While the KC Royals and the rest of Major League Baseball awaits beginning the 2020 season, I decided to jump down a rabbit hole to determine an all-time great baseball team made up of guys who only briefly played professionally in Kansas City.
After all, the Kansas City Royals only have one player in Cooperstown: George Brett.
But there are a lot of players enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame who played very briefly for either the Kansas City Athletics, Monarchs, or Royals (and one guy who played for two of them). There are even more players who suited up for those three teams who had productive careers but didn’t make it into Cooperstown.
At the start of this project, my goal was to present a starting nine, plus a starting pitcher, of players who only played a short period for one of the Athletics, Monarchs, and Royals*. And yet, the further I dug, the more I realized I could expand that idea into a full-blown, 26-man roster.
*I won’t be considering the Kansas City Blues, a former minor league team that was the Yankees’ AAA affiliate from 1936-1954. So gone from consideration are the likes of MVP and four-time All-Star Al Rosen and Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto and Mickey Mantle.
What’s more, I was able to create this roster with some restrictions, some objective but one glaringly subjective.
- If you think of a particular player, and the first team that pops into your head is one of the Royals, Athletics, or Monarchs, then that player is ineligible.
- For batters, he’s got to have had between one and 499 hits to be eligible.
- For batters, to be eligible for a position, he must have started at least one game at that position while playing for that Kansas City team.
- For pitchers, he must have appeared in at least one game but pitched for team no longer than three full seasons.*
- Since I’m doing a 26-man roster, I’m splitting it down the middle: 13 pitchers, 13 batters.
*There is one exception to this particular rule. We’ll get to that in a bit.
Before getting to the squad, I’m going to take a couple of minutes to quickly reflect on the bunch of players who, while they met the criteria, missed the cut.
Missed the Cut: Batters
Catcher, Miguel Olivo (Royals, 2008-2009): As you’ll see, catcher is this roster’s weakest position.
First baseman, Vic Power (Athletics, 1955-1958): Six-time All-Star won seven Gold Gloves.
First baseman, Bill Buckner (Royals, 1988-1989): Infamous for a fielding gaffe with the Red Sox, Buckner collected over 2,700 hits, reached the 1981 All-Star Game and won the 1980 National League Batting title while with the Cubs.
Second baseman, Clete Boyer (Athletics, 1955-1957): Boyer, who played high-school baseball in Alba, Missouri, won back-to-back World Series with the Yankees in the early 60’s before winning a Gold Glove with the Braves in 1969.
Second baseman, Mark Grudzielanek (Royals, 2006-2008): He reached the All-Star game in his second season with the Expos before cranking out 54 doubles the very next season.
Third baseman, Terry Pendleton (Royals, 1998): The 1991 NL MVP wrapped up his career in Kansas City.
Third baseman, Sal Bando (Athletics, 1966-1967): Bando played in 58 games with the Kansas City A’s before making four All-Star teams, winning three World Series, and finishing in the top five in MVP voting three times with Oakland.
Shortstop, Jay Bell (Royals, 1997): Alongside Jeff King and Chili Davis, Bell joined the Royals in 1997, injecting some excitement into the franchise. They finished 67-94.
Left fielder, Chuck Knoblauch (Royals, 2002): The four-time All-Star wrapped his career with the Royals after winning four World Series between the Twins (1991) and Yankees (1998-2000).
Left fielder, Vince Coleman (Royals, 1994-1995): Sixth on the all-time list in steals with 752, Coleman swiped 76 of them during his brief stint in Kansas City.
Left fielder, Kirk Gibson (Royals, 1991): Owner of one of the most famous home runs in MLB history, Gibson slashed .237/.341/.403 in 132 games for the Royals.
Left fielder, Rick Monday (Athletics, 1966-1967): The first ever No. 1 draft pick, Monday made two All-Star games during his career and won the 1981 World Series with the Dodgers.
Center fielder, Dave Henderson (Royals, 1994): Part of the Oakland Athletics teams that won three straight American League pennants on the 1989 World Series, Henderson appeared in just 56 games with the Royals before The Strike canceled the rest of the 1994 season.
Center fielder, Jim Landis (Athletics, 1965): With the White Sox, Landis won five consecutive Gold Gloves from 1960-1964.
Right fielder, Hank Bauer (Athletics, 1960-1961): As a member of the Yankees, Bauer made three All-Star teams and won the World Series seven times. He collected a total of 98 hits with the A’s.
