Kansas City Royals: Top all-time home run hitters
By Joel Wagler
player. 7. . 3B. Kansas City Royals. George Brett. 1
Kansas City Royals all-time run leaders: 1. George Brett (317)
As with so many offensive lists, George Brett sits at the top in franchise history. Not only was he the longest-tenured Royal, but the only true Royal in the Hall of Fame.
No one is close to Brett in home runs. He has a 120-home run lead over Sweeney at second. One has to wonder how many more home runs Brett would have hit, and how many fewer doubles and triples, if he had played in a smaller park.
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Brett was not a classical slugger. His career-high was 30, and it was the only time he hit more than 25 in his career. In fact, Brett hit more than 19 home runs just eight times in his 21 seasons.
He did, however, have a ten-year stretch, from 1982 through 1991, where he hit double digits dingers all ten years, and averaged 19 a season. From 1977 through 1993, he belted ten or more round-trippers 14 times.
George Brett was also named to 13 straight All-Star games, won three American League batting titles, and one MVP. He is without a doubt the greatest Kansas City Royals hitter of all time, and when it comes to extra-base hits, including home runs, no one is even close.
OTHER NOTABLE KANSAS CITY ROYALS HOME RUN HITTERS
On the current roster, only Jorge Soler has a chance to crack this list any time soon. He needs just 26 homers in 2020 to tie Jermaine Dye. Salvador Perez, despite missing all of 2019, has a good chance to move up several spots over the upcoming seasons.
Other notable players who didn’t quite make this list but had some great seasons with the KC Royals include Gary Gaetti, who hit 61 in three seasons, including 35 in 1995, the second-most in franchise history in a single season.
Jeff King hit 55 in three-plus seasons. King just retired from baseball in 1999, just 21 games into the season. He hit 52 homers in the previous two seasons for Kansas City.
Chili Davis played just one season in Kansas City, but he hit 30 round-trippers in 1997 and is 49th on the team list of home runs for a career.
The Royals do not have a long history of sluggers. In fact, they have no history, to speak of. They have made do with speed and gap power for most of their 45-year history.
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It will be a while before any other Royals outside of Soler make this list but eventually, some new young power hitters will come along and crush the ball. There will be new stars in Kansas City and we will be just as proud of them as we are these Kansas City Royals!