Kansas City Royals Tickets

Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They have honor of being one of five teams in the Central Division of the American League.

Kansas City was left without professional baseball When the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland after the 1967 season. It was happened for the first and only time since 1883. An enraged Senator Stuart Symington threatened to introduce legislation removing baseball's antitrust exemption unless Kansas City was granted a team in the next round of expansion.

During the 1967 winter meetings, MLB complied by awarding one of four expansion teams to Kansas City to start play in 1971. Ewing Kauffman won the bidding for the new Kansas City team. The team was named the Royals after the American Royal Livestock Show held in Kansas City every year since 1899. However, Symington pressured MLB to allow the new teams to start play in 1969.

The Royals were the trendy pre-season pick to return to the World Series in 1987, but the season proved bittersweet for the Royals. They won 83 out of 162 games. They wound up finishing two games behind the eventual World Champion Minnesota Twins in the Western Division. In 1987, the team released longtime star Hal McRae and then selected John Wathan as their new manager in midseason. The Royals were never again a dominant team after McRae's release who was famous for his fierce competitive spirit.

The Royals developed young stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included Bo Jackson, Tom Gordon, and Kevin Seitzer. They also patched together free-agent acquisitions, and generally posted winning records, but fell short of the post-season. They inexplicably traded native Kansas Citian and future perennial All Star David Cone for Ed Hearn, just as Cone matured. In 1989, the Royals won 92 games and posted the third-best record in baseball, but failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Brett's outstanding career was a golden spot for the Royals. His third and final batting title in 1990 - which made him the first player to win batting titles in three different decades - and his 3,000th hit. The 1994 season was the club's last flirtation with greatness. The Royals had a fourteen game winning streak just before the season ended prematurely due to the players' strike, under fiery manager Hal McRae, center-fielder Brian McRae, and Cy Young winner David Cone, whom owner Ewing Kaufmann had re-signed prior to his death.

After the death of team owner Ewing Kauffman in 1993, the Royals were devastated as there was no permanent ownership. Lack of leadership was another tangible reason of the poor performance of the team during this period. Finally, the team was purchased by Wal-Mart executive David Glass for $96 million in 2000.

The Royals developed talent, including Carlos Beltran (rookie of the year in 1999), Johnny Damon, and Mike Sweeney, but always seemed to be a day late and a player short of elevating their overall play to perennial contender. Indeed, the Royals set a franchise low with a .398 winning percentage (64-97 record) in 1999, and lost 97 games again in 2001. Ewing Kaufmann, the longtime great owner of the team, had never had losses like that.

In 2002, the Royals set a new team record for futility. For the first time in franchise history, they lost 100 games. There was a temporary end to the losing in 2003 under manager Tony Pena. He was successful in guiding the Royals to their first winning record since the 1994 season. He was named the American League Manager of the Year for his efforts.

The Royals continued their youth movement in 2005. Three of their five starting pitchers, and their setup man and closer were under the age of 30. Tony Pena resigned as manager after a miserable 8-25 record on the start of the season. He was replaced by Buddy Bell. The Royals ended the 2005 season with a 56-106 record (.346), a full 43 games out of first place. It was the third time in four seasons that the team reestablished the mark for worst record in the history of the franchise.

Prior to the 2006 season, General Manager Allard Baird signed several veteran players. He secured starting pitchers Mark Redman, Joe Mays and Scott Elarton. Although the new players seemed promising but they could not bring many additional wins. The Royals struggled through another 100-loss season in 2006. Inn major league history, they became just the eleventh team to lose 100 games in three straight seasons.

Kansas City enters the 2007 season looking to rebound from four out of five seasons ending with 100 losses. Fans are expecting the arrival of top prospect Alex Gordon during the 2007 season.