1977 Kansas City Royals season

Template:Infobox baseball team season The 1977 Kansas City Royals season was their ninth in Major League Baseball. The Royals' franchise-best 102–60 record led the majors and Kansas City won its second consecutive American League West title. Once again, the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the postseason, falling 3–2 in the ALCS. Hal McRae led the American League in doubles, with 54. Al Cowens set a franchise single-season record with 112 runs batted in.

Offseason

• November 5, 1976: Ruppert Jones was drafted from the Royals by the Seattle Mariners with the first pick in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft.
• December 6, 1976: Jamie Quirk, Jim Wohlford and a player to be named later were traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter. The Kansas City Royals completed the trade by sending Bob McClure to the Brewers on March 15, 1977.
• December 7, 1976: Frank Ortenzio was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Rudy Kinard (minors).

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• George Brett
• Al Cowens
• Pete LaCock
• John Mayberry
• Hal McRae
• Amos Otis
• Freddie Patek
• Darrell Porter
• Paul Splittorff
• Frank White

Notable transactions

• May 27, 1977: Tim Ireland was signed as a free agent by the Royals.

Roster

1977 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 29 Doug Bird 48 Jim Colborn 37 Larry Gura 42 Tom Hall 16 Andy Hassler 39 Gary Lance 22 Dennis Leonard 17 Mark Littell 31 Randy McGilberry 23 Steve Mingori 33 Marty Pattin 34 Paul Splittorff 35 George Throop		Catchers 21 Buck Martinez 15 Darrell Porter 12 John Wathan Infielders  5 George Brett  6 Bob Heise  8 Pete LaCock  7 John Mayberry  3 Dave Nelson  2 Freddie Patek  1 Cookie Rojas 30 U L Washington 20 Frank White		Outfielders 18 Al Cowens  9 Clint Hurdle 10 Joe Lahoud 11 Hal McRae 26 Amos Otis 25 Tom Poquette 32 Willie Wilson 19 Joe Zdeb		Manager 24 Whitey Herzog Coaches 14 Steve Boros 36 Galen Cisco  4 Chuck Hiller 27 Charley Lau

Game log

Postseason Game log

Template:Game log start Template:Game log section start |-style="background:#cfc;" | 1 || Template:Dow tooltip || 2:15p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || W 7–2 || Splittorff (1–0) || Gullett (0–1) || — || 2:40 || 54,930 || KC 1–0 || W1 |-style="background:#fcc;" | 2 || Template:Dow tooltip || 7:15p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || L 2–6 || Guidry (1–0) || Hassler (0–1) || — || 2:58 || 56,230 || Tied 1–1 || L1 |-style="background:#cfc;" | 3 || Template:Dow tooltip || 7:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || W 6–2 || Leonard (1–0) || Torrez (0–1) || — || 2:19 || 41,285 || KC 2–1 || W1 |-style="background:#fcc;" | 4 || Template:Dow tooltip || 12:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || L 4–6 || Lyle (1–0) || Gura (0–1) || — || 3:08 || 41,135 || Tied 2–2 || L1 |-style="background:#fcc;" | 5 || Template:Dow tooltip || 7:15p.m. CDT || Yankees || L 3–5 || Lyle (2–0) || Leonard (1–1) || — || 3:04 || 41,133 || NYY 3–2 || L2 |- Template:Game log section end |- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:        = Win        = Loss     
Bold = Royals team member Template:Game log end

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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		130	425	117	.275	16	60
1B		153	543	125	.230	23	82
2B		152	474	116	.245	5	50
3B		139	564	176	.312	22	88
SS		154	497	130	.262	5	60
LF		106	342	100	.292	2	33
CF		142	478	120	.251	17	78
RF		162	606	189	.312	23	112
DH		162	641	191	.298	21	92

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
	88	218	66	.303	3	29
	105	195	58	.297	2	23
	64	156	39	.250	0	10
	55	119	39	.328	2	21
	29	80	18	.225	1	9
	34	65	17	.262	2	8
	54	62	16	.258	0	5
	27	48	9	.188	0	4
	13	34	11	.324	0	1
	10	20	4	.200	0	1
	9	26	8	.308	2	7

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
	38	292.2	20	12	3.04	244
	36	239.0	18	14	3.62	103
	37	229.0	16	6	3.69	99
	29	156.1	9	6	4.20	83

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
	31	128.1	10	13	3.58	55

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
	53	11	4	14	3.88	83
	52	8	5	10	3.13	46
	48	8	4	12	3.58	55
	43	2	4	4	3.09	19
	6	0	0	0	3.52	10
	4	0	0	1	3.38	1
	3	0	1	0	5.14	1
	1	0	1	0	4.50	0

Other events

Before they were to play a game on June 12 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, thieves stole gloves and uniforms belonging to Royals players. Due to this, all but seven Kansas City Royals players had to wear Milwaukee road uniforms for the game played that day.

ALCS

Game 1

October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas City	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	9	0
New York	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0
W: Paul Splittorff (1–0)  L: Don Gullett (0–1)
HRs: KC – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) NYY – Thurman Munson (1)

Game 2

October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas City	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	1
New York	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	1	X	6	10	0
W: Ron Guidry (1–0)  L: Andy Hassler (0–1)
HRs: KC – none; NYY – Cliff Johnson (1)

Game 3

October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	4	1
Kansas City	0	1	1	0	1	2	0	1	X	6	12	1
W: Dennis Leonard (1–0)  L: Mike Torrez (0–1)
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 4

October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	13	0
Kansas City	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	8	2
W: Sparky Lyle (1–0)  L: Larry Gura (0–1)
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 5

October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	5	10	0
Kansas City	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	10	1
W: Sparky Lyle (2–0)  L: Dennis Leonard (1–1)
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	John Sullivan
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Gordon Mackenzie
A	Daytona Beach Islanders	Florida State League	José Martínez
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Bill Scripture

External links

• 1977 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1977 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac