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History of the Royals

In 1968, the Major League Baseball granted a franchise to Kansas City. This leads to the foundation of the new club, Kansas City Royals. The team got its name from the American Royal Livestock Show, a show that happens every October to November. The livestock show displays animals. After that, judging takes place.

They first played in 1969 where they won their first game against the Minnesota Twins. Although they did not have the best team records, they topped the four teams who debuted that year. Their young blood, Lou Piniella won the Rookie of the year award.

Through 1971 and 1975, the team had different managers. They had a reputable play during those seasons but it was in 1975 under the leadership of Whitey Herzog when they established themselves as a strong team. They won three consecutive division titles. However, during those three years, they never won the American League Championship against the Yankees.

In 1980, they finally managed to snatch the AL series from the NY Yankees. However, they were not able to continue to grab a World Series after facing the Phillies.

The Pine Incident

Another memorable incident between the team and the Yankees took place in 1983, the Pine tar incident. This started when the Yankees managers, Billy Martin requested the umpire, Tim McClelland to check the bat of George Brett who just made a two-run home run. Findings revealed that there was more amount of pine tar on the bat than the league allows. The umpire decided to evict Brett and declared that the homerun not counted.

Brett was very disappointed and argued with the umpire. Brett and the Royals manager filed a protest. The league decided that the call was indeed overturned and the game resumed after three weeks.

After the incident

The Royals won a division title in 1984. They faced the Detroit Tiger and lost the World Series Title to them.

In 1985, Bret Saberhagen won the Cy Young Award. They also made their sixth divisional title. The greatest reward of all was winning the World Series, a first for the franchise. A series dubbed as the I-70. They faced fellow Missouri team St. Louis Cardinals where the Kansas City Royals bagged the title in game 7.

The next few years were tough. Although they did not make the play offs, they were still considered a strong team. However, that did not last long. In 1990, their General Manger left, after three years, their team manager died. Changes happened, and the biggest change affected their payrolls. The team could no longer afford paying its star players. The trading of the star players took place and their losing streak began.

They hired Tony Peña in 2003. He worked hard to turn the losing streak around and was successful at it. He received the Manager of the Year award for his efforts. In addition, the American League named Angel Berroa, Rookie of the Year.

They again stumbled in the ensuing years. However, they will not let that happen in 2007 or 2008. The team showed a lot of improvement. Fans also see brighter seasons in the next few years.

About the Author

Rick Grantham is an expert on sports equipment, specially on Kansas City Royals Merchandise for more information on MLB Fan Gear, visit BooYah Village.

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