» April 8, 1969: Expansion teams Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Pilots make things look easy by winning their first regular-season games. The Expos win by scoring 11 runs against the Mets to win 1110. Pitcher Dan McGinn cracks the Expos first homer to help keep the Mets winless for openers. The host Royals edge the Twins in 12 innings, 43.
» July 18, 1975: In a 93 win over the Kansas City Royals, Boston's Jim Rice clouts a tremendous homer over the CF wall at Fenway, to the right of the flag pole, just the 6th player to accomplish this feat. Owner Tom Yawkey calls it the longest shot he's ever seen at Fenway. The others: Detroit's Hank Greenberg, May 22, 1937; Boston's Jimmie Foxx, August 12, 1937; Yankees Bill Skowron, April 20, 1957; Boston's Carl Yastrzemski, May 16, 1970; Brewers Bob Mitchell, September 29, 1973.
» June 6, 1980:
Cardinals manager Ken Boyer is fired between games of a doubleheader loss to the Expos; he will be replaced the following day by Whitey Herzog, who led the Kansas City Royals to three consecutive American League West titles from 1976-78. St. Louis has the worst record in the major leagues (18-34).
» November 17, 1983: Kansas City Royals teammates Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens, and Jerry Martin, who, along with former teammate Vida Blue, had pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase cocaine, are each sentenced to three months in prison.
» December 15, 1983: Commissioner Kuhn suspends convicted Kansas City Royals Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens, and Jerry Martin, and Dodgers pitcher Steve Howe for one season without pay for their use of illegal drugs. The suspensions will be shortened by an arbitrator and lifted on May 15th.
» June 21, 1986: Bo Jackson, college football's Heisman Trophy winner in 1985 and the first pick (by Tampa Bay) in the NFL draft, stuns observers nationwide by signing with the Kansas City Royals instead.
» January 13, 1991: While playing for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, Bo Jackson suffers a career-threatening injury in an AFC playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Originally diagnosed as a pulled thigh muscle, the Kansas City Royals learn of the severity of the injury just as spring begins. They will release Jackson shortly after, fearing that his baseball career is over, and he'll sign with the White Sox.
» May 13, 1997:
Tim Belcher faces 30 hitters in pitching KC to a 90 win over the Red Sox. Belcher retires the first 15 batters and finished with a two-hitter as the Kansas City Royals routed the slumping Boston Red Sox. Belcher also stretches his scoreless skein to 19 innings. Before the game, the Royals release Mitch Williams; The Wild Thing was 01 with a 10.80 ERA in his comeback attempt.
» August 12, 1997:
Dean Palmer homers and drives in four runs as the Kansas City Royals end the New York Yankees' three-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory. Palmer, who is 10-for-21 with runners in scoring position and has 16 RBIs in 18 games since coming over in a trade with Texas, singles home a run in the fourth, opens the 6th with his 17th homer, and hits a go-ahead, two-run double in the 7th. Mike Perez (2-0), the second of five Royals' pitchers, is the winner. Jeff Montgomery pitches the 9th for his eighth save, the 250th of his career. He retires 32 consecutive batters, one shy of the club record, before Bernie Williams singles with two outs in the ninth.
» November 9, 1999: Kansas City Royals OF Carlos Beltran is named the American League Rookie of the Year. Beltran was the 1st rookie with 100+ RBI since Mike Piazza had 112 in 1993 and the 1st in the AL since Mark McGwire had 118 in 1987. He is the first rookie with 100 runs /100 RBI since Fred Lynn in 75.
» April 17, 2000: Major league owners vote to approve the $96 million sale of the Kansas City Royals to team chairman, David Glass.
» April 6, 2002:
The White Sox roll by the Kansas City Royals, winning 140. Mark Buehrle allows five hits in six innings pitched. Paul Konerko has three runs and three RBIs, and Magglio Ordonez has three RBIs. Trailing 90 in the 8th, the Royals bring in Miguel Asencio, the youngest pitcher in the majors. Making his ML debut, Asencio walks Kenny Lofton on four pitches and does the same to the next three batters. He leaves, having thrown 16 pitches.
» May 26, 2002:
Cory Bailey of the Kansas City Royals wins both ends of a doubleheader against the Rangers, becoming the first pitcher since David Wells in 1989 to do that. He pitches the top of the 9th in the first game trailing, 5-4; but a 3-run rally gives him the victory. In the second game, Bailey gets two outs to end the top of the sixth after the Rangers tied the game 7-7, The Royals rally to take a 9-7 lead in the bottom half and go on to win 9-8.
» June 30, 2002: In a 131 drubbing by the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, Padres second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez comes in to pitch with two outs in the seventh inning. He retires the four batters he faces. But Jeff Suppan allows one run in seven innings, and Raul Ibanez uses a home run and triple to drive in four runs for the Royals.
» September 22, 2002:
Mike Sweeney of the Kansas City Royals and Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox are locked in a tight race for the American League batting title. After play today, Sweeney has a lead of less than .001 over Ramirez, .346578 to .346062. But, by Thursday, Ramirez will move ahead by .003099 after going 4for11 to raise his average to .3465116 while Sweeney will go 2for10 to put his mark at .343413.
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