Right fielder, Reggie Sanders (Royals, 2006-2007): Sanders played 17 seasons for eight different teams, finishing his solid career with four straight years in Missouri, the last two in Kansas City.
Designated Hitter, Juan Gonzalez (Royals, 2004): The two-time MVP, three-time All-Star, and six-time Silver Slugger appeared in just 33 games for the 2004 Royals, finishing with a .767 OPS.
Designated Hitter, Chili Davis (Royals, 1997): Corked 30 home runs and slugged .509 his sole season in Kansas City. Otherwise made three All-Star teams and won three World Series.
Missed the Cut: Pitchers
Starting pitcher, David Cone (Royals, 1986, 1993-1994): Winner of the Cy Young Award with the Royals in 1994, Cone made five All-Star teams and won the World Series five times, once with Toronto and four times with the Yankees.
Starting pitcher, Mike Boddicker (Royals, 1991-1992): Boddicker went 16-8 with the Orioles in 1983, the year they won the World Series before leading the Majors with 20 wins and capturing the ERA title the following season. He went 13-16 in two seasons in Kansas City.
Starting pitcher, Ervin Santana (Royals, 2013): The two-time All-Star has 149 career wins with a solid 4.32 FIP.
Starting pitcher, Johnny Cueto (Royals, 2015): Cueto, who finished second in Cy Young voting in 2014, had a memorable four-month stint for the World Series squad. He’s made two All-Star teams.
Starting pitcher, Hideo Nomo (Royals, 2008): The 1995 Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers appeared in three games for Kansas City in 2008 after not appearing in the majors since 2005.
Relief pitcher, Mitch Williams (Royals, 1997): Wild Thing gave up one one of the most famous home runs in baseball’s history in 1993 to local Joe Carter. Williams wrapped his career with seven appearances for Kansas City.
Relief pitcher, Nelson Briles (Royals, 1974-1975): Part of two World Series winners (1967 Cardinals, 1971 Pirates), Briles accumulated over 20 WAR throughout his 14-year career.
Relief pitcher, Ken Brett (Royals, 1980-1981): George’s older brother finished his 14-year career in Kansas City, making 30 appearances between his final two seasons. He made the National League All-Star team in 1974 while with Pittsburgh.
The Infield
*Denotes a member of the Hall of Fame.
Catcher, Benito Santiago (Royals, 2004)
As I’m sure you’ve no doubt noticed on the first slide, most of the players on this roster fall into one of two categories as far as when he played for a Kansas City team:
- Toward the beginning of his career.
- Toward the end of his career.
Santiago falls into the latter group as he played his penultimate season in Kansas City when he was 39. Despite that, he was only two years removed from his fifth (and final) All-Star appearance.
Between 1987 (when he won Rookie of the Year) and 1992, all while with the Padres, Santiago made four All-Star teams, won four Silver Sluggers, and earned three Gold Gloves. During that time, he popped 85 home runs while driving in 375 runs as he slashed .264/.298/.406.
Later, in his last great season in 2002 with the San Francisco Giants, Santiago slashed .278/.315/.450 as he even received some MVP consideration. In the NLCS that year, he won the MVP as he smashed two home runs and drove in six while posting a .964 OPS against the Cardinals.
With the Royals, he essentially split time with John Buck. Had he enough at-bats to qualify, he would’ve placed third on the team in slugging percentage (.434) behind only Mike Sweeney and Matt Stairs.
That team finished 58-104.
First base, Harmon Killebrew* (Royals, 1975)
The first of six (!) Hall-of-Famers in the lineup, Harmon “Killer” Killebrew played his first 21 seasons with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins organization before finishing his awesome career with a franchise in only its seventh year of existence.
Killebrew, then 39, played in 106 games with the Royals, swatting 13 doubles and 14 home runs as he scored 25 runs and drove in 44 RBIs as he slashed .199/.317/.375.
For his career, Killebrew finished with 573 home runs, which now ranks 12th all-time, but at the time ranked fifth only behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson. Killebrew made 13 All-Star teams, including nine in a row, while he won the 1969 MVP Award while he finished in the top-five in voting another five times.
He led the American League in home runs six times, the majors four times. He also led the American League in walks on four different occasions and in RBI’s three times.
Second base, Jackie Robinson* (Monarchs, 1945)
And here we have the opposite end of the spectrum, a player who started his professional career in Kansas City, with the Monarchs of the Negro American League.
