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The Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri called The Kansas City Royals have the honor of being one of five teams in the Central Division of the American League.
For the first and only time since 1883, Kansas City was left without a professional baseball when the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland after the 1967 season. Unless Kansas City was granted a team in the next round of expansion, enraged Senator Stuart Symington threatened to introduce legislation removing baseball's antitrust exemption. So, MLB awarded one of four expansion teams to Kansas City to start playing in 1971.
The bidding for the new team was won by Ewing Kauffman and after the American Royal Livestock Show held in Kansas City every year since 1899, it was named the Royals.
Despite the fact that The Royals were the trendy pre-season pick in 1987 World Series, they just won 83 out of 162 games and finished two games behind the eventual World Champion Minnesota Twins in the Western Division. Longtime star Hal McRae was released in 1987 and John Wathan was the new manager but he did not have McRae's fierce competitive spirit and The Royals never became a dominant team.
Bo Jackson, Tom Gordon, and Kevin Seitzer were developed as young stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s, free-agent acquisitions were patched together, and winning records posted but The Royals fell short of the post-season. Just as native Kansas Citian and future perennial All Star David Cone matured, he was traded for Ed Hearn. Still, wining 92 games and posting the third-best record in baseball did not qualify them for the playoffs in 1989.
The golden spot for the Royals was Brett's outstanding career as his third and final batting title in 1990 made him the first player to win batting titles in three different decades and his 3,000th hit. After a fourteen game winning streak, he players' strike ended the season prematurely and the 1994 season became the club's last flirtation with greatness.In 1993, team owner Ewing Kauffman died leaving the Royals devastated and without a leader resulting in poor performance. In 2000, Wal-Mart executive David Glass finally, purchased the team for $96 million.
Carlos Beltran (rookie of the year in 1999), Johnny Damon, and Mike Sweeney were
talents developed by The Royals but they could never elevate their overall play to perennial contender. A franchise low with a .398 winning percentage (64-97 record) in 1999 and 97 lost games in 2001 were a further blow.
Losing 100 games in 2002, the Royals set a new team record for futility. In 2003 manager Tony Pena was successful in guiding the Royals to their first winning record since the 1994 season and was named the American League Manager of the Year.
With three of their five starting pitchers, their setup man and closer under the age of 30, the Royals continued their youth movement in 2005. The season started with a miserable 8-25 record and resulted in Tony Pena's resignation being replaced by Buddy Bell. A 56-106 record (.346) and 43 games out of first place ended the 2005 season making it the third time in four seasons that the team re-established the mark for worst record in the history of the franchise.
Several veteran players including starting pitchers Mark Redman, Joe Mays and Scott Elarton were signed by General Manager Allard Baird, prior to the 2006 season but they could not bring additional wins. Another 100-loss season in 2006 made them the eleventh team to lose 100 games in three straight seasons in major league history.
The arrival of top prospect Alex Gordon has pumped up fan expectations and Kansas City enters the 2007 season looking to rebound from four out of five seasons ending with 100 losses.
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