If Kansas City Royals fans are hoping to see a former player head to Cooperstown this winter, they have two very different outcomes coming.
Long-time left fielder Alex Gordon is entering his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but his odds of earning a second ballot, much less an induction, feel slim to none in the 82nd Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame election.
Another former outfielder, Carlos Beltrán, has a solid chance to clear the coveted 75% voting threshold this winter after starting his career patrolling Kauffman Stadium.
All in all, the ballot features plenty of names fans recognize, but only a select few will end up with plaques in Cooperstown.
The Royals do not have a long list of former players in the Hall of Fame, but that list goes beyond one franchise great third baseman. Here are four Hall of Famers who once suited up for Kansas City, even if their best days were elsewhere.
Who are all the former Kansas City players in the Hall of Fame?
3B George Brett (1973–1993)
Where to even start? George Brett played his entire career in Kansas City and set an impossibly high bar for anyone who followed. He’s never far from fans’ minds, whether it’s the Pine Tar Game sprint, the quotables after his playing days, or the way he steadied that 1985 World Series club.
Brett is all over the Royals’ record book, leading nearly every counting stat you can name. His 88.6 career bWAR is nearly double that of second-place Amos Otis (44.8). Even his home run crown could be in jeopardy soon, with Salvador Perez needing only 15 long balls to pass Brett atop the franchise list.
The West Virginia native entered the Hall of Fame in 1999 and hasn’t been far from the game since. The 13-time All-Star hasn’t been challenged much as the franchise’s greatest player, but hopefully a current shortstop can challenge him for that title in the coming years.
1B Orlando Cepeda (1974)
Another member of the Hall’s Class of 1999, first baseman Orlando Cepeda built his Cooperstown case well before arriving in Kansas City.
The longtime San Francisco Giants star and former teammate of Willie Mays won his lone MVP award in 1967 with the St. Louis Cardinals, the same year they won the World Series.
By the time Cepeda reached Kansas City, knee issues had caught up to him and limited him to 33 games. His .572 OPS across 117 plate appearances was a career low for the 11-time All-Star, coming just one season after he finished 15th in AL MVP voting with the Boston Red Sox. His 1974 season was his last, culminating a storied career on the diamond.
1B Harmon Killebrew (1975)
Some Hall of Famers are so closely tied to one uniform that seeing them elsewhere just looks wrong. Think Ken Griffey Jr. in a Chicago White Sox jersey, or Yogi Berra with the New York Mets. For the Royals, that “wait, he played here?” name is first baseman Harmon Killebrew.
The Idaho native split 1954-1974 with the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, and it’s in Minnesota where Killebrew became a legend. He never won a World Series ring, but he made nine straight All-Star games and took home the 1969 MVP. He was an above-average bat for more than a decade, though the decline hit hard in his age-37 season.
Kansas City picked him up in 1975, and while his .692 OPS wasn’t a disaster, it was below league average and a long way from his peak power days.
Like Cepeda, Killebrew retired after playing for the Royals. He did not have to wait long for his call to Cooperstown, being a part of the 1984 cohort.
RHP Gaylord Perry (1983)
The most recent one-off Hall of Famer to play for Kansas City, right-hander Gaylord Perry was already well traveled when he made 14 starts for the Royals in 1983.
The Seattle Mariners released the two-time Cy Young winner on June 27, 1983, and Kansas City quickly signed him for the rest of the season. Perry’s 4.27 ERA and 1.470 WHIP were far from his career norms, but that’s life for a 44-year-old pitcher trying to squeeze out one more summer.
Perry is most closely associated with the San Francisco Giants, where he made 367 appearances over 10 seasons. But his 1972 year in Cleveland remains one of the great pitching seasons of the era when he won the Cy Young and led the league with 10.8 bWAR.
He also authored a rare late-career surge, leading the league with 21 wins in 1978 and then winning another Cy Young in 1979 with the San Diego Padres, becoming the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
The North Carolina native was part of the 1991 class for the Hall of Fame alongside Rod Carew and Fergie Jenkins. He never hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy and wasn’t a perennial All-Star, but his peak and his longevity made him one of the defining pitchers of his time.
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