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

The Bullpen

Bobby Shantz (Athletics, 1955-1956): The 1952 American League MVP, Shantz pitched with the A’s both in Philadelphia and Kansas City. In addition to the MVP, he made three All-Star teams, captured one ERA title, and earned eight Gold Gloves in 16 seasons.

Joe Nuxhall (Athletics, 1961): Famously, Nuxhall debuted with the Reds in 1944 at the age of 15. But he didn’t stick in the bigs until 1952. He made two All-Star teams and accumulated over 30 WAR in 16 seasons, the bulk of which came in Cincinnati.

Virgil Trucks (Athletics, 1957-1958): Trucks starred mostly for the Tigers, but put in a season-and-a-half toward the end of his career in KC, making 64 appearances, pitching 138 innings with a 2.87 ERA.

Ray Sadecki (Royals, 1975-1976): This southpaw went to high school in Kansas City, Kansas, before playing eight seasons for the Cardinals. He made only eight appearances for the Royals over two of his final seasons.

Don Larsen (Athletics, 1960-1961): The only pitcher to have thrown a perfect game in the World Series (with the Yankees in 1956), Larsen spent 30 unspectacular games in Kansas City before playing his final five-and-half seasons with five different clubs.

Johnny Sain (Athletics, 1955): Sain finished second in MVP voting in 1948 while with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and surely would’ve won the Cy Young Award, had it existed, going 24-15 with 28 complete games and four shutouts over 314 innings. He made three All-Star teams and won three World Series before wrapping up his career with 25 relief appearances with the A’s.

Al Hrabosky (Royals, 1978-1979): The best reliever on the list, The Mad Hungarian finished in the top five in Cy Young voting in 1974 and 1975 while with the Cardinals. He tossed 140 innings over 116 appearances with the Royals, going 17-11 with 31 saves, a 3.28 ERA and a  3.75 FIP.

Ralph Terry (Athletics, 1957-1959 & 1966): Though while with the Yankees, he made two All-Star teams and won two World Series, getting named series MVP in 1962, Terry is most famous for serving up the pitch that Bill Mazeroski belted over the fence to end the 1960 World Series, the first and, so far, only time a World Series has ended on a walk-off home run. I hope you all enjoyed that run-on sentence.

The Manager

Lou Boudreau (Athletics, 1955-1957): It was either him or Alvin Dark, both of whom won World Series with non-Kansas City teams. I went with the Hall of Famer, even though he’s in there as a player, not a manager.

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And that’s it! What do you guys think? Who’d I miss? Who’s on there that shouldn’t be?

I’ll tell you what, I’m already kind of guessing my pick for third base. Maybe Bando should’ve gotten the nod instead.

Oh, well.