The KC Royals franchise records that will NEVER be broken

The inspiration for this article came from my colleague, Jacob Milham when he pointed out that Salvador Perez recorded the 80th three-hit game of his KC Royals career this season. That's a remarkable achievement, good for tenth on the all-time Royals list. Number one is George Brett, with 265, which is 75 ahead of Willie Wilson in second place. In other words, as impressive as Perez's feat is, that record is not falling anytime soon.

The MLB record book is a sacred text, despite the damage done to it in the steroid era, and records are made to be broken. That's the beauty of records. It isn't just the accomplishments they celebrate. The pursuit of those milestones adds another layer of enjoyment to the game for fans beyond wins and losses, and when your team has lost as many games as the Royals, that sort of thing matters.

That being said, like Brett's 265 three-hit games, some of those marks are practically untouchable.

George Brett is the obvious starting point in the KC Royals record book

Not surprisingly, Brett's name is all over the Royals' record book, and many of his marks might as well be chiseled in stone. For example, Brett, who won three batting titles in his career, holds the team record for the highest batting average in a single season, dating back to his historic pursuit of .400 in 1980. He finished with a .390 average. Tony Gwynn is the only player to top him in the modern era, hitting .394 in the strike-shortened '94 season, and few others have even come remotely close. Given the overall dip in batting average across baseball in the twenty-first century, this record feels safe for the foreseeable future.

His career average of .305 is similarly intimidating, as are his 3,154 hits. Few players are pacing toward 3,000 hits in this day and age, and Salvador Perez is currently the active hits leader for the franchise, with just over 1,400 at age 33.

Brett's most impressive statistical achievement may be his 665 career doubles. That's a ridiculous number, good enough for seventh all-time in MLB history. Less expected, but perhaps nearly as impressive, is Brett's team record of 137 triples. This is good enough for 70th all-time in MLB, but it's the second most since 1965. In a weird quirk, his former teammate, Willie Wilson, actually has the most in that time, with 147. But because Wilson did not finish his career in Kansas City, only 133 came as a Royal.

Not all of his records feel quite so permanent, however. In recent years, Royals sluggers finally updated the team's single-season home run record to a respectable number. With all due respect to Steve Balboni, it was embarrassing that his 1985 record of 36 homers stood for so long. Mike Moustakas topped it with 38 in 2017, but the current record of 48, set by Jorge Soler in 2019 and Perez in 2021, is much more palatable.

Brett was never considered a slugger, and he never held the single-season home run mark for the Royals, but he is the franchise's career home run leader with 317. Salvy currently sits at 248, so hopefully, he will stay healthy and put his name on the record in the not-too-distant future. Brett can afford to give that one up. He will still have plenty of accolades to his name, but he's not the only Royals legend with his name stamped all over the record book.