1982 Kansas City Royals season

The 1982 Kansas City Royals season was their 14th in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 90–72, three games behind the California Angels in the first full season as manager for Dick Howser. Hal McRae led the team with 27 home runs and led the American League in runs batted in (133, a single-season franchise record) and doubles (46). Dan Quisenberry's 35 saves was also tops in the American League.

1982 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Royals Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	Dick Howser
Television	WDAF-TV (Al Wisk, Denny Trease)
Radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1981 Seasons 1983 →

Offseason

• October 23, 1981: Manny Castillo was traded by the Royals to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later. The Mariners completed the deal by sending Bud Black to the Royals on March 2, 1982.^[1]
• December 11, 1981: Clint Hurdle was traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Scott Brown.^[2]
• December 11, 1981: Jerry Martin was traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Kansas City Royals for Rich Gale and Bill Laskey.^[3]
• January 14, 1982: Ken Phelps was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Grant Jackson.^[4]
• February 18, 1982: Dennis Littlejohn was traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Kansas City Royals for Jeff Cornell.^[5]
• March 23, 1982: Rance Mulliniks was traded by the Royals to the Toronto Blue Jays for Phil Huffman.^[6]
• March 30, 1982: Renie Martin, Craig Chamberlain, Atlee Hammaker, and Brad Wellman were traded by the Royals to the San Francisco Giants for Vida Blue and Bob Tufts.^[7]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	93	69	.574	—	52‍–‍29	41‍–‍40
Kansas City Royals	90	72	.556	3	56‍–‍25	34‍–‍47
Chicago White Sox	87	75	.537	6	49‍–‍31	38‍–‍44
Seattle Mariners	76	86	.469	17	42‍–‍39	34‍–‍47
Oakland Athletics	68	94	.420	25	36‍–‍45	32‍–‍49
Texas Rangers	64	98	.395	29	38‍–‍43	26‍–‍55
Minnesota Twins	60	102	.370	33	37‍–‍44	23‍–‍58

Record vs. opponents

1982 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	7–5	5–7	6–7	7–6	4–8	9–4–1	8–4	11–2	7–5	7–5	9–3	10–3
Boston	9–4	—	7–5	4–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	4–9	6–6	7–6	8–4	7–5	10–2	7–6
California	5–7	5–7	—	8–5	8–4	5–7	7–6	6–6	7–6	7–5	9–4	10–3	8–5	8–4
Chicago	7–5	8–4	5–8	—	6–6	9–3	3–10	3–9	7–6	8–4	9–4	6–7	8–5	8–4
Cleveland	7–6	7–6	4–8	6–6	—	6–7	2–10	7–6	8–4	4–9	4–8	9–3	7–5	7–6
Detroit	6–7	5–8	7–5	3–9	7–6	—	6–6	3–10	9–3	8–5	9–3	6–6	8–4	6–7
Kansas City	8–4	6–6	6–7	10–3	10–2	6–6	—	7–5	7–6	5–7	7–6	7–6	7–6	4–8
Milwaukee	4–9–1	9–4	6–6	9–3	6–7	10–3	5–7	—	7–5	8–5	7–5	8–4	7–5	9–4
Minnesota	4–8	6–6	6–7	6–7	4–8	3–9	6–7	5–7	—	2–10	3–10	5–8	5–8	5–7
New York	2–11	6–7	5–7	4–8	9–4	5–8	7–5	5–8	10–2	—	7–5	6–6	7–5	6–7
Oakland	5–7	4–8	4–9	4–9	8–4	3–9	6–7	5–7	10–3	5–7	—	6–7	5–8	3–9
Seattle	5–7	5–7	3–10	7–6	3–9	6–6	6–7	4–8	8–5	6–6	7–6	—	9–4	7–5
Texas	3–9	2–10	5–8	5–8	5–7	4–8	6–7	5–7	8–5	5–7	8–5	4–9	—	4–8
Toronto	3–10	6–7	4–8	4–8	6–7	7–6	8–4	4–9	7–5	7–6	9–3	5–7	8–4	—

Notable transactions

Draft picks

• June 7, 1982: 1982 Major League Baseball draft
  • Will Clark was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round, but did not sign.^[8]
  • Bret Saberhagen was drafted by the Royals in the 19th round. Player signed July 26, 1982.^[9]
  • Andy Stankiewicz was drafted by the Royals in the 26th round, but did not sign.^[10]
  • Cecil Fielder was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round of the Secondary Phase. Player signed June 15, 1982.^[11]

