KC Royals: Top Ten Rookie Seasons All-Time

Number Six: Tom Gordon – Rookie Year: 1989

Tom Gordon first made his debut in 1988 where he appeared in five games and pitched to a 5.17 ERA across 15.2 innings. Very few knew that he would become one of the all-time winning-est pitchers in KC Royals’ history.

Gordon’s rookie season was considered to be his 1989 season and he appeared in 49 games for the Royals that season. He bounced between the bullpen and the rotation as he earned a save that season, but also started 16 games. One of those starts turned into a complete game shut-out on August third against the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave up three hits and two walks while striking out eight.

Tom Gordon was also involved with another rookie phenom when he gave up the first home run of Alex Rodriguez‘ career in 1995:

Gordon finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting that season. While he finished behind Gregg Olson, who recorded 27 saves for the Baltimore Orioles that season, he did finish ahead of some guy named Ken Griffey Jr (What ever happened to that guy?)

Gordon recorded double digit win totals for the Royals on five separate occasions while his team never made the playoffs. He also went on to become a very prominent closer later in his career as he recorded a total of 158 saves.

Hopefully his son Nick Gordon, who plays for the Minnesota Twins, doesn’t make a Twins’ list similar to this one someday. It will likely mean that he gave the Royals’ fits.

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