1987 Kansas City Royals season

1987 Kansas City Royals
1987 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Royals Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	Billy Gardner, John Wathan
Television	WDAF-TV; (Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White)
Radio	WIBW (AM); (Denny Matthews, Fred White)

The 1987 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. 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.^[1]
December 22, 1986: Alan Hargesheimer was released by the Royals.^[2]
March 20, 1987: Derek Botelho was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Kansas City Royals for Eddie Tanner (minors) and Pete Carey (minors).^[3]
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.^[4]
March 30, 1987: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Thad Bosley and Dave Gumpert.^[5]
March 31, 1987: Larry Owen was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[6]
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.

1987 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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	—

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.^[7]

1987 Kansas City Royals roster

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

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

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

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

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

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

^ Danny Tartabull at Baseball Reference
^ Alan Hargesheimer at Baseball Reference
^ "Derek Botelho Stats".
^ David Cone at Baseball Reference
^ Jim Sundberg at Baseball Reference
^ Larry Owen at Baseball Reference
^ Bret Barberie at Baseball Reference
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997