1996 Kansas City Royals season

1996 Kansas City Royals
1996 Kansas City Royals
Division	Central Division
Ballpark	Kauffman Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners	David Glass
Managers	Bob Boone
Television	KSMO-TV; (Paul Splittorff, Steve Busby)
Radio	WIBW (AM); (Denny Matthews, Fred White, John Wathan, Paul Splittorff)

The 1996 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing 5th in the American League Central with a record of 75 wins and 86 losses.

Offseason

October 22, 1995: Doug Linton was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[1]
December 19, 1995: Brent Mayne was traded by the Royals to the New York Mets for Al Shirley (minors).^[2]
December 21, 1995: Wally Joyner and Aaron Dorlarque (minors) were traded by the Royals to the San Diego Padres for Bip Roberts and Bryan Wolff (minors).^[3]
January 31, 1996: Tim Belcher was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	99	62	0.615	—	51–29	48–33
Chicago White Sox	85	77	0.525	14½	44–37	41–40
Milwaukee Brewers	80	82	0.494	19½	38–43	42–39
Minnesota Twins	78	84	0.481	21½	39–43	39–41
Kansas City Royals	75	86	0.466	24	37–43	38–43

Record vs. opponents

1996 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–6	6–6	4–8	5–7	11–2	9–3	9–3	7–5	3–10	9–4	7–5	3–10–1	8–5
Boston	6–7	—	8–4	6–6	1–11	12–1	3–9	7–5	6–6	7–6	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5
California	6–6	4–8	—	6–6	4–9	6–6	4–8	7–5	4–8	7–6	6–7	5–8	4–9	7–5
Chicago	8–4	6–6	6–6	—	5–8	10–3	7–6	6–7	6–7	6–7	5–7	5–7	8–4	7–5
Cleveland	7–5	11–1	9–4	8–5	—	12–0	7–6	7–6	10–3	3–9	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–5
Detroit	2–11	1–12	6–6	3–10	0–12	—	6–6	4–8	6–6	5–8	4–8	6–6	4–9	6–7
Kansas City	3–9	9–3	8–4	6–7	6–7	6–6	—	4–9	6–7	4–8	5–7	7–5	6–6	5–8
Milwaukee	3–9	5–7	5–7	7–6	6–7	8–4	9–4	—	9–4	6–6	7–5	4–9	6–7	5–7
Minnesota	5–7	6–6	8–4	7–6	3–10	6–6	7–6	4–9	—	5–7	6–7	6–6	7–5	8–5
New York	10–3	6–7	6–7	7–6	9–3	8–5	8–4	6–6	7–5	—	9–3	3–9	5–7	8–5
Oakland	4–9	5–8	7–6	7–5	6–6	8–4	7–5	5–7	7–6	3–9	—	8–5	7–6	4–8
Seattle	5–7	6–7	8–5	7–5	4–8	6–6	5–7	9–4	6–6	9–3	5–8	—	10–3	5–7
Texas	10–3–1	6–6	9–4	4–8	8–4	9–4	6–6	7–6	5–7	7–5	6–7	3–10	—	10–2
Toronto	5–8	5–8	5–7	5–7	5–7	7–6	8–5	7–5	5–8	5–8	8–4	7–5	2–10	—

