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1983 Kansas City Royals season

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1983 Kansas City Royals
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkRoyals Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersJohn Schuerholz
ManagersDick Howser
TelevisionWDAF-TV
(Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White)
RadioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1982 Seasons 1984 →

The 1983 Kansas City Royals season was their 15th in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 79–83, 20 games behind the Chicago White Sox. Dan Quisenberry's league-leading 45 saves also set a single-season franchise record.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 99 63 .611 — 55‍–‍26 44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals 79 83 .488 20 45‍–‍36 34‍–‍47
Texas Rangers 77 85 .475 22 44‍–‍37 33‍–‍48
Oakland Athletics 74 88 .457 25 42‍–‍39 32‍–‍49
California Angels 70 92 .432 29 35‍–‍46 35‍–‍46
Minnesota Twins 70 92 .432 29 37‍–‍44 33‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners 60 102 .370 39 30‍–‍51 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1983 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 8–5 7–5 7–5 6–7 5–8 8–4 11–2 8–4 6–7 8–4 8–4 9–3 7–6
Boston 5–8 — 6–6 6–6 7–6 4–9 5–7 4–9 5–7 7–6 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–6
California 5–7 6–6 — 3–10 8–4 4–8 6–7 6–6 6–7 5–7 5–8 6–7 6–7 4–8
Chicago 5–7 6–6 10–3 — 8–4 8–4 9–4 4–8 8–5 8–4 8–5 12–1 8–5 5–7
Cleveland 7–6 6–7 4–8 4–8 — 5–8 7–5 3–10 6–6 6–7 7–5 8–4 3–9 4–9
Detroit 8–5 9–4 8–4 4–8 8–5 — 7–5 6–7 9–3 5–8 6–6 8–4 8–4 6–7
Kansas City 4–8 7–5 7–6 4–9 5–7 5–7 — 6–6 6–7 6–6 7–6 8–5 8–5–1 6–6
Milwaukee 2–11 9–4 6–6 8–4 10–3 7–6 6–6 — 8–4 4–9 6–6 5–7 8–4 8–5
Minnesota 4–8 7–5 7–6 5–8 6–6 3–9 7–6 4–8 — 4–8 4–9 9–4 5–8 5–7
New York 7–6 6–7 7–5 4–8 7–6 8–5 6–6 9–4 8–4 — 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–6
Oakland 4–8 4–8 8–5 5–8 5–7 6–6 6–7 6–6 9–4 4–8 — 9–4 2–11 6–6
Seattle 4–8 5–7 7–6 1–12 4–8 4–8 5–8 7–5 4–9 5–7 4–9 — 6–7 4–8
Texas 3–9 5–7 7–6 5–8 9–3 4–8 5–8–1 4–8 8–5 5–7 11–2 7–6 — 4–8
Toronto 6–7 6–7 8–4 7–5 9–4 7–6 6–6 5–8 7–5 6–7 6–6 8–4 8–4 —


Notable transactions

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Pine Tar Game

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Main article: Pine Tar Incident
The baseball bat used by Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983.

The Pine Tar Game refers to a controversial incident that took place in an American League baseball game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983.

Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U L Washington on first base. In the on deck circle, George Brett was heard remarking to a teammate, "Watch this baby fly" as he shook his bat. He then came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5-4 lead. As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested that Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members (most notably, third baseman Graig Nettles, who as a member of the Minnesota Twins, recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson) of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until the home run.

With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(b) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches (460 mm) from the tip of the handle."

Roster

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1983 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 John Wathan 128 437 107 .245 2 32
1B Willie Aikens 125 410 124 .302 23 72
2B Frank White 146 549 143 .260 11 77
SS UL Washington 144 547 129 .236 5 41
3B George Brett 123 464 144 .310 25 93
LF Butch Davis 33 122 42 .344 2 18
CF Willie Wilson 137 576 159 .276 2 33
RF Amos Otis 98 356 93 .261 4 41
DH Hal McRae 157 589 183 .311 12 82

Other batters

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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
Pat Sheridan 109 333 90 .270 7 36
Don Slaught 83 276 86 .312 0 28
Onix Concepción 80 219 53 .242 0 20
Leon Roberts 84 213 55 .258 8 24
Joe Simpson 89 119 20 .168 0 8
Greg Pryor 68 115 25 .217 1 14
César Gerónimo 38 87 18 .207 0 4
Darryl Motley 19 68 16 .235 3 11
Jerry Martin 13 44 14 .318 2 13
Cliff Pastornicky 10 32 4 .125 2 5
Ron Johnson 9 27 7 .259 0 1
Buddy Biancalana 6 15 3 .200 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Larry Gura 34 200.1 11 18 4.90 57
Bud Black 24 161.1 10 7 3.79 58
Paul Splittorff 27 156.0 13 8 3.63 61
Gaylord Perry 14 84.1 4 4 4.27 40
Dennis Leonard 10 63.0 6 3 3.71 31
Eric Rasmussen 11 52.2 3 6 4.78 18
Frank Wills 6 34.2 2 1 4.15 23
Danny Jackson 4 19.0 1 1 5.21 9

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Steve Renko 25 121.1 6 11 4.30 54
Keith Creel 25 89.1 2 5 6.35 31
Vida Blue 19 85.1 0 5 6.01 53

Relief pitchers

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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 69 5 3 45 1.94 48
Mike Armstrong 58 10 7 3 3.86 52
Don Hood 27 2 3 0 2.27 17
Bill Castro 18 2 0 0 6.64 17
Mark Huismann 13 2 1 0 5.58 20
Bob Tufts 6 0 0 0 8.10 3
Joe Simpson 2 0 0 0 3.00 1

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Joe Sparks
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gene Lamont
A Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Rick Mathews
A Charleston Royals South Atlantic League Roy Tanner
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Joe Jones
Rookie Butte Copper Kings Pioneer League Tommy Jones

Notes

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  1. ^ Tim Ireland at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Cecil Fielder at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Bombo Rivera at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Gaylord Perry at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Mélido Pérez at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Eric Rasmussen at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Vida Blue at Baseball Reference

References

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  • 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.
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