For 13 seasons, from 1955 through 1967, Kansas City had been home to the A's, before owner Charlie Finley took the franchise further west to Oakland for 1968.  The move of the A's caused no end of controversy in K.C. and prompted Missouri Senator Stuart Symington to threaten A.L. president Joe Cronin by indicating his willingness to have Congress take up the issue of baseball's antitrust exemption.   In response, Cronin promised the Missouri delegation and city fathers in Kansas City that the league would place a new team there in time for the 1969 campaign. 

 

The franchise was secured by local businessman Ewing Kauffman, and a contest was held to determine the name of the new team.  The winning entry, Royals, was an homage to the city's annual American Royal livestock show.  

 

The Royals were competitive early on, finishing above .500 in 1971, and winning their first division title in 1976.  Between 1976 and 1985, they won 6 of the available 10 western division titles, all the while enjoying the fruits of one of the game's best farm system.  After losing painfully to the Yankees in the 1976-1978 playoffs, they swept their nemesis to win their first pennant in 1980, only to lose to the Phillies in six in the Series.   In 1985, playing in the so-called "I-70 Series", they beat the Cardinals in seven, aided by a blown call at first by umpire Don Denkinger in game 6.   Shortly afterward, however, the team became the poster child for struggling small market teams.  Unable to keep up with the big spenders, the club finished over .500 just once between 1995 and 2012.  Excellent player development, wise transactions and no small amount of good fortune enabled them rocket back to success in 2014 and 2015.  

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

 

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.