1988 Kansas City Royals season

1988 Kansas City Royals
1988 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Royals Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	John Wathan
Television	WDAF-TV; (Paul Splittorff, Denny Trease)
Radio	WIBW (AM); (Denny Matthews, Fred White)

The 1988 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League West with a record of 84 wins and 77 losses.

Offseason

November 6, 1987: Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar are traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Kurt Stillwell and Ted Power.^[1]
December 10, 1987: Mélido Pérez, John Davis, Greg Hibbard, and Chuck Mount (minors) were traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Floyd Bannister and Dave Cochrane.^[2]

Regular season

On Opening Day, the Royals faced the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays' George Bell set a record for the most home runs hit on Opening Day with three.^[3]

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	104	58	.642	—	54‍–‍27	50‍–‍31
Minnesota Twins	91	71	.562	13	47‍–‍34	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	84	77	.522	19½	44‍–‍36	40‍–‍41
California Angels	75	87	.463	29	35‍–‍46	40‍–‍41
Chicago White Sox	71	90	.441	32½	40‍–‍41	31‍–‍49
Texas Rangers	70	91	.435	33½	38‍–‍43	32‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners	68	93	.422	35½	37‍–‍44	31‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

1988 American League record v t e 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	—	4–9	5–7	4–7	4–9	5–8	0–12	4–9	3–9	3–10	4–8	7–5	6–6	5–8
Boston	9–4	—	8–4	7–5	8–5	6–7	6–6	10–3	7–5	9–4	3–9	6–6	8–4	2–11
California	7–5	4–8	—	9–4	8–4	5–7	5–8	3–9	4–9	6–6	4–9	6–7	8–5	6–6
Chicago	7–4	5–7	4–9	—	3–9	3–9	7–6	6–6	4–9	3–9	5–8	9–4	8–5	7–5
Cleveland	9–4	5–8	4–8	9–3	—	4–9	6–6	9–4	5–7	6–7	4–8	5–7	6–6	6–7
Detroit	8–5	7–6	7–5	9–3	9–4	—	8–4	5–8	1–11	8–5	4–8	9–3	8–4	5–8
Kansas City	12–0	6–6	8–5	6–7	6–6	4–8	—	3–9	7–6	6–6	8–5	7–5	7–6	4–8
Milwaukee	9–4	3–10	9–3	6–6	4–9	8–5	9–3	—	7–5	6–7	3–9	8–4	8–4	7–6
Minnesota	9–3	5–7	9–4	9–4	7–5	11–1	6–7	5–7	—	3–9	5–8	8–5	7–6	7–5
New York	10–3	4–9	6–6	9–3	7–6	5–8	6–6	7–6	9–3	—	6–6	5–7	5–6	6–7
Oakland	8–4	9–3	9–4	8–5	8–4	8–4	5–8	9–3	8–5	6–6	—	9–4	8–5	9–3
Seattle	5–7	6–6	7–6	4–9	7–5	3–9	5–7	4–8	5–8	7–5	4–9	—	6–7	5–7
Texas	6–6	4–8	5–8	5–8	6–6	4–8	6–7	4–8	6–7	6–5	5–8	7–6	—	6–6
Toronto	8–5	11–2	6–6	5–7	7–6	8–5	8–4	6–7	5–7	7–6	3–9	7–5	6–6	—

Notable transactions

May 13, 1988: Bill Buckner was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]
May 27, 1988: Steve Balboni was released by the Royals.^[5]
June 1, 1988: 1988 Major League Baseball draft
- Bob Hamelin was drafted by the Royals in the 2nd round. Player signed June 11, 1988.^[6]
- Kerwin Moore was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round. Player signed June 3, 1988.^[7]
June 3, 1988: Bud Black was traded by the Royals to the Cleveland Indians for Pat Tabler.^[8]
August 31, 1988: Ted Power was traded by the Royals to the Detroit Tigers for Rey Palacios and Mark Lee.^[9]

Roster

1988 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

12 John Wathan

Coaches

Game log

Regular season

1988 regular season game log: 84–77 (Home: 44–36; Away: 40–44)

April: 12–10 (Home: 6–3; Away: 6–7)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

