Greatest Kansas City Royals players in the Last 50 Years

I am continuing my list for the greatest players at each position for every team in the last 50 years for each team. Today’s team is the Kansas City Royals. The criteria are as follows:

- Player must have played a full 5 seasons for the team.

-1 player will be selected for each position, 1 right handed starting pitcher, 1 left handed starting pitcher, and 1 relief pitcher. I will include a DH for both leagues (considering interleague play now).

 Below is my list of greatest players by position for the Royals in the last 50 years (since the 1970 season).

First Base- Mike Sweeney

Second Base- Frank White

Shortstop-   Freddie Patek

Third Base-   George Brett

Left Field-   Willie Wilson

Centerfield-   Lorenzo Cain

Right Field- Danny Tartabull

Catcher- Salvatore Perez

Designated Hitter-   Hal McRae

Right-Handed starting pitcher- Brett Saberhagen

Left-Handed starting pitcher- Larry Gura

Relief pitcher- Dan Quisenberry



 A couple of notes. The Royals have had some great players. There were some easy decisions picking this team. Frank White, George Brett, Salvatore Perez and Hal McRae were the best at their positions by far. Centerfield was a tough position to decide on. It was between Cain and Amos Otis. Both were great Royals ,who were terrific fielders.  I gave the nod to Cain due to his leadership and post season contributions to the Royals pennant winning team in 2014 and championship team in 2015 (winning the LCS MVP in 15). Right field was another challenging position. The Royals have had some great teams in the last 50 years. Through the 8 division championships, 4 AL titles, and 2 World Championships, they have never had a consistent right fielder. Lots of players were there for a short time or had career years and faded fast. Daryl Motley, Al Cowens were a few of those players. I picked Tartabull, who had some excellent seasons while playing on average teams with the Royals. Another challenging position was First base. Royals always had quality first basemen. I considered John Mayberry, but, he did not last too long. It came down to Eric Hosmer and Mike Sweeney. The easy decision would have been Hosmer.  He was a key member of the Royals 2014/2015 teams and put up some great numbers those 2 seasons. But, if you look at what Mike Sweeney did, he deserves the nod. Sweeney played on some of the worst Royals teams in their history, but consistently hit over .300.  To hit .340 on a team that lost 100 games in 2002 is remarkable. Hosmer had the team around him. Sweeney did not. The Royals had some great right-handed starting pitchers through the years. Dennis Leonard, Mark Gubicza, Kevin Appier, and Zach Greinke all had some wonderful seasons. But I had to pick Bret Saberhagen based on his 2 Cy Young seasons and his World Series MVP.



Next up is the Minnesota Twins.