Wednesday, October 14, 2009

1976 Topps #236 - Kansas City Royals





  • The Kansas City Royals were 90-72 and won the AL West in 1976. They finished 2.5 games ahead of the Oakland A's and 5 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins. They lost an exciting AL Championship Series to the New York Yankees 3 games to 2 when Chris Chambliss homered off of Mark Littell in the bottom of the 9th in the final game.
  • Attendance: 1,680,265 (3rd of 12)
  • Team Batting: .269 (2nd in AL)
  • Team Homers: 57 (11th in AL)
  • Team Stolen Bases: 241 (2nd in AL)
  • Team ERA: 3.21 (2nd in AL)
  • Team Fielding: .978 (4th in AL)
  • League Leaders: George Brett (.333 BA, 645 AB, 215 hits, 298 total bases, 14 3B); Hal McRae (.407 OBP); Amos Otis (40 2B)
  • Gold Gloves: none
  • AL All Stars: George Brett (starting 3B); Amos Otis (OF); Freddie Patek (SS); Hal McRae (OF)
  • Whitey Herzog was in his 4th season as a major league manager, and 1976 was his first full season. He ended up managing all or parts of 18 seasons from 1973-1990. He had a total of six division titles (3 with Kansas City and 3 with the St. Louis Cardinals), three World Series appearances (all with St. Louis), and one World Championship (1982).
Some Whitey Herzog quotes:
  • "I'm not buddy-buddy with the players. If they need a buddy, let them buy a dog. "
  • "The only way to make money as a manager is to win in one place, get fired and hired somewhere else. "
  • "Some people asked me if I would be interested in managing the A's. I said a definite no thank you. At night, that place is a graveyard with lights. "

2 comments:

  1. Great Whitey quotes! Today, it is hard to believe that a team won a division with only 57 dingers.

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  2. Oh how the Royals must cry when they see what their team used to be and what they are now. How will they ever get back there? They can't even win the division let alone, a playoff game...

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