KC Royals: Only 2 locks in club’s Hall of Fame field

Will two good hitting outfielders who starred for the KC Royals get elected?

Carlos Beltran and Johnny Damon were two young players of unquestioned talent and proven production whose on-field heroics endeared them to club and city. But they grew up with a franchise that typically spurned any thoughts of big, expensive long-term contracts, and were bitter losses for fans to swallow when management traded them away.

Damon and Beltran had no say in their unfortunate departures, both occasioned by the players’ impending free agency and the reality that the KC Royals weren’t going to pay what it took to keep them. Damon was the first to go, shipped away to Oakland in the winter before his 2001 “walk year” via a complex three-team trade that brought Angel Berroa, AJ Hinch and Roberto Hernandez to KC. Beltran followed in June 2004, traded to Houston in another three-team deal that reaped the Royals Mark Teahen, Mike Wood and John Buck.

Do Damon’s six Kansas City seasons—the most he played for any team—warrant a place in KC’s Hall of Fame? He played hard, slashed an excellent .292/.351/.438 with 65 home runs, 352 RBIs, a 101 OPS+ and 17.3 WAR from 1995-2000, and averaged over 130 games per campaign. Unlike so many members of the club’s Hall, Damon didn’t finish his career in Kansas City, but it wasn’t he who pulled the trigger on the deal that sent him packing.

Damon’s years in Kansas City were the best of his career. Whether he’s elected or not, a place in the team’s Hall can be justified.

Beltran, who won Rookie of the Year honors as a Royal in 1999, played a half-season longer with the club than Damon, and posted better numbers. Until his 2004 trade, Beltran clubbed 123 homers, drove in 516 runs, and slashed .287/.352/.483 with a 111 OPS+ and 24.8 WAR. His statistical qualifications for enshrinement are inarguable.

What renders his chances for the Hall uncertain has nothing to do with his time with the Royals. Instead, it is the cheating scandal that rocked the 2017 Astros that clouds Beltran’s candidacy. He was the only Houston player identified by name in the Commissioner’s report that laid bare the details of the team’s infamous “trash can” scheme, and he subsequently expressed remorse for the role he played.

Numbers say Beltran is deserving and, taken alone, make him a cinch for induction. He was an Astro, long gone from the Royals, when his team cheated others; whether the scandal will, or won’t, affect the vote remains to be seen, but its potential impact shouldn’t be discounted. For that reason, Beltran isn’t a lock.

Are Yordano Ventura and Luke Hochevar viable candidates for the Hall?

The KC Royals careers of Yordano Ventura and Luke Hochevar ended too soon, leaving their credentials for the franchise Hall of Fame incomplete. Did they accomplish enough to warrant induction?

On the surface, Hochevar’s 46-65 record and 4.98 ERA in six Kansas City seasons isn’t the stuff of Hall of Famers. Look a bit deeper, though, to find his highest value to the Royals: the club made Hochevar a reliever in 2013, and his 1.92 ERA in 58 appearances helped KC to its first winning season in 10 years. He then provided set up services to “H-D-H,” KC’s vaunted relief trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, frequently holding the fort in the sixth inning until, beginning with Herrera, H-D-H took over in the seventh.

He even won the final game of the 2015 World Series. But thoracic outlet issues forced his 2018 retirement.

Ventura pitched four seasons for the Royals before dying in a January 2017 vehicle accident. He was an integral part of the club’s rotation, going 14-10 in 2014 and 13-8 in 2015 as Kansas City made successive trips to the World Series and won it in 2015. He tied James Shields for the team lead in wins in ’14, and Edinson Volquez for the same in ’15.

Fittingly, his teammates nicknamed him “Ace.” He started Game 2 of the 2014 World Series and held the Giants to two runs in 5.1 innings; he left with the game tied, so didn’t get the win, but kept KC in a game it won 7-2. Manager Ned Yost gave him the start in Game 6, and he came through when the Royals needed it most—he pitched seven scoreless innings to help the club force Game 7.

To describe Ventura as “mercurial” might be too strong, but he could be emotional and angry on the mound. But that doesn’t change the fact he was good, and there’s no telling how much better he could have become.

Will these two pitchers who played key roles in two World Series seasons make the Kansas City Hall? Hochevar found his niche in the bullpen, and might have been headed for the honor, but injury ended his career before he could fully establish his credentials. Ventura has the better case, but some voters may believe his career was too short. Hochevar won’t make it but, for a lot of reasons, Ventura just might.

The KC Royals Hall of Fame needs “Country Breakfast.” It’s going to get him.

There was something about Billy Butler. Perhaps it was the ever-present smile, or the boundless enthusiasm with which he seemed to play the game. Maybe it was his power; maybe it was the obvious will to win that helped him survive the lean years leading to his only trip to the World Series.

Whatever it was, it made KC Royals fans love him, and sit up and take notice whenever he came to the plate. If “Country Breakfast” wasn’t their favorite, he was close.

Butler debuted with the team he spent most of his 10-year career with in 2007, five years before his best season earned him a 2012 All-Star berth and Silver Slugger Award. He played in all but one game that year (he’d play them all in 2013), slammed a career high 29 homers, drove in a personal best 107 runs, and slashed .313/.373/.510. He was by then the KC Royals’ designated hitter, having reluctantly surrendered his favorite job to Eric Hosmer, the club’s emerging young first baseman.

His hard work on inferior teams paid off when Kansas City shook off 30 seasons of disappointment and frustration to reach the World Series in 2014. Although Butler hit only nine home runs during the regular season, he drove in two runs in the club’s epic Wild Card victory over Oakland, batted .286 and had three RBIs in the ALCS against Baltimore, and drove in another three runs and hit .333 in the World Series.

Butler left for a stunning three-year, $30 million contract with the A’s after that season, and was never the same again. Although he managed 15 homers in 2015, he had only four in 2016 when Oakland released him in mid-September; he caught on with the Yankees for 12 games, but hasn’t played since.

Too many remember Butler only for the home runs—he doesn’t get enough credit for being the good hitter he was. His eight-year Royal slash of .290/.354/.449, and career .290/.354/.441 line, prove he could do more than muscle balls out of ballparks. He handled his bat well and knew how to get on base.

Butler helped carry Kansas City fans through bad times. Sadly, he wasn’t around when the club finally won its second World Series, but he played a major role in preparing the Royals for that moment.

Will he gain election? Absolutely.

Seven former Royals are up for the franchise Hall of Fame. Billy Butler and Johnny Damon are likely locks, and Yordano Ventura and Carlos Beltran are close.