Roster

1982 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers 31 Mike Armstrong 40 Bud Black 33 Vida Blue 37 Derek Botelho 39 Bill Castro 21 Keith Creel 28 Dave Frost 32 Larry Gura 48 Don Hood 36 Grant Jackson 22 Dennis Leonard 29 Dan Quisenberry 34 Paul Splittorff 27,36 Bob Tufts 35 Jim Wright		Catchers  9 Jamie Quirk  7 Don Slaught 12 John Wathan Infielders 24 Willie Aikens  1 Buddy Biancalana  5 George Brett  2 Onix Concepción 45 Kelly Heath 17 Tim Ireland 35 Ron Johnson 14 Lee May  4 Greg Pryor 18 Rance Mulliniks 30 U L Washington 16 Dennis Werth 20 Frank White		Outfielders 23 César Gerónimo 27 Steve Hammond 25 Jerry Martin 26 Amos Otis  3 Tom Poquette 38 Bombo Rivera 57 Mark Ryal  6 Willie Wilson Other batters 11 Hal McRae		Manager 10 Dick Howser Coaches 43 Cloyd Boyer 40 Rocky Colavito 42 José Martínez 41 Joe Nossek 44 Jimmie Schaffer

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	John Wathan	121	448	121	.270	3	51
1B	Willie Aikens	134	466	131	.281	17	74
2B	Frank White	145	524	156	.298	11	56
SS	U L Washington	119	437	125	.286	10	60
3B	George Brett	144	552	166	.301	21	82
LF	Willie Wilson	136	585	194	.332	3	46
CF	Amos Otis	125	475	136	.286	11	88
RF	Jerry Martin	147	519	138	.266	15	65
DH	Hal McRae	159	613	189	.308	27	133

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Onix Concepción	74	205	48	.234	0	15
Greg Pryor	73	152	41	.270	2	12
Steve Hammond	46	126	29	.230	1	11
César Gerónimo	53	119	32	.269	4	23
Don Slaught	43	115	32	.278	3	8
Lee May	42	91	28	.308	3	12
Jamie Quirk	36	78	18	.231	1	5
Tom Poquette	24	62	9	.145	0	3
Dennis Werth	41	15	2	.133	0	2
Ron Johnson	8	14	4	.286	0	0
Mark Ryal	6	13	1	.077	0	0
Bombo Rivera	5	10	1	.100	0	0
Tim Ireland	7	7	1	.143	0	0
Buddy Biancalana	3	2	1	.500	0	0
Kelly Heath	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Larry Gura	37	248.0	18	12	4.03	98
Vida Blue	31	181.0	13	12	3.78	103
Paul Splittorff	29	162.0	10	10	4.28	74
Dennis Leonard	21	130.2	10	6	5.10	58

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bud Black	22	88.1	4	6	4.58	40
Dave Frost	21	81.2	6	6	5.51	26
Bill Castro	21	75.2	3	2	3.45	37
Keith Creel	9	41.2	1	4	5.40	13
Derek Botelho	8	24.0	2	1	4.13	12

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Dan Quisenberry	72	9	7	35	2.57	46
Mike Armstrong	52	5	5	6	3.20	75
Don Hood	30	4	0	1	3.51	31
Grant Jackson	20	3	1	0	5.17	15
Bob Tufts	10	2	0	2	4.50	13
Jim Wright	7	0	0	0	5.32	9

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Joe Sparks
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Gene Lamont
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Rick Mathews
A	Charleston Royals	South Atlantic League	Roy Tanner
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Joe Jones
Rookie	Butte Copper Kings	Pioneer League	Tommy Jones

Notes

1. Bud Black at Baseball Reference
2. Clint Hurdle at Baseball Reference
3. "Jerry Martin Stats".
4. Ken Phelps at Baseball Reference
5. "Dennis Littlejohn Stats".
6. Rance Mulliniks at Baseball Reference
7. "Blue Traded to Royals (Published 1982)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016.
8. Will Clark at Baseball Reference
9. Bret Saberhagen at Baseball Reference
10. Andy Stankiewicz at Baseball Reference
11. Cecil Fielder at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

External links

• 1982 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1982 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac