The sun was shinning in spring training and manager Jack McKeon was hoping to improve on the team's fine showing in '73, when they finished with a solid 88-74, good for second place, just six games behind Oakland. However, the Royals stumbled early in the 1974 season and ended at 77-85, a full 13 games out of first, and in 5th place in the AL West.

Pitcher Steve Busby gave Royals fans plenty to cheer about in '74. The 6-ft, 2-inch, 205-pound, right-handed made baseball history on June 19 by tossing his second career no-hitter - becoming the first pitcher to pitch two no-hitters in his first two big-league seasons. Busby paced the '74 pitching staff with a 22-14 record, a nice 3.39 ERA in 292 2/3 innings of work, and completed 20-of-38 starts, including 3 shutouts.

Rookie third baseman George Brett's hustling and robust hitting proved to be an instant success with loyal Royals fans. The 21-year old left-handed hitter batted .282 in 133 games. Slugging first baseman John Mayberry led the team with 22 home runs and outfielder Hal McRae led the squad in batting with a .310 batting average and in RBIs with 88.

=====================================

baseballhistorian.com - Baseball Fans Favorite Internet Site

Kansas City Baseball History

===================================== Kansas City Royals 1974 Roster:

Pitching Statistics:

Steve Busby 22-14, 3.39 ERA in 38 Games... Al Fitzmorris 13-6, 2.79 ERA in 34G... Paul Splittorff 13-19, 4.10 ERA in 36G... Doug Bird 7-6, 2.73 ERA in 55G... Bruce Dal Canton 8-10, 3.13 ERA in 31G... Nelson Briles 5-7, 4.02 ERA in 18G...

Gene Garber 1-2, 4.82 ERA in 17G... Lindy McDaniel 1-4, 3.46 ERA in 38G... Joe Hoerner 2-3, 3.82 ERA in 30G... Steve Mingori 2-3, 2.81 ERA in 36G... Dennis Leonard 0-4, 5.32 ERA in 5G... Marty Pattin 3-7, 3.99 ERA in 36G... Aurelio Lopez 0-0, 5.63 ERA in 6G...

Batting Averages:

Hal McRae .310 BA, 15 Hrs, 88 RBIs in 148G... Amos Otis .284 BA, 12 Hrs, 73 RBIs in 146G... Fran Healy .252 BA, 9 Hrs, 53 RBIs in 139G... John Mayberry .234 BA, 22 Hrs, 69 RBIs in 126G... Jim Wohlford .271 BA, 2 Hrs, 44 RBIs in 143G...

George Brett .282 BA, 2 Hrs, 47 RBIs in 133G... Cookie Rojas .271 BA, 6 Hrs, 60 RBIs in 144G... Freddie Patek .225 BA, 3 Hrs, 38 RBIs in 149G... Al Cowens .242 BA, 1 Hr, 25 RBIs in 110G... Vada Pinson .276 BA, 6 Hrs, 41 RBIs in 115G... Tony Solaita .268 BA, 7 Hrs, 30 RBIs in 96G...

Orlando Cepeda .215 BA, 1 Hr, 18 RBIs in 33G... Bobby Floyd .111 BA, 0 Hr, 0 RBIs in 10G... Fernando Gonzales .143 BA, 0 Hr, 2 RBIs in 9G... Buck Martinez .215 BA, 1 Hr, 8 RBIs in 43G... Dennis Paepke .167 BA, 0 Hr, 0 RBIs in 6G... Rick Reichardt 1.000 BA, 0 Hr, 0 RBIs in 1G... Paul Schaal .176 BA, 1 Hr, 4 RBIs in 12G... Frank White .221 BA, 1 Hr, 18 RBIs in 99G... Richie Scheinblum .181 BA, 0 Hr, 2 RBIs in 36G... Kurt Bevacqua .211 BA, 0 Hr, 3 RBIs in 39G

To view some originial newspaper clippings from the 1950s, type in the words - today in time - into our 'Search' located on the Home Page  

For loads of fun reading about baseball players, type in Yankees, Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Phillies, Cubs or all other teams in our Search on the home page