These stars spent last year of career with KC Royals

It only seems like lately the KC Royals have signed former stars to see if they can squeeze another few months of production from them.

Throughout their history, however, the KC Royals inked established players who are near the end of their career.  Since this article focuses on players in their last season, it is obviously not a banner statistical year for them.  Being able to see them perform with a KC jersey on is still a satisfying oddity.

In the Royals defense, many teams take a stab at an older player partly based on past performance, partly on hopes the change of scenery will rejuvenate them.  Their signing generally does not cost the team much and if it works out they come across as geniuses.

Some came along at a time when the team was winning, others win it was a struggle to put wins on the board.  So, if the signing of these players were able to move ticket sales, great. The worst-case scenario is maybe owning a unique jersey of a star who spent the majority of their career elsewhere.

In this article, we are going to take a look at former, or future all-stars, whose time in Kansas City was brief and the end of their careers.  The names will ring familiar to both older and younger generations as we dive into the records of teams from the ’70s through the 2000s.

While researching this a flood of memories from not only the KC Royals teams of that year came back but also the player who joined the team.  Big-name players that you never, or rarely, hear about their time in Kansas City or players you have a hard time believing they ever put on the powder blue are included.

Enjoy this trip down Royals’ memory lane!

This one-time MVP, six-time home run champion, and eleven-time All-Star played 106 games for the KC Royals in 1975 – his last season.

After spending 21 years with the same franchise – the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, the great Harmon Killebrew gave it one more go in Kansas City.  Since he debuted with the Senators as an 18-year-old in 1954, Killebrew was still not yet age 40 when he signed on with the Royals.

Before heading to the city of fountains, he clubbed 559 homers, drove in 1,540 runs, collected 2,024 hits, and scored 1,258 runs.  While he did hit his most bombs in three seasons, he only managed a .199 average an OPS+ of 93.

While far removed from the 1959-1972 years when at his peak, it would have been a great thrill to watch the Hall of Fame slugger play for the home team at Royals Stadium.  Kansas City did finish with a 91-71 record that year and it would not be hard to believe that his veteran presence was part of the reason why.

A broken ankle derailed a potential Hall of Fame career

The story of Tommy Davis is fascinating and heartbreaking.  Signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers after a talk with Jackie Robinson, Davis finished 5th in Rookie of Year voting in 1960.  By his third full season led the majors in hits, RBIs, and batting average – 230, 153, and .346, respectively.

Although the numbers went down the next year they were still very good and again he led the majors with a .326 average.  Another decrease in production the next year paled in comparison to what would happen to him in 1965.  Destroying his ankle his season was over after only 17 games.

The leg was placed in a balloon cast in the clubhouse. “At that point I was feeling pretty good and was thinking maybe it’s not broken. Then Dr. (Robert) Kerlan came to see me, popped off the cast and said it felt like a bag of walnuts in my ankle. I said, ‘Oh man, don’t tell me that.’” He was done for the season with a break and a dislocation. – sabr.org

While he would continue to have productive seasons, the power was affected by the bad ankle with only two more double-digit home run totals.  He could still hit for average but often did not collect a full season worth of playing time.  He did become the most prolific pinch hitter in the league with 63 hits in 197 at-bats for a .320 average.

At the age of 37, Davis gave it another go with the KC Royals but only appeared in 20 games with five singles and a walk.  He still collected 2,121 hits in his career, batted .294, and came within one game of playing 2,000 games.

A pitcher who won over 20 games in over three seasons, won a Cy Young, and was selected to five All-Star games gave it a go with the KC Royals in 1983.

Gaylord Perry was also known for throwing spitballs and perhaps including other substances on the baseball which may have helped him prolong his career.  He came over mid-season from the Seattle Mariners to Kansas City his last year in the majors. He pitched fairly well in KC, going 4-4 with a 4.27 ERa in 14 starts.

He was a picture of durability starting 15 or more games in 20 straight seasons.  Twice he led the league in complete games with 29 and pulled that off in back-to-back years.  He threw another 28 of those the third year but that was not the most in the American League in 1974.

Perry is a big part of the pine tar story with George Brett in case you have not heard this.  While Brett was going ballistic with the umpires, “Gaylord the Great” took the bat and ran off but was caught by security guards.  Apparently, at age 44 his speed was not an attribute.

This left-hander from Casper, WY had a great seven-year before wrapping up his career in Kansas City.

Tom Browning was a dominant pitcher from 1985-1991 despite little recognition for his performances.  He was only second in Rookie of the Year voting despite going 20-9 with a 3.55 ERA and finished sixth in Cy Young voting the year the Royals won their first World Series.

He went on to lead the National League in starts four of the next five years and reeled off win totals of 14, 10, 18, 15, 15, and 14.  That was 107 victories in a seven-year period.  Ironically his only All-Star appearance came in a season where he went 14-14 with a 4.18 ERA.

Browing did throw the only perfect game in Cincinnati Reds history on September 16, 1988, against the Dodgers.  He struck out 7 batters while only tossing 101 pitches.

He was apt to give up the long ball, surrendering the most in the major in ’88, ’89, and ’91.  He was with the Cincinnati Reds for the first 11 years of his career before coming to the KC Royals in 1995.  A horrible injury in San Diego in 1994 was essentially the end of his career.

He only went two starts with the Royals with an 8.10 ERA in 10 innings pitched.  At age 35 it was a career cut short but he still had many great moments.