1972 Kansas City Royals season

The 1972 Kansas City Royals season was their fourth in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished fourth in the American League West at 76–78, 16+1⁄2 games behind the Oakland Athletics. John Mayberry, in his first season with Kansas City, led the team with 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in. Mayberry was the first Royals player to drive in at least 100 runs in a season.

Offseason

November 29, 1971: Steve Hovley was drafted by the Royals from the Oakland Athletics in the 1971 rule 5 draft.
December 2, 1971: Jim York and Lance Clemons were traded by the Royals to the Houston Astros for John Mayberry and Dave Grangaard (minors).
March 15, 1972: José Martínez was purchased by the Royals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Prior to 1972 season: Mark Williams was signed as an amateur free agent by the Royals.

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	93	62	.600	—	48‍–‍29	45‍–‍33
Chicago White Sox	87	67	.565	5½	55‍–‍23	32‍–‍44
Minnesota Twins	77	77	.500	15½	42‍–‍32	35‍–‍45
Kansas City Royals	76	78	.494	16½	44‍–‍33	32‍–‍45
California Angels	75	80	.484	18	44‍–‍36	31‍–‍44
Texas Rangers	54	100	.351	38½	31‍–‍46	23‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

1972 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	8–10	10–8	6–6	10–5	6–6	7–6	6–6	6–6
Boston	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	8–7	5–9	6–6	11–7	4–8	9–9	9–3	8–4
California	6–6	4–8	—	7–11	8–4	5–7	9–6	7–5	7–8	4–8	8–10	10–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	11–7	—	8–4	5–7	8–9	9–3	8–6	7–5	7–8	14–4
Cleveland	10–8	7–8	4–8	4–8	—	10–8	6–6	5–10	8–4	7–11	2–10	9–3
Detroit	8–10	9–5	7–5	7–5	8–10	—	7–5	10–8	9–3	7–9	4–8	10–2
Kansas City	6–6	6–6	6–9	9–8	6–6	5–7	—	7–5	9–9	7–5	7–11	8–6
Milwaukee	5–10	7–11	5–7	3–9	10–5	8–10	5–7	—	4–8	9–9	4–8	5–7
Minnesota	6–6	8–4	8–7	6–8	4–8	3–9	9–9	8–4	—	6–6	8–9	11–7
New York	6–7	9–9	8–4	5–7	11–7	9–7	5–7	9–9	6–6	—	3–9	8–4
Oakland	6–6	3–9	10–8	8–7	10–2	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–8	9–3	—	11–4
Texas	6–6	4–8	7–10	4–14	3–9	2–10	6–8	7–5	7–11	4–8	4–11	—

Notable transactions

June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
- Jamie Quirk was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (18th pick).
- George Throop was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round.

Roster

1972 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 36 Ted Abernathy 39 Norm Angelini 22 Tom Burgmeier 40 Steve Busby 43 Bruce Dal Canton 41 Dick Drago 23 Al Fitzmorris 32 Mike Hedlund 25 Mike Jackson 20 Monty Montgomery 29 Tom Murphy 35 Roger Nelson 25 Jim Rooker 34 Paul Splittorff 28 Ken Wright		Catchers 8 Ed Kirkpatrick 12 Jerry May 17 Dennis Paepke 14 Carl Taylor Infielders 15 Bobby Floyd 2 Ron Hansen 18 Gail Hopkins 19 Bobby Knoop 7 John Mayberry 37 Freddie Patek 1 Cookie Rojas 10 Paul Schaal 6 Jim Wohlford		Outfielders 30 Steve Hovley 16 Joe Keough 33 Bob Oliver 26 Amos Otis 9 Lou Piniella 5 Richie Scheinblum		Manager 21 Bob Lemon Coaches 3 Galen Cisco (Pitching) 4 Harry Dunlop (Third base) 24 Charley Lau (Hitting) 11 George Strickland (First base)

1972 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

21 Bob Lemon

Coaches

3 Galen Cisco (Pitching)
4 Harry Dunlop (Third base)
24 Charley Lau (Hitting)
11 George Strickland (First base)

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	Ed Kirkpatrick	113	364	100	.275	9	43
1B	John Mayberry	149	503	150	.298	25	100
2B	Cookie Rojas	137	487	127	.261	3	53
SS	Freddie Patek	136	518	110	.212	0	32
3B	Paul Schaal	127	435	99	.228	6	41
LF	Lou Piniella	151	574	179	.312	11	72
CF	Amos Otis	143	540	158	.293	11	54
RF	Richie Scheinblum	134	450	135	.300	8	66

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
Steve Hovley	105	196	53	.270	3	24
Bobby Floyd	61	134	24	.179	0	5
Jerry May	53	116	22	.190	1	4
Carl Taylor	63	113	30	.265	0	11
Bobby Knoop	44	97	23	.237	0	7
Gail Hopkins	53	71	15	.211	0	5
Joe Keough	56	64	14	.219	0	5
Bob Oliver	16	63	17	.270	1	6
Ron Hansen	16	30	4	.133	0	2
Jim Wohlford	15	25	6	.240	0	0
Dennis Paepke	2	6	0	.000	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
Dick Drago	34	239.1	12	17	3.01	135
Paul Splittorff	35	216.0	12	12	3.13	140
Monty Montgomery	9	56.1	3	3	3.04	24
Steve Busby	5	40.0	3	1	1.58	31

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
Roger Nelson	34	173.1	11	6	2.08	120
Bruce Dal Canton	35	132.1	6	6	3.40	75
Mike Hedlund	29	113.0	5	7	4.78	52
Jim Rooker	18	72.0	5	6	4.38	44
Tom Murphy	18	70.1	4	4	3.07	34
Mike Jackson	7	19.2	1	2	6.41	15

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
Tom Burgmeier	51	6	2	9	4.23	18
Ted Abernathy	45	3	4	5	1.70	28
Al Fitzmorris	38	2	5	3	3.74	51
Norm Angelini	21	2	1	2	2.25	16
Ken Wright	17	1	2	4	4.91	18

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Jack McKeon
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Billy Gardner
A	San Jose Bees	California League	Harry Malmberg
A	Waterloo Royals	Midwest League	Steve Boros
Rookie	Kingsport Royals	Appalachian League	Jay Hankins
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Buzzy Keller
Rookie	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Gary Blaylock

Notes

Steve Hovley at Baseball Reference
John Mayberry at Baseball Reference
José Martínez at Baseball Reference
Mark Williams at Baseball Reference
Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference
George Throop at Baseball Reference

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1972 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1972 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

1972 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Kansas City Royals

Established in 1969
Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Franchise

Ballparks

Municipal Stadium; Kauffman Stadium; New Royals Stadium (proposed)
Spring training: Terry Park; Baseball City Stadium; Surprise Stadium

Culture

Lore

Team Hall of Fame

Minor league
affiliates

Triple-A: Omaha Storm Chasers
Double-A: Northwest Arkansas Naturals
High-A: Quad Cities River Bandits
Single-A: Columbia Fireflies
Rookie: ACL Royals; DSL Royals Fortuna; DSL Royals Ventura

Key personnel

Owner: John Sherman
President of Baseball Operations & General Manager: J. J. Picollo
Manager: Matt Quatraro

World Series
championships (2)

1985
2015

American League
pennants (4)

Division titles

West: 1976; 1977; 1978; 1980; 1981 (second half); 1984; 1985
Central: 2015
Wild Card: 2014; 2024

Seasons (57)
1960s	1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 · 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

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