Game log

1996 Game Log: 75–86 (Home: 37–43; Away: 38–43)

April: 9–18 (Home: 4–10; Away: 5–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
1	April 2	@ Orioles	2–4	Mussina	Appier (0–1)	Myers	46,818	0–1
2	April 3	@ Orioles	1–7	Wells	Gubicza (0–1)	—	40,068	0–2
3	April 4	@ Orioles	3–5	Rhodes	Pichardo (0–1)	Myers	38,753	0–3
4	April 5	Red Sox	5–4 (12)	Clark (1–0)	Pennington	—	39,526	1–3
5	April 6	Red Sox	7–3	Pichardo (1–1)	Belinda	—	17,339	2–3
6	April 7	Red Sox	1–3	Moyer	Gubicza (0–2)	Slocumb	13,183	2–4
7	April 9	@ Yankees	3–7	Pettitte	Haney (0–1)	—	56,329	2–5
8	April 11	@ Yankees	3–5	Key	Belcher (0–1)	Howe	17,519	2–6
9	April 12	@ Brewers	4–1	Appier (1–1)	Bones	Montgomery (1)	7,113	3–6
10	April 13	@ Brewers	3–2	Gubicza (1–2)	Sparks	Montgomery (2)	9,224	4–6
11	April 14	@ Brewers	2–5	McDonald	Haney (0–2)	Miranda	19,131	4–7
12	April 15	White Sox	10–11	Karchner	Pichardo (1–2)	Hernandez	12,653	4–8
13	April 16	White Sox	6–5	Belcher (1–1)	Bere	Montgomery (3)	12,399	5–8
14	April 17	White Sox	1–3	Fernandez	Appier (1–2)	Hernandez	13,350	5–9
15	April 18	Brewers	2–8	Sparks	Gubicza (1–3)	—	13,153	5–10
16	April 19	Brewers	2–8	McDonald	Haney (0–3)	—	15,321	5–11
17	April 20	Brewers	4–12	Miranda	Jacome (0–1)	—	17,220	5–12
18	April 21	Brewers	4–5	Wickander	Pichardo (1–3)	Fetters	14,666	5–13
19	April 22	Yankees	2–6	Cone	Appier (1–3)	—	14,763	5–14
20	April 23	Yankees	5–2	Gubicza (2–3)	Key	Montgomery (4)	12,536	6–14
21	April 24	Orioles	8–11	Mercker	Haney (0–4)	—	13,962	6–15
22	April 25	Orioles	2–3	Rhodes	Valera (0–1)	Myers	16,090	6–16
23	April 26	@ Red Sox	4–3	Belcher (2–1)	Clemens	Montgomery (5)	22,385	7–16
24	April 27	@ Red Sox	10–0	Appier (2–3)	Sele	—	29,459	8–16
25	April 28	@ Red Sox	9–7	Robinson (1–0)	Slocumb	Montgomery (6)	32,491	9–16
26	April 29	@ Twins	6–11	Hansell	Clark (1–1)	Bennett	10,237	9–17
27	April 30	@ Twins	7–16	Naulty	Magnante (0–1)	—	10,503	9–18

May: 15–12 (Home: 7–6; Away: 8–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
28	May 1	@ Twins	5–6 (10)	Stevens	Montgomery (0–1)	—	11,975	9–19
29	May 3	Athletics	3–1	Appier (3–3)	Reyes	Montgomery (7)	14,452	10–19
30	May 4	Athletics	2–5	Wojciechowski	Gubicza (2–4)	Groom	15,987	10–20
31	May 5	Athletics	2–0	Haney (1–4)	Prieto	—	16,589	11–20
32	May 6	@ Angels	9–4	Belcher (3–1)	Leftwich	Pichardo (1)	14,447	12–20
33	May 7	@ Angels	5–3	Valera (1–1)	Abbott	Montgomery (8)	14,657	13–20
34	May 8	@ Angels	3–1 (14)	Pichardo (2–3)	Eichhorn	—	16,210	14–20
35	May 9	@ Angels	8–2	Gubicza (3–4)	Grimsley	—	15,302	15–20
36	May 10	@ Mariners	14–10	Valera (2–1)	Davis	—	24,231	16–20
37	May 11	@ Mariners	1–11	Wolcott	Belcher (3–2)	Carmona	43,297	16–21
38	May 12	@ Mariners	5–8	Johnson	Linton (0–1)	Charlton	27,470	16–22
39	May 13	@ Rangers	6–7	Cook	Montgomery (0–2)	Henneman	22,981	16–23
40	May 14	@ Rangers	0–10	Hill	Gubicza (3–5)	—	28,999	16–24
41	May 15	@ Rangers	3–1	Haney (2–4)	Pavlik	Montgomery (9)	26,881	17–24
42	May 17	Blue Jays	4–2	Belcher (4–2)	Guzman	Montgomery (10)	20,079	18–24
43	May 18	Blue Jays	2–6	Viola	Appier (3–4)	—	18,116	18–25
44	May 19	Blue Jays	2–3	Hanson	Gubicza (3–6)	Timlin	15,039	18–26
45	May 20	Blue Jays	5–4	Haney (3–4)	Hentgen	Montgomery (11)	14,303	19–26
46	May 21	@ Tigers	7–1	Linton (1–1)	Williams	Valera (1)	24,372	20–26
47	May 22	@ Tigers	6–4	Belcher (5–2)	Farrell	Montgomery (12)	12,890	21–26
48	May 23	Rangers	4–2	Appier (4–4)	Oliver	Montgomery (13)	15,612	22–26
49	May 24	Rangers	8–0	Gubicza (4–6)	Witt	—	13,696	23–26
50	May 25	Rangers	1–2	Helling	Haney (3–5)	Henneman	23,668	23–27
51	May 26	Rangers	4–6	Hill	Linton (1–2)	Henneman	22,665	23–28
52	May 27	Tigers	5–4 (13)	Montgomery (1–2)	Veres	—	19,776	24–28
53	May 29	Tigers	4–5	Gohr	Appier (4–5)	Walker	13,712	24–29
54	May 31	@ Blue Jays	2–4	Hentgen	Gubicza (4–7)	Timlin	33,194	24–30

