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| Steve Busby threw the first no-hitter in Kansas City Royals history when he beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on April 27, 1973. Busby threw another no-hitter next year. |
Among the many things that hadn't happened the first time Kansas City had an American League baseball team -- foremost among them being a winning season -- was a pitcher throwing a no-hit game. In the 13 years of the Kansas City Athletics, 1955 to 1967, 31 no-hitters were thrown across the major leagues, but nary a one by a K.C. moundsman.
Naturally enough, when the A's moved in 1968 to Oakland, where they'd win three World Series titles in the early 1970s, it only took four weeks into the 1968 season for an A's pitcher to not only throw a no-hitter but a perfect game, Catfish Hunter turning the trick May 8.
When Kansas City was awarded another AL franchise, the expansion Royals in 1969, progression rather than stagnation and/or regression became the norm, including a winning season by 1971.
And two years later K.C. finally got a no-hitter, as Steve Busby, a rookie just into his first full season at age 23, tossed a gem April 27, 1973, at Detroit before 16,345 on a cold, raw Friday night at Tigers Stadium as the Royals won 3-0.
Actually, this was the second no-hitter thrown by a Kansas City major league pitcher. On Aug. 16, 1915, a chap named Miles Main of the Kansas City Packers of the Federal League -- which was considered a major league in 1914 and 1915 -- beat the Buffalo Blues 5-0.
Lending additional distinction to Busby's no-hitter was that he became the first to throw one without an at-bat, as this was the year the American League adopted the designated hitter.
And it may have come just in time. Although he'd been the Royals' Opening Day starter, he'd struggled in his first four starts and seven days earlier he'd lasted just one inning and given up five runs. Busby had some stiffness in his shoulder and was held back a couple days. According to a Sporting News article by Kansas City Star sports writer Joe McGuff (seen at https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-27-1973-royals-rookie-steve-busby-throws-no-hitter), it was revealed afterward that Busby could have been demoted to Omaha if he did not show improvement in his April 27 start.
He did definitely improve, but it wasn't the tidiest or most overpowering of no-hitters as the 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander walked six batters and struck out only four. But he had plenty of defensive help, including two double plays from a team that led the major leagues in twin killings in 1973, and he didn't really encounter too much trouble as the Royals played errorless ball behind him.
The Tigers' biggest threat to score came in the seventh inning, when Bill Freehan drew a leadoff walk, went to second when Gates Brown grounded out to John Mayberry unassisted at first base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
But Busby then struck out Norm Cash and got Dick McAuliffe to fly out to Lou Piniella in left field, and the no-hitter and shutout were preserved.
Cash said the Tigers may have been a little overanxioius.
“We were swinging at a lot of bad balls,” Cash said after the game. “We were trying to hack it over the roof.”
Busby, who'd shown his promise late in 1972 by going 3-1 with a 1.58 ERA in 40 innings, breezed through the eighth. Mickey Stanley flied out to Amos Otis in center. Ed Brinkman struck out. Back at the top of the batting order, Jim Northrup grounded out to Fred Patek at shortstop.
Duke Sims, pinch hitting for Aurelio Rodriguez, drew Busby's sixth walk of the night leading off the ninth. But Rich Reese then lined into a double play to Mayberry at first, and Freehan, who'd walked twice previously, went out to Patek unassisted to end the game. The double play by Mayberry was one of an American League-leading 156 for first basemen he turned this season.
The shot by Reese was the closest the Tigers came to a hit. Reese said it helped Mayberry that the Tigers had Sims at first.
“If Sims wasn’t on base, Mayberry would not have been playing next to the bag," Sims said in an Associated Press article. "The ball would have been a hit.”
Mayberry, a rangy 6-foot-3 former Detroit prep basketball standout, disagreed. At this moment, he said, he was braced.
“I don’t know if it would have been a hit without a runner on," he told Kansas City Star writer Sid Bordman for The Sporting News. "I would have been playing deeper and it would have made the play tougher. But I still might have knocked the ball down after it bounced and tagged first. I think we were ready to catch anything."
So three years, three weeks and one day into their history, a Royals pitcher had something the A's hadn't managed in 13 years. No hits, no runs, no errors.
