KC Royals: 6 great and unbreakable franchise records

No KC Royals pitcher will ever approach this hurler’s innings pitched mark.

Like Willie Wilson, Paul Splittorff deserves his spot in Kansas City’s Hall of Fame. He won a club record 166 games in 15 seasons, including 20 in 1973 and 19 five years later. His 392 career starts are almost 70 more than any other Royal’s total. Both marks aren’t likely to be broken.

But Splitt’s 2,554.2 innings pitched, another KC record, is certainly out of reach.

He threw at least 200 innings seven times (262 twice), a feat only four big leaguers accomplished last season. And excluding 1970, when he appeared in only two games and 1984, when he pitched only 12 games before retiring, he averaged almost 197 innings per year, and that includes the strike-interrupted 1981 campaign which limited him to 99.

Contemporary pitching philosophy and practices render Splittorff’s innings pitched record secure. Pitch count limits of 100 are the norm, limiting managers’ willingness to let starters pitch deep, and pitchers’ ability (and sometimes willingness) to do the same. While not yet widely used, “openers” are gaining acceptance. Five-man rotations, with an occasional six-man thrown in, further decrease pitchers’ starts. Careers don’t last as long as they used to.

So it is that pitching over 2,500 innings is a thing of the past. No Royal will approach Splittorff’s record.

This Royal suffered a gruesome injury but still owns unbreakable records.

Dennis Leonard won 144 games (second only to Paul Splittorff’s 166) in the dozen years he pitched for Kansas City, but his 137th remains unforgettable. And remarkable.

He earned the victory in his first start of the season and first since May 28, 1983, the day he crumpled to the Kauffman Stadium ground with the terrible knee injury that kept him out of action until he made two September relief appearances in 1985.

Some, like this writer, remember Leonard’s first ’86 start like it happened only minutes ago. Facing Toronto April 12, he retired the side in order six times and allowed only two base runners through eight innings. He didn’t walk anyone, gave up just three hits, and finished with a 1-0 shutout.

Pitching complete games and shutouts were nothing new to Leonard, but achieving both under such unlikely circumstances reflects the grit and determination that enabled him to set untouchable club records in both categories. His 103 complete games include 21 in 1977 and 20 in ’78; his 23 shutouts are six more than Splittorff’s 17.

In comparison, current Royal Brad Keller has two complete games and one shutout.

Leonard’s marks won’t be broken for the same reasons Splittorff’s will survive. Pitch counts, durability, five and six-man rotations, openers and longevity won’t allow serious challenges.

Bad as they were, the 2004 KC Royals established a pretty good team record.

Kansas City was horrible in 2004. The Royals lost 104 games, just two short of the club record 106 the 2005 team dropped, and finished dead last in the American League Central, 34 games behind Central champ Minnesota. Their run differential was -185.

So it was that what the futility-wracked Royals did in the first game of a Sept. 9 doubleheader shocked Detroit.

Kansas City scored 26 runs, almost 22 above their 162-game average of 4.4, to beat the Tigers 26-5.

The contest, if it can even be characterized as one, was essentially over after the Royals scored four in the first inning and two in the second. They added five in the sixth and one each in the eighth and ninth.

But the biggest single frame was the third. Sixteen Kansas City batters combined for 10 hits (nine singles and a double), Abraham Núñez and Alberto Castillo drove in two runs apiece, and the club battered three Detroit pitchers for 11 runs. By the time Franklyn Germán retired Rubén Gotay and David DeJesus in order for the final two outs, Kansas City led 17-2.

For the day, Ángel Berroa went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, Joe Randa had six hits and Dee Brown four, and Castillo had four RBIs.

The 26 runs seem like a safe record.

No KC Royals player will equal what George Brett accomplished in 1980.

The Royals reached their first World Series in 1980. Willie Wilson stole 79 bases and hit .326 that year. Dennis Leonard won 20 games, Larry Gura added 18, and the starting rotation accounted for 75 of the club’s 97 wins.

No one, though, could steal the spotlight from George Brett and his serious challenge to .400, a mark no player had reached since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Brett fell short at .390, the highest average in club history.

That he came so close to .400—just a few more hits would have done the trick—is surprising considering the 11-time .300 hitter didn’t (save for a .364 average after three games) reach that level until a 3-for-4 night against the White Sox pushed him to .301 May 31.

Brett never fell below .300 again. The future Hall of Famer hit .472 in June, .494 in July and .430 in August to head into the season’s final full month at .403, leaving .400 within reach.

It didn’t happen. Brett slowed and his average dropped below .390 for the first time since Aug. 12 when an 0-for-3 Sept. 24 performance forced him to .389. He hit .407 over the Royals’ last eight games but it wasn’t enough.

He finished with a major league leading .390/.454/.664 slash line and 203 OPS+, won the AL MVP and a Silver Slugger, and made the All-Star team.

Will any Royal ever break Brett’s .390 single-season team record?

No.

Willie Wilson, Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, the 2004 team, and George Brett all hold Royal records that won’t be broken.