June: 10–17 (Home: 6–10; Away: 4–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
55	June 1	@ Blue Jays	3–5 (10)	Crabtree	Montgomery (1–3)	—	31,107	24–31
56	June 2	@ Blue Jays	7–5	Belcher (6–2)	Janzen	Montgomery (14)	32,253	25–31
57	June 3	@ Athletics	1–2	Wasdin	Appier (4–6)	Taylor	6,465	25–32
58	June 4	@ Athletics	3–8	Wengert	Gubicza (4–8)	—	11,524	25–33
59	June 5	@ Athletics	5–2	Haney (4–5)	Johns	Montgomery (15)	8,113	26–33
60	June 7	Mariners	9–5	Valera (3–1)	Wolcott	—	20,891	27–33
61	June 8	Mariners	12–8	Appier (5–6)	Milacki	Montgomery (16)	30,022	28–33
62	June 9	Mariners	2–3	Hitchcock	Gubicza (4–9)	Charlton	20,489	28–34
63	June 10	Angels	5–7 (10)	McElroy	Pugh (0–1)	Percival	15,691	28–35
64	June 11	Angels	9–11	McElroy	Valera (3–2)	Percival	16,687	28–36
65	June 12	Angels	3–4 (10)	McElroy	Montgomery (1–4)	Percival	15,428	28–37
66	June 13	Orioles	10–2	Linton (2–2)	Mercker	—	20,108	29–37
67	June 14	Orioles	1–6	Mussina	Gubicza (4–10)	—	28,502	29–38
68	June 15	Orioles	7–6 (16)	Magnante (1–1)	Krivda	—	24,784	30–38
69	June 16	Orioles	5–13	Coppinger	Jacome (0–2)	Mills	19,437	30–39
70	June 17	@ Brewers	4–9	Burrows	Appier (5–7)	—	9,315	30–40
71	June 18	@ Brewers	1–9	Karl	Linton (2–3)	Potts	9,116	30–41
72	June 19	@ Brewers	8–4 (10)	Pichardo (3–3)	Mercedes	—	13,431	31–41
73	June 21	@ Orioles	3–9	Rhodes	Haney (4–6)	—	47,644	31–42
74	June 22	@ Orioles	3–5	Erickson	Montgomery (1–5)	—	47,534	31–43
75	June 23	@ Orioles	4–0	Appier (6–7)	Krivda	—	47,608	32–43
76	June 25	Brewers	3–5	Bones	Gubicza (4–11)	Fetters	14,448	32–44
77	June 26	Brewers	7–3	Haney (5–6)	Givens	—	14,560	33–44
78	June 27	Brewers	2–6	McDonald	Belcher (6–3)	—	17,670	33–45
79	June 28	Twins	6–2	Appier (7–7)	Radke	—	21,515	34–45
80	June 29	Twins	7–12	Trombley	Linton (2–4)	—	23,232	34–46
81	June 30	Twins	2–5	Rodriguez	Gubicza (4–12)	Stevens	28,246	34–47

