60 free Kansas City Royals trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Kansas City Royals trivia quiz runs from the senator who bullied baseball into giving Kansas City a team, through the powder-blue dynasty of the late 1970s, to the 2015 champions. There are questions on the naming contest and the American Royal, Lou Piniella's rookie award, Whitey Herzog and the three ALCS losses to the Yankees, George Brett's .390 and the Pine Tar Incident, Bret Saberhagen's Cy Youngs, Don Denkinger's call and the I-70 Series, Bo Jackson's All-Star homer, and Ned Yost's bullpen-driven pennants in 2014 and 2015. Kauffman Stadium gets its own round: the fountains, the Truman Sports Complex, the 1973 and 2012 All-Star Games, the 2009 renovation and the on-again, off-again downtown ballpark. There are uniform questions too, from powder blue to the City of Fountains City Connect look, plus retired numbers and franchise records. Easy questions suit any Royals fan; the hard ones are for people who remember Dane Iorg. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Royals name pays homage to the American Royal, an annual Kansas City event featuring what?
A livestock show and rodeo
The event has run since 1899 and also includes a championship barbecue competition; the name won out of 17,000 contest entries.
Q 02The Royals began play as an expansion team in which year?
1969
They entered alongside the Seattle Pilots, who lasted one season before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers.
Q 03Which pharmaceutical entrepreneur founded the Royals and later gave the ballpark his name?
Ewing Kauffman
He built Marion Laboratories from a $5,000 investment, and cast the lone board vote against the name Royals before it grew on him.
Q 04Which Missouri senator threatened baseball's antitrust exemption to get Kansas City a team?
Stuart Symington
His pressure moved the start date up from 1971 to 1969, which may have helped sink the unready Seattle Pilots.
Q 05Which team left Kansas City for Oakland after the 1967 season, prompting the push for the Royals?
The Athletics
Owner Charlie Finley had explored elaborate relocation schemes and essentially shunned the city before finally moving.
Q 06The Royals' crown-and-shield logo was designed by an artist at which Kansas City company?
Hallmark Cards
Shannon Manning drew the crown atop a shield with 'KC' inside; the crown even turned black for a few years in the 2000s.
Q 07Which future manager won the AL Rookie of the Year Award as a Royals outfielder in 1969?
Lou Piniella
He later spent years as a Yankee, and admitted his New York teams did not much like Kansas City after three straight ALCS wins.
Q 08The Royals won their first game, on April 8, 1969, in 12 innings against which team?
Minnesota Twins
The 4-3 win came at Municipal Stadium, their home until Royals Stadium opened in 1973.
Q 09Royals Stadium was renamed Kauffman Stadium in honour of the founding owner in which year?
1993
The renaming came on July 2, a month before the owner died; the park had opened in 1973.
Q 10Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium together make up a sports complex named after whom?
Harry Truman
Building separate baseball and NFL stadiums side by side defied 1960s conventional wisdom, which favoured multipurpose bowls.
Q 11The best-known feature of Kauffman Stadium is a display of what behind the right-field fence?
Fountains and waterfalls
At 322 feet wide the 'Water Spectacular' is the largest privately funded fountain in the world.
Q 12The Royals' first game at their new stadium in 1973 was a 12-1 win over which opponent?
Texas Rangers
A crowd of 39,464 turned out, and the park hosted the All-Star Game that same summer.
Q 13The Royals adopted their iconic powder blue road uniforms in which season?
1973
The same year they moved into their new stadium and switched to pullover jerseys.
Q 21The Pine Tar Game was resumed 25 days later and finished with the Royals winning by what score?
5-4
The game picked up from the point of the reinstated home run on August 18, 1983.
Q 22The 1985 all-Missouri World Series between the Royals and Cardinals is nicknamed the what Series?
I-70
The two Missouri cities are linked by that interstate; the Royals came back from 3-1 down to win.
Q 23Which umpire's disputed safe call on Jorge Orta opened the Royals' ninth-inning rally in the 1985 World Series?
Don Denkinger
Replays showed the throw beat Orta; a dropped popup and a passed ball followed, and a pinch-hit single won it.
Q 14Which manager led the Royals to three straight division titles from 1976 to 1978?
Whitey Herzog
He was fired after 1979 and later beat his old club to the pennant as Cardinals manager, then lost to them in the 1985 World Series.
Q 15The Royals lost the ALCS three years running from 1976 to 1978 to which team?
New York Yankees
They finally got revenge with a three-game sweep in 1980, capped by George Brett's homer off Goose Gossage.
Q 16The Royals' only 100-win season came in which year?
1977
That team still lost the ALCS to New York; the 2015 champions won 95.
Q 17George Brett hit what batting average in his 1980 MVP season?
.390
It remains a modern record for a third baseman and the highest single-season mark since 1941 apart from Tony Gwynn's strike-shortened .394.
Q 18The Royals lost their first World Series, in 1980, to which team?
Philadelphia Phillies
Game 6 drew 54.9 million television viewers and remains the most-watched game in World Series history.
Q 19In the 1983 Pine Tar Incident, George Brett's bat had pine tar more than how far up the handle?
18 inches
AL president Lee MacPhail reinstated the homer, reasoning the rule was about not discolouring baseballs rather than unfair advantage.
Q 20Which Yankees manager came out of the dugout to challenge Brett's bat in the Pine Tar Game?
Billy Martin
Umpire Tim McClelland signalled Brett out, and Brett's furious charge from the dugout became one of baseball's most replayed clips.
Q 24Who pitched a shutout in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series as the Royals won 11-0?
Bret Saberhagen
He had already won the AL Cy Young Award that season and would win another in 1989 with a franchise-record 23 wins.
Q 25Which pinch hitter's walk-off single won Game 6 of the 1985 World Series for Kansas City?
Dane Iorg
He had won a ring with the Cardinals three years earlier.
Q 26Whose go-ahead three-run triple off Dave Stieb won Game 7 of the 1985 ALCS in Toronto?
Jim Sundberg
The Royals had trailed that series three games to one, the first year the LCS was best-of-seven.
Q 27George Brett's 1990 batting title made him the first player to win one in how many different decades?
3
He also collected his 3,000th hit in the early 1990s and finished with 3,154, second among third basemen.
Q 28Which two-sport star hit a leadoff home run in the 1989 All-Star Game while playing for the Royals?
Bo Jackson
Wade Boggs followed with another homer, and Vin Scully's 'Bo Jackson says hello!' became a signature call.
Q 29The Royals waived their two-sport star in spring 1991 after he injured his hip playing which other sport?
Football
He had won the 1985 Heisman Trophy at Auburn and was starring for the Los Angeles Raiders in the off-season.
Q 30The Royals have retired No. 5 for George Brett and No. 20 for which second baseman?
Frank White
Manager Dick Howser's No. 10 was retired after his death in 1987, and No. 29 has sat unused since Mike Sweeney left.