1969 Kansas City Royals season

1969 Kansas City Royals
1969 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Municipal Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	69–93–1 (.426)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	Cedric Tallis
Managers	Joe Gordon
Television	KMBC-TV
Radio	KMBZ ; (Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews)

Last updated April 22, 2025

The 1969 Kansas City Royals season was the Royals' inaugural season. The team finished fourth in the newly established American League West with a record of 69 wins, 93 losses, and 1 tie.^[1]

Offseason

A franchise is born

The club's inception is connected to the Athletics franchise. On October 18, 1967, A.L. owners at last gave Charles O. Finley permission to move the Athletics to Oakland for the 1968 season. According to some reports, Joe Cronin promised Finley that he could move the team after the 1967 season as an incentive to sign the new lease with Municipal Stadium. The move came in spite of approval by voters in Jackson County of a bond issue for a brand new baseball stadium (the eventual Kauffman Stadium) to be completed in 1973. When U.S. Senator Stuart Symington threatened to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked, the owners responded with a hasty round of expansion. Kansas City was awarded an American League expansion team, the Royals. They were initially slated to begin play in 1971. However, Symington was not willing to have Kansas City wait three years for another team, and renewed his threat to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked unless the teams began play in 1969. The owners complied, but it forced the Seattle Pilots to enter the league earlier than expected without a suitable stadium, leading to financial difficulty, and a rapid relocation to Milwaukee in April 1970.

The Kansas City franchise was formally awarded to Ewing Kauffman on January 11, 1968.^[2] The owner selected Los Angeles Angels vice president Cedric Tallis as the Royals' first general manager, and Tallis began to assemble a front office staff.

Expansion draft

The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft for the Royals and the Seattle Pilots was held on October 15.

Player	Former Team	Pick
Roger Nelson ^[3]	Baltimore Orioles	1st
Joe Foy	Boston Red Sox	4th
Jim Rooker	New York Yankees	6th
Joe Keough	Oakland A's	8th
Steve Jones	Washington Senators	10th
Jon Warden	Detroit Tigers	12th
Ellie Rodríguez	New York Yankees	13th
Dave Morehead	Boston Red Sox	15th
Mike Fiore	Baltimore Orioles	17th
Bob Oliver	Minnesota Twins	19th
Bill Butler	Detroit Tigers	22nd
Steve Whitaker	New York Yankees	23rd
Wally Bunker ^[4]	Baltimore Orioles	25th
Paul Schaal ^[5]	California Angels	27th
Dan Haynes	Chicago White Sox	29th
Dick Drago ^[6]	Detroit Tigers	31st
Pat Kelly	Minnesota Twins	34th
Billy Harris	Cleveland Indians	36th
Don O'Riley	Oakland A's	38th
Al Fitzmorris	Chicago White Sox	40th
Moe Drabowsky	Baltimore Orioles	42nd
Jackie Hernández	Minnesota Twins	43rd
Mike Hedlund	Cleveland Indians	45th
Tom Burgmeier	California Angels	47th
Hoyt Wilhelm ^[7]	Chicago White Sox	49th
Jerry Adair	Boston Red Sox	51st
Jerry Cram	Minnesota Twins	54th
Fran Healy	Cleveland Indians	56th
Scott Northey	Chicago White Sox	58th
Ike Brookens	Washington Senators	60th

Other offseason transactions

June 7, 1968: Dane Iorg was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round of the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign.^[8]
August 14, 1968: Galen Cisco was purchased by the Royals from the Boston Red Sox.^[9]
December 12, 1968: Hoyt Wilhelm was traded by the Royals to the California Angels for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke.^[7]
December 15, 1968: Dennis Ribant was purchased by the Royals from the Detroit Tigers.^[10]
March 29, 1969: Dennis Ribant was purchased from the Royals by the St. Louis Cardinals.^[10]

1968 MLB June amateur draft and minor league affiliates

The Royals and Seattle Pilots, along with the two National League expansion teams set to debut in 1969, the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres, were allowed to participate in the June 1968 MLB first-year player draft, although the new teams were barred from the lottery's first three rounds. Despite this impediment, the Royals drafted fifty players in the 1968 June draft, including Iorg and other future major leaguers Lance Clemons (seventh round), Monty Montgomery (ninth) and Paul Splittorff (25th).^[11] Splittorff would win 166 games for the MLB Royals, including seasons of 20 (1973) and 19 (1978) victories, in a 15-year big-league career, then become a longtime analyst on the team's television crew. The Royals affiliated with three minor league clubs during 1968 to develop drafted players; the rosters were filled out by professional and amateur free agents that had been signed and players loaned from other organizations.