July: 14–13 (Home: 4–5; Away: 10–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
82	July 1	@ Indians	4–2	Haney (6–6)	Nagy	—	40,814	35–47
83	July 2	@ Indians	2–3	Poole	Belcher (6–4)	—	42,283	35–48
84	July 3	@ Indians	4–6	Tavarez	Magnante (1–2)	Shuey	42,470	35–49
85	July 4	@ Twins	5–3	Linton (3–4)	Robertson	Montgomery (17)	37,295	36–49
86	July 5	@ Twins	8–9	Guardado	Montgomery (1–6)	—	18,465	36–50
87	July 6	@ Twins	8–5	Haney (7–6)	Aguilera	Montgomery (18)	18,699	37–50
88	July 7	@ Twins	8–2	Belcher (7–4)	Aldred	—	14,251	38–50
89	July 11	White Sox	3–2	Haney (8–6)	Alvarez	—	22,928	39–50
90	July 12	White Sox	6–7	Tapani	Belcher (7–5)	Hernandez	18,458	39–51
91	July 13	White Sox	1–3	Fernandez	Rosado (0–1)	—	25,363	39–52
92	July 14	White Sox	2–3	Baldwin	Linton (3–5)	Hernandez	17,024	39–53
93	July 15	Indians	6–3	Magnante (2–2)	Tavarez	Montgomery (19)	22,294	40–53
94	July 16	Indians	4–10	McDowell	Haney (8–7)	—	16,871	40–54
95	July 17	Indians	3–2	Belcher (8–5)	Hershiser	Montgomery (20)	19,532	41–54
96	July 18	@ White Sox	7–1	Appier (8–7)	Fernandez	Pichardo (2)	17,657	42–54
97	July 19	@ White Sox	7–4 (10)	Montgomery (2–6)	Hernandez	—	19,604	43–54
98	July 20	@ White Sox	7–5	Linton (4–5)	Keyser	Montgomery (21)	32,282	44–54
99	July 21	@ White Sox	3–6	Alvarez	Haney (8–8)	Hernandez	21,253	44–55
100	July 22	@ Red Sox	5–2	Belcher (9–5)	Gordon	—	28,109	45–55
101	July 23	@ Red Sox	7–5	Appier (9–7)	Sele	—	23,711	46–55
102	July 24	@ Red Sox	2–12	Moyer	Linton (4–6)	—	33,381	46–56
103	July 25	@ Yankees	7–0	Rosado (1–1)	Hutton	—	23,475	47–56
104	July 26	@ Yankees	1–15	Key	Haney (8–9)	—	23,782	47–57
105	July 27	@ Yankees	4–5	Rogers	Belcher (9–6)	Wetteland	42,044	47–58
106	July 28	@ Yankees	2–3	Wetteland	Jacome (0–3)	—	35,658	47–59
107	July 30	Red Sox	7–0	Rosado (2–1)	Eshelman	—	17,166	48–59
108	July 31	Red Sox	3–5	Wakefield	Haney (8–10)	Slocumb	17,527	48–60

