Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Kansas City Royals.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Royals made a triumphant return to the playoffs, winning their Wild Card Series over Baltimore before falling to the New York Yankees in four games.  The season yielded one new entrant and one elevation.

As always, we present our top five, which saw a huge change based on the new algorithm.

1. George Brett

2. Amos Otis

3. Bret Saberhagen

4. Willie Wilson

5. Kevin Appier

You can find the entire list here.

Under the new algorithm, Amos Otis moved from #5 to #2; a showcase to how tight everyone from 2 to 5 already were.

Multi-time All-Star Catcher Salvador Perez went up one spot to #6.

The new entrant is Bobby Witt Jr., who debuts at #31.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2023 revision of our top 50 Kansas City Royals.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in Major League Baseball.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Royals had a bad year, and there were no new entrants into the Top 50.  There was one small elevation.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:

1. George Brett

2. Bret Saberhagen

3. Willie Wilson

4. Kevin Appier

5. Amos Otis

You can find the entire list here.

Catcher, Salvador Perez, moved up one spot to #7.

Pitcher, Zack Greinke, who was with Kansas City last year, failed to move up from #13.

We thank you for your continued support for our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top Kansas City Royals.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Royals were unable to make the playoffs, but there were some shifts in the top 50.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. George Brett

2. Bret Saberhagen

3. Willie Wilson

4. Kevin Appier

5. Amos Otis

You can find the entire list here.

Catcher, Salvador Perez, moved up from #10 to #8.

Pitcher, Zack Greinke, moved up one spot to #13.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Historically speaking, we don’t think that we are going out on a limb by stating that Willie Wilson was one of the best leadoff hitters in the game.

Wilson spent most of his career with the Kansas City Royals, a team that the Alabama native first debuted for in 1976.  Wilson entered the 1979 season as the Royals’ starting Centerfielder, and he batted .315 with a league-leading 83 Stolen Bases.  That was the best he ever did in terms of base-stealing, but there was so much more that the speedster had left to offer.

In the following season, Wilson led the American League in Runs Scored (133), Hits (230), Triples (15), and he won the Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and was fourth in MVP voting.  The Royals won the pennant that year, but the Royals lost to Philadelphia.  Wilson had solace in the fact that he was fourth in MVP voting, which would be a career high.

That was the best year of Wilson’s career, but far from the end of his productive ways.  Despite his drug arrest and jail time in 1984, Wilson was one of the best baserunners of the 1980s and batted over .300 three times in the 1980s, including winning the Batting Title in 1982 (.331).  Wilson had five AL leads in Triples and was a two-time All-Star for Kansas City.  

Wilson finished his career with stints in Oakland and Chicago (NL), and he retired in 1994 with 668 Stolen Bases and 2,207 Hits.

If George Brett was the foundation of the Kansas City Royals, Willie Wilson was the high-octane fuel that made the machine run. A first-round draft pick with world-class speed, Wilson transformed the leadoff spot into a theater of the frantic, forcing opposing pitchers into a state of permanent anxiety the moment he stepped into the box. While his career is occasionally shadowed by a difficult chapter in 1983, his legacy in the Heartland is defined by a decade and a half of pure, unadulterated athleticism that helped propel the franchise to the peak of the baseball world.

Wilson’s tenure in Kansas City served as a definitive study in utilizing speed as a primary offensive weapon. He had a special campaign in 1980, where he became only the second player in history to record 100 hits from each side of the plate. That summer, he led the American League in hits (230), runs (133), and triples (15) while setting a then-major league record with 705 at-bats. He was a model of specialized efficiency, capturing a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger while finishing fourth in the MVP race. It was a performance that proved he was more than just a sprinter; he was a complete, high-frequency contributor who could dominate a game without ever leaving the infield.

Wilson was a perennial fixture on the triples leaderboard, leading the American League in that category five separate times as a Royal, including a career-high 21 triples during the 1985 championship season. He possessed a professional resilience that allowed him to bounce back from a disappointing 1980 World Series to become a postseason hero five years later. During the 1985 Fall Classic against St. Louis, Wilson hit a blistering .367, providing the high-leverage spark needed to fuel the Royals' historic comeback from a 3-1 series deficit.

While his on-base percentage fluctuated, his ability to put the ball in play and pressure defenses was unrivaled; he eclipsed the 30-stolen-base mark in 11 consecutive seasons for Kansas City, eventually amassing a franchise-record 612 steals. He proved that a player could become a franchise pillar by mastering the specialized "small ball" game, 

In 1990, Wilson departed for Oakland, but he left as the organization's all-time king of the basepaths. He finished his Royals journey with 1,968 hits and a reputation as the fastest man to ever wear the uniform. His work was immortalized in 2000, when the Royals inducted Wilson into their Hall of Fame.