KC Royals: Historical roster of greats who briefly played in Kansas City

The Starting Rotation

Satchel Paige* (Monarchs, 1935-1936, 1939-1948, 1950, 1955; Athletics, 1965)

When I first began this project, Paige made the team for just his lone appearances with the Kansas City A’s in 1965. In his one and only game with the Athletics, which he started, Paige gave up a two-out double to Carl Yastrzemski, and then retired in order the next seven batters he faced, striking out one of them.

He was 59 years old.

Paige is in the Hall of Fame for what he did in the Negro Leagues as he was prevented from playing in the majors due to the color of his skin. He finally reached the Major Leagues a year after Jackie Robinson busted the color barrier.

Paige joined the Cleveland Indians in 1948 at age 41, went 6-1 in 21 appearances that included seven games started, three complete games, two shutouts, a 2.48 ERA, a 2.78 FIP, and 43 strikeouts for the last Indians team to win the World Series. He’d make consecutive All-Star teams as a member of the St. Louis Browns in 1952 and 1953.

For his Negro League statistics, check out this page over at Seamheads, the premiere site for collecting such data, which, sadly, is incomplete or inaccurate. Still, for his career, it looks like Paige 115-62 in 15 seasons with 112 complete games of which 25 were shutouts. He struck out nearly a better per inning for the course of his career as he posted a 2.36 ERA, 70% better than the league’s average over his career.

Gaylord Perry* (Royals, 1983)

The career of Gaylord Perry somewhat defies logic. The man won over 300 games, but collected most of those victories after he turned 30. He won two Cy Young Awards, the first when he was 33 and the second when he was 39.

In his long 22-year career, he only made five All-Star teams, and never reached them in consecutive seasons. Six times in his career, he pitched at least 305 innings.

Perry wrapped up his illustrious career with the Royals, who signed him on July 6, 1983, just about a week or so after the Mariners dropped him after 16 sub-par appearances. He made 14 starts for the Royals that summer, going 4-4 with one complete game shutout, striking out 40 in 84 innings to go along with a respectable 3.69 FIP.

Catfish Hunter* (Athletics, 1965-1967)

Here’s another Hall-of-Famer who got his start with the Kansas City A’s right before making it big with the Oakland version. Hunter started his career in Kansas City as a 19-year-old and made 80 starts over the next three seasons, going 30-36, yet making the All-Star game in his second and third years.

In Oakland, he anchored the rotation for the three-time World Series clubs before striking it rich in free agency with the Yankees. His numbers in New York weren’t as good, but he still made a couple of All-Star teams while collecting Cy Young votes and winning another two World Series.

Vida Blue (Royals, 1982-1983)

The Kansas City Athletics drafted Blue in 1967, but he didn’t make his Major League debut until the team had re-located to Oakland. With the A’s, not only did he win three World Series titles, but he also made three All-Star teams while winning the Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971 as a 21-year-old.

That season, Blue went 24-8 while leading the league in ERA (1.82), shutouts (8), FIP (2.20), WHIP (0.952), hits-per-nine-innings (6.0), and strikeouts-per-nine-innings (8.7). He struck out 301 batters that year.

Blue left the A’s in 1978, and after four years with the Giants, came to the Royals as part of a six-player trade in March of 1982. His first season in Kansas City went alright, with Blue going 13-12 in 31 starts with a 4.34 FIP. But 1983 went much worse as Blue went winless in 19 appearances (14 starts) as his ERA shot up past 6. The Royals cut him that August.

Bullet Rogan* (Monarchs, 1920-1929, 1933, 1935-1938)

Here’s that exception to the rule.

Unlike Paige, Bullet Rogan never reached the Majors Leagues, though he is enshrined in Cooperstown. Rogan pitched 15 of his 16 seasons with the Monarchs going 132-59 with 150 complete games, 19 shutouts, and a 2.74 ERA, 44% above the league average over the period of time. He also struck out 1,002 batters in just over 1,600 innings pitched.