August: 14–15 (Home: 8–9; Away: 6–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
109	August 1	Red Sox	9–4	Belcher (10–6)	Clemens	—	18,934	49–60
110	August 2	Yankees	4–3 (10)	Montgomery (3–6)	Rivera	—	28,618	50–60
111	August 3	Yankees	11–4	Linton (5–6)	Weathers	—	29,355	51–60
112	August 4	Yankees	3–5	Pettitte	Rosado (2–2)	—	24,624	51–61
113	August 5	Yankees	2–5	Key	Pichardo (3–4)	Wetteland	22,865	51–62
114	August 6	Athletics	9–2	Belcher (11–6)	Wasdin	—	14,028	52–62
115	August 7	Athletics	7–0	Appier (10–7)	Prieto	—	15,517	53–62
116	August 8	Athletics	1–2	Wengert	Linton (5–7)	Taylor	19,197	53–63
117	August 9	@ Angels	5–3	Rosado (3–2)	Langston	Montgomery (22)	35,977	54–63
118	August 10	@ Angels	18–3	Haney (9–10)	Abbott	—	21,657	55–63
119	August 11	@ Angels	5–6	Springer	Belcher (11–7)	—	18,591	55–64
120	August 12	@ Mariners	10–4	Appier (11–7)	Moyer	Huisman (1)	43,476	56–64
121	August 13	@ Mariners	5–9	Mulholland	Linton (5–8)	Johnson	21,961	56–65
122	August 14	@ Mariners	3–1	Rosado (4–2)	Wolcott	Montgomery (23)	23,709	57–65
123	August 16	@ Rangers	3–5	Burkett	Haney (9–11)	Henneman	32,053	57–66
124	August 17	@ Rangers	4–1	Belcher (12–7)	Hill	—	41,855	58–66
125	August 18	@ Rangers	3–10	Gross	Appier (11–8)	—	30,480	58–67
126	August 19	Blue Jays	1–2	Spoljaric	Rosado (4–3)	Timlin	16,862	58–68
127	August 20	Blue Jays	5–6 (14)	Timlin	Huisman (0–1)	—	14,568	58–69
128	August 21	Blue Jays	2–6	Guzman	Haney (9–12)	—	12,238	58–70
129	August 22	Tigers	3–10	Thompson	Belcher (12–8)	—	14,699	58–71
130	August 23	Tigers	2–3	Sager	Appier (11–9)	Olson	15,603	58–72
131	August 24	Tigers	9–2	Rosado (5–3)	Olivares	—	28,011	59–72
132	August 25	Tigers	4–7	Van Poppel	Linton (5–9)	Myers	15,123	59–73
133	August 27	Rangers	4–3 (10)	Montgomery (4–6)	Russell	—	12,907	60–73
134	August 28	Rangers	4–3 (12)	Huisman (1–1)	Gross	—	12,695	61–73
135	August 29	@ Tigers	1–4	Eischen	Appier (11–10)	Lima	7,882	61–74
136	August 30	@ Tigers	0–4	Van Poppel	Rosado (5–4)	—	16,498	61–75
137	August 31	@ Tigers	3–1	Linton (6–9)	Lira	Montgomery (24)	16,270	62–75

September: 13–11 (Home: 8–3; Away: 5–8)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Royals team member

Detailed records

American League
Opponent	W	L	WP	RS	RA
AL East
Baltimore Orioles	3	9	0.250	49	71
Boston Red Sox	9	3	0.750	69	48
Detroit Tigers	6	6	0.500	47	47
New York Yankees	4	8	0.333	47	60
Toronto Blue Jays	5	8	0.385	40	51
Total	27	34	0.443	252	277
AL Central
Chicago White Sox	6	7	0.462	63	55
Cleveland Indians	6	7	0.462	58	70
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers	4	9	0.308	46	77
Minnesota Twins	6	7	0.462	76	85
Total	22	30	0.423	243	287
AL West
California Angels	8	4	0.667	86	51
Oakland Athletics	5	7	0.417	47	50
Seattle Mariners	7	5	0.583	74	71
Texas Rangers	6	6	0.500	44	50
Total	26	22	0.542	251	222
Season Total	75	86	0.466	746	786

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
April	27	9	18	0.333	116	157
May	27	15	12	0.556	120	112
June	27	10	17	0.370	132	156
July	27	14	13	0.519	126	123
August	29	14	15	0.483	140	118
September	24	13	11	0.542	112	120
Total	161	75	86	0.466	746	786

Total	161	75	86	0.466	746	786
	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
Home	80	37	43	0.463	372	369
Away	81	38	43	0.469	374	417

Roster

1996 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

8 Bob Boone

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Rod Myers	22	63	18	.286	1	11

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Mike Jirschele
AA	Wichita Wranglers	Texas League	Ron Johnson
A	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Carolina League	John Mizerock
A	Lansing Lugnuts	Midwest League	Brian Poldberg
A-Short Season	Spokane Indians	Northwest League	Bob Herold
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Al Pedrique

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wilmington^[5]

References

^ Doug Linton page at Baseball Reference\
^ Brent Mayne at Baseball Reference
^ Wally Joyner at Baseball Reference
^ Tim Belcher at Baseball Reference
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

1996 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1996 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

[1] Doug Linton page at Baseball Reference\

[2] Brent Mayne at Baseball Reference

[3] Wally Joyner at Baseball Reference

[4] Tim Belcher at Baseball Reference

[5] Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]