The Tigers reached scoring position only one other time in the game, and like in the ninth a double play helped bail the Royals out. With one out in the fourth, Busby issued back-to-back walks to Reese and Freehan, around a passed ball by catcher Fran Healy that allowed Reese to reach second.
The next batter, Brown, grounded to Patek, who fed Cookie Rojas for the force out at second, and Rojas then went to Mayberry to complete the twin killing and snuff out the threat.
Patek would lead AL shortstops in DPs on the season with 115, while Rojas ranked second among second basemen with 114, trailing only Bobby Grich's 130.
Overall the Royals led the major leagues in double plays turned with 192 in 1973.
Patek was the busiest K.C. infielder besides Mayberry with five assists. Busby had two assists, Rojas and third baseman Paul Schaal one each. Mayberry had 11 putouts.
In the outfield, going from left to right Piniella had three putouts, Otis and Ed Kirkpatrick two apiece.
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| Ed "Spanky" Kirkpatrick led the Kansas City Royals offense behind Steve Busby's no-hitter on April 27, 1973, going 3-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs scored. |
Kirkpatrick led the Royals offense, going 3-for-4, and "Spanky" gave Busby all he needed with a solo homer leading off the fifth. Otis added another solo homer in the eighth.
Piniella went 2-for-4 for the other multiple-hit game.
Kirkpatrick scored his second run in the ninth when he singled, moved to second on Rojas' sacrifice bunt and to third on Schaal's ground out, and came home on an error by third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez. It was the first of only 14 errors he had on the season as he finished second among third basemen in fielding percentage at .971 in a tight race with Don Money (also .971) and Brooks Robinson (.970). Robinson was at the tail end of a string of 16 straight years he won Gold Gloves, interrupted only when Rodriguez won it in 1976.
Busby got nine outs on grounders, six on flies, and three each on line drivers and pops. He said his control struggles forced him to change his grip, but the wildness also may have played to his advantage.
“I couldn’t control my fastball, it was sinking too much," he told Bordman. "So I changed and it started running in on left-handers. I had better success against them. I was still throwing the ball all over the place. Maybe I was wild enough to keep the hitters loose.”
Healy was catching Busby for the first time this night but said the two worked well together.
“(Busby) deserves all the credit," Healy told Bordman. "We were thinking the same way most of the time. He shook me off maybe three or four times.”
According to an article by John DiFonzo for the Society of American Baseball Research's Games Project, Busby threw an estimated 75 to 90 percent fastballs, with the remainder being sliders and an occasional changeup or curveball.
“This is the greatest thrill of my life,” Busby told the AP. “I felt stronger because of the cold weather. I always pitch better when it’s cool.”
Busby squared his record at 2-2 and saw his ERA drop from 8.04 to 5.11. He'd go on to finish 16-15 with a 4.23 ERA and finish third in AL Rookie of the Year voting. He had the most wins by an American League rookie since 1968 and was named The Sporting News' AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
Jim Perry, the 1970 AL Cy Young Award winner who'd just been traded to Detroit from Minnesota in March, took the loss and fell to 2-2. The 37-year-old right-hander, who retired after the 1975 season, gave up three runs, two earned, and eight hits while walking two and striking out two. His final 1973 totals were 14-13 with a 4.03 ERA.
Ironically, Perry had been the victim the last time an AL pitcher had thrown a no-hitter, and this time it was also a rookie, when Vida Blue beat Perry when he was at Minnesota on Sept. 21, 1970.
And ironically again, Perry was the victim when California's Nolan Ryan no-hit the Tigers on July 15, 1973. This was the first time an American League team was no-hit twice in one season since it happened to the 1923 Philadelphia Athletics.
(The July 15 game was the one when Cash infamously walked up to the plate against Ryan in the ninth carrying a table leg as a demonstration of how futile it was trying to hit that night. The plate umpire, Ron Luciano, told him he couldn’t use it. Cash responded, “Why not, I won’t hit him anyway,” before tossing it aside.)
Busby was the 14th of 22 rookies to throw a no-hitter. Texas' Jim Bibby became the 15th later in 1973, the only time that two rookies threw no-hitters in the same season. Busby, who was drafted in 1971 by the Royals in the second round of the secondary phase of the amateur draft out of USC, pitched another no-hitter on June 19, 1974, 2-0 over Milwaukee, becoming the first pitcher to throw no-hitters in his first two full seasons in the major leagues.
The win April 27, 1973, left the Royals at 12-7 on the season and in second place in the AL West by percentage points behind 9-5 Minnesota. The Tigers, who'd won the AL East in 1972 and took Oakland to the full five games in the AL Championship Series, were also in second at 9-9, one-half game behind Baltimore.
Kansas City had a final 1973 record of 88-74 under Jack McKeon, matching their second-place finish in 1971 as they were becoming the most instantly successful expansion franchise yet. But they slipped to 77-85 and fifth place in 1974, and by halfway through '75 McKeon had been replaced by Whitey Herzog, who rallied them to another second-place finish and then led them to three straight division titles from 1976 to 1978.
The Tigers were headed the other direction. They finished third in 1973 and manager Billy Martin was fired. Then they finished between fourth and sixth for the rest of the decade.
Some of the ingredients for the Royals' championship teams were already in place on April 27, 1973, including Hal McRae, Otis, Mayberry and Patek. (McRae, the game's first standout designated hitter, sat out April 27 until lining out as a pinch hitter in the ninth). And then Hall of Famer George Brett came along late in '73.
But largely missing from K.C.'s late-'70s run was Busby. He became one of the workhorses of the American League in 1974 and '75, winning 22 and 18 games and earning All-Star team spots both years. And he threw that second no-hitter in 1974, which was far more dominant than his first. He didn't walk any batters and retired the final 24 batters he faced.
But trouble reared its head in 1975. He was having his best season and was at 10-5 with a 2.57 ERA when he began to have shoulder pain and compensated by altering his pitching motion, a step that caused mechanical issues. Then came the beginning of the end.
"On the 25th of June I threw 12 innings in Anaheim and won 6-2, but I struggled for the last seven (starts)," he said in a Sports Illustrated article in August 1978. "It was really a chore to throw. The next time I pitched was July 1 against Texas. Normally I recuperate fast between starts, but this day I just couldn't throw well. I was having strength problems: I couldn't grip the ball well and I had a lessened ability to snap my wrist. I couldn't even make a tight fist. ... I pitched on through the middle of September with very little success."
Busby was held out the last week of the season because of shoulder soreness. “By that time, I had no sensation of strength when I threw the ball,” he said.
And that was pretty much it for a career that had started out so promisingly. Some have said he was never again the same after that 12-inning game in 1975. But it also didn't help that he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in July 1976. Dr. Frank Jobe performed a groundbreaking surgery July 19, the first time the procedure was performed on an active pitcher. A torn rotator cuff has been the death knell for many pitchers’ careers, and after the surgery Jobe recommended that Busby seek other employment.
Busby wasn’t ready to give up, but try as he might he couldn't get back to full strength. His 1976 season, which ended with a 3-3 record and 4.40 ERA, was described as “an on again off again comeback” in The Sporting News, and that pretty much described the rest of his career. He sat out all of 1977 and was 8-9 over the next three years. He retired in spring 1981, with 1980 his last season. He had a final major league record of 70-54 with a 3.72 ERA over eight years. In 1986 he and Otis were inducted as the inaugural members of the Royals Hall of Fame.
One has to wonder what the Royals could have done with Busby and Mayberry at their best after 1975. While Busby struggled with injuries, Mayberry just didn't perform with the bat as well anymore after being the runner-up for AL MVP in 1975. From Triple Crown stats of .291 average-34 homers-106 RBIs that year he fell to .232-13-95 and .230-23-82 the next two. And then he showed up hung over for a 1977 playoff game, fell into Herzog's doghouse and was gone to Toronto after that. He had some decent seasons with the Blue Jays but was never again the impact player he'd been his first few years with the Royals.
But Busby and Mayberry certainly had a lot to do with making the Royals respectable in the early 1970s and setting the stage for their later success. And that respectability was cemented on April 27, 1973, with Busby's no-hitter, with a little help from Big John.
