1970 Kansas City Royals season

The 1970 Kansas City Royals season was their second in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished tied for fourth place with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League West with a record of 65–97, 33 games behind the division champion Minnesota Twins. Charlie Metro took over as manager when Joe Gordon resigned after the Royals' initial season, but was replaced by Bob Lemon following a 19–33 start. Bob Oliver hit a team-high 27 home runs, becoming the first Royals player to hit 20 or more home runs in a season.

1970 Kansas City Royals
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMunicipal Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersCedric Tallis
ManagersCharlie Metro and Bob Lemon
TelevisionKMBC-TV
RadioKMBZ
(Buddy Blattner, Denny Matthews)
← 1969 Seasons 1971 →

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
Minnesota Twins 98 64 .605 51‍–‍30 47‍–‍34
Oakland Athletics 89 73 .549 9 49‍–‍32 40‍–‍41
California Angels 86 76 .531 12 43‍–‍38 43‍–‍38
Kansas City Royals 65 97 .401 33 35‍–‍44 30‍–‍53
Milwaukee Brewers 65 97 .401 33 38‍–‍42 27‍–‍55
Chicago White Sox 56 106 .346 42 31‍–‍53 25‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore 13–5 7–5 9–3 14–4 11–7 12–0 7–5 5–7 11–7 7–5 12–6
Boston 5–13 5–7 8–4 12–6 9–9 7–5 5–7 7–5 10–8 7–5 12–6
California 5–7 7–5 12–6 6–6 6–6 10–8 12–6 8–10 5–7 8–10 7–5
Chicago 3–9 4–8 6–12 6–6 6–6 7–11 7–11 6–12 5–7 2–16 4–8
Cleveland 4–14 6–12 6–6 6–6 7–11 8–4 7–5 6–6 8–10 7–5 11–7
Detroit 7–11 9–9 6–6 6–6 11–7 6–6 8–4 4–8 7–11 6–6 9–9
Kansas City 0–12 5–7 8–10 11–7 4–8 6–6 12–6 5–13 1–11 7–11 6–6
Milwaukee 5–7 7–5 6–12 11–7 5–7 4–8 6–12 5–13 3–9–1 8–10 5–7
Minnesota 7–5 5–7 10–8 12–6 6–6 8–4 13–5 13–5 5–7 13–5 6–6
New York 7–11 8–10 7–5 7–5 10–8 11–7 11–1 9–3–1 7–5 6–6 10–8
Oakland 5–7 5–7 10–8 16–2 5–7 6–6 11–7 10–8 5–13 6–6 10–2
Washington 6–12 6–12 5–7 8–4 7–11 9–9 6–6 7–5 6–6 8–10 2–10


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1970 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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 Ed Kirkpatrick 134 424 97 .229 18 62
1B Bob Oliver 160 612 159 .260 27 99
2B Cookie Rojas 98 384 100 .260 2 28
SS Jackie Hernández 83 238 55 .231 2 10
3B Paul Schaal 124 380 102 .268 5 35
LF Lou Piniella 144 542 163 .301 11 88
CF Amos Otis 159 620 176 .284 11 58
RF Pat Kelly 136 452 106 .235 6 38

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
Rich Severson 77 240 60 .250 1 22
Ellie Rodríguez 80 231 52 .225 1 15
Joe Keough 57 183 59 .322 4 21
Tom Matchick 55 158 31 .196 0 11
Billy Sorrell 57 135 36 .267 4 14
George Spriggs 51 130 27 .208 1 7
Luis Alcaraz 35 120 20 .167 1 14
Mike Fiore 25 72 13 .181 0 4
Hawk Taylor 57 55 9 .164 0 6
Jim Campanis 31 54 7 .130 2 2
Bobby Floyd 14 43 14 .326 0 9
Jerry Adair 7 27 4 .148 0 1
Buck Martinez 6 9 1 .111 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
Dick Drago 35 240.0 9 15 3.75 127
Jim Rooker 38 203.2 10 15 3.54 117
Bill Butler 25 140.2 4 12 3.77 75

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
Bob Johnson 40 214.0 8 13 3.07 206
Wally Bunker 24 121.2 2 11 4.22 59
Dave Morehead 28 121.2 3 5 3.62 69
Al Fitzmorris 43 117.2 8 5 4.44 47
Don O'Riley 9 23.1 0 0 5.40 13
Roger Nelson 4 9.0 0 2 10.00 3
Paul Splittorff 2 8.2 0 1 7.27 10

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
Ted Abernathy 36 9 3 12 2.59 49
Ken Wright 47 1 2 3 5.23 30
Tom Burgmeier 41 6 6 1 3.16 43
Moe Drabowsky 24 1 2 2 3.28 38
Aurelio Monteagudo 21 1 1 0 2.96 18
Mike Hedlund 9 2 3 0 7.20 5
Jim York 4 1 1 0 3.38 6

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Jack McKeon
AA Elmira Pioneers Eastern League Harry Malmberg
A San Jose Bees California League Buddy Peterson
A Waterloo Hawks Midwest League Steve Boros
Rookie Kingsport Royals Appalachian League Owen Friend
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Dave Pavlesic
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Omaha
Elmira affiliation shared with San Diego Padres

Notes

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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.
  • 1970 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
  • 1970 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com