1969 Kansas City Royals season

A franchise is born

The club's inception is connected to the Athletics franchise. On October 18, 1967, A.L. owners at last gave Charles O. Finley permission to move the Athletics to Oakland for the 1968 season. According to some reports, Joe Cronin promised Finley that he could move the team after the 1967 season as an incentive to sign the new lease with Municipal Stadium. The move came in spite of approval by voters in Jackson County of a bond issue for a brand new baseball stadium (the eventual Kauffman Stadium) to be completed in 1973. When U.S. Senator Stuart Symington threatened to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked, the owners responded with a hasty round of expansion. Kansas City was awarded an American League expansion team, the Royals. They were initially slated to begin play in 1971. However, Symington was not willing to have Kansas City wait three years for another team, and renewed his threat to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked unless the teams began play in 1969. The owners complied, but it forced the Seattle Pilots to enter the league earlier than expected without a suitable stadium, leading to financial difficulty, and a rapid relocation to Milwaukee in April 1970.

The Kansas City franchise was formally awarded to Ewing Kauffman on January 11, 1968.^[2] The owner selected Los Angeles Angels vice president Cedric Tallis as the Royals' first general manager, and Tallis began to assemble a front office staff.

Expansion draft

The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft for the Royals and the Seattle Pilots was held on October 15.

Other offseason transactions

• June 7, 1968: Dane Iorg was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[8]
• August 14, 1968: Galen Cisco was purchased by the Royals from the Boston Red Sox.^[9]
• October 16, 1968: Purchased John Gelnar from the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[10]
• December 12, 1968: Hoyt Wilhelm was traded by the Royals to the California Angels for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke.^[7]
• December 15, 1968: Dennis Ribant was purchased by the Royals from the Detroit Tigers.^[11]
• March 29, 1969: Dennis Ribant was purchased from the Royals by the St. Louis Cardinals.^[11]

1968 MLB June amateur draft and minor league affiliates

The Royals and Seattle Pilots, along with the two National League expansion teams set to debut in 1969, the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres, were allowed to participate in the June 1968 MLB first-year player draft, although the new teams were barred from the lottery's first three rounds. Despite this impediment, the Royals drafted fifty players in the 1968 June draft, including Iorg and other future major leaguers Lance Clemons (seventh round), Monty Montgomery (ninth) and Paul Splittorff (25th).^[12] Splittorff would win 166 games for the MLB Royals, including seasons of 20 (1973) and 19 (1978) victories, in a 15-year big-league career, then become a longtime analyst on the team's television crew. The Royals affiliated with three minor league clubs during 1968 to develop drafted players; the rosters were filled out by professional and amateur free agents that had been signed and players loaned from other organizations.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1969: Steve Whitaker and John Gelnar were traded by the Royals to the Seattle Pilots for Lou Piniella.^[14]
• June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft
  • Keith Marshall was drafted by the Royals in the 5th round.^[15]
  • Frank Ortenzio was drafted by the Royals in the 47th round.^[16]

The first game

Roster

Batting

Pitching