A
Major League Baseball team that was started by Ewing Kaufmann in 1973 in Kansas City, Missouri, which had been the home of the legendary Negro League champions, the KC Monarchs (1920 - 1962) - Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Buck O'Neil, etc.
At first, the Royals lived up to the level of excellence set by the Monarchs. From 1973-1993, they won ten
American League West penants, lost one World Series to the
Philadelphia Phillies in 1980 and came back five years later to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the I-70 Series. In 1980, third baseman George Brett had over a .400 batting average.
Other Royals megastars in the first two decades were:
1) Willie Wilson
2) Bret Saberhagen
3) Frank White
4) Al Hrabosky, the Mad Hungarian
5) Jorge Orta
6) Dane Iorg
7) Bo Jackson
After 1993, the Royals went into a slump and became one of the worst teams in MLB. This has been acutely painful to watch, if you were a fan of Royals Baseball in the 1970s and 1980s.
The decline of the once great
Kansas City Royals has been like watching a
Shakespearean tragedy. It's sad to see a team that was once at the top of the MLB fall to the bottom.
The
Kansas City Royals consistently beat the Yankees in the '70s and '80s even with half their budget. This gave hope to kids across the country that baseball was fair and honest. Anyone with talent could rise to the top. Today that hope is lost.