Of course, you know all about Jackie Robinson, as he’s the one who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, a year in which Robinson won the Rookie of the Year Award and finished fifth in MVP voting, leading his team to the World Series, where they lost in seven games to the Yankees. (The Dodgers and Robinson would go 1-5 in six World Series, all against the Yankees, finally winning in 1955.)
Yes, a lot of people know that, plus that Robinson would go on to reach the Hall of Fame, despite playing just 10 seasons, but those were 10 great seasons in which he’d accumulate nearly 62 WAR, play in the All-Star Game six times, win the batting title (.349) and MVP in 1949, receive votes for the MVP in eight seasons, and twice lead the league in stolen bases.
But before all that, before he even played with the Montreal Royals*, then the top minor league affiliate of the Dodgers, Robinson briefly played for the storied Kansas City Monarchs. By most accounts, including Baseball-Reference and the SABR biography project, Robinson dominated. According to Rick Swaine of SABR, in his short time with the Monarchs, “Robinson hit well over .300 and showed speed and power...”
*Full circle, eh?
Thankfully, for the betterment of all, it didn’t last.
Third base, Gary Gaetti (Royals, 1993-1995)
Over a 20-year career, this former Northwest Missouri Bearcat accumulated more than 42 WAR as he made two All-Star teams and won four consecutive Gold Gloves from 1986-1986. A member of the Minnesota Twins team that won it all in 1987, Gaetti won the ALCS MVP that year after posting a .988 OPS in five games against the Tigers.
After spending the first decade of his career with the Twins, Gaetti spent the second one bouncing around between five teams, including the Royals, arriving in 1993. In 1995, he won a Silver Slugger after cranking 35 home runs and slugging .518, finishing 10th in MVP voting.
In 309 games with the Royals, Gaetti hit 61 home runs, drove in 199 RBI’s, hit 60 doubles, and slashed .267/.323/.491 for an OPS+ of 108.
Shortstop, Ernie Banks* (Monarchs, 1950 & 1953)
Before embarking on a 19-year, Hall-of-Fame career with the Chicago Cubs, that included two MVP Awards and two other top-three finishes as well as one Gold Glove and 14 All-Star selections, Ernie Banks played parts of two seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs.
He joined the Monarchs in 1950, and, according to the Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum, hit only .255 that season. Mr. Cub, as he’d later be known as, then spent two years in military service with the Army before returning for the 1953 season. Upon his return, he greatly improved, hitting .347.
Toward the end of the season, the Cubs came calling, purchasing Banks from the Monarchs before sending him directly to the majors, making him the club’s first ever black player. He played in only a handful of games for the Cubs in 1953, but showed a glimpse of the player he’d become, slashing .314/.385/.571 for a .956 OPS.
In 1955, he became the first ever shortshop to hit at least 40 home runs in a season when he clubbed 44 of them.
He then repeated the feat each season between 1957-1960, hitting 43, 47, 45, and 41 home runs, respectively. He finished his career with 512 home runs.
Banks made his last All-Star team in 1969, his last full season, at age 38 and playing first base. He hit 23 home runs and drove in 106 RBI’s.
The Outfield & Designated Hitter
Left field, Reggie Jackson* (Athletics, 1967)
Here’s a quick story about the Athletics about their tenure in Kansas City and first decade in Oakland.
After 54 years and five World Series titles in Philadelphia, the Athletics moved to Kansas City, where the team would spend its next 13 seasons. In those 13 seasons, from 1955-1967, the team went a woeful 829-1,224 with zero playoff appearances.
Toward that end of that time, hope seemed to be coming, as the owner, Charlie O. Finley, started acquiring tremendously talented players like pitchers Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers, and hitters like Rick Monday, Sal Blando, Bert Campeneris, and, of course, Reginald Martinez Jackson.
The A’s moved to Oakland before the start of the 1968 season, a year in which they’d post their first winning record (82-80) since 1952.
Three years later, they won the American League West.
They then won the World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974.
Back to Jackson, who played in only 34 games as a member of the Kansas City Athletics, but did hit his first of 563 career home runs with them. And man, could Reggie Jackson hit home runs. He hit some colossal bombs in his playing days, some with the Athletics, a chunk with the Yankees, and then some with the Orioles and Angels.
