A brief history of the Royals’ single-season home run record, pre-Steve Balboni: In their inaugural 1969 season, the Royals had five players reach double digits in home runs. That sounds good until you realize that all of them were between 11 and 14 dingers. Ed Kirkpatrick hit 14, so he became the record holder. That […]
Tag: U.L.’s Toothpick
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Longest Day
The people began lining up early in the morning. They could not have known how long the day would be. They could not have known that, with enough patience and perseverance, they would see history: the longest game in Royals’ history, an 18-inning epic that lasted nearly six and a half hours. Every baseball game […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Larry Gura, 1980
The battle between stats and scouting has gone on longer than you probably think. Baseball seems to fall increasingly in love with fastball velocity, for understandable reasons. Yet at some point, the ability to get people out should outweigh how hard a guy can throw. Once upon a time, the Royals were gifted a pitcher […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Lou Piniella, 1972
Trades made at the end of spring training usually don’t amount to much. Often they are made in an attempt to clear roster space or try to get something, anything, for a player who would otherwise need to be designated for assignment. But one of the shrewd trades that built the early Royals teams happened […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year of the Card – Bud Black, 1985
It must be very gratifying for a general manager and a scouting department when a little-noticed transaction pays off in a big way. When all the hard scouting work and all the effort that can go in to making even a small trade gets rewarded with a quality major-leaguer, it has to be a good […]