1975 Kansas City Royals: A Wild Ride That Set The Stage For Success

The 1975 Kansas City Royals had a wild ride. A young franchise in just its seventh season of existence played well early and raised hopes of the postseason. A summer skid brought despair, tension, and a managerial change. But that change gave way to a strong finish that, while coming up short of the playoffs, set the stage for a decade of success.

KEY PLAYERS WHO DEFINED THE SEASON

Kansas City had a well-balanced team led by first baseman John Mayberry. With 34 homers, 106 RBIs, and a league-leading 119 walks, Mayberry posted a .416 on-base percentage/.547 slugging percentage and finished second in the AL MVP voting.

Across the infield was a 22-year old third baseman named George Brett who turned out pretty well. Brett batted .308 and drove in 90 runs. Leftfielder Hal McRae was another .300 hitter. The Royals also had a good running game. Shortstop Freddie Patek and centerfielder Amos Otis each stole over 30 bases.

The lineup wasn’t perfect. There were holes at second base and right field—although a pair of reserves, Frank White and Al Cowens, were on the way. And signing 39-year-old Harmon Killebrew didn’t pan out. The great Hall of Famer was at the end of the line and only batted .199 with 14 homers in what proved to be his final season. But Kansas City still had enough to finish a respectable fifth in the 12-team American League for runs scored.

Steve Busby anchored a balanced pitching staff, winning 18 games with a 3.08 ERA. Al Fitzmorris got 16 wins and Dennis Leonard won 15 more, each with ERAs in the 3s. Busby, Fitzmorris and Leonard were the foundation of the staff, all logging over 200 innings.

Paul Splittorff and Nelson Briles were primarily starters, although both pulled some bullpen work. Splittorff was a rising young lefthander who finished with a 3.17 ERA. Briles, previously a part of the excellent Pittsburgh Pirate teams of this era, finished with a 4.26 ERA.

Marty Pattin was primarily a reliever, although he also threw in 15 starts and finished with a 3.25 ERA. Doug Bird was the prime relief pitcher, with over 100 innings pitched, although even that included four starts. Even by the more fluid standards of the 1970s when pitchers had to be ready for anything, this was a versatile staff. And they finished fourth in the American League for composite ERA.

Prior to 1994, Kansas City resided in the AL West. With just two divisions per league, there was no Central Division. So the Royals, along with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White, joined with the California Angels, Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s in the AL West. The Seattle Mariners did not yet exist and the Houston Astros were decades away from jumping to the American League.

A PROMISING START

Only the first-place team could qualify for the playoffs, going directly to the League Championship Series, so the bar was high. And in the AL West it was even higher—the A’s were merely the three-time defending World Series champions. So, after a nice 4-1 start, Kansas City got set to host Oakland and get an early read on where they were.

The Royals dropped Monday night’s opener 3-2, only mustering six hits. They trailed 3-1 in the eighth inning on Tuesday and things were looking bleak. Then an error and a Cowens homer tied the game. In the ninth, facing the great Rollie Fingers, McRae singled, Brett doubled him home and Kansas City had a 4-3 walkoff win. The following night, Killebrew homered, Mayberry had a key two-run single, Briles tossed a complete game and the Royals took the series with a 6-2 win.

Then struggles set in. They dropped 14 of the next 24 games before going to Boston to face the World Series-bound Red Sox in a four-game series. Busby outdueled Luis Tiant in the Thursday night opener, winning 3-0. On Friday, McRae had three hits and Leonard went the distance to win 5-2. Saturday night saw Mayberry and White homer to key a 5-3 win. Even though Kansas City dropped a 4-2 decision in the Sunday finale, they had stopped the bleeding with an impressive showing against a good team.

A trip to Baltimore came the following weekend. The Orioles had been the AL East’s top franchise in the first half of the 1970s and they would contend again this year. Killebrew got the ball rolling on Friday night with two home runs. Jim Wohlford added four hits in a 10-1 rout.

On Saturday night, the Royals trailed 4-0 in the eighth inning. Mayberry drove in a run with a two-out hit. In the ninth, Brett and Vada Pinson hit consecutive doubles. It was 4-2. After two walks, McRae cleared the bases with a double and K.C. had a stunning 5-4 win. McRae took that momentum right into Sunday afternoon, with three hits a home run and six RBIs. A 9-1 rout closed the sweep.

As we headed into the season’s first turn on Memorial Day, Kansas City was 25-19, just one game back of Oakland, with a record better than anyone in the AL East. The Royals rolled that momentum into the early summer, won six of seven and moved into first place. The possibility of dethroning the A’s was very real.

MIDSEASON STRUGGLES & A MANAGERIAL SHAKEUP

But June turned cruel. Kansas City went to Baltimore and was swept. They hosted Boston and lost three of four. The Royals traveled west to play the A’s and dropped three of four. They were spiraling. Tensions were rising between the players and manager Jack McKeon. Kansas City continued to play mediocre baseball. In the blink of an eye, a promising summer had turned into a 47-41 record and an 8 ½ game deficit at the All-Star break.

After losing five of eight games to start the second half, McKeon was fired. Kansas City hired Whitey Herzog. They saw results immediately, sweeping Texas, winning a home series with Oakland and sweeping Minnesota. The Royals closed to within 5 ½ games on August 10.

Kansas City played the muscle of the AL East—the Red Sox, Orioles, and an above-.500 Yankee team home-and-home. The Royals went 7-8. Not great, but they could have survived that. What they couldn’t survive was a series against the lowly Cleveland Indians stashed into that stretch—the Royals were swept three straight by the Tribe. By Labor Day, Kansas City’s record was up to 73-61, but they were still eight games off the pace.

Whitey had the team playing well and they didn’t quit, ripping off eight wins in nine games, cutting the lead back to five and giving themselves a chance on a final trip west to play Oakland. But the bats fell silent—they lost the three games by a combined 19-4. The AL West race was effectively over.

THE FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE SUCCESS

Kansas City still won 11 of their final 18 games and finished the season with a solid 91-71 record. It was the fourth-best in the American League and sixth-best in the majors overall.

Moreover, they had their manager in place, and the young talent was coming into its own. In 1976, they took the next step and won the AL West. That began a 10-year run that included six division titles, two pennants and a World Series title in 1985.