Kansas City Royals Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
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
A livestock show and rodeo with its own parade, the American Royal was the contest winner's whole case: the name should salute Missouri's billion-dollar livestock trade, not kings and queens.
Q 02Which 1969 expansion twin of the Royals became the Brewers?
Seattle Pilots
The Seattle Pilots lost so much money in their only season that the club went bankrupt and was moved to Wisconsin just before the 1970 season, where it took the name of a local minor-league team.
Q 03Royals founder Ewing Kauffman made his fortune in which industry?
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals: he started Marion Laboratories in a basement and built it into a company with close to a billion dollars in sales. He arranged for the club to pass to a local charity so it could never be moved away.
Q 04Senator Stuart Symington threatened to strip baseball of what unless Kansas City got a new team?
Antitrust exemption
The antitrust exemption was the Missouri senator's lever after Kansas City lost its team. The American League promised a replacement by 1971, and he kept pushing until the date became 1969.
Q 05Which owner moved Kansas City's American League club to California after the 1967 season?
Charlie Finley
Charlie Finley had been trying to leave for years: in 1964 he signed a lease to play in Louisville, only for the other owners to block it. Three years later they finally let him take the club to California.
Q 06The Royals' crown-and-shield logo was drawn at which Kansas City company?
Hallmark Cards
Hallmark Cards opened the job to any employee, packaging artist Shannon Manning recalled, and the club asked only for blue and a crown. By his account his shield beat twenty rivals, one of them a psychedelic cow.
Q 07Which future manager won the AL Rookie of the Year Award as a Royals outfielder in 1969?
Lou Piniella
Lou Piniella was traded to Kansas City a week before Opening Day, then led off the club's first game with a double, scored its first run and finished the afternoon with four hits.
Q 08A magazine photo of George Brett signing baseballs in his team jersey inspired which singer's breakthrough hit?
Lorde
Lorde saw the old National Geographic picture, with 'Royals' across his shirt, and liked the word enough to build a song on it. The two finally met in 2014, a few months after it won a Grammy.
Q 09What was Kauffman Stadium called before its 1993 renaming?
Royals Stadium
Royals Stadium took Ewing Kauffman's name at a ceremony in July 1993, one month before the founder died. Two years later its artificial turf was torn out and replaced with grass.
Q 10Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium together make up a sports complex named after whom?
Harry Truman
The complex is named for Harry Truman, the Missouri-born president; building separate baseball and NFL stadiums side by side defied the 1960s fashion for multipurpose bowls.
Q 11What stretches 322 feet behind the right-field fence at Kauffman Stadium?
Fountains and waterfalls
Fountains and waterfalls suit a place nicknamed the City of Fountains, and this display was billed as the world's largest privately funded fountain when the park opened.
Q 12The lone red seat at Kauffman Stadium honours which Negro Leagues legend and Royals scout?
Buck O'Neil
Buck O'Neil used to sit there while scouting for the club. Since 2007 the seat has gone at every home game to someone nominated for the good they have done in the community.
Q 13What colour were the Royals' road uniforms of the 1970s and 1980s?
Powder blue
Q 21When the Pine Tar Game resumed, which left-handed thrower played second base for the home team?
Don Mattingly
Don Mattingly, a rookie first baseman, took second base while ace pitcher Ron Guidry stood in centre field. The last four outs passed without a run, so the Royals' 5-4 lead became the final score.
Q 22The 1985 all-Missouri World Series between the Royals and Cardinals is nicknamed the what Series?
I-70
I-70 is the interstate that runs across Missouri between Kansas City and St. Louis. The Royals lost three of the first four games, then won three in a row to take their first title.
Q 23Which umpire's disputed safe call on Jorge Orta opened the Royals' ninth-inning rally in the 1985 World Series?
Don Denkinger
Powder blue first appeared in 1973 and was only ever worn away from home. When the club revived it in 2008 as an alternate jersey, the colour was seen at Kauffman Stadium for the first time.
Q 14Which manager led the Royals to three straight division titles from 1976 to 1978?
Whitey Herzog
Whitey Herzog won three straight AL West titles before being fired after the 1979 season; as Cardinals manager he lost the 1985 World Series to the Royals.
Q 15The Royals lost the ALCS three years running from 1976 to 1978 to which team?
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees won all three of those ALCS; the Royals finally got revenge with a three-game sweep in 1980, capped by George Brett's homer off Goose Gossage.
Q 16Whose dash home from third base on a routine groundout tied Game 5 of the 2015 World Series in the ninth inning?
Eric Hosmer
Eric Hosmer broke for the plate the moment the third baseman threw across to first, and the relay home sailed wide. Kansas City had started the inning two runs down, and won the title three innings later.
Q 17Brett's .390 in 1980 was the AL's best since whose .406?
Ted Williams
Ted Williams was the last American or National League hitter to reach .400. Brett missed 45 games with injuries that summer, yet his average was hovering around .400 in the third week of September.
Q 18The Royals lost their first World Series, in 1980, to which team?
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies won in six games for the first championship in their history. Tug McGraw ended it by striking out the last Royals batter with the bases loaded.
Q 19Umpires measured the pine tar on George Brett's bat in 1983 by laying it across what?
Home plate
Home plate is 17 inches wide and the rule allowed 18 inches of tar, so it made a ready ruler. The league president later gave the home run back, saying the rule existed only to keep baseballs clean.
Q 20Which opposing manager asked the umpires to inspect George Brett's bat in the Pine Tar Game?
Billy Martin
Billy Martin's complaint got the home run wiped out. In the uproar Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry wrestled the bat away from the umpire and sent it off to be hidden, until stadium security seized it.
Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta safe at first although replays showed the throw beat him. A passed ball and a pinch single later, a 1-0 deficit had become a 2-1 win that forced a seventh game.
Q 24Who pitched a shutout in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series as the Royals won 11-0?
Bret Saberhagen
Bret Saberhagen, 21, had become a father the day before: his son was born hours before Game 6. He then threw a five-hit shutout in the decider and was named the Series MVP.
Q 25Which pinch hitter's walk-off single won Game 6 of the 1985 World Series for Kansas City?
Dane Iorg
Dane Iorg's pinch single scored two runs in the ninth to win Game 6 2-1; he had won a ring with the Cardinals three years earlier.
Q 26Whose bases-loaded triple off Dave Stieb broke open Game 7 of the 1985 ALCS in Toronto?
Jim Sundberg
Jim Sundberg's drive hit the top of the right-field fence in the sixth inning and turned a 2-1 lead into 5-1. The Royals had trailed three games to one in the first best-of-seven ALCS.
Q 27Which Royals teammate did George Brett edge for the 1976 batting title on the season's final day?
Hal McRae
Hal McRae led by a fraction of a point until Brett's ninth-inning fly ball bounced past an outfielder for an inside-the-park home run. Brett won again in 1980 and 1990, the first to take titles in three decades.
Q 28Which two-sport star hit a leadoff home run in the 1989 All-Star Game while playing for the Royals?
Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson drove a 448-foot homer to centre field in his first All-Star at-bat, later stole a base and left as the game's MVP.
Q 29The Royals waived their two-sport star in spring 1991 after he injured his hip playing which other sport?
Football
Football cost him his hip in a January 1991 playoff game for the Raiders. Two years later he returned to baseball after hip-replacement surgery and hit a home run in his first at-bat.
Q 30The Royals have retired No. 5 for George Brett and No. 20 for which second baseman?
Frank White
Frank White worked on the construction crew that built the stadium, then became the first graduate of the club's baseball academy to reach the majors. He won eight Gold Gloves there, and his No. 20 was retired in 1995.