1984 Kansas City Royals season

The 1984 Kansas City Royals season was their 16th in Major League Baseball. The Royals won the American League West with a record of 84–78, but lost to the eventual World Series champion Detroit Tigers 3–0 in the ALCS. Dan Quisenberry's 44 saves paced the American League.

1984 Kansas City Royals
American League West Champions
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Royals Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	84–78 (.519)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	Ewing Kauffman
General managers	John Schuerholz
Managers	Dick Howser
Television	WDAF-TV 4 (Denny Matthews, Denny Trease, Fred White) Sports Time (Phil Stone, Dwayne Mosley)
Radio	WIBW–AM 580 KCMO–AM 810 (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1983 Seasons 1985 →

Offseason

• October 17, 1983: Eric Rasmussen was released by the Royals.^[1]
• December 8, 1983: Mike Armstrong and Duane Dewey (minors) were traded by the Royals to the New York Yankees for Steve Balboni and Roger Erickson.^[2]
• December 8, 1983: Joe Beckwith was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Szekeley (minors), John Serritella (minors) and José Torres (minors).^[3]
• January 17, 1984: Steve Carter was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 2nd round of the 1984 amateur draft (January Secondary), but did not sign.^[4]
• March 31, 1984: Don Werner and Derek Botelho were traded by the Royals to the Chicago Cubs for Alan Hargesheimer.^[5]

Regular season

• September 17, 1984: Reggie Jackson of the California Angels hit the 500th home run of his career against the Royals.^[6] It was the 17th anniversary of the day he hit his first home run. Jackson hit his 500th, at Anaheim Stadium off Bud Black of the Royals.

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	84	78	.519	—	44‍–‍37	40‍–‍41
California Angels	81	81	.500	3	37‍–‍44	44‍–‍37
Minnesota Twins	81	81	.500	3	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍47
Oakland Athletics	77	85	.475	7	44‍–‍37	33‍–‍48
Chicago White Sox	74	88	.457	10	43‍–‍38	31‍–‍50
Seattle Mariners	74	88	.457	10	42‍–‍39	32‍–‍49
Texas Rangers	69	92	.429	14½	34‍–‍46	35‍–‍46

Record vs. opponents

1984 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	6–7	8–4	7–5	7–6	7–6	5–7	7–6	5–7	5–8	6–6	9–3	9–3	4–9
Boston	7–6	—	9–3	7–5	10–3	7–6	3–9	9–4	6–6	7–6	7–5	4–8	5–7	5–8
California	4–8	3–9	—	8–5	8–4	4–8	6–7	8–4	4–9	8–4	7–6	9–4	5–8	7–5
Chicago	5–7	5–7	5–8	—	8–4	4–8	5–8	7–5	8–5	7–5	6–7	5–8	5–8	4–8
Cleveland	6–7	3–10	4–8	4–8	—	4–9	6–6	9–4	7–5	2–11	7–5	8–4	9–3	6–7–1
Detroit	6–7	6–7	8–4	8–4	9–4	—	7–5	11–2	9–3	7–6	9–3	6–6	10–2	8–5
Kansas City	7–5	9–3	7–6	8–5	6–6	5–7	—	6–6	6–7	5–7	5–8	9–4	6–7	5–7
Milwaukee	6–7	4–9	4–8	5–7	4–9	2–11	6–6	—	5–7	6–7	4–8	6–6	5–6	10–3
Minnesota	7–5	6–6	9–4	5–8	5–7	3–9	7–6	7–5	—	8–4	8–5	7–6	8–5	1–11
New York	8–5	6–7	4–8	5–7	11–2	6–7	7–5	7–6	4–8	—	8–4	7–5	6–6	8–5
Oakland	6–6	5–7	6–7	7–6	5–7	3–9	8–5	8–4	5–8	4–8	—	8–5	8–5	4–8
Seattle	3–9	8–4	4–9	8–5	4–8	6–6	4–9	6–6	6–7	5–7	5–8	—	10–3	5–7
Texas	3–9	7–5	8–5	8–5	3–9	2–10	7–6	6–5	5–8	6–6	5–8	3–10	—	6–6
Toronto	9–4	8–5	5–7	8–4	7–6–1	5–8	7–5	3–10	11–1	5–8	8–4	7–5	6–6	—

