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.

Speaking of Willie Wilson...

Despite getting edged out by Brett for most triples in a Royals uniform, Wilson still has plenty of claims to franchise fame. He may not have the career triples mark, but Wilson led the league in triples five times, and he holds the Royals record for triples in a single season, having racked up an astounding 21 in 1985. Bobby Witt Jr. has the talent to pose a legitimate threat, and he led the league in that category with 11 in 2023. Impressive, but still a large gap to make up, which will be tough to do in the modern game where triples have been minimized.

The same evolution of the game should also protect Wilson's stolen base records. Wilson stole 612 bases in his career (556 as a Royal), good for the 12th all-time, so that mark would be a massive challenge to top in any era, regardless of whether the stolen base is in favor or not. The single-season record, however, definitely does benefit from the current trends of the game.

The record is 83, which Wilson set in 1979. In fact, Wilson has four out of the top five stolen base seasons in Royals history. The lone exception is Tom Goodwin, who stole 66 in 1996, good for third place. Witt stole 49 a year ago, which puts him eleventh on the Royals list. Witt has elite speed and a green light, but that's just not how the game is played now. Only three players across all of MLB have stolen 70 or more bases in a season since 2000. Brice Turang of Milwaukee was one of them last season (73), but even with the larger bases and new rules, it doesn't feel like Wilson's record is in any real danger.

Some fun ones before we wrap this up

This is where we get into the less obvious pages of the Royals' record book. For example, it may surprise you that Wilson does not own the single-game steal mark. That honor goes to Amos Otis, who swiped five in a game in 1971. So here are some quick hitters on the way out to fuel your next round of Royals trivia.

Here's one that isn't likely to be broken anytime soon, given how the Royals are regularly at the bottom of the league in walks. The most walks by the Royals in a single game is 15. You read that right, 15! That came in a 7-0 win over the White Sox in 1975. Freddie Patek and Harmon Killibrew both recorded three apiece.

On the flip side of the coin, the Royals once struck out 18 times in a game in 1998, losing 3-0 to the Blue Jays. Rogers Clemens was on the mound for Toronto, and he recorded all 18 himself in a complete game.

The Royals' offense isn't always so inept though. Six years later, they set the team record for most runs and hits in the same game, posting 26 of each in a 26-5 win over Detroit. Joe Randa racked up six hits in that game, tying the team single-game mark also held by Bob Oliver and Kevin Seitzer.

On the pitching side, Danny Duffy holds the single-game strikeout record, fanning 16 against the Rays in 2016. Maybe Cole Ragans can make a run at it, but no pitcher on the roster is going to beat Larry Gura's record of most innings pitched in a game. He hurled 13 against the A's in 1980 but picked up a no-decision when the Royals lost in 14 innings. Contrary to popular belief, Jordan Lyles did not set the team mark for most home runs given up in a game last season. That distinction belongs to Sean O'Sullivan, who gave up five bombs against a loaded Rangers lineup in 2011.

I don't want to end on a negative note though, so here's a good one. The longest hitting streak in Royals history is still a far cry from Joe DiMaggio's 56, but Whit Merrifield's mark of 31, split over the 2018-19 seasons, is still pretty impressive.

This article barely scratches the surface of the Royals' record book, so I highly recommend perusing it yourself. I'll leave it up to you to decide which records are attainable or not, but if you're anything like me, simply skimming the records is likely to lead to a lot of reminiscing and trivia with your friends.

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