1987 Kansas City Royals season

The 1987 Kansas City Royals season was the 19th season for the franchise, and their 15th at Kauffman Stadium. 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.
December 22, 1986: Alan Hargesheimer was released by the Royals.
March 20, 1987: Derek Botelho was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Kansas City Royals for Eddie Tanner (minors) and Pete Carey (minors).
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.
March 30, 1987: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Thad Bosley and Dave Gumpert.
March 31, 1987: Larry Owen was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
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.

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	85	77	.525	—	56‍–‍25	29‍–‍52
Kansas City Royals	83	79	.512	2	46‍–‍35	37‍–‍44
Oakland Athletics	81	81	.500	4	42‍–‍39	39‍–‍42
Seattle Mariners	78	84	.481	7	40‍–‍41	38‍–‍43
Chicago White Sox	77	85	.475	8	38‍–‍43	39‍–‍42
Texas Rangers	75	87	.463	10	43‍–‍38	32‍–‍49
California Angels	75	87	.463	10	38‍–‍43	37‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

1987 American League record v t e Sources:
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	—

Notable transactions

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.

Notable events

June 17, 1987: Manager Dick Howser passes away from brain cancer.

Roster

1987 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers 17 Rick Anderson 40 Bud Black 49 John Davis 26 Steve Farr 28 Gene Garber 39 Jerry Don Gleaton 23 Mark Gubicza 30 Dave Gumpert 15 Danny Jackson 37 Charlie Leibrandt 31 Mélido Pérez 29 Dan Quisenberry 18 Bret Saberhagen 31 Bob Shirley 19 Bob Stoddard		Catchers 7 Ed Hearn 28 Mike Macfarlane 24 Larry Owen 9 Jamie Quirk Infielders 45 Steve Balboni 1 Buddy Biancalana 5 George Brett 3 Ross Jones 38 Scotti Madison 32 Bill Pecota 2 Ángel Salazar 33 Kevin Seitzer 20 Frank White		Outfielders 12 Juan Beníquez 27 Thad Bosley 16 Bo Jackson 21 Lonnie Smith 4 Danny Tartabull 25 Gary Thurman 6 Willie Wilson Other batters 22 Jim Eisenreich 11 Hal McRae 3 Jorge Orta		Manager 14 Billy Gardner 12 John Wathan Coaches 43 Gary Blaylock 41 Joe Jones 42 José Martínez 11 Hal McRae 46 Ed Napoleon 44 Jimmie Schaffer

1987 Kansas City Royals roster

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

14 Billy Gardner
12 John Wathan

Coaches

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	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

Other batters

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

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
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

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
Bud Black	29	122.1	8	6	3.60	61
Rick Anderson	6	13.0	0	2	13.85	12

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
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

Farm system

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

References

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

1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1987 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

1987 MLB season by team

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

Categories: