MLB stayed consistent through the 1960 season, with each league having 8 teams. Expansion first came in 1961, with the AL adding the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators (the original Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins and the later Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972). The NL expanded in 1962, as the New York Mets and Houston Astros joined the NL. Both the AL and NL expanded by two for the 1969 season, as the AL added the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (the Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1970 season) and the NL added the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos. The AL would add the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays for the 1977 season. It wasn't until 1993 that the NL added two more teams: the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies. Both leagues concluded the expansion with the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.
Prior to the first game played by each of the new teams, a draft was held the year before for the new teams to attempt to put together a roster of players for the next season. The rules for the availability of players changed slightly from 1962 to 1998, but what was common was the opportunity for the new teams to decide which players they could use from the existing teams in MLB. Over a series of 14 posts, I will review the expansion drafts of each of these newer 14 teams. Included are trades made following the draft and which players were taken first overall. Without further due, here is a recap of the 1968 expansion draft for the Kansas City Royals.
MLB had promised a new franchise to Kansas City after the Athletics left there after only being there for 13 seasons. Of course, to keep all AL teams playing at the same time, another expansion team was needed. Seattle was given a franchise called the Pilots. The NL chose to expand also, with San Diego getting a franchise and MLB expanding into Canada for the first time with the creation of the Montreal Expos. This draft added 30 players to each of the four new teams. Each of the expansion teams could only select players from teams in their own leagues. With each league presently having 10 teams, that meant there would be six rounds causing each team to lose exactly six players. Because the Royals were not able to come to an agreement with their a couple of their 1968 draft picks, the draft was changed to help them out a little bit. Normally, the team that has the first overall selection, concedes the first selection of the second and third rounds, with the final rounds alternating between team. Though this was true in this case, the Royals were given the second and third selections of the 2nd and 3rd round of the expansion draft. This allowed Seattle to have consecutive picks of 2nd and 3rd overall in the first round.
The Royals selected Baltimore Orioles RHP Roger Nelson with the first overall pick in the 1968 expansion draft. The Royals then selected Boston Red Sox 3B Joe Foy with the 4th overall selection, then followed that up with New York Yankees LHP Jim Rooker (6th). Their last two first round selections were Oakland Athletics OF Joe Keough (8th) and Washington Senators LHP Steve Jones (10th).
The Royals' first selection of the 2nd round was Detroit Tiger LHP Jon Warden (12th), who would never pitch in the majors again. They followed that up with Yankees catcher Ellie Rodriguez (15th). They then selected Minnesota Twins OF Bob Oliver (19th). The Royals took Tigers LHP Bill Butler with their first selection of the 3rd round (22nd). In the 3rd round, the Royals added OF Steve Whitaker (23rd) from the Yankees and RHP Wally Bunker from the Baltimore Orioles (25th).
The Royals opened up the 4th round by taking Tigers RHP Dick Drago (guest on the Passed Ball Show) (31st). They also took Twins OF Pat Kelly in the same round (34th). The Royals opened up the 5th round by taking pitchers Al Fitzmorris (40th) from the Chicago White Sox and Moe Drabowsky from the Orioles (42nd). They took SS Jackie Hernandez from the Twins (45th) and RHP Hoyt Wilhelm from the White Sox (49th). The last round netted them 2B Jerry Adair from the White Sox (51st) and catcher Fran Healy from the Cleveland Indians with the 53rd overall pick. The following is the Kansas City Royals entire 1968 expansion draft:
PlayerFormer TeamPick
(1)Roger Nelson[1]Baltimore Orioles1st
Joe FoyBoston Red Sox4th
Jim RookerNew York Yankees6th
Joe KeoughOakland A’s8th
Steve JonesWashington Senators10th
(2)Jon WardenDetroit Tigers12th
Ellie RodríguezNew York Yankees13th
Dave MoreheadBoston Red Sox15th
Mike FioreBaltimore Orioles17th
Bob OliverMinnesota Twins19th
(3)Bill ButlerDetroit Tigers22nd
Steve WhitakerNew York Yankees23rd
Wally Bunker[2]Baltimore Orioles25th
Paul Schaal[3]California Angels27th
Dan HaynesChicago White Sox29th
(4)Dick Drago[4]Detroit Tigers31st
Pat KellyMinnesota Twins34th
Billy HarrisCleveland Indians36th
Don O'RileyOakland A’s38th
Al FitzmorrisChicago White Sox40th
(5)Moe DrabowskyBaltimore Orioles42nd
Jackie HernándezMinnesota Twins43rd
Mike HedlundCleveland Indians45th
Tom BurgmeierCalifornia Angels47th
Hoyt Wilhelm[5]Chicago White Sox49th
(6)Jerry AdairBoston Red Sox51st
Jerry CramMinnesota Twins54th
Fran HealyCleveland Indians56th
Scott NortheyChicago White Sox58th
Ike BrookensWashington Senators60th
The Royals purchased RHP Galen Cisco from the Red Sox and traded Wilhelm to the Angels for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke. They finished off their opening day roster by purchasing Dennis Ribant from the Tigers and acquired OF Lou Piniella from the other expansion team in the AL, the Seattle Pilots. Their opening day lineup in their first game, which they won 4-3 against the Twins was:
Lou Piniella CF
Jerry Adair 2B
Ed Kirkpatrick LF
Joe Foy 3B
Chuck Harrison 1B
Bob Oliver RF
Ellie Rodriguez C
Jackie Hernandez SS
Willie Bunker P
In the newly former AL West, the Royals finished with a record of 69-93 under new manager Joe Gordon. That was, however, good enough for 4th place in the division, ahead of the White Sox (68-94) and the Pilots (64-98).
Prior to the first game played by each of the new teams, a draft was held the year before for the new teams to attempt to put together a roster of players for the next season. The rules for the availability of players changed slightly from 1962 to 1998, but what was common was the opportunity for the new teams to decide which players they could use from the existing teams in MLB. Over a series of 14 posts, I will review the expansion drafts of each of these newer 14 teams. Included are trades made following the draft and which players were taken first overall. Without further due, here is a recap of the 1968 expansion draft for the Kansas City Royals.
MLB had promised a new franchise to Kansas City after the Athletics left there after only being there for 13 seasons. Of course, to keep all AL teams playing at the same time, another expansion team was needed. Seattle was given a franchise called the Pilots. The NL chose to expand also, with San Diego getting a franchise and MLB expanding into Canada for the first time with the creation of the Montreal Expos. This draft added 30 players to each of the four new teams. Each of the expansion teams could only select players from teams in their own leagues. With each league presently having 10 teams, that meant there would be six rounds causing each team to lose exactly six players. Because the Royals were not able to come to an agreement with their a couple of their 1968 draft picks, the draft was changed to help them out a little bit. Normally, the team that has the first overall selection, concedes the first selection of the second and third rounds, with the final rounds alternating between team. Though this was true in this case, the Royals were given the second and third selections of the 2nd and 3rd round of the expansion draft. This allowed Seattle to have consecutive picks of 2nd and 3rd overall in the first round.
The Royals selected Baltimore Orioles RHP Roger Nelson with the first overall pick in the 1968 expansion draft. The Royals then selected Boston Red Sox 3B Joe Foy with the 4th overall selection, then followed that up with New York Yankees LHP Jim Rooker (6th). Their last two first round selections were Oakland Athletics OF Joe Keough (8th) and Washington Senators LHP Steve Jones (10th).
The Royals' first selection of the 2nd round was Detroit Tiger LHP Jon Warden (12th), who would never pitch in the majors again. They followed that up with Yankees catcher Ellie Rodriguez (15th). They then selected Minnesota Twins OF Bob Oliver (19th). The Royals took Tigers LHP Bill Butler with their first selection of the 3rd round (22nd). In the 3rd round, the Royals added OF Steve Whitaker (23rd) from the Yankees and RHP Wally Bunker from the Baltimore Orioles (25th).
The Royals opened up the 4th round by taking Tigers RHP Dick Drago (guest on the Passed Ball Show) (31st). They also took Twins OF Pat Kelly in the same round (34th). The Royals opened up the 5th round by taking pitchers Al Fitzmorris (40th) from the Chicago White Sox and Moe Drabowsky from the Orioles (42nd). They took SS Jackie Hernandez from the Twins (45th) and RHP Hoyt Wilhelm from the White Sox (49th). The last round netted them 2B Jerry Adair from the White Sox (51st) and catcher Fran Healy from the Cleveland Indians with the 53rd overall pick. The following is the Kansas City Royals entire 1968 expansion draft:
PlayerFormer TeamPick
(1)Roger Nelson[1]Baltimore Orioles1st
Joe FoyBoston Red Sox4th
Jim RookerNew York Yankees6th
Joe KeoughOakland A’s8th
Steve JonesWashington Senators10th
(2)Jon WardenDetroit Tigers12th
Ellie RodríguezNew York Yankees13th
Dave MoreheadBoston Red Sox15th
Mike FioreBaltimore Orioles17th
Bob OliverMinnesota Twins19th
(3)Bill ButlerDetroit Tigers22nd
Steve WhitakerNew York Yankees23rd
Wally Bunker[2]Baltimore Orioles25th
Paul Schaal[3]California Angels27th
Dan HaynesChicago White Sox29th
(4)Dick Drago[4]Detroit Tigers31st
Pat KellyMinnesota Twins34th
Billy HarrisCleveland Indians36th
Don O'RileyOakland A’s38th
Al FitzmorrisChicago White Sox40th
(5)Moe DrabowskyBaltimore Orioles42nd
Jackie HernándezMinnesota Twins43rd
Mike HedlundCleveland Indians45th
Tom BurgmeierCalifornia Angels47th
Hoyt Wilhelm[5]Chicago White Sox49th
(6)Jerry AdairBoston Red Sox51st
Jerry CramMinnesota Twins54th
Fran HealyCleveland Indians56th
Scott NortheyChicago White Sox58th
Ike BrookensWashington Senators60th
The Royals purchased RHP Galen Cisco from the Red Sox and traded Wilhelm to the Angels for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke. They finished off their opening day roster by purchasing Dennis Ribant from the Tigers and acquired OF Lou Piniella from the other expansion team in the AL, the Seattle Pilots. Their opening day lineup in their first game, which they won 4-3 against the Twins was:
Lou Piniella CF
Jerry Adair 2B
Ed Kirkpatrick LF
Joe Foy 3B
Chuck Harrison 1B
Bob Oliver RF
Ellie Rodriguez C
Jackie Hernandez SS
Willie Bunker P
In the newly former AL West, the Royals finished with a record of 69-93 under new manager Joe Gordon. That was, however, good enough for 4th place in the division, ahead of the White Sox (68-94) and the Pilots (64-98).
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