Notable transactions

• May 10, 1984: Dane Iorg was purchased by the Royals from the St. Louis Cardinals.^[7]

Roster

1984 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers 27 Joe Beckwith 40 Bud Black 23 Mark Gubicza 32 Larry Gura 38 Mark Huismann 25 Danny Jackson 17 Mike Jones 37 Charlie Leibrandt 29 Dan Quisenberry 31 Bret Saberhagen 34 Paul Splittorff 19 Frank Wills		Catchers 49 Luis Pujols 49 Orlando Sánchez  7 Don Slaught 12 John Wathan Infielders 37 Tucker Ashford 18 Steve Balboni  1 Buddy Biancalana  5 George Brett  2 Onix Concepción 21 Bucky Dent  9 Dane Iorg  4 Greg Pryor 50 Jim Scranton 30 U L Washington 20 Frank White		Outfielders 33 Butch Davis 35 Lynn Jones 58 Dave Leeper 24 Darryl Motley 16 Leon Roberts 15 Pat Sheridan  6 Willie Wilson Other batters 11 Hal McRae  3 Jorge Orta		Manager 10 Dick Howser Coaches 46 Howie Bedell 43 Gary Blaylock 41 Mike Ferraro 42 José Martínez 14 Lee May 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	Don Slaught	124	409	108	.264	4	42
1B	Steve Balboni	126	438	107	.244	28	77
2B	Frank White	129	479	130	.271	17	56
SS	Onix Concepcion	90	287	81	.282	1	23
3B	George Brett	104	377	107	.284	13	69
LF	Darryl Motley	146	522	148	.284	15	70
CF	Willie Wilson	128	541	163	.301	2	44
RF	Pat Sheridan	138	481	136	.283	8	53
DH	Hal McRae	106	317	96	.303	3	42

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
Jorge Orta	122	403	120	.298	9	50
Greg Pryor	123	270	71	.263	4	25
Dane Iorg	78	235	60	.255	5	30
John Wathan	97	171	31	.181	2	10
UL Washington	63	170	38	.224	1	10
Buddy Biancalana	66	134	26	.194	2	9
Butch Davis	41	116	17	.147	2	12
Lynn Jones	47	103	31	.301	1	10
Leon Roberts	28	45	10	.222	0	3
Tucker Ashford	9	13	2	.154	0	0
Orlando Sánchez	10	10	1	.100	0	2
Bucky Dent	11	9	3	.333	0	1
Dave Leeper	4	6	0	.000	0	0
Luis Pujols	4	5	1	.200	0	1
Jim Scranton	2	2	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
Bud Black	35	257.0	17	12	3.12	140
Mark Gubicza	29	189.0	10	14	4.05	111
Larry Gura	31	168.2	12	9	5.18	68
Charlie Leibrandt	23	143.2	11	7	3.63	53

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
Bret Saberhagen	38	157.2	10	11	3.48	73
Mike Jones	23	81.0	2	3	4.89	43
Danny Jackson	15	76.0	2	6	4.26	40
Frank Wills	10	37.0	2	3	5.11	21
Paul Splittorff	12	28.0	1	3	7.71	4

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	6	3	44	2.64	41
Joe Beckwith	49	8	4	2	3.40	75
Mark Huismann	13	2	1	0	5.58	20

ALCS

Main article: 1984 American League Championship Series

Game 1

October 2, Royals Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	2	1	8	14	0
Kansas City	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	5	1
W: Jack Morris (1-0)  L: Bud Black (0-1)
HRs: DET – Larry Herndon (1)  Alan Trammell (1)  Lance Parrish (1)

Game 2

October 3, Royals Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Detroit	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	8	1
Kansas City	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	3	10	3
W: Aurelio López (1-0)  L: Dan Quisenberry (0-1)
HRs: DET – Kirk Gibson (1)

Game 3

October 5, Tiger Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kansas City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
Detroit	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	3	0
W: Milt Wilcox (1-0)  L: Charlie Leibrandt (0-1)  S:Willie Hernández (1)
HRs: None

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Gene Lamont
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Rick Mathews
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Tommy Jones
A	Charleston Royals	South Atlantic League	Duane Gustavson
A-Short Season	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	Dave Roberts