Piniella went 2-for-4 for the other multiple-hit game.
Kirkpatrick scored his second run in the ninth when he singled, moved to second on Rojas' sacrifice bunt and to third on Schaal's ground out, and came home on an error by third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez. It was the first of only 14 errors he had on the season as he finished second among third basemen in fielding percentage at .971 in a tight race with Don Money (also .971) and Brooks Robinson (.970). Robinson was at the tail end of a string of 16 straight years he won Gold Gloves, interrupted only when Rodriguez won it in 1976.
Busby got nine outs on grounders, six on flies, and three each on line drivers and pops. He said his control struggles forced him to change his grip, but the wildness also may have played to his advantage.
“I couldn’t control my fastball, it was sinking too much," he told Bordman. "So I changed and it started running in on left-handers. I had better success against them. I was still throwing the ball all over the place. Maybe I was wild enough to keep the hitters loose.”
Healy was catching Busby for the first time this night but said the two worked well together.
“(Busby) deserves all the credit," Healy told Bordman. "We were thinking the same way most of the time. He shook me off maybe three or four times.”
According to an article by John DiFonzo for the Society of American Baseball Research's Games Project, Busby threw an estimated 75 to 90 percent fastballs, with the remainder being sliders and an occasional changeup or curveball.
“This is the greatest thrill of my life,” Busby told the AP. “I felt stronger because of the cold weather. I always pitch better when it’s cool.”
Busby squared his record at 2-2 and saw his ERA drop from 8.04 to 5.11. He'd go on to finish 16-15 with a 4.23 ERA and finish third in AL Rookie of the Year voting. He had the most wins by an American League rookie since 1968 and was named The Sporting News' AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
Jim Perry, the 1970 AL Cy Young Award winner who'd just been traded to Detroit from Minnesota in March, took the loss and fell to 2-2. The 37-year-old right-hander, who retired after the 1975 season, gave up three runs, two earned, and eight hits while walking two and striking out two. His final 1973 totals were 14-13 with a 4.03 ERA.
Ironically, Perry had been the victim the last time an AL pitcher had thrown a no-hitter, and this time it was also a rookie, when Vida Blue beat Perry when he was at Minnesota on Sept. 21, 1970.
And ironically again, Perry was the victim when California's Nolan Ryan no-hit the Tigers on July 15, 1973. This was the first time an American League team was no-hit twice in one season since it happened to the 1923 Philadelphia Athletics.
(The July 15 game was the one when Cash infamously walked up to the plate against Ryan in the ninth carrying a table leg as a demonstration of how futile it was trying to hit that night. The plate umpire, Ron Luciano, told him he couldn’t use it. Cash responded, “Why not, I won’t hit him anyway,” before tossing it aside.)
Busby was the 14th of 22 rookies to throw a no-hitter. Texas' Jim Bibby became the 15th later in 1973, the only time that two rookies threw no-hitters in the same season. Busby, who was drafted in 1971 by the Royals in the second round of the secondary phase of the amateur draft out of USC, pitched another no-hitter on June 19, 1974, 2-0 over Milwaukee, becoming the first pitcher to throw no-hitters in his first two full seasons in the major leagues.
The win April 27, 1973, left the Royals at 12-7 on the season and in second place in the AL West by percentage points behind 9-5 Minnesota. The Tigers, who'd won the AL East in 1972 and took Oakland to the full five games in the AL Championship Series, were also in second at 9-9, one-half game behind Baltimore.
Kansas City had a final 1973 record of 88-74 under Jack McKeon, matching their second-place finish in 1971 as they were becoming the most instantly successful expansion franchise yet. But they slipped to 77-85 and fifth place in 1974, and by halfway through '75 McKeon had been replaced by Whitey Herzog, who rallied them to another second-place finish and then led them to three straight division titles from 1976 to 1978.
The Tigers were headed the other direction. They finished third in 1973 and manager Billy Martin was fired. Then they finished between fourth and sixth for the rest of the decade.
Some of the ingredients for the Royals' championship teams were already in place on April 27, 1973, including Hal McRae, Otis, Mayberry and Patek. (McRae, the game's first standout designated hitter, sat out April 27 until lining out as a pinch hitter in the ninth). And then Hall of Famer George Brett came along late in '73.
