1988 Kansas City Royals season

1988 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969)
West Division (since 1969)
Location
Royals Stadium (since 1973)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	John Schuerholz
Manager(s)	John Wathan
Local television	WDAF-TV (Paul Splittorff, Denny Trease)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1988 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing 3rd in the American League West with a record of 84 wins and 77 losses.

Offseason

• 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	104	58	0.642	—	54–27	50–31
Minnesota Twins	91	71	0.562	13	47–34	44–37
Kansas City Royals	84	77	0.522	19½	44–36	40–41
California Angels	75	87	0.463	29	35–46	40–41
Chicago White Sox	71	90	0.441	32½	40–41	31–49
Texas Rangers	70	91	0.435	33½	38–43	32–48
Seattle Mariners	68	93	0.422	35½	37–44	31–49

Record vs. opponents

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

Roster

1988 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 17 Rick Anderson 27 Luis Aquino 19 Floyd Bannister 40 Bud Black 54 José DeJesús 26 Steve Farr 31 Gene Garber 39 Jerry Don Gleaton 36 Tom Gordon 23 Mark Gubicza 35 Mark Lee 37 Charlie Leibrandt 21 Jeff Montgomery 48 Ted Power 29 Dan Quisenberry 18 Bret Saberhagen 31 Israel Sánchez		Catchers  7 Ed Hearn  8 Mike Macfarlane 38 Scotti Madison 24 Larry Owen 29 Rey Palacios  9 Jamie Quirk Infielders 45 Steve Balboni  5 George Brett 14 Bill Buckner 51 Luis de los Santos  2 Dave Owen 32 Bill Pecota 33 Kevin Seitzer  1 Kurt Stillwell  3 Brad Wellman 20 Frank White		Outfielders 27 Thad Bosley 34 Nick Capra 22 Jim Eisenreich 16 Bo Jackson 30 Pat Tabler  4 Danny Tartabull 25 Gary Thurman  6 Willie Wilson		Manager 12 John Wathan Coaches -- Frank Funk -- Adrian Garrett -- Mike Lum -- Bob Schaefer -- Jimmie Schaffer

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
1B	George Brett	157	589	180	.306	24	103
2B	Frank White	150	537	126	.235	8	58
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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Pat Tabler	89	301	93	.309	1	49
Larry Owen	37	81	17	.210	1	3
Steve Balboni	21	63	9	.143	2	5
Luis de los Santos	11	22	2	.091	0	1
Rey Palacios	5	11	1	.091	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mark Gubicza	35	269.2	20	8	2.70	183
Charlie Leibrandt	35	243	13	12	3.19	125
Bret Saberhagen	35	260.2	14	16	3.80	171
Floyd Bannister	31	189.1	12	13	4.33	113

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ted Power	22	80.1	5	6	5.94	44
Tom Gordon	5	15.2	0	2	5.17	18
José DeJesús	2	2.2	0	1	27.00	2

Relief pitchers

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
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^[9]
• Willie Wilson, Tied Sam Crawford's American League record, Leading AL in Triples five times^[9]

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	Paul Kirsch
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Carlos Tosca

^[10]

References

1. Mélido Pérez at Baseball Reference
2. SI.com – Statitudes – Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers – Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
3. Bill Buckner at Baseball Reference
4. Steve Balboni at Baseball Reference
5. Bob Hamelin at Baseball Reference
6. Kerwin Moore at Baseball Reference
7. Bud Black at Baseball Reference
8. Mark Lee at Baseball Reference
9. 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
10. 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