May: 11–17 (Home: 4–12; Away: 7–5)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

June: 17–10 (Home: 9–4; Away: 8–6)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

July: 12–15 (Home: 6–5; Away: 6–10)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

August: 18–10 (Home: 13–5; Away: 5–5)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

September: 16–12 (Home: 6–5; Away: 10–7)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

October: 0–2 (Home: 0–2; Away: 0–0)

#	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record	Box/ Streak

Legend: = Win = Loss = Postponement
Bold = Royals team member

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	Mike Macfarlane	70	211	56	.265	4	26
1B	George Brett	157	589	180	.306	24	103
2B	Frank White	150	537	126	.235	8	58
SS	Kurt Stillwell	128	459	115	.251	10	53
3B	Kevin Seitzer	149	559	170	.304	5	60
LF	Bo Jackson	124	439	108	.246	25	68
CF	Willie Wilson	147	591	155	.262	1	37
RF	Danny Tartabull	146	507	139	.274	26	102
DH	Bill Buckner	89	242	62	.256	3	34

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
Pat Tabler	89	301	93	.309	1	49
Jim Eisenreich	82	202	44	.218	1	19
Jamie Quirk	84	196	47	.240	8	25
Bill Pecota	90	178	37	.208	1	15
Brad Wellman	71	107	29	.271	1	6
Larry Owen	37	81	17	.210	1	3
Gary Thurman	35	66	11	.167	0	2
Steve Balboni	21	63	9	.143	2	5
Scotti Madison	16	35	6	.171	0	2
Nick Capra	14	29	4	.138	0	0
Luis de los Santos	11	22	2	.091	0	1
Thad Bosley	15	21	4	.190	0	2
Ed Hearn	7	18	4	.222	0	1
Rey Palacios	5	11	1	.091	0	0
Dave Owen	7	5	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
Mark Gubicza	35	269.2	20	8	2.70	183
Bret Saberhagen	35	260.2	14	16	3.80	171
Charlie Leibrandt	35	243.0	13	12	3.19	125
Floyd Bannister	31	189.1	12	13	4.33	113

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
Ted Power	22	80.1	5	6	5.94	44
Rick Anderson	7	34.0	2	1	4.24	9
Luis Aquino	7	29.0	1	0	2.79	11
Tom Gordon	5	15.2	0	2	5.17	18
José DeJesús	2	2.2	0	1	27.00	2

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
Steve Farr	62	5	4	20	2.50	72
Jeff Montgomery	45	7	2	1	3.45	47
Jerry Don Gleaton	42	0	4	3	3.55	29
Gene Garber	26	0	4	6	3.58	20
Dan Quisenberry	20	0	1	1	3.55	9
Israel Sánchez	19	3	2	1	4.54	14
Bud Black	17	2	1	0	4.91	19
Mark Lee	4	0	0	0	3.60	0

Awards and records

George Brett, Silver Slugger Award
Willie Wilson, American League Leader, Triples^[10]
Willie Wilson, Tied Sam Crawford's American League record, Leading AL in Triples five times^[10]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Glenn Ezell
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Sal Rende
A	Baseball City Royals	Florida State League	Luis Silverio
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Brian Poldberg
A-Short Season	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	P. K. Kirsch
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Carlos Tosca

^[11]

References

^ "Kurt Stillwell Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com.
^ Mélido Pérez at Baseball Reference
^ SI.com – Statitudes – Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers – Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
^ Bill Buckner at Baseball Reference
^ Steve Balboni at Baseball Reference
^ Bob Hamelin at Baseball Reference
^ Kerwin Moore at Baseball Reference
^ Bud Black at Baseball Reference
^ Mark Lee at Baseball Reference
^ ^a ^b Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.95, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1988 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

[1] "Kurt Stillwell Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com.

[2] Mélido Pérez at Baseball Reference

[3] SI.com – Statitudes – Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers – Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM

[4] Bill Buckner at Baseball Reference

[5] Steve Balboni at Baseball Reference

[6] Bob Hamelin at Baseball Reference

[7] Kerwin Moore at Baseball Reference

[8] Bud Black at Baseball Reference

[9] Mark Lee at Baseball Reference

[Great_Baseball_Feats_p.95-10] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.95, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[11] Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

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