1968 farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms	Carolina League	Jack McKeon
A	Dubuque Royals	Midwest League	Max Lanier and Paul Pettit
A-Short Season	Corning Royals	New York–Penn League	Bobo Osborne

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: High Point-Thomasville

Regular season

May 4, 1969: Bob Oliver became the first Royal to collect six hits in a nine-inning game.^[12]

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	97	65	.599	—	57‍–‍24	40‍–‍41
Oakland Athletics	88	74	.543	9	49‍–‍32	39‍–‍42
California Angels	71	91	.438	26	43‍–‍38	28‍–‍53
Kansas City Royals	69	93	.426	28	36‍–‍45	33‍–‍48
Chicago White Sox	68	94	.420	29	41‍–‍40	27‍–‍54
Seattle Pilots	64	98	.395	33	34‍–‍47	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1969 American League records v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEP	WSH
Baltimore	—	10–8	6–6	9–3	13–5	11–7	11–1	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–3	13–5
Boston	8–10	—	8–4	5–7	12–6	10–8	10–2	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	6–12
California	6–6	4–8	—	9–9	8–4	5–7	9–9	7–11	3–9	6–12	9–9–1	5–7
Chicago	3–9	7–5	9–9	—	8–4	3–9	8–10	5–13	3–9	8–10	10–8	4–8
Cleveland	5–13	6–12	4–8	4–8	—	7–11	7–5	5–7	9–8	5–7	7–5	3–15
Detroit	7–11	8–10	7–5	9–3	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	10–8	7–5	10–2	7–11
Kansas City	1–11	2–10	9–9	10–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	5–7–1	8–10	10–8	7–5
Minnesota	4–8	5–7	11–7	13–5	7–5	6–6	10–8	—	10–2	13–5	12–6	6–6
New York	7–11	7–11	9–3	9–3	8–9	8–10	7–5–1	2–10	—	6–6	7–5	10–8
Oakland	4–8	8–4	12–6	10–8	7–5	5–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	13–5	8–4
Seattle	3–9	6–6	9–9–1	8–10	5–7	2–10	8–10	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	7–5
Washington	5–13	12–6	7–5	8–4	15–3	11–7	5–7	6–6	8–10	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

April 1, 1969: Steve Whitaker and John Gelnar were traded by the Royals to the Seattle Pilots for Lou Piniella.^[13]
June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball Draft
- Keith Marshall was drafted by the Royals in the 5th round.^[14]
- Frank Ortenzio was drafted by the Royals in the 47th round.^[15]

The first game

Starting lineup

9	Lou Piniella	CF
14	Jerry Adair	2B
8	Ed Kirkpatrick	LF
1	Joe Foy	3B
7	Chuck Harrison	1B
33	Bob Oliver	RF
11	Ellie Rodríguez	C
24	Jackie Hernández	SS
27	Wally Bunker	P

Scorecard

April 8, Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Minnesota	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	12	1
Kansas City	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	14	0
W: Drabowsky (1–0) L: Grzenda (0–1)
HRs: Nettles (1)

Roster

1969 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

6 Joe Gordon

Coaches

4 Harry Dunlop (3rd base)
5 Owen Friend (assistant)
3 Mel Harder (pitching)
36 Charlie Metro (1st base)
2 Jo-Jo White (hitting)

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	Ellie Rodríguez	95	267	63	.236	2	20
1B	Mike Fiore	107	339	93	.274	12	35
2B	Jerry Adair	126	432	108	.250	5	48
3B	Joe Foy	145	519	136	.262	11	71
SS	Jackie Hernández	145	504	112	.222	4	40
LF	Lou Piniella	135	493	139	.282	11	68
CF	Bob Oliver	118	394	100	.254	13	43
RF	Pat Kelly	112	417	110	.264	8	32

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
Ed Kirkpatrick	120	315	81	.257	14	49
Chuck Harrison	75	213	47	.221	3	18
Buck Martinez	72	205	47	.229	4	23
Paul Schaal	61	205	54	.263	1	13
Juan Ríos	87	196	44	.224	1	5
Joe Keough	70	166	31	.187	0	7
Hawk Taylor	64	89	24	.270	3	21
Jim Campanis	30	83	13	.157	0	5
Luis Alcaraz	22	79	20	.253	1	7
Scott Northey	20	61	16	.262	1	7
George Spriggs	23	29	4	.138	0	0
Dennis Paepke	12	27	3	.111	0	0
Fred Rico	12	26	6	.231	0	2
Fran Healy	6	10	4	.400	0	0
Billy Harris	5	7	2	.286	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
Wally Bunker	35	222.2	12	11	3.23	130
Bill Butler	34	193.2	9	10	3.90	156
Roger Nelson	29	193.1	7	13	3.31	82
Jim Rooker	28	158.1	4	16	3.75	108

Other pitchers