We get to the first of the teams in 1983 with a sub-.500 record and finally to the team that finished 2nd in the old AL West. The Royals were between their solid teams from the late 1970s and the team that would finally win a World Series in 1985. This team had pretty decent offense, but weak pitching. This would be fixed when they won the World Series just two years later with a strong group of young pitchers, some of which start appearing in 1983. Of course, it is impossible to mention the 1983 Royals season without mentioning the pine tar incident involving George Brett. If you are interested in knowing more about that, check out this wikipedia entry. It is wikipedia, so take it for what it is worth.
Best Player: Dan Quisenberry, he led the AL with a then record setting 45 saves, a sub 2.00 ERA, and pitched in more innings than all but three starters on this team. Should've won the Cy Young award for the AL, but being on a losing team probably hurt his cause.
Best Pitcher: Dan Quisenberry, outside of Quis, this was not a very good pitching team
All-Stars: George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, Willie Wilson
Hall-of-Famers: George Brett, Gaylord Perry
Rookie Card of the Year: Buddy Black, current manager of the Padres. In his playing days that actually started with the Mariners in 1981 and lasted through 1995 with the Indians, he ended up with 121 wins. The lefty also saw playing time with the Giants and Blue Jays.
Other rookie cards: Onix Concepcion, Keith Creel, Steve Hammond (listed under retired players), Don Slaught
First Royal cards: Mike Armstrong, Bill Castro, Don Hood, Dick Howser, Steve Renko, Leon Roberts, Joe Simpson
Most interesting non-Topps card: Don Slaught, another rookie card of a long time major leaguer. The catcher's career lasted through 1997 with the Padres. He also logged time with the Rangers, Yankees, Pirates, Angels, White Sox. His cards appear in both the Donruss and Fleer sets, but not in either Topps set.
Other notes: Eric Rasmussen is shown as a Cardinal on his 1983 Topps card, but logged more time on the Royals in 1983, so his card is listed here.
Starters
| __ | TO | 746 | C | John Wathan | KCR |
| __ | TO | 136 | 1B | Willie Aikens | KCR |
| __ | TO | 525 | 2B | Frank White | KCR |
| __ | TO | 687 | SS | U L Washington | KCR |
| __ | TO | 600 | 3B | George Brett | KCR |
| __ | LF | Pat Sheridan | |||
| __ | TO | 710 | CF | Willie Wilson | KCR |
| __ | TO | 75 | RF | Amos Otis | KCR |
| __ | TO | 25 | DH | Hal McRae | KCR |
| __ | FL | 123 | C | Don Slaught (or DO 196) | KCR |
| __ | TO | 52 | IF | Onix Concepcion | KCR |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 340 | SP | Larry Gura | KCR |
| __ | TO | 238 | SP | Buddy Black | KCR |
| __ | TO | 316 | SP | Paul Splittorff | KCR |
| __ | TT | 95 | SP | Steve Renko | KCR |
| __ | SP | Gaylord Perry | |||
| __ | TO | 570 | SP | Vida Blue | KCR |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TO | 155 | CL | Dan Quisenberry | KCR |
| __ | TO | 219 | RP | Mike Armstrong | KCR |
| __ | TO | 785 | SP | Dennis Leonard | KCR |
| __ | TO | 594 | SP | Eric Rasmussen | STL |
| __ | DO | 574 | RP | Keith Creel | KCR |
Other Players
| __ | TT | 96 | OF | Leon Roberts | KCR |
| __ | TT | 104 | UT | Joe Simpson | KCR |
| __ | LF | Butch Davis | |||
| __ | TO | 418 | 3B | Greg Pryor | KCR |
| __ | TO | 194 | RF | Cesar Geronimo | KCR |
| __ | RF | Darryl Motley | |||
| __ | TO | 626 | RF | Jerry Martin | KCR |
| __ | 3B | Cliff Pastornicky | |||
| __ | UT | Ron Johnson | |||
| __ | SS | Buddy Biancalana | |||
| __ | TO | 443 | RP | Don Hood | KCR |
| __ | FL | 109 | RP | Bill Castro | KCR |
| __ | SP | Frank Wills | |||
| __ | RP | Mark Huismann | |||
| __ | SP | Danny Jackson | |||
| __ | RP | Bob Tufts |
Manager
| __ | TO | 96 | MG | Dick Howser | KCR |
In '83, Quiz led his whole team in WAR. He's the last closer to do that (minimum 4 WAR).
ReplyDeleteI looked up what WAR is, not sure I knew what it was. By way of comparison, Quis was 1 WAR better than Willie Hernandez who won the Cy Young and MVP just one year later, and 2 better than Dennis Eckersley who won both awards in 1992. Those were the first two that came to mind that had phenomenal seasons as a reliever. Eric Gagne was about the same as Hernandez in 2003, for relievers of more recent vintage.
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