Global InformationKansas City Royals information
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 2024 Kansas City Royals season | |||||
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| Major league titles | |||||
| World Series titles (2) |
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| AL Pennants (4) |
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| Central Division titles (1) | 2015 | ||||
| West Division titles (6) |
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| Wild card berths (1) | 2014 | ||||
| Front office | |||||
| Principal owner(s) | John Sherman[3] | ||||
| President of baseball operations | J. J. Picollo[5] | ||||
| General manager | J. J. Picollo | ||||
| Manager | Matt Quatraro[4] | ||||
| Website | mlb.com/royals | ||||
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969, and have made four World Series trips, winning in 1985 and 2015, and losing in 1980 and 2014. Outside of a dominant 10-year stretch between 1976 and 1985, and a brief, albeit dominant, resurgence from 2013 to 2015, the Royals have combined for a bottom-ten all time winning percentage in MLB history.
The name "Royals" pays homage to the American Royal, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and championship barbecue competition held annually in Kansas City since 1899,[6] as well as the identical names of two former Negro league baseball teams that played in the first half of the 20th century (one was a semi-pro team based in Kansas City in the 1910s and 1920s that toured the Midwest[7] and the other was a California Winter League team based in Los Angeles in the 1940s that was managed by Chet Brewer and included Satchel Paige[8][9] and Jackie Robinson[10] on its roster).[11] The Los Angeles team had personnel connections to the Monarchs but could not use the Monarchs name. The name also fits into something of a theme for other professional sports franchises in the city, including the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL, the former Kansas City Kings of the NBA, and the former Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League.
In 1968, the team held a name-the-team contest that received more than 17,000 entries. Sanford Porte, a bridge engineer from the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, was named the winner for his “Royals” entry. His reason had nothing to do with royalty. “Kansas City’s new baseball team should be called the Royals because of Missouri’s billion-dollar livestock income, Kansas City’s position as the nation’s leading stocker and feeder market and the nationally known American Royal parade and pageant,” Porte wrote. The team's board voted 6–1 on the name, with the only opposition coming from team owner Ewing Kauffman, who eventually changed his vote and said the name had grown on him.[12][13]
Entering the American League in 1969 along with the Seattle Pilots, the club was founded by Kansas City businessman Ewing Kauffman. The franchise was established following the actions of Stuart Symington, then-U.S. Senator from Missouri, who demanded a new franchise for the city after the Athletics (Kansas City's previous major league team that played from 1955 to 1967) moved to Oakland, California in 1968. Since April 10, 1973, the Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium, formerly known as Royals Stadium.
The new team quickly became a powerhouse, appearing in the playoffs seven times from 1976 to 1985, winning one World Series championship and another AL pennant, led by stars such as Amos Otis, Hal McRae, John Mayberry, George Brett, Frank White, Willie Wilson, and Bret Saberhagen. The team remained competitive throughout the early 1990s, but then had only one winning season from 1995 to 2012. For 28 consecutive seasons (1986–2013), the Royals did not qualify to play in the MLB postseason, one of the longest postseason droughts during baseball's current wild-card era. The team broke this streak in 2014 by securing the franchise's first wild card berth and advancing to the 2014 World Series, where they lost to the San Francisco Giants in seven games. The Royals, led by players like Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon, Johnny Cueto, Danny Duffy, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, and an elite group of bullpen pitchers, followed this up by winning the team's first AL Central division title in 2015 and defeating the New York Mets in five games in the 2015 World Series to win their second World Series championship.
Through 2023, the Royals have an all time win–loss record of 4,122–4,547–2 (.475).[14] Entering the 2023 season, the team is valued at US$1.2 billion, placing them 27th out of MLB's 30 teams.[15] Since 2019, the team has been owned by majority owner John Sherman, amongst many other Kansas City business owners and entrepreneurs.
- ^ "Royals Uniform History". Royals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- ^ "Royals 50th Season Book". Royals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
The ultimate keepsake and the perfect gift for true blue and gold Royals fans of all ages, this official, distinctive showpiece will be a treasure for years to come.
- ^ "Major League Baseball owners unanimously approve John Sherman and partners to purchase Kansas City Royals". Royals.com (Press release). MLB Advanced Media. November 21, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
- ^ Rogers, Anne (October 30, 2022). "Royals hire Matt Quatraro as next manager". Royals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
- ^ Rogers, Anne (September 21, 2022). "Why J.J. Picollo is 'the right person' to lead Royals". Royals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
- ^ Chase, Chris (October 17, 2014). "The Kansas City Royals are named for cows, not kings and queens". USA Today. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ "Kansas City Royals 1924". Newspapers.com. June 7, 1924. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
- ^ "Kansas City Royals 1947". Newspapers.com. October 20, 1947. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
- ^ "StackPath" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2016.
- ^ Nelson, Curt. "Jackie Robinson: Kansas City Royal?". Royals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ "7 Jun 1924, Page 5 – The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune at". Newspapers.com. June 7, 1924. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
- ^ Flanagan, Jeffrey (December 1, 2021). "How they came to be called the Royals". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ Chase, Chase (October 17, 2014). "The Kansas City Royals are named for cows, not kings and queens". USA Today. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Kansas City Royals Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
- ^ Ozanian, Mike; Teitelbaum, Justin (March 23, 2023). "Baseball's Most Valuable Teams 2023: Price Tags Are Up 12% Despite Regional TV Woes". Forbes. Retrieved March 28, 2023.