But largely missing from K.C.'s late-'70s run was Busby. He became one of the workhorses of the American League in 1974 and '75, winning 22 and 18 games and earning All-Star team spots both years. And he threw that second no-hitter in 1974, which was far more dominant than his first. He didn't walk any batters and retired the final 24 batters he faced.
But trouble reared its head in 1975. He was having his best season and was at 10-5 with a 2.57 ERA when he began to have shoulder pain and compensated by altering his pitching motion, a step that caused mechanical issues. Then came the beginning of the end.
"On the 25th of June I threw 12 innings in Anaheim and won 6-2, but I struggled for the last seven (starts)," he said in a Sports Illustrated article in August 1978. "It was really a chore to throw. The next time I pitched was July 1 against Texas. Normally I recuperate fast between starts, but this day I just couldn't throw well. I was having strength problems: I couldn't grip the ball well and I had a lessened ability to snap my wrist. I couldn't even make a tight fist. ... I pitched on through the middle of September with very little success."
Busby was held out the last week of the season because of shoulder soreness. “By that time, I had no sensation of strength when I threw the ball,” he said.
And that was pretty much it for a career that had started out so promisingly. Some have said he was never again the same after that 12-inning game in 1975. But it also didn't help that he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in July 1976. Dr. Frank Jobe performed a groundbreaking surgery July 19, the first time the procedure was performed on an active pitcher. A torn rotator cuff has been the death knell for many pitchers’ careers, and after the surgery Jobe recommended that Busby seek other employment.
Busby wasn’t ready to give up, but try as he might he couldn't get back to full strength. His 1976 season, which ended with a 3-3 record and 4.40 ERA, was described as “an on again off again comeback” in The Sporting News, and that pretty much described the rest of his career. He sat out all of 1977 and was 8-9 over the next three years. He retired in spring 1981, with 1980 his last season. He had a final major league record of 70-54 with a 3.72 ERA over eight years. In 1986 he and Otis were inducted as the inaugural members of the Royals Hall of Fame.
One has to wonder what the Royals could have done with Busby and Mayberry at their best after 1975. While Busby struggled with injuries, Mayberry just didn't perform with the bat as well anymore after being the runner-up for AL MVP in 1975. From Triple Crown stats of .291 average-34 homers-106 RBIs that year he fell to .232-13-95 and .230-23-82 the next two. And then he showed up hung over for a 1977 playoff game, fell into Herzog's doghouse and was gone to Toronto after that. He had some decent seasons with the Blue Jays but was never again the impact player he'd been his first few years with the Royals.
But Busby and Mayberry certainly had a lot to do with making the Royals respectable in the early 1970s and setting the stage for their later success. And that respectability was cemented on April 27, 1973, with Busby's no-hitter, with a little help from Big John.
Sources
Play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1973/B04270DET1973.htm and https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-27-1973-royals-rookie-steve-busby-throws-no-hitterBusby biography: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c405380b
Nolan Ryan's no-hitter vs. Tigers in 1973: https://www.vintagedetroit.com/blog/2011/11/01/when-norm-cash-took-a-table-leg-to-the-plate-for-the-detroit-tigers/
Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.
*Aug. 16, 1915 Miles Main Buffalo 5-0
April 27, 1973 Steve Busby Detroit 3-0
June 19, 1974 Steve Busby Milwaukee 2-0
May 14, 1977 Jim Colborn Texas 6-0
Aug. 26, 1991 Bret Saberhagen Chicago 7-0
*This no-hitter was thrown in the Federal League, considered a major league at the time.
Kansas City's major league no-hitters
Date Pitcher Opponent Score*Aug. 16, 1915 Miles Main Buffalo 5-0
April 27, 1973 Steve Busby Detroit 3-0
June 19, 1974 Steve Busby Milwaukee 2-0
May 14, 1977 Jim Colborn Texas 6-0
Aug. 26, 1991 Bret Saberhagen Chicago 7-0
*This no-hitter was thrown in the Federal League, considered a major league at the time.