With Jackson, it was either hit one over the fence or strike out. Think guys today strike out a bunch? Jackson, who retired in 1987 after 21 seasons, still leads the majors in career strikeouts with 2,597. While he led the league in home runs four times, he led the league in strikeouts five times. He averaged 149 strikeouts per season. In every season in which he played at least 115 games, he struck out at least 97 times.
But it didn’t slow him down or change the way he played. He won the MVP in in 1973, finishing with 32 home runs, 117 RBI’s, slashing .293/.383/.531 and striking out 111 times. He’d finish in the top-six in MVP voting another five times, including as late as 1982 with the Angels in one of those years when he paced the league in whiffs, with 156.
Still, even at age 36, he led the majors in homers with 36, drove in 101 RBI’s, and slashed .275/.375/.532.
Plus, he was absolutely clutch in the postseason, as one nicknamed Mr. October should be. He won five World Series titles in his career, three with Oakland and two with New York, and won the World Series MVP Award twice, in 1973 and 1977.
His career postseason numbers: 77 games, 281 at-bats, 41 runs, 14 doubles, 18 home runs, 48 RBI’s, 70 strikeouts, .278/.358/.527 for a .885 OPS. Not bad.
Center field, Vada Pinson (Royals, 1974-1975)
Pinson departed Cincinnati just before the Big Red Machine kicked into gear, but he made a name for himself in his first 11 seasons, all with the Reds, during which he made four All-Star games and won a Gold Glove in 1961. In that same season, he finished third in MVP voting behind teammate Frank Robinson and our Designated Hitter listed below. He twice led the majors in hits, twice in doubles, and twice in triples.
In 1974, after a couple of years with the Angels, Pinson joined the Royals. During his two years in Kansas City, he played mostly right field, but also played center and left. Though he posted a below-average OPS in those two seasons, he still collected a total of 59 extra-base hits and swiped 26 bases.
Right field, Enos Slaughter* (Athletics, 1955-1956)
Before Country Breakfast (a/k/a Billy Butler) played for the Royals, Enos “Country” Slaughter played for the Athletics toward the end of his Hall-of-Fame career.
Slaughter is best known for his days with the St. Louis Cardinals, for whom he played 13 seasons, making 10 All-Star teams, winning two World Series, and in the top three in MVP voting three times. In the 1946 World Series, he scored from first on a single in what’s known as the mad dash.
After leaving the Cardinals, he landed with the Yankees, who then dealt him to the Athletics in 1955. In 199 games in Kansas City, Slaughter slashed .302/.387/.427. The A’s, as they were wont to do with players, traded him back to the Yankees, where he won two more World Series titles before retiring as a member of the Milwaukee Braves.
Designated Hitter, Orlando Cepeda* (Royals, 1974)
Baby Bull wrapped up his 17-year, Hall-of-Fame career with the Royals in 1974. By that time, he’d won Rookie of the Year in 1958 with the Giants, won the MVP and World Series in 1967 with the Cardinals, and made 11 All-Star teams. In 1973 with the Red Sox, he received some MVP consideration as, at age 35, he hit 25 doubles and 20 home runs while driving in 86 RBI’s and slashing .289/.350/.444.
But in his last hooray with the Athletics, he appeared in just 33 games and collecting a mere 23 hits, five of them doubles and just one home run.
The Bench
Catcher, Charlie Lau (Athletics, 1963-1964): I picked Lau over Olivo so he could double as the team’s hitting coach. Or we could go with this guy and have him double as the team’s pitching coach.
Outfielder: Roger Maris (Athletics, 1958-1959): Before winning two MVP Awards, breaking the single-season home run record, and winning three World Series titles, Maris spent a year-and-a-half with the A’s, making his first of seven All-Star teams in 1959 at age 24.
Infielder: Miguel Tejada (Royals, 2013): The 2002 AL MVP and six-time All-Star joined the Royals after failing to reach the majors in 2012. The once electrifying Oakland shortstop was a shell of his former self, appearing in just 53 games, accumulating a .695 OPS. That was it for him in the majors.
Outfielder: Rocky Colavito (Athletics, 1964): After splitting time between the Indians and Tigers, the nine-time All-Star joined Kansas City for one season in 1964, a year in which he made the All-Star team while hitting 34 homers, driving in 102 RBI’s, and posting a .873 OPS, 37% above league average. He’d play four more seasons split between the Tribe, White Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees.
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.
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.
***
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.